Michael Hawley

Chief Design Officer, Mad*Pow

Main Conference: Research and Design Methods

Does your organization have a plan to infuse user research into the design process? Do you struggle converting research into actual designs? Do you have trouble coming to consensus around design decisions and avoiding churn?

We will share our secrets with you on the best methods for generating extraordinary ideas and design concepts, based on research and a deep understanding of the patient (or customer) journey.

Workshop: Research-Inspired Design Studio

This workshop will provide an overview of our preferred research methods and when to use them. In addition we will cover the making of a journey map to illustrate key interactions. With a shared understanding of the audience and design challenge, we will then break into groups to generate design concepts through a Design Studio activity.

Participants will sketch and present their ideas for solutions, critique and discuss with their teams and iterate their concepts to make improvements. The end-result of a Design Studio is a much deeper understanding of the design challenges at hand, and concepts created out of consensus from all involved.

Professional drawing/illustration skills are not required, but you must be willing to participate and draw basic shapes (we can help!)

You will leave with the tools and framework to facilitate a design studio yourself. Join us!

Bio

As the leader of Mad*Pow's user experience team, Michael leverages 15 years experience in the software industry and expertise in user experience research and usability design to deliver value to clients such as Fidelity, Autodesk and Monster.

Prior to Mad*Pow, Michael served as usability project manager for Staples, where he led customer-facing initiatives including e-commerce and Web sites, marketing communications, and print materials. In addition, Michael worked at Bentley College Design and Usability Center where he was responsible for planning, executing and analyzing user experience evaluations for corporate clients in health care, financial services and academia.

Michael holds his MS in Human Factors in Information Design from Bentley College McCallum Graduate School of Business, and a BA from the University of Michigan. He continues to explore trends within the UX discipline as a published columnist, with articles appearing in publications such as UXMatters, iMedia, TMCNet and CPWire.

When he’s not contributing to his Experience Design blog, Mike can be found climbing one of the mountains of New England with his growing family.