Sessions at SXSW Interactive 2011 about User Experience and Mobile

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Friday 11th March 2011

• App, Shmapp, Tell Me What Works Across Platforms!

  by Aaron Forth

  The mobile market is flooded with fun, useful and engaging applications. These apps are
  becoming increasingly important to a company’s success but many companies are simply
  recreating their product for mobile without giving adequate consideration to the differences in
  mobile and Web based usage patterns. Additionally, specific benefits that the Apple, Android or
  BlackBerry platforms offer are commonly not fully leveraged.

  During this session, Aaron Forth, director of product design at Intuit’s Mint.com, will discuss
  how companies can analyze customer usage patterns to develop the best possible mobile
  application and mold the app to harness the advantages of each platform.

  LEVEL: Advanced

  • Mobile
  • Product Design
  • User Experience

  At 3:30pm to 4:30pm, Friday 11th March

  In Salon H, Hilton Austin Downtown

  Coverage liveblog

Saturday 12th March 2011

• iPad Design Headaches (Take 2 Tablets, Call Me in the Morning)

  by Josh Clark

  The iPad and its entourage of Android tablets have introduced a new style of computing, confronting designers with unfamiliar aches and pains. Learn the symptoms (and fixes) for a range of new-to-the-world iPad interface ailments, including Greedy Pixel Syndrome, the dreaded Frankeninterface, and the "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" bait and switch. Explore practical techniques and eye-opening gotchas of tablet interface design, all grounded in the ergonomics, context, psychology, and nascent culture of these new devices (both iOS and Android). The presentation inoculates you against common problems with close-up looks at successful iPad apps from early sketches to final design. Genial bedside manner is administered by Josh Clark, author of the O'Reilly books "Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps" and "Best iPhone Apps: A Guide for Discriminating Downloaders."

  LEVEL: Advanced

  • Design
  • iPad
  • Mobile
  • Tablets
  • User Experience

  At 9:30am to 10:30am, Saturday 12th March

  In Salon J, Hilton Austin Downtown

  Coverage write-up note write-up liveblog slide deck write-up write-up write-up photo sketch note

• Josh Clark: Tapworthy Book Signing

  by Josh Clark

  Josh Clark will be stopping by the SX Bookstore to meet registrants and sign copies of his latest book, "Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps."

  • iPhone
  • Mobile
  • Mobile Apps
  • Mobile Design
  • User Experience

  At 11:10am to 11:25am, Saturday 12th March

  In Ballroom D Foyer, Austin Convention Center

Monday 14th March 2011

• Interactive Patterns in the Mobile Space

  by Barbara Ballard

  This panel will discuss how companies can create best mobile mobile user interfaces, avoiding many of the pitfalls of poor design. Mobile user interfaces are not just squished down to fit the small screen, but require an understanding and application of technologies, users, and contexts of use to create the best possible interaction. Core principles for designing mobile interfaces will be discussed, as well as design patterns for use in mobile web sites and applications.

  LEVEL: Intermediate

  • Interaction Design
  • Mobile
  • User Experience
  • User Interface

  At 5:00pm to 5:15pm, Monday 14th March

  In Ballroom E, Austin Convention Center

• User Experience and Cross Platform App Development

  by Carlo Longino

  Developing across different mobile platforms has long been a pain point for mobile developers, but what about designing for the same apps and services to run across multiple types of device form factors? New form factors don't just offer bigger screens or keyboards over mobile phones; users also interact differently with them.

  The most prevalent example of this is with iPhone apps moving to the iPad: creating a app for the tablet isn't simply about adapting it to a bigger screen, but utilizing the differences in hardware to offer users a better experience. This scenario is just the tip of the iceberg, though: Android is making its way into all types of devices, like Google TV, which will allow developers to create apps for both phones and televisions. GPS maker TomTom has announced that its future devices will run a version of WebKit and support third-party apps. Nokia's Terminal Mode and Continental's AutolinQ projects look to extend the app experience into automobiles.

  This panel seeks to build a high-level understanding of what successful cross-form-factor development entails, beyond simply adapting content for different display types. Attendees will learn best practices -- and educational failures! -- from leading designers and developers, and how they can incorporate emerging form factors into their apps and services to create an enhanced user experience.

  LEVEL: Intermediate

  • Cross-Platform Development
  • iOS
  • Mobile
  • Mobile Apps
  • User Experience

  At 5:15pm to 5:30pm, Monday 14th March

  In Ballroom E, Austin Convention Center

  Coverage slide deck

Tuesday 15th March 2011

• Checkin 2 Checkout: Mobile Audience Engagement in 2011

  by Tom Limongello, Alexa Andrzejewski, Boris Bogatin, Chidi Afulezi and Jake Mintz

  In an extension of the Clay Shirky, Here Comes Everybody, logic, now that background processing is possible on iPhones and iPads as well as Androids, the possibility of having a global audience on alert is possible via mobile devices on Android and iOS. What are the new possibilities that news and entertainment providers have to keep an audience engaged with the next LeBron moment? What will democratization of events look like in terms of the mobile UX, and how important will private events be in relation to public events now that the barrier to communicating to EVERYONE in any time zone at any time will come crashing down?

  • Mobile
  • User Experience

  At 9:30am to 10:30am, Tuesday 15th March

  In TX Ballroom 5-7, Hyatt Regency Austin