Event: Product Usability: Thursday 22nd November
Product Usability: Chris Rourke & Mark Westwater - User Vision
Chris and Mark will cover the scope of product usability and focus on the primary differences between product and web usability. They will provide case studies and examples from a variety of projects to highlight the role of the usability / human factors professional in the product development process, how this has evolved over the years, and how certain companies have used their user-centred design process and products as a marketing USP. They will also outline the key tools and methods in user-centred product design and the various factors e.g. stake holders, manufacturing costs and accessibility requirements, that have an impact on both the physical design, user interface and aesthetics.
Chris Rourke is Managing Director of User Vision, a leading UK user experience consultancy, and president of the Scottish Chapter of the UPA. In addition to experience in many leading web and software related projects, Chris has performed and managed usability and human factors efforts on products ranging from airplane navigation systems, large format printers, thermostat controls, keyboards and cashpoint machines.
Mark Westwater is the lead User Vision consultant for product design, and has over 11 years experience applying user centred design methodologies to product developments. Mark was the lead human factors engineer worked at NCR, the world leader in Automated Teller Machines (ATM) Research and Development. His primary focus was to plan and support both hardware and software developments as well as conducting research is future technologies. This included mobile based application design and Voice Recognition system evaluation. Mark has also been a representative on various accessibility committees in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK, developing standards that meet both the consumers' needs and current technology trends.
Location, Time and registration:
Meeting date: Thursday 22nd November 2007
Time: 6.30pm for 6.45pm.
Venue: LBi, 1 Naoroji Street, London WC1X 0JD
To register for the UPA event, please email: Claudia Foster c.m.foster [at] lboro.ac.uk and Martin Maguire m.c.maguire [at] lboro.ac.uk. Give your name and affiliation and state whether you are a UPA member or not.
There is no charge for UPA members. For non-members the cost is £10, and for student non-members it is £5. This is payable by cash or cheque at the door.
Directions to LBi:
From Angel tube station (about 15 minutes on foot). On emerging from Angel station, turn immediately left, and walk to the crossroads. Take a right turn at the crossroads down Pentonville Road. Continue along Pentonville Road, and take the second turn on the left into Claremont Square (be careful, the first and second turns on the left are called Claremont Square - you should take the second one.) Continue straight on as the road becomes Amwell Street, and continue down the hill, past three right turns, until you reach a fourth right turn called Margery Street. (If you come to a t-junction with Rosebery Avenue, you've gone too far.) Turn right, and Naoroji Street is immediately on your right. The building is the large cream one on the left.
From Kings Cross tube and rail stations (about 15 minutes on foot). Follow the signs to the Thameslink station on Pentonville Road. With the Thameslink station behind you, turn right along Pentonville Road, and follow the right hand fork in the road (Kings Cross Road). Keep going along Kings Cross Road, until you reach the Thistle Hotel on your left. Cross the road to the left hand side and keep following Kings Cross road. Soon you will reach Margery Street which has a brown cafe on the corner and a Holiday Inn on the opposite side of Kings Cross road. Continue up Margery Street and Naoroji Street is the second left. The building is the large cream one on the left.
From Farringdon tube and rail stations (about 20 minutes on foot). On leaving the
station, turn right along Cowcross Street and then right again onto Farringdon Road. Continue along Farringdon Road, crossing over Clerkenwell Road at the first set of traffic lights (Yo Sushi is on the corner of this set), until you reach a crossroads with Rosebery Avenue. Mount Pleasant Post Office is on this crossroads. Turn right onto Rosebery Avenue, continue past the traffic lights, and take a left turn into Amwell Street. The second left off Amwell Street is Margery Street, and from there Naoroji Street is the first turning on the right. The building is the large cream one on the left.