10. Connie Malamed: Visual and Information Design: Do it Like a Pro! workshop (May 30, 2013)

Visual and Information Design: Do it Like a Pro!

1:00 pm - 5:00 pm EDT - Workshop

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

Detailed Outline

Are you confident about how appealing your visual communication and design skills are? Is your creativity hiding somewhere inside? Then get unstuck and liberate your inner designer at this workshop.

In this session, you’ll review the basic principles of visual communication and design so you can feel knowledgeable when you select, create, and evaluate graphics to use for learning and information purposes.

You’ll learn how to optimize visuals so they are compelling as well as effective. Through presentation, activities, and discussion, you’ll learn both the principles of visual design and how to discriminate between effective and ineffective graphics.

Topics will include:

• Visual grammar

• Selecting fonts

• Choosing a color palette

• Layout

• Design principles (contrast, repetition, alignment, proximity)

• Building a visual hierarchy

• Directing the eye

• Making the abstract concrete

Hands-on workshop: Bring your laptop with Microsoft PowerPoint installed. There will be power sockets available for you to charge up your laptops.

Intended audience: Technical writers, learning professionals, presenters, documentation managers, project managers

Designing and Writing Mobile Apps for Performance Support

5:30 pm - 6:30 pm EDT - Networking/Refreshments

6:30 pm - 8:00 pm - Presentation

MEETING DESCRIPTION

As the trend toward mobile performance support grows, it's difficult to know where to begin.

Although technical writers and learning professionals can play an important role in the development process, the design considerations are difficult to sort out. Designers and writers need information on how people actually use mobile phones, how to represent screen organization and flow designs to programmers and the technical aspects to consider.

Topics:

• • First considerations when designing an app

  • Designing for gestures

  • How to write use-case scenarios for your app

  • How to wireframe your app

  • Pros and Cons of native, web-based or hybrid apps

  • Designing for iPhone versus Android

  • Where to find important resources for app design

This session will sort through the disparate information on designing mobile performance support apps and explain many of the inherent design issues. You’ll get the scoop on the differences in designing for iPhone and Android and whether it’s best to go native or web-based for your application.

You will also find out about low-cost resources, such as where to find pre-made icons for mobile apps and wireframing tools.