Whether you are a designer, developer or you have an amazing idea for a startup, you'll benefit by learning how to strategize design, organize information, conduct product tests, apply lean startup methodologies, prototype, build easy-to-use products and more!

Learn it all from Nick Myers (Cooper), Jennifer McCormick (500 Startups), Jonathan Smiley (Co-founder of Zurb), Megan ORorke (General Assembly) and Mary Lukanuski (Blurb.com).

Schedule of Presentations

9:00-9:10am
Introduction

9:10-9:50am 
"The Elements of Product Success"
Nick Myers, Managing Director of Visual Design and Branding at Cooper

All software, whether it's for consumers or workers, needs to meet the ever growing demands people have in today’s world. Greater user expectations and influence are forcing companies to create and deliver better products, but not every organization has a rich heritage in software creation like tech giants Apple and Google.

Most companies need to be more customer-focused, become design specialists, and transform their cultures as they shift to become both software makers and innovators. Myers, a 16 year specialist in design and head of design services at Cooper, will share the elements of product success that companies need to possess and be market leaders: user insight, design, and organization. Myers will share principles and techniques that successful innovative companies use to truly understand their customers. He’ll also discuss the methods effective designers use to support their customers and create breakthrough ideas and delightful experiences. And he’ll finish by sharing the magic formula organizations need to deliver ground-breaking experiences to market.


10:00-10:40am
"UX Toolkit: Rapid Design & Prototyping"
Megan O'Rorke, UX Researcher and Teacher at General Assembly

Continuously maintaining leadership in a market is like a game of thrones. Megan will discuss techniques and tools from her experience at Sony and start ups to identify blind spots, false trails and keep the team focused on delivering valuable solutions.   

10:50-11:40am
"Everyone Sucks at Feedback"
Jonathan Smiley, Partner and Design Lead at Zurb

Getting feedback can be awful, but it’s necessary for great design work. When given and asked for correctly, it can be awesome. Feedback helps you iterate on your process so you can design great products faster, hone in on specific interactions and push past roadblocks. In this talk, we delve into the strategies and tactics of soliciting great feedback, how to take it and discuss how to give valuable feedback to others.


11:40am-12:30pm 
Catered lunch


12:30-1:10pm
"Lean UX: Create Experiences Not Deliverables"
Mary Lukanuski, Director of User Experience at Blurb.com

Step away from the waterfall cycle of design deliverables and into creating products. Mary will present the fundamentals of Lean UX: What it is and what it isn't. How to create successful products by creating a cross functional team, a cycle of think/make/check and maintain the big picture vision.


1:20-2:00pm
"User Research To-Go (Mobile)"
Jennifer Mccormick, Founder of User Lens & UX Mentor at 500 Startups

A practical framework and ideas for integrating user research into any stage of the mobile app development process.

2:00-5:00pm
Startup Usability Testing (1 spot available) 
Each startup will have one expert mentor and usability testers to take turns providing feedback on a web or mobile app. Thank you Gigwalk for sponsoring this portion of the event! 

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Learn About the Speakers

Jonathan Smiley, Partner and Design Lead at Zurb

Jonathan Smiley is a partner and design lead at Zurb, an interactive design agency in the Silicon Valley. He is responsible for many aspects of client projects including strategy, prototyping, design and implementation.

Jonathan's developed Foundation, an open-source front-end framework. He spends his days working on application design and marketing web sites, focusing on all sides of design. A geek for life, when he's not working on the Web he's probably on his Xbox or hanging out with his wife and daughter.


Nick Myers, Managing Director of Visual Design & Branding at Cooper

Nick Myers is managing director of visual design & branding at Cooper where he directs teams to design experiences across a variety of digital products and services. He helps companies craft interfaces and brands that are both unique and engaging, yet authentic and useful. He has lead the design of many digital visual systems and worked on the design of personalized health predication, mobile EMRs, tablet news reading, portfolio and wealth management, in-home patient care, 3D home redecoration, photo sharing, mobile outsourcing of tasks, virtualization, medical informatics, geological exploration, street parking and the smarter city, and even check fraud. He is an instructor for Cooper U and Rock Health and writes for the Cooper Journal. You can follow him on Twitter @nickmyer5.
 

Jennifer McCormick, Founder of User Lens and Mentor at 500 Startups, Founder and Principal Researcher of User Lens, Inc.

Jennifer McCormick is the Founder of User Lens, Inc., a San Francisco- based consultancy specializing in user experience research and consumer insights. She has over a decade of experience pioneering research and user-centered design methods at companies like Microsoft, Logitech, and Amazon, as well as various Silicon Valley startups.
 

Megan ORorke, Product Researcher, Senior UX Designer
Designer in Resident at General Assembly

Megan ORorke leads product research, design and QA at a new mobile app startup in San Francisco and mentors future designers as Designer in Resident at General Assembly.

Megan has a degree in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and scrappiness. From researching using computer vision to help doctors diagnose patients to product research since 2006 she’s used her knowledge of how people and technology work to help us connect and live better lives. In 2012 she worked for Sony where presidents, VPs and managers at Sony used the qualitative and quantitative research programs she ran to break profit records and increase product market fit for Sony's e-commerce website store.sony.com. Her expertise, research and UI designs fueled global projects that impacted Sony's mobile, video, web and physical products.

She helped organize several UX events in San Diego over the past few years including the UX Speakeasy Conference www.uxsconf.com and the local ACM CHI chapter. Her long term goals are to work on projects that change the world while living in the Bay Area, New York or abroad.

Mary Lukanuski, Director of User Experience at Blurb.com

Mary Lukanuski is a product strategist, researcher and designer with extensive experienced in the design, development and delivery of web and cross device applications.

Skilled in project and product management Mary has managing cross functional and international teams from product concept to launch. She has an astute understanding of creative, social, commercial and technical challenges to address user needs and market demands.

Her skill set includes Cross Device consumer based applications, globalized web and mobile applications, enterprise web and mobile applications, agile UX development and lean UX development.

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*Tickets are non-refundable but transferrable to a future CASCADE SF event. 

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Want to make some extra cash at UX Day? 

We are hiring usability testers to provide interface feedback on various local startup mobile and web apps. All levels of experience are welcome!

Thanks to our sponsor, Gigwalk, usability testers will be paid $40 per person from 2:45pm-5:00pm on the day of the event. You must apply and get accepted in advance. 

To participate:
1. Download the Gigwalk app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Locate gigs in San Francisco near AT&T park at 180 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA.
3. The title will say: "Get paid to test web and mobile apps at UX Day."
4. Click Apply.

Stefan Aronsen
Art Director
at SF Intercom Sasha Willins
UI/UX Designer & Illustrator Consultant
Will Dzierson
Design Lead at Gigwalk, Former Googler
 

Walter Koning
Information Architect & Developer Jennifer McCormick
Founder of User Lens & Mentor at 500 Startups Jonathan Hull
UX Consultant & Founding member of Hacker Dojo Megan ORorke
UX Researcher & Teacher at General Assembly

Andi Galpern
UI/UX &
Front-End Dev. Consulant
  Yuko Takahashi
Senior UX Designer at
Say Media
  Alina Senderzon
Design Lead
at Zurb
  Jackie Ngo
Senior Designer at Zurb
 

Brian Sherman
Design Manager at Ebates Performance Marketing Vivian Mak
Design Lead at Maybe, Inc.  Jeff Axup
Founder & UX Strategist at Murmr LLC
 Loren Heiman
UX Designer at Momentum Design Lab