Come and learn how the Bank of New Zealand and Trade Me have introduced usability into their organisations!

As part of World Usability Day, we would like to encourage you to bring your boss, colleagues and friends along to our next UPA meeting and celebration on Tuesday 14th November.

This will be a great networking opportunity and experts will be on hand to answer any questions you and your guests may have about usability and user-centred design. We are thrilled to have the following special speakers.

Shona Bishop – Bank of New Zealand

Shona is the GM of Marketing & Business Development at BNZ and has been instrumental in introducing user-centred design processes to the BNZ. Shona has recently returned from Creative Good’s Customer Experience Council in San Francisco. She will talk about developing a comprehensive customer experience discipline and the importance of a robust usability methodology within this wider context.
The Customer Experience Council, organised by Mark Hurst of Creative Good , is a leadership organization of executives at non-competing players across a range of industries, including retail, media and entertainment, financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, travel, automotive, and professional services.

Natasha Hall – Trade Me. Natasha will be talking about Usability – Trade Me Style.

With over 2.5 million unique visitors each month, Trade Me has a large number of users to cater for. Natasha spends her days conducting usability sessions with a wide range of Trade Me users, identifying common problems and behavioural oddities. She will share some of what she’s learnt along the way.
Natasha has had her hand in the web pie for over 6 years: a dollop of design + development, a handful of content editing and usability and accessibility analysis, and a pinch of training and project management thrown in. She’s also one of the key instigators behind Webstock .

When & Where:

• RSVP: Please RSVP to auckland[at]upa.org.nz so that we can order enough food & drin
• 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. If you arrive after 6.30 pm, please phone Mark McLay on 029 222 00 16 to get access to the elevators.

But wait, there’s more….

We will also have a 3D photo exhibit of good and poor usability experiences from our MakingLifeEasy.org adventures. Read on…

MakingLifeEasy.Org & Red Balloons in the Streets of Auckland

One of the great initiatives of this year’s World Usability Day is the little big project called MakingLifeEasy.org

Here’s the idea:Confusing cash machines, parking meters, unclear signs, frustrating websites - poor usability is everywhere and it gets in the way of life. Sometimes it is just annoying. At other times it stops us doing what we need to do. Sometimes it can even be dangerous. On World Usability Day (and in the lead up), we will be going out on the streets of Auckland to document some of the worst offenders and the best examples of usability and user experience.

As we come across examples of good and bad design, we will tie our balloons to them, photograph them and post them to the Making Life Easy website to ensure that the statements continue to be made long after the balloons disappear.

World Usability Day and Making Life Easy are initiatives to let people know that they shouldn’t be putting up with average or bad design and poor usability. If they’ve ever asked themselves “Why doesn’t this work right? What am I supposed to do with this now?””, they should know that they are not alone. Come and join us in this initiative!

We’d LOVE you to get involved.

Here’s how:

1. Join us! We’ll be heading out from Vulcan Lane at 12pm on Tuesday 14th November for a lunchtime ‘urban safari’. You won’t miss us: we’ll be the ones with the red balloons. Contact justine[at]userfaction.com to register your interest.
   This is a wonderful opportunity to raise awareness about usability in our everyday lives – AND a great team exercise for any development team – highlighting that poor design is all around us, but that good design principles are easy to apply… Check out Flow’s (the initiators of this project) experience…
2. Help get more people involved! If you have a blog, point them to the MakingLifeEasy.org website. If you have a Flickr account, come join our group and invite all your friends!
3. If you can’t join us on the day, feel free to share your examples of the best and the worst of usability where you live (or visit or holiday!). Add photos to the Flickr group or drop us an email and we’ll add your submission to the website and potentially to the Hall of Fame or Shame.
4. Cast your vote! Take a look at the MakingLifeEasy.org website and have your say in what *really* drives you crazy and what you really love.

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,
Justine Sanderson
World Usability Day coordinator