Alex Tam - Interactionary Design Competition

Alex Tam	Home \| Portfolio \| Inspiration \| Thoughts	resume \| email


	Interaction Design \| Usability \| Product Design




			Interactionary Competition Toronto Usability Summit Design competition event (2003)		Time: 5 meetings to prepare, 10 minutes to compete Techniques: requirements gathering, personas, scenarios, brainstorming, design presentation Tools: flipcharts, whiteboards, props, microphones Team: 2 architects (my role), surveyor, foreman, coach, moderator, 4 judges, audience


	What is an Interactionary? Solve a design problem with a team in 10 minutes in front of an audience! According to interactionary founder, Scott Berkin: “ This is an experiment in design education. The idea is to explore the process of design by forcing insane time constraints and asking teams of designers to work together in front of a live audience. It forces the discussion of design process, teamwork, and organization, and asks important questions about how designers do what they do.” “The goal is to expose the dynamic intangibles of design in progress, and allow an audience to listen in on different teams and observe how they work.”


	Toronto Usability Summit
	Judges			IBM team at CHI 2000

			Quarry team roles
			Design Objective: Prepare for and compete in a 10-minute, live, on-stage design competition. The goal is both to educate about the design process and entertain. Marks are awarded for process, teamwork, user focus, and the final design. Design Solution: As team captain, I brought together a multidisciplinary team to prepare for competition. We adapted Quarry's Design Builder methodology and used personas to create and refine a process that would work for the ten-minute time frame. Following a builder theme, we identified roles of Architect (designer), Surveyor (customer insight), and Foreman (project manager). The time was broken into distinct phases of footings, foundation, frame, and finish with objectives for each role in each step. The team practiced with a number of design problems before the competition. Result: The outcome was a victory for Quarry over teams from the IBM Innovation Center, and Infinet Communications. Aside from winning the competition, we found that interactionaries are a fantastic addition to a designer's toolbox for brainstorming through a problem.
	1st Place - Quarry Interaction Design

	2nd Place - IBM Innovation Center

			"The Quarry team's collaboration was remarkable. The coordination between the team members seemed effortless as they worked through the steps of a clear and effective design process." - Mark Chignell, Judge

	3rd Place - Infinet Communications

	Links: Toronto usability summit Scott Berkun on Interactionaries Quarry process document
					Practice session solution for conference phone design