Join us at the 2023 UXPA UX Fair for a panel discussion with hiring experts, career insights, portfolio tips, and networking. Don’t miss out!

Are you a student, career changer, or seasoned UX professional looking to take your career to the next level? Join us for the 2023 UXPA UX Fair, where you’ll gain invaluable insights from our panel of industry experts and discover the keys to success in the dynamic field of UX. The UX Fair is designed to equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to land your dream UX job. Whether you’re just starting your career or looking to make a transition, we’ve got you covered.

Get your tickets before they sell out!

Meet Our Panelists

Suzanne Ackerman (she/her)
Director, Experience Strategy at Manulife/John Hancock

LinkedIn

Suzanne leads the Human Centered Design team at John Hancock in Boston. With an extensive background leading CX design and research efforts in the client services and consulting worlds, she combines a natural empathy for people and a love of exceptional customer experience with a deep passion for business strategy.

She spent time at IBM and Digitas as well as boutique design agencies and has engaged in independent consulting with many large organizations.

Brady Bonus (he/him)
Design Leader + Cofounder at Centric Park

LinkedIn

I am currently cofounder and CDO at Centric Park, a new agency started just last year in Boston. I have been working and leading design in the Boston design community for a little over 20 years. The last 15 years have been spent in design leadership positions, a frequent participant in local community events, conferences and an occasional speaker.

Christine Celli (she/her)
Director of UX of HubSpot’s Operations Hub

LinkedIn

Christine is the Director of UX for Operations Hub, HubSpot’s product line that helps small business leaders orchestrate their data in order to better reach customers and drive revenue. Prior to joining HubSpot, Christine held UX leadership positions at Toast and Northeastern University. She got her start in UX after parlaying a career in journalism into one focused on the intersection of content strategy, information architecture and taxonomy design. She’s held IC and management roles in support of large scale digital experience redesigns for marketing teams as well as led design and development of new product solutions for higher ed and other industries. In her current role, she oversees a team of 40 responsible for the product and content design of data, reporting and automation solutions. She is also currently recruiting for a Sr. Design Manager to join her team!

Stephanie Cohen (she/her)
Director, Digital & Creative at TEKsystems

LinkedIn

Stephanie is a Regional Director for the Digital & Creative Division of TEKsystems. She leads teams and strategy across our suite of services, including One North, TEKsystems Digital Experience agency. Stephanie has been with TEK for 19 years and is from Columbus, Ohio.

TEKsystems is a global business and technology services company. We help our clients achieve their business transformation and customer experience goals. We are recognized by the world’s leading technology platforms in Cloud, Data and Digital. Our expertise in Strategy, Design, Execution and Operations unlocks business value through a range of technology and capacity solutions.

Jason Grant (he/him)
Director of Product Design, Design Systems at Klaviyo

LinkedIn

With over two decades designing both physical structures and digital products, Jason Grant has worked in numerous industries, merging innovation with functionality. Now leading as Director of Product Design at Klaviyo, he specializes in Design Systems, Internationalization and Accessibility, ensuring products resonate universally. In addition to his professional work, Jason imparts his extensive expertise as a User Experience instructor at Endicott College, shaping the next generation of design talent.

Nicole Risinger (she/her)
UX Recruiter, MSP Engagement Manager at TEKsystems

LinkedIn

I’ve been with TEKsystems for over 6 years specializing in the Digital and UX space. I started my career recruiting and building out our UX network in Charlotte, then I moved to Boston and joined our national recruiting team. While on the national team, I lead a team of specialized UX recruiters and placed candidates across the country. This year I moved into a new role supporting Comcast’s digital and creative space. I’ve placed a variety of UX talent, both remotely and local to Philadelphia.

The July session of our speaker series featured Jason James (he/him), AVP and Lead User Experience & Conversation Designer at Santander Bank, N.A.

His presentation provided a high-level context and understanding of Large Language Models from a designer’s perspective.

With the release of Open AI’s ChatGPT on November 20, 2022, Large Language Models (LLMs) have taken center stage in conversations about the opportunities and risks that artificial intelligence brings.

ChatGPT set a record for “the fastest-growing user base in history for a consumer application” by gaining over 1 million users in just 5 days, arguably thanks to its user-friendly conversational interface.

His presentation provides context and understanding of Large Language Models at a high level from a designer’s perspective:

• What are the principles and best practices of conversation design?
• What is ChatGPT, and how does it work?
• What is a Large Language Model (LLM)?
• How are LLMs similar or different from chatbots of the past?
• What are the opportunities and risks of LLMs?

He explored the changing landscape through interactive walk-throughs of tools like Watson Assistant, ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Voiceflow.

Watch the Session

You can view a recording of the presentation on our YouTube channel. Please like and subscribe to our channel for future updates and videos.

You can also follow along with copies of his slides in PPT, PDF, and HTML format.

Links/Resources Mentioned

• Voiceflow
• Blockade Labs
• IBM Watson Assistant

We are excited to announce the details for the World Usability Day (WUD) 2023 Design Challenge! This year, the challenge aims to highlight the valuable impact of user research and evaluation on interaction, product, and service design recommendations and decisions. We believe that showcasing the connection between research, evaluation, and successful design outcomes is crucial in promoting the importance of user focus in the field of UX.

The WUI Design Challenge seeks submissions that demonstrate excellent user-focused design for a general audience. We encourage you to present user research and evaluation evidence that clearly shows its impact on your design decisions. Whether your entry aligns with the WUD 2023 theme of Collaboration and Cooperation or not, we invite you to participate and share your transformative understanding of user interactions with digital artifacts.

We understand that teams new to Human-Centered Design (HCD) or considering adopting it often face challenges in understanding how detailed design work benefits from contextual research and usage evaluation. By submitting your tightly argued and well-evidenced reports, you have the opportunity to showcase how a combination of user research and evaluation significantly contributes to the success of a digital product or service.

The winning entries of the WUI Design Challenge will receive recognition and the chance to present their innovative, impactful design work at the prestigious HCI International Conference in 2024. The awards include a Gold prize of $1250, a Silver prize of $1000, and a Bronze prize of $750. Additionally, the winners will have their written accounts included in the conference proceedings.

Join us in celebrating the value of user focus and its integration with other design activities such as aesthetics, product strategy, software quality, and performance engineering.

We encourage you to visit the World Usability Day website for more information on the challenge and to submit your entry.

Let’s inspire and empower others with your user-soaked designs!

Remember, the deadline for submissions is fast approaching, so make sure to prepare your reports and evidence. We look forward to seeing your remarkable contributions.

We’re thrilled to announce the exciting launch of the UXPA Boston YouTube channel, your go-to resource for all things User Experience (UX)! As a leading professional association dedicated to fostering the growth and development of UX practitioners, we’re always looking for new ways to connect, inspire, and educate our community. Now, with our YouTube channel, we have an incredible platform to achieve just that.

What can you expect from the UXPA Boston YouTube channel? Well, to start with, we’ve already uploaded recordings of our popular monthly speaker series. These events feature industry experts sharing their insights, experiences, and best practices in the dynamic world of UX. It’s a treasure trove of knowledge you can access anytime, anywhere!

Here’s how you can get involved and stay connected with UXPA Boston:

1. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: Don’t miss out on any of our latest updates, new uploads, and insightful content. Hit the subscribe button and join our ever-growing community of passionate UX practitioners.
2. Watch, like, and share: When you tune in to our videos, we encourage you to hit that like button and leave comments to let us know your thoughts. Sharing our content with your friends and colleagues will help us reach an even wider audience, enriching the UX community as a whole.
3. Engage with us: We value your feedback and suggestions. If there’s a specific topic you’d like us to cover or a question, you’d like answered, leave a comment on our videos or reach out to us through our social media channels. We’re here to help and support you in your UX journey.

At UXPA Boston, we believe that knowledge should be accessible and shared. Our YouTube channel is a testament to that belief, providing you with a platform to learn, grow, and connect with fellow UX enthusiasts.

Visit our UXPA Boston YouTube channel today, hit that subscribe button, and embark on a journey of endless learning and inspiration.

Thank you for being a part of the vibrant UX community, and we look forward to seeing you on our YouTube channel!

UXPA Boston is organizing a T-shirt design competition for its members to celebrate Pride Month in June. The competition aims to encourage our members to showcase their creativity by designing T-shirts while promoting the values of inclusivity, diversity, and equality.

Eligibility

The competition is open to all UXPA Boston members interested in submitting a design.

Theme 

For Pride, we hope to promote and celebrate all the work at the intersection of queer identity and the UX world and work towards building awareness and support in our community. Designs should represent the Pride theme while promoting inclusivity, diversity, and equity.

Submission Guidelines

1. Designs should be original and unpublished work of the submitting member.
2. Designs should be submitted in a high-resolution digital format (JPEG, PNG, or SVG) and be at least 300 dpi.
3. Designs should be submitted with a brief description of the design and how it represents the Pride theme.
4. Designs must be submitted by the deadline of May 30, 2023.
5. Members can submit up to two designs for consideration.
6. All entries must be submitted through the designated submission form on the UXPA Boston website.

How to Submit a Design

You can submit your designs using this form.

Selection Process

A panel of judges will review all submissions and select the top five designs based on the following criteria: 

• Originality: How unique and innovative a design is. An original design stands out from others and demonstrates creativity and imagination. 
• Creativity: Creating new and imaginative ideas and applying these ideas in unique and engaging ways. 
• Relevance to the Pride theme: How well a design reflects and represents the theme. 
• Overall design quality: Overall aesthetic and technical quality of the design.

UXPA Boston will share a poll for people to vote on the top designs, and the design with the most votes will be declared the winner.

Prize

1. The winner will receive a complimentary ticket to the UXPA Boston annual conference in May 2024.
2. The winning design will be available on the UXPA Boston print-on-demand online storefront in honor of Pride Month in June.
3. The winner will also get a free t-shirt with their design.

Important Dates

1. Submission deadline: May 30, 2023
2. Top five designs announced: May 31, 2023
3. Voting period: May 31-June 1, 2023
4. Winner announced: June 2, 2023

Terms and Conditions

1. Members agree to assign all ownership and intellectual property rights to UXPA Boston by submitting a design.
2. UXPA Boston reserves the right to modify or edit designs as necessary for printing purposes.
3. UXPA Boston reserves the right to cancel or modify the competition at anytime.
4. UXPA Boston reserves the right to disqualify any entry that does not comply with the submission guidelines or is found to violate any applicable laws or regulations.
5. By submitting a design, members confirm that their work is original and does not infringe on any third-party rights.
6. Members agree to grant UXPA Boston the right to use their name, likeness, and design in promotional materials related to the competition and for promotional purposes related to UXPA Boston.
7. By submitting, you agree to our Privacy Policy.

Thanks to everyone who joined us the night of May 16 with Manny Ikomi for another session of our monthly speaker series.

Curious about who won this month’s raffle? Check out our winners.

Manny shared with us a beginner’s guide to contextual inquiry with critical takeaways is a story-driven account of my first time conducting contextual inquiry research with key takeaways. In addition, I share how the Avatar film influenced my approach and some unique challenges I faced in a highly secure industrial environment.

You can view a recording on the UXPA Boston YouTube page if you missed the presentation.

You can also view a copy of his presentation deck here.

The deck also includes an appendix with links to resources and references used, including the article “Why Big Data Needs Thick Data” by Tricia Wang. For those interested in conducting a contextual inquiry at their workplace, we hope this helps convince stakeholders and clients why this research is essential.

Manny Ikomi (he/him) is a UX designer and researcher at IBM iX in Cambridge, MA. He’s a true cross-functional creative with experience in design, research, and web development. Manny is a new UX practitioner known for asking thoughtful questions, engaging in new opportunities, and his instinct for the human experience. You can find him tinkering with new tech, gayming, or roller-skating to finally get away from his desk when he’s not working!

Thanks to everyone who joined us last night for our monthly speaker series featuring Manny Ikomi, UX designer and researcher at IBM iX, for a discussion about contextual inquiries.

And congrats to our winners for our raffle last night thanks to Rosenfeld Media, who are able to get a complimentary eBook:

• Adam Li
• Irem Ozekes
• Sam Tan
• Malcolm Kiano
• Markynsai Lamar

Rosenfeld Media provides deep user experience design expertise in the formats you need.

Missed the event?  Use the following 20% discount code at Rosenfeld Media until June 16, 2023: uxpaboston20my23