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How to Make Happy Patrons: A Talk for the Canadian Library Association

Photo of Library Sign

Photo of Library Sign

On September 10, I spoke to Canadian Library Association on the science behind making good user experiences for libraries. Despite a couple of technical glitches, it was a fun talk and a great group. I’ve never spoken while sitting on stage with my legs hanging off before, but I quite liked it; it made the talk more personal and less formal. Here’s the slide deck I presented. Unlike the slides my audience saw, these are not green 😉

How to Make Happy Patrons: The Science Behind Good User Experiences with Libraries from Hilary Little
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CodeFest 2013 Keynote

I’ll be giving a keynote address at the Web Experience Toolkit CodeFest 2013 on Friday, August 9th at The University of Ottawa. The topic is Making Happy Users: The Science Behind Good User Experiences.

Making Happy Users: The Science Behind Good User Experience

The Web Experience Toolkit community invites Web coders, designers, accessibility and usability professionals, technical writers and anyone else interested in contributing to the development of version 4 of the Web Experience Toolkit to join us.

CodeFest 2013 will include activities for everyone, including:

  • keynote presentations,
  • code sprints,
  • breakout sessions,
  • a design jam, and
  • various regional satellite events.

This is a free, open, collaborative event for public servants, members of the Web Experience Toolkit community and interested persons and organizations.

The event looks like it will be a ton of fun. Come on down and join us!

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Client Resources

Image of rocket ship

Get your website off to the right start.

Here’s a list of resources that I personally use and recommend to my clients. Some of these will give you a discount. Let me know if you try any of them, and what you think!

Web Hosting:

foot-logo-hostgator

HostGator is the website and WordPress host I recommend to my clients… and I’ve got a discount for you! Go to HostGator.com and save 25% on hosting with coupon code HilaryLittleID.

Website Design and Development:

WordPress
WordPress. It goes without saying that I am a huge fan of WordPress, the world’s most popular content management system platform. It’s free.

Themeforest

Themeforest is an excellent place to buy website templates and WordPress themes. It’s the largest marketplace of its kind.

Stock Photography:

iStockphoto. Sign up with iStockphoto and get access to a great library of millions of affordable, unique, royalty free images, stock photos, vector art illustations, stock music tracks, flash & video footage. My clients and friends get a bonus: 10 free photos for signing up.

Shutterstock is another great stock images seller. A wide selection of photos, video footage and vectors are available.

File Backup and Sharing:

Dropbox

Dropbox is indispensable for file backup and cloud storage. I use it to share client files and to save automated backups of WordPress sites. It’s free.

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UCD Girl Saved the World with User-Centred Design

Picture of UCD Girl
UCD Girl - Protecting the World From Bad Design

 

I spoke last night at a Girl Geeks Ottawa dinner, had a blast and met all sorts of interesting and fun gals. The organizers did a top-notch job and the venue and food at Grounded Ottawa was great. Thank you so much for inviting me to talk about User-Centred Design (UCD).

Below you can see the presentation I gave. In it, I introduce our superhero, UCD Girl, who works tirelessly to save the world from bad design. Then we met Dave, her archenemy, who, despite good intentions, is known as Bad Design Dude.

Can she save him – and us – from the dark side?

As the epic battle between good and bad design plays out, you’ll learn the benefits of treating early designs as hypotheses that must be tested for usability with end users.

You’ll learn that design is inextricably linked to business value, and you’ll see some compelling examples of how this method saves companies big bucks.

Saving the World With User Centred Design by Hilary Little

View more presentations from Hilary Little
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A Non-Designers Guide to Typefaces and Layout

Whether you realize it or not, you’re designing every day. It might be a simple document, an updated resume, or a presentation, but either way you’re making design choices, in particular about typefaces and layout. These decisions can have a significant impact that makes your work more compelling, or they can turn it into a boring, lifeless turd. Here’s how you can use a few simple design principles to quickly improve the way you use type and layout in your everyday work.

Read the whole article at Lifehacker: A Non-Designers Guide to Typefaces and Layout.

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Girl Geek Dinners Ottawa: “Saving the World with User-Centred Design” April 25

Girl Geeks Dinner Logo

I’ll be speaking at Girl Geek Dinners Ottawa on April 25, 2012.

Imagine a world where critical user interfaces like those for emergency room tools, aircraft cockpits and nuclear reactor controls have been designed based on best guesses. These interfaces have never been tested with real doctors, pilots and nuclear control system operators. They are being made from a single and detached perspective that does not focus on how people actually interact with technology.

In this day and age, that world seems hard to imagine, but the truth is that this top-down approach to designing products and services has been leading the way for decades. Designs of all kinds have been built without a deep understanding of the end user: their wants, limitations, needs and experiences. And at what cost? Fortunately, the gap between producer and user is shrinking as businesses embrace a better system of evidence-based design. The leading method for doing this known as user-centred design.

Over good food and drinks, guest speaker Hilary Little will help us geeks better understand user-centred design and will take from her own experiences of using this method to maximize business value. She will explain the benefits of treating early designs as hypotheses that need to be tested for usability with end users. She will discuss design as it is linked to business goals, and will provide an example of how this method saves companies big bucks.

Register now!

The hashtag for these events is: #ggdottawa

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Website design and redesign

There are many benefits to establishing an attractive and engaging web presence for your business.

  • Your business information is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
  • Customers, partners and investors can easily and quickly find information about your business, products and services
  • Your business increases credibility and customer trust with a professional online presence
  • Your services are promoted to new markets and a global audience
  • Your website can generate valuable leads
  • Your business can connect and grow by engaging with customers or clients though social media

I believe in making my clients as self-sufficient as possible, so I typically recommend building even standard websites using a content management system (CMS) like WordPress or Blogger. This way even the most non-technical person can update website content comfortably. This is good for business, because it make you less dependant on me and more likely to keep your web content fresh and up to date.

Contact me now to discuss how custom website design, inexpensive “out of the box” design, or WordPress website design can help your business.