My book shows you ways to include valuable input from potential clients and customers throughout the development process.

With practical guidelines and insights from my own experience, I'll show you how usability and user-centered design will dramatically change the way your application interacts with people.

You’ll learn valuable strategies for conducting each stage of the design process, from interviewing likely users and discovering your application’s purpose, to creating a rich user experience with sound design principles.

User-Centered Design is invaluable no matter what platform you use or audience you target.

The Windows Developer Show is the first podcast exclusively for Microsoft developers and enthusiasts.

Each week my brother and I traverse the exciting world of Microsoft development (Windows Phone, Windows 8, Surface and Xbox). We're covering the latest news and exploring what it means for the developer community and everyday users.

Plus, exciting guests are always dropping by. Industry leading developers and bloggers like Paul Thurrot, Rafael Rivera, Long Zheng, PopCap Games, Mary Jo Foley, Alex Willhelm, and many many more!

If you’re a fan of Microsoft products and development, there’s plenty of exciting content to be found on the Windows Developer Show.

Challenge: In three weeks, design and build a semi-functional prototype for a tablet application.

Solution: I built a Windows 8 proof-of-concept application that would allow DePaul students to play lectures online.

Requestor: DePaul University - HCI 470 - Digital Page Formatting

Challenge: The assignment was for students to build a semi-functional tablet application prototype using Adobe Flash. The only constraint was that the application must play some form of audio and video.

Solution: I decided to create an application that would simulate what it would be like to watch courses online. Although we could choose any design guideline, I decided this project would be a perfect opportunity to exercise my skills in Windows 8 design.

I spent the first week reviewing the entire Windows Design Portal and sketching out various ideas. I wanted to adhere to the guidelines, but also introduce a bit of DePaul's branding as well. The project also, required a full report.

Impact: I received an A (100%) on the project. Additionally, the instructor was so impressed with my project, he sent it to the University's Dean for review.

Challenge: Visitors needed a way to locate their friends and family easily, without assistance from staff.

Solution: I created a rich, interactive Visitor Directory that allowed visitors to search for patients and find points of interest.

Requestor: Community Hospital

Challenge: Due to staffing reductions, the hospital was looking for ways that visitors could help themselves with tasks like locating a patient and finding areas of interest around the hospital.

It was important to give visitors the ability to locate a friend or family member without violating patient privacy policies.

Solution: I decided to create a touch-screen kiosk utilizing the browser and Silverlight. By querying our various datasets, I was able to create a comprehensive directory service.

In order to protect patient privacy, the query had to match - at least - four letters of the last name and three letters of the first name. Additionally, I created an auditing service to track the number of "retries" as well as monitor the types of queries being entered.

I also created various maps and animations to assist visitors in finding what they were looking for.

While conducting "in the wild" studies, I was able to gain insight on how visitors were using the application. Through iterating several versions of the product, I was able to create a directory that visitors found a joy to use.

Impact: The directory was placed in the front lobby and, within the first month, garnered over 250 queries. After various iterations, queries increased to over 500 a month with most visitors locating the patient on their first try.

While interacting directly with staff is always preferred, we discovered that visitors were willing and able to use a self service application.

Challenge: Create a hands-free application to navigate a patient's brain stem.

Solution: With Microsoft Kinect, I created an application that uses gestures and voice to explore radiology images.

Requestor: None

Challenge: With the release of the Kinect SDK, I wanted to test its abilities to interact with radiology images. Specifically, Fujitsu DICOM images that are produced by our MRI system.

DICOM images are proprietary and are, essentially, several slices of a brain scan that allow a physician to navigate along the brain stem.

Ideally, if a physician has already been "scrubbed" he or she could navigate using gestures and voice - thus avoiding contamination by coming in contact with a keyboard or mouse.

Solution: Using the Kinect and the Microsoft Speech Platform Runtime and an open source DICOM image SDK, I created a proof-of-concept application.

While moving the hand and forearm to the right and left (pivoting at the elbow), a physician can navigate through the brain stem. Additionally, the physician can say "zoom in" or "zoom out" in place of using gestures.

Extended Blog Article

Impact: Although the product never entered production, we learned a great deal about the possibilites of Kinect in a health care setting.

Challenge: Increase patient satisifaction by informing them of their wait time.

Solution: With a 42" television, Yahoo! Web Services, and WPF, I created an immersive dashboard; giving patients a real-time status on their wait time.

Requestor: Community Urgent Care Clinic

Challenge: In health care, patient satisfaction is paramout. At the urgent care clinic, patients were reporting a less than satisfactory experience while waiting.

Specifically, they wanted to be more informed about their expected wait time.

Solution: The plan was to mount a 42" LCD television in the lobby and display the latest wait time.

Rather than just displaying the expected time, I decided to build a complete dashboard utilizing Yahoo! web API services.

This way we could provide a rich experince; including the latest news headlines, weather, and stock report.

I also created a way for the staff to enter, not only the expected wait time, but additional messages if necessary. This way, they could notify patients if they were experiencing a longer-than-normal wait time.

Impact: The patients appreciated the new dashboard a great deal. In fact, the patient satisfaction score, for the specific metric of being informed about wait times, increased 20%.

Challenge: Create a proof-of-concept iPhone app.

Solution: Using a comprehensive user-centered design process, we created Potluckr - an app that assits people with planning potlucks.

Requestor: College of Digital Media, DePaul

Challenge: As part of the graduate program, my team and I were assigned the task of creating a proof-of-concept iPhone application.

After brainstorming several ideas, we decided to make an application that assisted with the planning and organizing of potluck parties.

Solution: We began the process by completing market research, conducting surveys, gathering user requirements and drafting functional requirements.

I was tasked with providing the U.I. elments and putting together several versions of the prototype.

I also completed usabililty tests using low and high fidelity prototypes. We then collected the feedback and made several revisions to improve our final product.

Finally, I was tasked with producing a video to explain and promote the application.

Impact: We received a great deal of interest in Potluckr. In fact, many people we tested said that they would be willing to pay for it and wanted to know when it would be released.

The project received a perfect score I was able to achieve a grade of 98% in the class.

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Challenge: Create a talking robot for my son's birthday party.

Solution: With a netbook, flat screen montior, and a C.O.W (Computer on Wheels), I created a lively, talking robot that delighted the entire party.

Requestor: My Son

Challenge: For my son's 4th birthday, we decided to do a "robot themed" party.

In order to complete the experience, I decided to create a talking robot named B.A.R.T. (Birthday Analysis and Research Technology).

Solution: I mounted a set of speakers, flat screen monitor and netbook to a C.O.W. (Computer On Wheels). I then created a Silverlight application that would cycle through a variety of animations.

Every five minutes, B.A.R.T. would make a comment about the weather, guests, and other obersevations he learned while watching the party.

I recorded my voice using audio software, raised the pitch, and added other digital effects to give it that "robot" sound.

I also designed B.A.R.T. to sing "Happy Birthday" by pressing the spacebar.

Impact: The joy of being able to say: "I built my son a robot."

UXVenture is my journey into the world of usability and design.

You'll find articles showcasing user studies, industry observations, as well as my thoughts on creativity and design.

There are so many things to discover about design and how technology affects our everyday lives. If you enjoyed my book, UXVenture is a great way to join me in continuing the disucssion.