Written: Raven Chai
Published: 10 Jan 2011

Who, Where, When and Why we did it

I met Daniel Szuc (who is the speaker for this event) when I attended my first UPA International Conference 2008 held in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. We started our discussion by sharing our experiences and challenges in managing a UX consultancy firm, especially so in Asia where there is a genuine lack of awareness and understanding the importance of User Experience in many corporate firms. Over the years where we managed to catch up with each other over the annual UPA International Conferences, I was marveled by Dan’s efforts to promote the awareness of UX around Asia countries (despite he is an Aussie). After some reflections, it is clear that I should do something similar for the Singapore UX community (but unsure what I should or can do at that point of time).

Fast forward to year 2010, we have decided to organize and self-fund (without any sponsors) the very first UX Singapore 2010 workshop, without knowing whether will there be anyone signing up for the workshop in the first place. Our anxieties were slowly changed to pure excitement when the responses are gathering pace with 21 participants signed up for the workshop (our initial target is 15 pax). The participants are from SingTel, AutoDesk, The Upper Storey, Design Singapore Council and Singapore Temasek Polytechnic. There you go, the very first UX Singapore 2010 was launched on 26 November, 2010 @Equinox Complex, Swissotel The Stamford Singapore.

Would like thanked the people who have made the event possible:

• Daniel Szuc (speaker) and Josephine Wong from Apogee Usability Asia Limited (you guys are the “fire-starter” for this event, thanks a great deal)
• Ethan Yeo (who is my new team member from UX Consulting and was thrown right into action immediately)
• Pal Hetland, Truls Michalsen and Kai Kampelien (my 3 fun-loving Norwegian interns who have helped to plan the event together in the beginning)

How the Workshop Went

It went pretty well I must say, there are active participation, discussions and interactions from all, if not most of the attendees. The topics covered from the basic concept of usability (more of UX for that matter), organization culture, best practice analysis, design thinking, evaluation methods inter-winding with case studies and examples. There have been a strong emphasis from Dan to get project managers, consultants, designers and software developers to think about the value of our profession, and what we, as practitioners can help to design better, usable products for the greater good.

Feedback from participants have indicated that they enjoyed the level of interactions with the speaker, the opportunity to meet new friends, group exercise on designing a more customer-centric banking services, and not forgetting the fantastic city view from the highest hotel in Singapore.

What We’ve Discovered

Most participants enjoyed the level of interaction with Dan and among the participants, especially when working in a group on redesigning a more customer-centric banking services. While some of them felt that the workshop is more suited as an introduction for people who are new to the field of UX, this workshop is still being regarded as a good start for the local UX scene. Most participants have expressed strong interest to attend future workshops here if there is any, which is very encouraging for us being the organizer, as well as to the Singapore design industry.

The topics people are interested in:

• UX success stories, case studies and examples from Asia Pacific companies (instead of using Apple as the case studies – overused and not practical for most companies to take reference to)
• How UX can meet business objectives
• Physical takeaways like UX toolkits, notes, tips, common best practices and quick-n-dirty techniques to do their job better
• Methods and techniques to obtain customer insights
• Bridging user input and design
• Resources and help from other UX communities

Lovely Lunch

To say the least, the lunch is excellent, the scenery is stunning and we have a great company of new friends!

Personal Reflections

I have spent the last few weeks doing some reflections on how the event went, what we did right and what we could have done better. Overall, I think we did a fairly decent job and more importantly, everyone if not most of us have enjoyed the event, getting to know new friends, establishing a wider UX network, embracing new views etc. It was nerve wrecking nevertheless for us as organizer when we decided to do a self-funded event back in July 2010, which gives us only 4 months to prepare the agenda, marketing the event and venue booking etc. I’m glad that we came through it without much hiccups and exceed our initial target of 15 participants.

On a personal note, I knew Dan & Jo better now through past few months of collaboration, not only as a fellow UX practitioner but also as a friend who understand each other values and motivations in life. This workshop probably came as one of my worst time where my mum passed away 4 days later after the event, I guess it’s a telling sign to me that life is short, we should cherish the good times with friends and passionate about our work.

About the author

Raven Chai - Raven Chai is the principal consultant and founder of UX Consulting Pte Ltd. His expertise in information architecture design, usability and interaction design ensures web applications and mobile phone interfaces are delivered with effective design that evokes a positive user experience.