Evolving Web hosted another session of Evolve UX, our monthly UX Meetup for members of Montreal's user experience design community. As usual, we had a strong and enthusiastic turnout from people who wanted to both discover and showcase new projects. Hosted at the Evolving Web office, our Meetups provide a venue for designers and other digital folk to present and gather feedback on their latest projects.
The format allows each presenter to show their prototype or pitch, then attendees give their impressions, positive feedback, and suggestions in an efficient and meaningful way. Repetition and back-and-forth are discouraged to keep the sessions short. Presentations are usually 5 minutes and feedback takes around 10 minutes, so we have time for several presentations at each meetup.
Participants at this month's meetup presented five projects, which were met with helpful feedback and recommendations from the community.
Suzanne Dergacheva, Evolving Web
Evolving Web co-founder and our in-house Drupal trainer Suzanne Dergacheva opened by workshopping the wireframes for the upcoming iteration of the training section of our site. Meetup participants were very helpful, coming up with new calls to action, categories and ideas for positioning our training program.
Mary Sayegh, The Living | in Company
Next Mary Sayegh, founder of The Living | in Company shared her investor presentation with the group. Her startup The Living | in Company Mary hopes to disrupt the process of renting apartments (for both tenants and landlords). She outlined her business model and the market research behind her concept for an app that brings the open house concept to the rental market. Attendees gave great feedback, advising Mary to focus on stakeholder pain points and hone in on features that create value.
Olivier & Benoit, Agile-U
Olivier Gourment and Benoit Grégoire, founders of Agile-U, stepped up to demo their simulation tool, which emulates the lean-agile product development process. They created their tool to help people improve the organizations work. Rather than explaining agile and lean ways of working, the tool launches a realistic simulation that enables people to directly experience the agile process. Meetup participants suggested the make the tool simpler and more accessible.
Kevin Cook, Socialight
Industrial designer Kevin Cook showcased Socialight, an electronic solution that encourages people to set aside their smartphones and cultivate healthy social habits. Searchlight is a light that illuminates when people place their smartphone on it. It serves as a reminder during dinner or other social moments that it's not an appropriate time to reach for your phone. Meetup guests gave Kevin useful feedback on Socialight's Kickstarter-style landing page.
Ruby Simpson, Flash Appliance Repair
Ruby Simpson, a digital marketer and UX enthusiast shared the prototype of her app, which gives people different ways to organize and view their to-do lists. Using multiple screens, Ruby demonstrated the various ways her app makes it easy for users to sort, categorize and prioritize tasks. Meetup participants suggested that Ruby incorporate a killer feature that will help it stand out.
Wanted: Projects, Participants and Smart People
Looking for new opportunities? Want to practice your pitch and get valuable input from the community? Bring your laptop and prototype to Evolve UX. We love discovering new projects and getting to know people in the community. Join us for the next event on Thursday, March 12 at the Evolving Web office in Montreal.