What I learned from 200 projects (Amsterdam UX)
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Peter Boersma has worked on around 200 projects over 20 years at various interactive agencies. The scope of projects expanded from web design to service design for digital brands, and teams grew to include more user experience skills. Deliverables also evolved from simple site designs and builds to include design research, prototyping, and strategy work. Throughout his career, Boersma took on different roles including UI designer, information architect, and experience design director, and saw organizations structure user experience teams in various ways.
What I learned from 200 projects (Amsterdam UX)
- 1. What I learned from oh, I don’t know, around 200 projects Peter Boersma (@pboersma) Interaction Design Director at Blast Radius Amsterdam UX Meetup July 2, 2014
- 3. 20 years at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - General Design 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 2012 - 2012 - freelance 2012 - present - Blast Radius
- 4. around 200 projects 1995 - 2000 - General Design 70 10 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 20 10 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 15 5 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 10 20 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 20 5 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 5 2.5 2012 - 2012 - freelance 5 10 2012 - present - Blast Radius 55 40 Total 200 10 #proj /year
- 5. scope, teams, skills, org charts, deliverables
- 6. the scope of our projects has expanded from one-way webdesign to service design for networked brands
- 9. 640px 480px
- 11. 20 years at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - General Design 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 2012 - 2012 - freelance 2012 - present - Blast Radius
- 16. our teams have had different types of people in them
- 21. my roles at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - UI Designer 2000 - 2002 - Consultant User-Understanding 2002 - 2005 - Senior Information Architect 2005 - 2006 - UX Consultant & Partner 2006 - 2010 - Senior Interaction Designer 2010 - 2012 - Experience Designer 2012 - 2012 - Freelance (Process) Designer 2012 - present - Interaction Design Director
- 22. we had different skills, starting at Computer Science, HCI and Design leading to User Experience
- 23. HCICS Des
- 29. since 1995, we have been looking for the right place of UX in the organization
- 42. what we call our work, our deliverables, changed too...
- 43. “Here is how we work: Step 1: we send you a contract Step 2: we design your site and you approve the design Step 3: we build your site, and you approve the design Step 4: we send you an invoice”
- 46. 20 years at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - General Design 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 2012 - 2012 - freelance 2012 - present - Blast Radius
- 52. 20 years at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - General Design 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 2012 - 2012 - freelance 2012 - present - Blast Radius
- 54. 20 years at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - General Design 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 2012 - 2012 - freelance 2012 - present - Blast Radius
- 55. 1995-2000 - General Design Company profile: - Dutch startup that grew from 3-30 people - made interactive sites for small & large brands My responsibilities: - in the beginning: everything - from interface design - via software programming - to sales and project management
- 61. • A conference is more than the proceedings • Also: it’s not that hard to get on stage!
- 63. Br Br eaking ead share late-night pizza with developers have lunch with clients go for drinks with colleagues 35 35
- 64. General Design GOOD BAD * gave me broad experience * mix of academic research and practical focus * time to discover what I like (not project management) * being project manager & UI designer on 10 projects * leading to a short, 4-week burnout
- 65. 20 years at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - General Design 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 2012 - 2012 - freelance 2012 - present - Blast Radius
- 66. 2000-2002 - Satama Company profile: - Finnish web-and-mobile agency going global - General Design turned into Amsterdam office My responsibilities: - Consultant User-Understanding - concept design, IA, IxD, usability tests - for the first time: process designer
- 77. Satama Interactive GOOD BAD * mobile experience: designed WAP sites, and created a mobile portal evaluation tool. * process focus: I managed a 2-year program to document the Satama Unified Process. * I wasn’t considered a good fit for consultant team * leading to a long, 8-month burnout
- 78. 20 years at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - General Design 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 2012 - 2012 - freelance 2012 - present - Blast Radius
- 79. 2002-2005 - EzGov Company profile: - software & consultancy for online transactions - between governments and citizens/businesses My responsibilities: - Information Architect - Also: Usability Engineer - And: Process Designer
- 93. 3 Phases 5 Disciplines System Analysis Information Architecture & Interaction Design Usability & Accessibility Testing Content Design Visual Design & Information Design Elaboration ConstructionInception EzGov Standards for UXEzGov Standards for UX
- 100. EzGov GOOD BAD * good cooperation with Development and PM * spent time defining design process (StUX) * developed in-house screenflow tool (J-flow) * styleguides made visual design work boring * org. overhead made our work expensive
- 101. 20 years at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - General Design 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 2012 - 2012 - freelance 2012 - present - Blast Radius
- 102. 2005-2006 - User Intelligence Company profile: - small usability company that expanded into design - founder was looking for a business partner My responsibilities: - User Experience Consultant and Manager Design
- 109. User Intelligence * we defined the basis for good team & good company * got to think about corporate strategies * unprepared for partner talks with founder * our communication styles made cooperation hard * had to leave, shortly after bringing in friends
- 110. 20 years at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - General Design 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 2012 - 2012 - freelance 2012 - present - Blast Radius
- 111. 2006-2010 - Info.nl Company profile: - very Dutch agency ("normal is crazy enough") - founded in1994 and still going strong My responsibilities: - senior interaction designer - Also: restructured department & renamed job titles - Also: attempted to document design process info.nl!FULL!SERVICE!INTERNET!AGENCY!!
- 115. Life Play Learn Buy
- 119. Info.nl GOOD BAD * cooperation with developers * sales reached out to sell UX * management lacked vision about process * sales defined projects: teams designed to budget
- 120. 20 years at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - General Design 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 2012 - 2012 - freelance 2012 - present - Blast Radius
- 121. 2010-2012 - Adaptive Path Company profile: - famous San Francisco agency came to Amsterdam - defined User Experience as we know it - Adaptive Path is run by designers My responsibilities: - Experience Designer - design, lead projects, sell projects - teach workshops, host UX Week
- 128. the elements of user experience Henning Fischer Director, Adaptive Path Amsterdam henning@adaptivepath.com @henningfischer Peter Boersma Designer, Adaptive Path Amsterdam peter.boersma@adaptivepath.com @pboersma
- 132. First deliverable: Narrative As a result of initial conversations with the client, our designer-led sales team would create a Narrative. A Narrative consists of: - key business needs - project summary and team overview - phase-by-phase description of activities and outcomes - examples of expected deliverables - timeline and budget
- 133. But what happened to it? Designers’ narratives were translated by Sales into a Statement of Work with a lot of legalese. We had to go back to the original narrative to kick off projects with the team.
- 135. Adaptive Path GOOD BAD * designers lead projects from sales to delivery * many internal discussions about the field * time to teach back to community * 14 hour workdays due to time zones * European sales handed over to America
- 136. 20 years at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - General Design 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 2012 - 2012 - freelance 2012 - present - Blast Radius
- 137. 2012-2012 - Freelance Company profile: - me :-) - interaction designer & design process consultant My responsibilities: - set up the business, pay tax, do sales & PM - define processes and design concepts for clients
- 151. Freelance GOOD BAD * freedom in deciding when to work * freedom in deciding how much to work * freedom in deciding for whom to work * office/tax/legal stuff is hard! * no team = no feedback * no idea if I was at good at freelancing
- 152. 20 years at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - General Design 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 2012 - 2012 - freelance 2012 - present - Blast Radius
- 153. 2012-present - Blast Radius Company profile: - “agency for the connected world” (= Marketing) - owned by global digital agency network Wunderman My responsibilities: - Interaction Design Director in Amsterdam office - design concepts and prototypes (with freelancers) - manage a Business Analyst - support offices in Hamburg, London and Paris
- 164. Small ± 9 x 6 cm! Galaxy S2/S3/S4, iPhone, HTC One ! ! Medium ± 11 x 16 cm! Nexus 7, iPad mini, Kindle 7! ! Large ± 21 x 14 cm! Nexus 10, iPad (1, 2, Air), Tab 10.1, Kindle 8.9! Small Medium Large
- 165. small portrait small landscape medium landscape & large portrait small medium large medium portrait large landscape desktop (large & non–touch) 640 px? 1024 px? %#@&* iPad Mini!
- 167. Blast Radius * international work environment * working for small number of big accounts * allows for tracking of success of designs * project were never ran by UX (often by Developers or Art Directors) * limited input in early stages of projects
- 168. 20 years at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - General Design 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 2012 - 2012 - freelance 2012 - present - Blast Radius
- 170. Best team?
- 172. Jesse James Garre Peter Merholz Jeff Veen Janice Fraser Dan Saffer Lane Becker Indi Young
- 173. Best place for UX?
- 175. Best deliverable?
- 177. Narrative As a result of initial conversations with the client, our designer-led sales team would create a Narrative. A Narrative consists of: - key business needs - project summary and team overview - phase-by-phase description of activities and outcomes - examples of expected deliverables - timeline and budget
- 182. Best process?
- 184. SUP wasn’t used, and SUP-Light was created to fix that
- 200. Best client
- 201. the elements of user experience Henning Fischer Director, Adaptive Path Amsterdam henning@adaptivepath.com @henningfischer Peter Boersma Designer, Adaptive Path Amsterdam peter.boersma@adaptivepath.com @pboersma
- 204. Office Managers manage the company office managers run the agency
- 205. don’t postpone talking about money don’t be afraid to talk about money
- 206. it takes A LOT of work to get work done
- 207. 20 years at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - General Design 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 2012 - 2012 - freelance 2012 - present - Blast Radius
- 208. Thank you!
- 209. What I learned from oh, I don’t know, around 200 projects Peter Boersma (@pboersma) Interaction Design Director at Blast Radius Amsterdam UX Meetup July 2, 2014