Come out to rant, rave, engage and connect with fellow Interaction Design practitioners and people interested in Interaction Design. We meet up bi-monthly to network with each other and become inspired together.

Join us for a design jam session! We will start with a description of the design problem followed by work in small groups on design ideation and solution sketches. At the end, the small groups will present their ideas and sketches back to the rest of the meeting attendees.

This is a casual, non-sponsored workshop. Feel free to bring snacks or drinks for yourself or to share.

IxDA Portland is the local chapter of the Interaction Design Association: http://www.ixda.org/

IxDA Portland Presents An Evening of Improv - September 20, 2011

Join us for a spectacular evening of fun and daring improvisational games! This event is designed for creative professionals with an emphasis on spontaneous play and team-building exercises. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll learn practical tools and tips to boost creativity and productivity. Our three illustrious co-hosts have nearly 5 decades of combined improvisation and business consulting experience.

If you already have improv experience, you will love this event. If you have little or no improv experience, but are willing to jump in and take creative risks in a safe, fun and judgment-free environment, you will love this event. If you want to build your creative muscles and team effectiveness, or just let your hair down and have some fun, you will love this event. Come and join us!

Here's the format for the evening. We'll start with a brief introduction and demo session, and then jump right into an interactive session of shared play. The direction we take from there will be improvised, based on your preferences. We'll work in groups or pairs, with plenty of time for play, facilitator coaching, and dialogue. We'll finish with a debrief and Q&A at the end of the evening.

Our Illustrious Co-Hosts:

Shelley Darcy - On Your Feet, Super Project Lab

Shelley trained with The Groundlings in Los Angeles, and has been improvising and performing for 15 years. She is the Executive Director of Super Project Lab, an improv outreach program serving at-risk and underserved populations around Portland. Shelley is also a consultant with On Your Feet, a mini-multinational firm that uses improvisation and experiential techniques to teach companies to navigate growth, uncertainty and rapid change.

www.oyf.com http://www.superprojectlab.org/

Brad Fortier - Brody Theater, United Way, Interdisciplined

Brad Fortier has a Master's degree in anthropology, a passion for improvisation and education, and a pair of angel wings. Brad is the Community Speaker of the United Way Portland, Education Director at the Brody Theater, and has performed around the world. Brad wrote a fascinating book on the social science of ensemble improv called "Long-Form Improvisation: Collaboration, Comedy and Communion." He is also a consultant who performs ethnographic research, facilitates creative workshops, and teaches collaboration, communication and leadership. Brad uses smart words like "liminal" and "communitas" and still makes everyone feel like family.

http://bradfortier.com/ http://www.brodytheater.com/

Patricia Colley - Flow Interaction Design, Improvocateurs

Patricia Colley has studied improvisation in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, and Baltimore, and has been a user experience designer, consultant and facilitator for 20 years. Patricia uses design methods, critical inquiry and improvisation techniques to help organizations and individuals live and work in optimal flow. Patricia has seen how improv can alter the way people communicate and work together. She wants you to experience the awesome power of improv, too.

www.interactionflow.com www.improvocateurs.com

Please join us for a fun-filled evening with Patricia Colley, UX extraordinaire, and improv/gaming doyenne. Here's what she's got in store for us...

Fun and games with a purpose

The damp chill of winter may be upon us, but why hibernate in a cave when you can come out for a night of impromptu creativity games? Brought to you by Patricia Colley, problem-solver, disruptive collaborator, game-master and improviser extraordinaire!

UX types are very clever, and we're great at thinking problems through, but sometimes our intellect hits a wall, and we need a creative jolt. To make imaginative leaps, we have to calm the inner critic, focus on the moment, and step intuitively into the unknown. Getting your whole brain and body engaged in the here & now of creative flow - that's where the magic happens.

How do we do that? Let's find out together!

We'll do some group exercises to shake out the cobwebs and get your juices going. We'll be up on our feet and doing stuff about half the time, talking and moving and maybe a little drawing, too. We'll tell stories and reflect in between. We'll share ideas on how to keep creativity going in practice, when time is short, inspiration is low, and pressure is high. We may even learn a little something about collaboration along the way.

You'll come out of it re-energized, or your money back!

Let's meet to exchange ideas and techniques for creating and communicating personas and their stories. We'll start by discussing different ideas and approaches to persona development, then we'll work in groups to define, build and communicate personas for a mock client. The mock client will give feedback on presentations.

When: Tuesday, April 16th at 6pm

Where: ISITE Design - 2030 NW Pettygrove St., Portland, OR in the community room.

As a reminder, Webvisions is right around the corner and IxDA members receive a 15% discount. Below you will see info and instructions on how to receive the discount.

Explore the Future with BoingBoing's Mark Frauenfelder

IxDA Members Save 15%!

WEBVISIONS PORTLAND

May 22-24, 2013

Oregon Convention Center

WebVisions (http://www.webvisionsevent.com/portland/) explores the future of web and mobile design, digital media, UX and technology with an all-star lineup of visionary speakers, including Mark Frauenfelder of BoingBoing.net and MAKE Magazine, Ethan and Malachai Nicolle (creators of AxeCop), Carla Diana (Smart Design NYC), Jason Kunesh (Director of UX, Obama for America), Carolyn Chandler (Manifest Digital), Mark Trammell (Twitter), and more!

"WebVisions is like the medium that spawned it: unique, personal, honest, emotional and eye-opening."

–Jeffrey Zeldman

Click the "Buy Now" button to add a pass and after the Checkout Now is clicked, enter the promo code "IXDAPDX" under the order subtotal.

Register online at http://webvisions-portland.strangertickets.com/

We're back after our summer break and are kicking things off with a presentation by Dedrick Sprick, a Content Strategist for OHSU who has been working with web content for six years. Here's a an overview of his talk:

"Progressive Content Strategy (A Content Commitment Model) helps think about how different clients may approach the web based on their experience with it, from fearful novice to seasoned expert. The model covers typical views of clients at different stages, what might help them learn and where to focus efforts to help them grow."

Did you miss last month’s Interaction’14 conference in Amsterdam? Yes? Well read on…

We’ve watched all 35 hours of video from Interaction’14 and picked out the best of the best to share with you at this year’s IxDA PDX conference redux. Yes, that’s right, this year, we’re having a movie night!

Doors open at 6:00 for drinks, food and conversation.
Movie time starts at 6:45 sharp.

As in previous years, we are being generously hosted by Ziba Design, which means you’ll have a great view of the proceedings.

A huge thank you to Ziba, WebVisions, Vitamin T, and Georgetown Brewing. Without them, we'd all be going home after the event hungry and thirsty.

Register online:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ixda-pdx-interaction-conference-redux-tickets-10829731017

IxDA Portland is proud to host Mike Monteiro, in town to fundraise & rouse the weary with his latest call to arms: How To Fight Fascism. Doors open at 6pm for drinks, snacks, catching-up with friends, and checking-out Wacom's swanky new "Experience Center" in the Pearl District. Mike's talk will begin at 7pm and span ~45min, with time after for inspired rabble-rousing.

——— All design is political, because all politics are designed. The world is a mess because a certain set of people designed it to be a mess. Now we need a different set of people to design our way out of it. This is not a choice. Regardless of whether this is what we wanted or not fascism is knocking on our front door. This is how we knock back. This event is doubling as a fundraiser for The Trevor Project, Planned Parenthood, and ACLU of Oregon, with IxDA getting the refreshments, so... LET'S DO THIS PORTLAND!!!

Mike Monteiro is the co-founder and design director of Mule Design in San Francisco. He prefers elegant, simple sites with clear language that serve a real need. He prefers that designers have strong spines. Mike writes and speaks frequently about the craft and business of design. He loves client services so much he wrote two books on the topic, Design is a Job and You’re My Favorite Client, both from A Book Apart. Mike received the 2014 Net Award for Conference Talk of the Year for his inspirational polemic on responsibility, How Designers Destroyed the World.