Over 40 people attended last week’s UPANZ meeting about prototyping tools for web design, reflecting the high degree of interest in the topic.
Six speakers covered a wide range of tools and techniques for making the most of them.
Mary Sue Severn from Effacy talked about the application simulation software her company is developing here in Wellington: Simplar Studio. Here’s Mary Sue’s presentation: mary-sue-severn-simplar-studio.pdf
Tim Norton from Plan HQ talked about Adobe Flash; specifically how he and his team use it to rapidly design and prototype new interfaces for their business planning web application. Here’s Tim’s presentation: tim-norton-adobe-flash.doc
Isha Hartono from Provoke talked about his team’s evaluation of Microsoft Expression Suite - a range of new tools from Microsoft that are based on Windows Presentation Format. For more information on Microsoft Expression Suite, visit: http://www.microsoft.com/expression/
Phil Cockfield from Quest Software followed up Isha’s presentation with a more comprehensive overview of the Windows Presentation Format, and his thoughts on the direction Microsoft was headed with it, and how interaction designers could use it to work more effectively with development teams.
Nicole Kaufmann from Optimal Usability talked about Axure, a tool that allows designers to create wireframes, flow diagrams, prototypes and specifications for applications and web sites. Here’s Nicole’s presentation: nicola-kraufmann-axure.doc
Finally, Dave O’Brien from Optimal Usability talked about Microsoft Visio, a popular diagramming tool that is useful for creating wireframes and basic prototypes. Here’s Dave’s presentation: dave-obrien-microsoft-visio.pdf
All in all a great event - one of the most popular meetings we’ve run for some time. If you attended, and have questions for any of the presenters, please feel free to contact them directly.
Next month’s meeting is on the 1st of May at Statistics New Zealand 12 – 1:30pm.
