Styles
Conference

Aaron Irizarry

DESIGNING A CULTURE OF DESIGN

Workplace culture doesn’t start with beanbags, foosball tables, or a beer fridge,
and it doesn’t end with neckties, PCs, or big corporations. It’s the unwritten rules,
behavior, beliefs, and the motivations that enable good work to get done, or it’s
what stifles a workforce. For design to be most effective and for designers to feel
valued, we need to work in a culture that embraces design and allows it to
succeed.

In Aaron’s session he will explore how to recognize the traits of organizations that *get*
design, both large and small. He will share what those teams, departments,
and companies have that others don’t, and more importantly, how to begin to
change your own workplace’s culture. Once you’ve worked within a culture of
design it’s almost impossible to imagine yourself anywhere else.

ABOUT AARON

Aaron Irizarry is a Senior Product Designer for Nasdaq OMX, a lover of heavy
metal, a foodie, and a master of BBQ arts. You can find some of his thoughts and
presentations on the conversation surrounding design over at
discussingdesign.com.

@aaroni thisisaaronslife.com

Adam Connor

LIGHTS! CAMERA! INTERACTION! DESIGN INSPIRATION FROM
FILMMAKERS

Films succeed in evoking responses and engaging audiences only with a
combination of well-written narrative and effective storytelling technique. It’s the
filmmaker’s job to put this together. To do so they’ve developed processes, tools
and techniques that allow them to focus attention, emphasize information,
foreshadow and produce the many elements that together comprise a well-told
story.

With this workshop, we’ll revisit the topic of using stories in design and expand on
the technical aspects used in film to communicate. We’ll look at some tools used in
film, such as cinematic patterns, beat sheets, and storyboards. We’ll consider why
they’re used and how we might look to them for inspiration.

ABOUT ADAM

Adam Connor is a designer, illustrator and speaker passionate about collaboration,
communication, creativity and storytelling. As an Experience Design Director
with Mad*Pow, Adam combines 10+ years of experience in interaction and experience
design with a background in computer science, film, and animation to create
effective and easy-to-use digital products and services. He believes that no matter
how utilitarian a tool is, at the core of its creation lies a story; uncovering that story
is key to its success. Occasionally, he shares his perspectives on design at
adamconnor.com discussingdesign.com.

@adamconnor adamconnor.com

AJ Self

(YOU SHOULD BE) TESTING YOUR JAVASCRIPT

JavaScript applications frequently utilize battle-tested libraries like jQuery,
AngularJS, Backbone.js and more, but how can we be sure that our code is ready
for production? This talk will share tips on how writing tests can be written easily
and quickly and how to remove buggy code through testing.

ABOUT AJ

AJ is a software engineer specializing in JavaScript working at Belly in Chicago.
Lately he has been writing applications with AngularJS and loving it. When not
coding he is out loving the outdoors with his dog, Sunshine.

@ajself ajself.com

Arman Ghosh

DESIGNING DEALS: HOW GOOD DESIGN DRIVES SALES

Perception influences decisions, especially when it comes to selling products and
services. Learn why before you even start sales conversations; good, thoughtful
design and presentation will define you and your ability to close deals.

ABOUT ARMAN

Arman is an entrepreneur who has his roots planted in building aggressive sales
and revenue-generating teams. Having built out national sales and operations
teams in the B2B and consumer spaces, his focus has been driving aggressive
growth for technology-based companies. He has an extensive operating
background and has built a career disrupting sales processes and approaches with
companies doing the same in their respective technology spaces.

@armanghosh

Bermon Painter

DEATH TO WIREFRAMES: LONG LIVE RAPID PROTOTYPING

Static wireframes are a drag on the whole design process. Prototyping makes
things a little better by allowing you to stitch together static wireframes or mockups
while adding basic interactions. Rapid prototyping with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
is even better and faster; it increases collaboration and improves the iteration
process. Kill your wireframes. Long live rapid prototyping.

ABOUT BERMON

Bermon is the organizer of various community groups for user experience
designers and front-end developers, and the organizer of Blend Conference, a
three-day, multi-track event for user experience strategists, designers and
developers. He also leads the user experience team for Cardinal Solutions’
Charlotte office, where he consults with large enterprise clients on interesting
problems across user experience, design and front-end development.

@bermonpainter bermonpainter.com

Shay Howe

LESS IS MORE: HOW CONSTRAINTS CULTIVATE GROWTH

By setting constraints, we force ourselves to be more productive. They help
us make decisions, creating focus around the problem we are trying to solve. They
improve our consistency, which provides a better experience for our users. And
they help us grow, a valuable asset in times of innovation.

ABOUT SHAY

As a designer and front-end developer, Shay Howe has a passion for solving
problems while building creative and intuitive products. Shay specializes in product
design and interface development, specialties which he regularly writes and speaks
about.

@shayhowe shayhowe.com