An Event Apart Chicago 2008 - Day 1
Yesterday, I attended the first of two full days of An Event Apart Chicago hosted by - go figure- A List Apart. It was an honor to be in the same room as some of those that I look up to- Jeffery Zeldman, Eric Meyer, Jason Santa Maria, Sarah Nelson, Robert Hoekman Jr., Jason Fried, and Andy Clark.
Of all sessions, the two that impacted me the most were Sarah Nelson(Adaptive Path)’s Design Criteria and Jason Fried(37 Signals)’s discussion of Beyond UI Basics.
Nelson discussed working in groups of 4/5 to create 5-7 statements that drive/direct the design team. The power of this process, is that when done with the client, you establish the most important aspects of the job BEFORE a pixel is painted. Something that as a designer is a welcomed change. Nelson described the process of attempting to read the mind’s of clients only to have them change their minds mid-project as “soul sucking work.” It was something that resonated with me, because you distill the criteria into - as she puts it - “actionable ideas.”
The other session that I really enjoyed was Jason Fried’s discussion of Beyond UI basics. He talked about the extra details great apps -specifically his(37 Signals) take care of for the betterment of the users. He preached the value of flow and it’s impact on the usability of the app. It was also great to hear how 37 Signals works. For instance, they sketch with fat sharpie markers. Why? Because details aren’t important at that stage of development and anything else would only slow you down. Those details are to be worked out once something of substance has been created. It was also great to see first-hand Fried spout off against using wire frames and extensive screens in Photoshop - a position that to this day - for whatever reason, still garners controversy. It’s when you hear Fried speak that you see/feel more precisely what he means. He referred to IKEA vs a craftsman in his speech several times (we can assume he feels he’s the craftsman), but the way I look at it, his apps are a myriad of both. It’s IKEA-powered aesthetics built with the craftsmanship of Bob Villa. It’s the thoroughness of how the interface responds to the users that really makes the app something to be respected.
The day was filled with funny moments/jokes, but possibly the most humorous moment of the day was when someone asked Jason Fried what 37 Signals is most prone to. To which he responded: “We use Prototype because Sam, the guy who works for us, he, uh, he developed Prototype.” Classic!
Overall, things have been very enjoyable. We - those that stayed for the late session - also learned that CS4 should be debuting this week.
Eric Meyer is on stage now prepping for this morning’s first session, so I better wrap this up.
Oh yeah…I heard someone is releasing some new laptops today.
