1. 25 – 27 September 2014
highlights
by
Mariana Ivanova
and
Dimiter Simov (Jimmy) @dsimov

2. About EuroIA Brussels
10th edition
topics: information architecture, user
experience, usability, interaction design…
presenters: everybody has a chance
Manneken pis

3. The EuroIA experience
Peter Boersma @pboersma proposed to Birgit Geiberger @birgitgcom; she accepted

4. The Brussels experience
Jeanneke pis (girls pee as well)

5. Agenda
Summary, impressions and lessons learned
from workshops, keynotes and plenaries, and
some presentations
shown in no particular order
(Pictures from Brussels in the background. Again, in no particular order though the
authors tend to find some relation between a picture and the content of the slide
in which that picture appears.)
image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinneke_Pis#mediaviewer/File:Zinneke_pis.jpg (by Jarbe, Zinneke pis)
Brussels has (or had as a Russian newspaper reports it was stolen) a Zinneke pis as well (though the pee is not actually there)

6. workshop: High Intensity Presentation Workout
Dan Willis
http://www.euroia.org/workshop/dan-willis/
@uxcrank
http://www.dswillis.com/
“The presenter is neither a teacher nor a co-creator,
but a catalyst for people who will
create their own experience”
Dan Willis dances his talk
image source: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ByYKWPZIYAARqUS.jpg:large (by @vildosia)

7. Rehearsing makes you better, not necessarily
good
Anxiety presenters must manage
Watching and analyzing others present may
give you ideas
Learn to project your voice
Dancers at Grote Markt

8. Emotions help with retention – audience may
not remember what you said but will
remember how they felt
Metaphors help establish context
Ambiguity is bad – people will get lost and
disinterested
A real Austin (right-wheeled of course)

9. workshop: Simplicity in the details
Giles Colborne
http://www.euroia.org/workshop/giles-colborne/
@gilescolborne
http://www.cxpartners.co.uk/
http://www.simpleandusable.com/
“Simplicity is not a quality but experience…
how it feels to use is the ultimate measure of
simplicity”
Giles Colborne talking about counting clicks
image source: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ByclVwrIAAA2x-P.jpg:large (by @alexboamfa)

10. I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of
complexity, but I would give my life for the
simplicity on the other side of complexity
Oliver Wendell Holmes
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t
understand it well enough
Albert Einstein
Simplicity is not the answer
Donald Norman
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
Leonardo Da Vinci
A beautiful tree in the Botanical garden

11. Giles did not use this one. We find it relevant.
There is nothing more disenchanting to man
than to be shown the springs and mechanism
of any art. All our arts and occupations lie
wholly on the surface; it is on the surface that
we perceive their beauty, fitness, and
significance; and to pry below is to be
appalled by their emptiness and shocked by
the coarseness of the strings and pulleys.
Robert Louis Stevenson
The motley flee market (daily on Place du Jeu de Balle)

12. Experts and Mainstreamers differ in attitude
Experts Mainstreamers
focus on details focus on goals
perfection completion
precise control ease of control
principles examples, stories
take apart, explore afraid of breaking it
detailed mental model loose mental model
invest time learning what does RTFM mean?
An amazing antiques store across the street (next to Church of Notre-Dame de la Chapelle)

13. Yerkes-Dodson law
performance
correlates
to arousal (stress)
under a lot of
pressure
experts act like
mainstreamers
image source: slide 61 http://www.slideshare.net/cxpartners/advanced-simplicity-workshop-from-ux-london-giles-colborne
There are 52 bronze sculptures in the Botanical garden (sculpted between 1894 and 1898)

14. Efficiency is in the details
KLM GOMS method
Waiting time thresholds
Marginal gains
Object target sizes
…
Little Europe – the little excavator literally breaks the little Berlin Wall

17. 12.8
seconds

18. 17-18
seconds

21. workshop: DIY Service Design - the toolkit
Kristel Van Ael | Joannes Vandermeulen |
Koen Peters
http://www.euroia.org/workshop/kristel-van-ael/
http://www.servicedesigntoolkit.org/
http://www.slideshare.net...
@namahn
http://namahn.com/
“Service design is about finding the most
elegant way to help someone to do
something”
Developing a users' journey in the DIY service design workshop
image source: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ByiMEgiIQAAu_BN.jpg:large

22. 6 principles of service design
1. People at the center
2. Holistic: touch points | channels | time
3. Co-creation
4. Idea exploration from user requirements
5. Evidencing: visuals and mocks trigger
discussions
6. Testing with real users: frequent | early |
iterative
Atomium - an iron crystal magnified 165 billion times

23. 8 steps
1 to 4 understand the problem
• Framing
• User insights
• Personas
• Design scope
5 to 8 find solutions
• Ideation
• Service concept
• Prototype and test
• Feasibility
Self-playing organ at the Namahn office

24. Service Design compared to Design Thinking
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza at Place D'Espagne - Spanjeplein
Design Thinking
• Understand
• Observe
• Define point of view
• Ideate
• Prototype
• Test
Service Design
• Framing
• User insights
• Personas
• Design scope
• Ideation
• Service concept
• Prototype and test
• Feasibility

25. plenary: Designing for the Liminal
Jason Hobbs (the man who dreams in IA)
http://www.euroia.org/keynote_plenary/jason-hobbs/
@jhobbs_za
“Liminal space is a creative space. Information
Architecture can be used to make sense/use of
it.”
Developing a users' journey in the DIY service design workshop

26. We are in the midst of the info age, yet many
industries and institutions live in the
industrial age
Digital is the liminal space that runs across
Knowledge is the fundamental force of
competitive advantage
The customer is always a co-producer
Inside the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula

27. plenary: 6 things we still suck at + 4 lessons to
teach the kids
Abby Covert
http://www.euroia.org/...
@Abby_the_IA
http://abbytheia.com/2014/09/27/euroia/
“A talk about the ways in which information has
been architected since we first found the need to
start talking about information back in the
sixteenth century and why we are not good at it
yet.”
Developing a users' journey in the DIY service design workshop

28. XVIc: printed word - wide knowledge sharing
XVIIc: accurate cartography and dawn of
technical manuals
XVIIIc: predict on data - the Haley comet
XIXc: fast transport of information
XXc: workable information - info graphics
XXIc: ?
Statue of Gerard Mercator at Kleine Zavel / Le Petit Sablon

29. Today
A million weather apps and sites can tell you the
weather anywhere now
But how many of them are
• good
• thoughtful
• truly forms that inform
and how many are just
• nonsense
• ads with some data sprinkled on top
The Carillion clock on Mont des Arts (built for the 1958 World Fair, so was the Atomium)

30. the 6 things we still suck at
Being clear
Turning data to info
Classifying and labelling
Communicating rules and roles
Architecting across channels
Creating virtual places
A sign on the sidewalk

31. The 4 things to teach the kids
Information is subjective truth not thing |
content | data: info to one can be data to another
Define good for themselves, because patterns
alone are shackles on innovation
Language choices impact the things they make,
because words matter and tend to stick with us
Structure is a powerful tool of rhetoric,
regardless of the medium in which they work
One would hardly find a street called Stalingrad in the former socialist/communist countries

32. 2 talks on expert reviews and evaluations
A huge megaphone on Stalingrad street across the South station

33. Expert review of a website UX context
Tom Van de Zande
http://www.euroia.org/speaker/tom-van-de-zande/
@tomvdz
slides
collected 500+ guidelines, heuristics and
checklist items and devised a new framework
for expert evaluation with excellent
presentation radar chart
image source: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Byo8pBEIIAEg1Ux.jpg:large (by @NadiaNadienka)

34. image source: slide 47 http://image.slidesharecdn.com/expertreviewofawebsiteuserexperiencecontext...

35. Throw the heuristic evaluation away, and tell a
story instead
David Fiorito
http://www.euroia.org/...
@crosswiredmind
slides
“When people listen to a story, they react
neurologically as though they participate”

36. Context is interpreted through cultural
knowledge
The heuristics are still there; just don’t reveal
them to the audience
Emotions drive empathy, make connections,
and create understanding
Build a persona and tell a story around it

37. keynote: Designing for the digital
Kim Goodwin
http://www.euroia.org/keynote_plenary/kim-goodwin/
@kimgoodwin
http://www.slideshare.net/KimGoodwin/presentations
“Before you start any project first choose the
values and the key factors that will drive and
make easier any decision later”
Kim presenting

42. session: Service Design for an area
Sylvie Daumal
http://www.euroia.org/speaker/sylvie-daumal/
@Lyoko4TW
UX is everywhere.
An example of how a digital company improves
a messy business area in Paris
Colorful post boxes around

43. session: Using the core model 2014: content
against cancer
Ida Aalen
http://www.euroia.org/speaker/ida-aalen/
@idaaa
slides and resources
“Core page: where your users solve their task
and you reach your objectives”
Typical restaurant offering best clams

49. session: The messy middle simplicity via
complexity
Stew Dean
http://www.euroia.org/speaker/stewart-dean/
@stewdean
http://ux.stewdean.com/
thinking-in-systems-donella-meadows-chapters-1-to-3
“Celebrate complexity embrace the messy
middle”
Chocolate shop

54. Chocolate shop

55. Workshop: We’ve done all that research, now
what?
Steve Portigal
http://www.euroia.org/workshop/steve-portigal/
@steveportigal
slides
https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/interviewing-users/
“Whenever you start brainstorming and
generating ideas, think about different the
strategies first , because different company
strategy may inspire you for different
solutions”

68. workshop: Usable Usability
Eric Reiss
http://www.euroia.org/workshop/eric-reiss/
@elreiss
“Usability is situational and changes over time”
First meet up at the Bar offering even cactus-flavored beer

79. session: Design is invisible
Lutz Schmitt
http://www.euroia.org/speaker/lutz-schmitt/
@luxux
slides
“There is no final design or set of design rules.
design has to change with society. So design
not the object but the influence the object
has to the institution it belongs to.”
First meet up at the Bar offering even cactus-flavored beer

80. Many more… check these
www.euroia.org
http://seen.co/event/euroia-2014-brussels-belgium-
2014-7573
http://www.slideshare.net/search/slideshow?
searchfrom=header&q=euroia
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23euroia
Gothic style concrete blender truck

81. Au revoir Bruxelles!
Vaarwel Brussel!
image source: https://www.google.de/maps/place/Brussels...