Speaker Spotlight: Russ Unger (A Look Behind the Design Process)

Russ Unger is co-author of the book A Project Guide to UX Design for Peachpit Press (Voices That Matter) and is co-authoring a book on guerilla research methods with Todd Zaki Warfel due out in 2011. Russ is the Director of Experience Planning for Draftfcb, a large advertising/marketing agency in the Midwest. In addition, he currently serves as president of the Information Architecture Institute and was previously the director of events and marketing of the 2,000 member global organization. He is also an active volunteer and mentor within the IA Institute. Russ has been working on websites since 1993—when there was only Notepad to code with and Mosaic was the only browser around. That was when he found his interest in User Experience Design and Information Architecture began to flourish. Since then, he has worked with a variety of companies–from start-ups to everyday household brands–helping them infuse User Experience strategies and tactics into their designs. In his spare time, he is an author and editor for Boxes and Arrows, a well-known online User Experience Design magazine. Russ worked as the producer for the 2008 IDEA Conference, was the chair and curator of the 2009 IDEA Conference and is co-chair of the 2010 IDEA Conference. He has been a program reviewer for a variety of conferences and is an advisor for the 2010 IA Summit, as well as a curator for the Research track. Russ is a curator of the 2010 SXSW Interactive Conference, identifying content for the Information Architecture workshop section.

Session Talk: Behind the Kimono (A Look Behind the Design Process)

This presentation takes a detailed, behind-the-scenes look at their processes, including: research, IA/interaction design, wireframing/prototyping and visual design. Audience members will have an opportunity to see the various work product and processes of 4 designers—–each using different tools to tackle the same problem, from requirements to visual design.

Some Other Things About Russ Unger

Russ told me that he continues to support his book release by attending UX Book Clubs across the world–both in-person and via video / audio discussions. Funny thing is Russ does so much that I did not think he had any spare time. A special thanks to Russ for all that he does with his daily work and spare time.