We’ll talk about learnings from the UPA conference in Austin, Texas this month including skills, trends and predictions for the future.

Miriam will also bring along the CD proceedings and a copy of the schedule to help you decide if you want to order a copy.

The UPA meetings cover a wide range of topics and we try to have something for those who are new and those with experience in usability. For a list of previous topics see http://www.upa.org.nz/category/auckland/

* RSVP: Please RSVP to auckland@upa.org.nz by 5pm Monday 25th June
* Time: 6pm onwards for drinks and nibbles.
* Talks start at 6.30pm. Finishes at approximately 8pm
* Cost: $10 cash at the door. Please bring correct change.
* Location: Bank of New Zealand, 3rd floor, 125 Queen Street, Auckland
* Late entry: Call Don Gibbons on 029 241 3804 if you have difficulty getting in or arrive after 6.30pm

Usability Professionals Association of New Zealand, Auckland cluster Auckland’s UPA meetings are usually held on the last Tuesday of each month.

Joining the UPA
This meeting is part of the Auckland cluster of the NZ Chapter of the Usability Professionals Association (UPA). Information about UPA can be found at: http://www.upassoc.org/ If you have attended 3 or more sessions we strongly encourage you to join the UPA as a professional member or student. UPA membership helps you build your skills in usability and will identify you as someone with usability interests and skills in the wider professional community. UPA membership is available from www.upassoc.org . Please bring your UPA membership number to our meeting if you have one.

We look forward to seeing you,
Miriam Walker 021484492
Auckland UPA coordinator and UPA New Zealand President

Ever wondered why so many usability professionals have studied psychology?

Dr Vanessa Lim from the University of Auckland’s Psychology Department is going to provide you with a psychology 101 level toolkit of knowledge about human memory, cognition and attention. During her talk we’re going to discuss how human vision, attention and memory work and how this knowledge can be applied to design of software and websites. Vanessa will also talk about experimental methods briefly, while recognising that few people in our industries conduct rigorous, tightly controlled experiments.

Continue reading ‘UPA Auckland 1st May - the human brain 101′

After the success of our Interactionary last session (thanks Peter) here is another session where you get to be part of the fun and learning.

We’re going to be testing a New Zealand e-commerce website and YOU (our lovely attendees) get to define tasks, watch the testing and identify usability issues.

Miriam Walker and Stephanie Creasy are going to be running the evening. Miriam is a usability consultant with Shift www.shift.co.nz and Steph http://www.lychee.co.nz/ is a very talented designer whose returning to the NZ job market after leading a team of designers in London and freelancing in New Zealand.

Continue reading ‘UPA Auckland 27th March - User testing extravaganza’

The first UPA Auckland event this year is going to be an Interactionary on March 6th.

Interactionary session

Imagine a cross between Theatre Sports and NZ Idol meets User Centred Design.

Want to play?

Form a team of 3-4 people before the night and RSVP your team name, team captain’s contact details and team members’ names to auckland@upa.org.nz before February 28th. Take the challenge of solving a design problem revealed on the night and design a solution in front of your peers in just ten minutes and scored by 3 guest judges.

Continue reading ‘UPA Auckland meeting March 6th - Interactionary’