Faced with an industry-wide talent drought, HUGE took drastic measures to snare new prospects for our UX department. The solution? One summer, 10 Trainees from around the globe, and some good ol’ UX Fundamentals. If we can't find people, we will create them. This presentation covers how we built an unprecedented school to teach trainees the basics of interaction design and the way HUGE approaches challenges of all kinds. It includes how we designed the program: what’s in the curriculum (and what’s not), other aspects of the training experience, and how we worked the best minds at HUGE into the mix.
Presented at Internet Week in London 2011.
4. About us.
We help companies build
digitally-driven businesses.
Our stats.
£7.8 billion per year.
150 million people per month.
5. How we’re structured.
Founded in 1999.
Leading full-service digital agency within Interpublic.
400 employees across all interactive disciplines.
London.
Brooklyn.
Los Angeles.
Rio de Janeiro.
6. Disciplines.
Research & Analytics. Creative.
Focus Groups & Surveys Visual
Ethnography & Audience Research Motion
Usability Studies & Listening Labs Digital Branding
Website, Social and Campaign Analytics Mobile, Emerging & In-Store Digital
Dashboard and Reporting Tool Development Asset Development (copywriting, video)
Strategy & Planning. Technology.
Brand Planning & Marketing Technical Leadership / Architecture
Product Strategy User Interface Development
Business Consulting Mobile and Emerging Platforms
Communications Planning Social Platforms
Search Strategy (SEO, SEM) Rapid and Enterprise Development
Discipline Specialists (e.g CRM, mobile) Quality Assurance and Deployment
User experience. Social engagement.
Content Strategy Social Strategy
Information Architecture Social Media Management
Interaction Design Blogger and Influencer Outreach
Product Design Editorial Development & Management
33. How we designed the school.
1. Defined our goals and vision
2. Recruited at lots of universities around the world
3. Conducted internal interviews across departments
4. UX leadership shared & discussed our core deliverables
5. Created curriculum and work-shopped exercises
6. Assigned teachers from all departments
7. Created raw lessons then finalized lessons with teachers
8. Assigned UX mentors & managers
33.
35. We got here by
ditching our egos, observing
users, reframing the problem,
thinking holistically, taking risks,
working together, pushing the
work, caring about details,
iterating, iterating, iterating.
And by failing & learning from it.
44. The curriculum
Intro.
First 2 weeks Focused intensives on
scenarios, structure, wireframes.
Next 8 weeks Projects.
Additional skills and special topics.
Last 2 weeks. Client work.
Final presentation & evaluation.
(plus fun activities sprinkled throughout)
44.
46. Scenarios.
• Anatomy of a digital experience: User, user goals,
business goals, entry and exit points, common user flows
• Deep dive into scenarios: what they accomplish, how-to,
conceptual & concrete examples
• Practice Exercise: write a scenario for a short story
• Practice Project: Scenarios for NYC visit
46.
47. Structure.
• Basics of digital structure: anatomy, common types of
structures, what structure is
• Deep dive into structures: types of structure diagrams,
how to create a structure and what to consider
• Practice Exercise: conceptual model of your
Facebook friends
• Practice Project: Structure for NYC visit
47.
48. Wireframes.
• Basics of a web page: anatomy, critical page types
• Deep dive into wireframes: what they are, types, how
we make them, how we design, other considerations
• Practice Exercises: deconstruct some common page
types, sketch à critique à wireframe
• Practice Project: Sketches and wireframes for NYC visit
48.
51. 2 projects, 2 teams, 1 love.
• Full project from upfront research to strategic definition to
post-usability test wireframes
• Included: project plan, client meetings, road bumps, no-
holds-barred criticisms, and full-on presentations
• Final presentation to entire UX team.
51.
52. Early stage deliverables.
User research. Stakeholder interviews. Analysis.
Personas. Strategic vision. Design concepts.
52.
53. Bread and butter ID work.
Feature prioritization. Roadmap. Content strategy.
User scenarios. Structure. Wireframes.
53.
54. Each project is different so
we have no rules about process.
Just make the work great.
56. Support & Culture.
• Each trainee had a mentor & a separate manager
• They had a mid-point review and final review including peer
& manager input
• They joined ongoing HUGE activities: UX team meetings,
HUGE talks, company meetings, open crit, company BBQ
56.
61. 5 questions they now ask themselves:
1. What’s the fucking point?
2. Does it build on the vision?
3. Is it simple and elegant?
4. Will users know what to do?
5. Is every bit necessary?
62. 5 questions they now ask themselves:
1. What’s the fucking point?
2. Does it build on the vision?
3. Is it simple and elegant?
4. Will users know what to do?
5. Is every bit necessary?
63. 5 questions they now ask themselves:
1. What’s the fucking point?
2. Does it build on the vision?
3. Is it simple and elegant?
4. Will users know what to do?
5. Is every bit necessary?
64. 5 questions they now ask themselves:
1. What’s the fucking point?
2. Does it build on the vision?
3. Is it simple and elegant?
4. Will users know what to do?
5. Is every bit necessary?
65. 5 questions they now ask themselves:
1. What’s the fucking point?
2. Does it build on the vision?
3. Is it simple and elegant?
4. Will users know what to do?
5. Is every bit necessary?