Storyboarding, November 8, 2011

by on 21. Sep, 2011 in Past Events

Need to get a lot of information communicated in an uncomplicated, but robust way?

One of the fastest, most universally understandable and information-rich ways of telling a technical [or UX] story is with a storyboard. This is true whether that story is field research, application work flows, or how people use your website. Throughout history, storyboards have been used to depict events through pictures, so much so that they are part of our DNA. Even when created very quickly, storyboards can convey a wealth of information, showing a specific order of events in an interesting and easy-to-understand way.

In this micro-tutorial, we will discuss the many ways to use storyboards, and how to turn your idea, concept or hard information into a storyboard. The creation process will cover the spectrum from drawing with stick people through using pictures of the story and everything in between.

Do you have any of the following hesitations?

  • “But I can’t draw” – don’t worry; no drawing experience necessary!
  • “But I’m not a visual thinker” – you may not be, but many of your colleagues, managers,
    customers, and teammates are; we can show you how to reach them
  • “Storyboards are great for movies, but they have no use in our field” – whatever your field is, if you need to clearly convey information, having storyboarding in your communication toolkit will give you an edge. Storyboards are used in page flow diagrams, workflow, scenarios, field research, test results, and on and on.

About the Presenters

Deborah Sova

Deborah has over 18 years of experience evaluating software and website usability for clients in a variety of industries including financial, government services, health/medical, bibliographical, wireless, multimedia, enterprise software, security, travel, utilities, and insurance.

Deborah has served as Senior Solutions Architect for Perficient, Inc., UX Manager for Trisept Solutions, and senior UX researcher for Tec-Ed, Nielsen Norman Group, and other consulting firms. She co-authored with Jakob Nielsen “233 Tips and Tricks for Recruiting Participants for Usability Studies.”  Deborah has presented at multiple international conferences on UX‑related topics, including storyboarding as a means of communicating UX information, as well as UX mentoring. She has served on 10 Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA) conference committees and currently is Treasurer of the Board of Directors for MilwauCHI. She holds Bachelor and Master degrees from The University of Michigan.

Ron Sova

Ron Sova, President and Senior Usability Specialist, Sova Consulting Group, LLC. Ron has 18 years of experience in usability engineering. Ron specializes in information design, information visualization, and interaction design. He also has extensive experience in the areas of contextual inquiry, usability testing, prototype testing and evaluation. Ron has developed and taught classes in GUI Design, Application Design, Usability Concepts, Designing Visually, Storyboarding and Graphic Design Tools & Methods.

Before working as a usability engineer, Ron worked as a user interface designer and a graphic designer for 5 years and before that as a project manager and developer. Ron’s experience has been as an employee, contractor, and most recently as a consultant (12 years). He has worked in the usability departments at Compuware and American Express and has worked as a usability consultant for Compuware Software Products, American Family Insurance, Yahoo!, Juniper, Rockwell, Alliant, Roche NimbleGen and Johnson Controls.

Ron earned a BSEE from Marquette University and has studied Computer Science at UWM. He is currently working on a degree in Communication Design at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.

When not working in the usability field, Ron is playing softball, hiking or sailing.

Location

MSOE Alumni Partnership Center
1120 N. Broadway
Milwaukee 53202

Time

5:30 PM Networking
6:00 PM Dinner
7:00 PM Speaker

Cost

$15 Members
$20 Non-members
$10 Students
$5 Meeting only

Register Now!

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