The Design Studio: An intensive, three day,
learning experience.
You'll learn a formal process for designing exceptional solutions
- Conduct design research
- Derive requirements from personas and scenarios
- Identify and use design patterns
- Develop and refine ideas
- Prototype and test designs
- Utilize feedback to improve your solutions
Nine FileMaker Inc. staff have attended the Design Studio (formerly known as the “Fundamentals of Exceptional Interface Design Workshop”).
What is design?
Design is an intentional process in which you elicit, derive, decide, clarify, and plan the solution to a given problem. Sketches, prototypes, technical plans, and finished solutions are the artifacts that result from a design process.
Design is a key differentiator. A minimum level of design used to be enough to demonstrate professionalism, craft, and care. The overwhelming success of IOS, the growing acceptance of web-standards, and the sophistication of the user base, has significantly raised what is considered acceptable. Indeed, applications and websites that look amateurish or have poor interaction design are viewed with contempt and distrust.
How will learning a formal design process help me?
It is almost impossible to hit the right solution the first time. Most people and businesses don't know exactly what they want or need. As a result, a lot of time, money, and effort is spent undoing the initial attempts or working around ingenious solutions to the wrong problem. An effective design process saves money by identifying the right problems to solve and by developing effective solutions early when it is most cost effective.
A repeatable design process makes it possible to have confidence in your estimates and projected timelines, and makes it significantly easier to sell better projects.
Who is teaching this course?
Dr. Don Levan, President of Vanguard Custom Software and the founder of the Craft of FileMaker is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, FileMaker 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 Certified Developer, and former photo journalist. Dr. Levan was a speaker at the 2010 FileMaker Developer's Conference, will be speaking again at the 2011 FileMaker Developer's Conference, and is an accomplished presenter and teacher. He has taught courses and seminars on interaction design, programming skills, and psychology.
Dr. Levan founded Vanguard Custom Software after creating a series of practice management systems for the mental health and medical clinics where he was treating as a Clinical Psychologist.
What are past attendees saying?
“This course is a must-have for all serious developers.”
— Paul Spafford, FM Layoutmode.com
“This workshop changed the way I work forever!”
— Marty Thomasson, Gearbox Solutions
“Absolutely fantastic material, professionally delivered.”
— James Hea, Project Manager, FileMaker Systems at HSBC Bank Bermuda Limited
“I would wholeheartedly recommend this workshop to any serious FileMaker developer trying to bring the best user experience possible to his or her clients.”
— Richard Carlton, President of Carlton Consulting, Platinum member of the FileMaker Business Alliance
“This workshop provided clear and tangible examples and exercises that engaged us to rethink how we approach requirements gathering and dovetail that into intentional system design.”
— Adam Aronson, President of FullCity Consulting, Platinum member of the FileMaker Business Alliance
“This workshop really helped us in the design of the document check-in screen of DocuBin, our newest product.
After implementing what we learned, we simplified, re-worded, and rearranged the buttons so that the result of each choice is much more obvious.”
—Jesse Barnum, President, 360Works, Platinum member of the FileMaker Business Alliance
Where can I get more information about The Design Studio?
Dr. Levan presented The Fundamentals of Exceptional Interface Design at the 2011 FileMaker Developer's Conference. This session will provide a high level overview of the process and practices we cover in the Design Studio. Download the Slides (Powerpoint) Download the Slides (Keynote)
Dr. Levan also presented a session on Designing Great Data Entry Forms. This session covered strategies to optimize the design of data entry forms, a topic we discuss on the third day of the Design Studio. Download the Slides (Powerpoint) Download the Slides (Keynote)
Paul Spafford, of Spafford Data Solutions, has written a review of his experience attending the the first Design Studio on his blog, FMLayoutmode.com. You can read his review here.
Please contact us if you have any additional questions.
How can I be notified about the next Design Studio?
We are planning additional workshops early next year. Subscribe to our newsletter and we will be sure to let you know. Contact us if you would like to plan an onsite training for your team or in your community.