Mad*Pow - Boston UPA iPhone App │ Mad*Pow Results

Project Team

Chris Hass Leadership Team
Experience Design

Chris McKinney Experience Design

Morgan Campbell Visual Design
Development

UPA Boston asked Mad*Pow to provide logistical support to the event by designing and implementing an iPhone application that would be useful before, during, and after a conference.

The Boston Chapter of the Usability Professionals’ Association (UPA) is a membership organization supporting people with individual and professional interest in usability, experience design, and their related fields. This highly active 501(c) nonprofit has over a thousand members in the greater Boston area. UPA Boston’s annual conference hosts 450 attendees, 32 presenters, and 4 presentation tracks: business, UX theory, UX practice, and design.

Key among the challenges facing the application was the inherent nature of the UPA Boston audience: presenting a flawed or poorly conceived application to an audience of usability professionals was not an option.

To begin the project we conducted a competitive analysis to identify successes and opportunities for improvement among existing conference-related mobile apps. Next we interviewed key UPA Boston stakeholders regarding the information to be communicated and prioritized it for a variety of audiences. To support the rapid technical development of the application, our in-house developers worked closely with Raizlabs who provided development guidance and access to their rapid iPhone application development tools and technologies. .

Supporting the social media requirements, links to UPA Boston’s Flickr and Twitter streams (as well as posting instructions) were clearly visible and easy to use. Before, during, and after the event, conference-related discussions and exclamations would make attendees an integral part of the conference. Embedded links to presenters’ social media streams, email addresses, and opportunities to comment on specific presentations would foster networking and ongoing discussion with the event’s thought-leadership, contributing to attendees’ belief that the event was central to their careers.

Apple approved the application prior to the conference and the UPA Boston membership was invited to download it. Immediately we were deluged with congratulations and accolades. The application’s artful but task-focused simplicity was a substantial success. User research had enabled us to anticipate key audience needs and meet them. The visual design choices made using the application enjoyable and straightforward.

The application now stands ready for next year!

Check it out on iTunes

Insights

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