Web Visions 2007 Wrap

Well, another year, and another trip to Portland. I felt exhausted during the whole trip, and I didn’t get a chance to hangout after hours as much as I would have liked. However, it was still another excellent conference. In fact, I might go so far as to say that is one of my favorite conferences from a content standpoint. It truly felt like every session was full of interesting and dense content.

While I’m talking about sessions, I could only wish my first few times presenting went as well as Sean Madden and Jina Bolton. They both did an excellent job, and I’m sure it’s just the beginning for both of them.

I wish I had been able to hang out more after hours, but I just wasn’t up for it this time around. This is definitely the last conference I plan on attending for a while as I begin working on a personal project I’ve been neglecting for years. As usual It was great to see everyone, meet new people, and share new ideas.

Improving Interface Design Workshop

This year, I was putting on a workshop about Improving Interface Design where I wanted to discuss and draw attention to some of the less tangible challenges we face when designing interfaces. Ultimately, I’d say the theme was about the unfortunate fact that the red tape, politics, and other institutional hurdles are the most significant impediments to good interface design. As a result, creating good interfaces is as much a matter of changing institutional assumptions and challenging bad ideas as it is about understanding the principles and improving our skillsets. More importantly, we have to view this responsibility as an ongoing process of educating and sharing.

• Improving Interface Design - Web Visions 2007 (PDF, 13.5mb)
• Improving Interface Design on Slideshare
• The Podcast - I was mistaken on this. Web Visions won’t be posting a podcast for the workshops.

The slide deck probably isn’t as engaging without the associated content, but I should be able to provide a link to the podcast soon. I’ll update this page whenever that’s ready. Thanks to everyone who attended and provided feedback at the small previews in Dallas.