Prototying in Code Bootcamp is back! (June 2012)

30 Apr

We are super happy to announce that our very popular Prototyping in Code UX Bootcamp is back!

We’re working with our new partners at General Assembly to bring you better than ever UX Bootcamps, using the successful formula of great trainers, an extremely practical and hands on format and two intensive days of pretty hard work to help you build what are becoming some of the most important skills in User Experience and Digital Design these days.

We’ve got three fantastic ‘trainers’ who have a great mix of code and teaching skill and who are passionate about helping others learn the skills they’ve got in order to make better experiences on the web.

The program looks a bit like this:

Thursday (optional): Code Fitness for Beginners

A fast track path to learn HTML and CSS for people with limited, out dated or no knowledge at all in preparation for two days of Prototyping in Code.

Friday and Saturday: Bootcamp 

  • From design to code – work out how to turn a photoshop file into HTML and CSS, how to structure your code to bring your design to life.
  • Using frameworks for rapid development – learn about how to use and get set up with a development framework so that you can prototype more quickly
  • Some more advanced HTML including forms
  • JQuery and JQuery UI
  • All wrapped up in practical, hands on, development projects
  • Feel free to bring your own project to get started working on!

This bootcamp is designed to help good designers become better designers by allowing them to transform their designs into prototypes for user research and to make better interactions by working more closely with their medium. Bootcamp is not intended to turn you into a professional front end developer or to have you producing production ready code.

Prototyping in Code UX Bootcamp will be held at the General Assembly London Campus in Clerkenwell on 7/8/9 June 2012.

Places are limited – get your ticket today!

2012 UX Bootcamps

21 Dec

We’re really pleased to announce the following UX Bootcamps for the first quarter of 2012.

All these bootcamps will be held in a central London location and focus on transferring really practical skills you’ll be able to put into practice immediately. In fact, you’ll start applying them to real projects DURING the bootcamp!

Less yammering, more hammering (see our learning design principles)

  • Cognitive Psychology UX Bootcamp – 10-11 February (NEW)
    with Joe Leech, User Experience Director, CX Partners  Price: £350+VAT
    Don’t just learn cool things about how the human mind works, learn how to apply it to your design work.

  • Information Architecture UX Bootcamp – 9-10 March (NEW)
    with Mags Hanley, Management By Design Price: £350+VAT
    Less theory and more practice will help you learn the Information Architect’s methods of analysis and design. Combining the properly nerdy art of IA with techniques you can apply immediately to help your users find the content they seek.

  • Visual Design UX Bootcamp – 26-28 April (RETURNING)
    with Mark Boulton, Mark Boulton Design
    and Joe Lanman, User Experience Designer, Reed.co.uk
    Optional Fireworks training: £150 + VAT
    Visual Design Bootcamp: £350+VAT
    It is difficult to convey how amazing this book camp was the first time around – suffice to say those who attended in September are still talking about it.

    Start with an optional day of fun Fireworks training with Joe (if you’d rather not use Photoshop) then put yourself in the experienced and ridiculously talented hands of Mark Boulton to learn how to make everything look so much better than you’ve been able to before. There’s grids, typography, some colour theory, and regular design critique sessions, but most of all, there’s the tips and guidance you get from working on projects with a great designer that you’ll never get from a book.
Tickets for these bootcamps will be available from midday on 5 January 2012 and are limited to 12 participants.

Unfortunately, Prototyping in Code UX Bootcamp is on hiatus for the time being due to our amazing tutor Anna taking a break from speaking/tutoring. Anna is such a big part of the great success of the previous Prototyping in Code Bootcamps that it wouldn’t be the same without her so we’re going to cross our fingers and hope she’s feeling up to it soon.

We’re hoping to put together some bootcamps on Copywriting, Accessibility and possibly an Advanced Prototyping in Code later in the year and to re-run any of the others that are particularly popular, so if these dates don’t work for you, let us know you’re interested.

Follow @uxbootcamp to stay informed.

Announcing Visual Design for UX Bootcamp

9 Aug

Type

We’re really excited to announce the upcoming Visual Design for UX Bootcamp to be held between 22-24 September.

If you’ve wanted to learn more about typography, colour and layout – how to make your deliverables more designerly, how to have better conversations with graphic designers, how to be able to make high fidelity mock ups that look good and work well – here’s the best opportunity you’ll have to not only get the theory but practically apply it in an incredibly hands on two days of workshop with two of the finest web designers in the UK – Mark Boulton and Cheryl Carulli.

By the end of bootcamp you will have designed and iterated two projects and participated in two design critiques. Very small class size means you’ll get lots of personal feedback and guidance. You can also sign up to learn how to use Adobe Fireworks software package if you also need to acquire or upgrade your design software skills. (Bootcamp is software agnostic – use whatever tool you like but you will need to be proficient in something like Photoshop, Fireworks, Illustrator, or InDesign.)

Find out more about Visual Design UX Bootcamp or get your ticket now!

 

Image courtesy of Mark Boulton, A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web

Debriefing Prototyping in Code Bootcamp – July 2011

5 Aug

Prototyping in Code Bootcamp

A few weeks ago, 20 Intrepid UX Bootcampers and 3 wise trainers came together for the inaugural UX Bootcamp – Prototyping in Code. We were all looking to improve our HTML and CSS skills to see whether we’d be able to make use of code in place of diagramming tools like Omnigraffle and Visio for making wireframes.

The Bootcamp started with an intensive introduction to HTML and CSS for the half dozen or so people who were starting either from scratch or whose HTML skills dated back to times before CSS existed. We spent a full day with Anna Debenham  getting our heads around the basics of HTML and CSS.

The following two days (Friday and Saturday) were spent picking up new skills and applying them to project work. We learned how to make divs and sections and to float them (and, thankfully, the joy of 960.gs on the Saturday meaning much less floating!), we learned to make and style our menus, to define and apply colour and type settings. We made forms and even played around with a little JQuery. We learned how to make drop shadows and round corners – and that we should probably do a Visual Design bootcamp next! We also had some time to talk amongst ourselves about the benefits and possible uses of our new found skills.

As the bootcamp wrapped up, some of us were excited about our future of prototyping in code while others were more pleased to have a better understanding of how code works and respect for the people who wrangle it on a daily basis.

The best feedback comes from the bootcampers themselves – this is what they had to say:

A great way to get started on the coding trail or ignite an extinguished flame that may have once burned. I’ve been on course’s where I feel I’ve gained very little but loved UXbootcamp, real sense of achievement from doing this.
- Rob Sterry, UX Consultant, Aviva

UX Bootcamp provided a distraction-free environment for experimentation and learning together with like-minded people. The expert trainers were always around and happy to help, no matter how trivial or complicated my questions were.
- Alexander Baxevanis, Senior UX consultant, Webcredible

UX Bootcamp was an excellent opportunity for UXers/designers in a number of different roles and companies, to come together and learn valuable skills that they would otherwise not have the time (and access to experts) to do so. The instructors were highly knowledgeable and approachable, and the course was structured in such a way that it allowed for us to achieve a lot in a small amount of time.
- Jamie Brooker, Co-Founder, We Are Human

Possibly the most enjoyable course I’ve been on. If it’s the sort of thing you’re into, then it’s a great chance to meet like minded folks and really get your hands dirty.
- Lucy Spence, LOVEFiLM

I really enjoyed UX Bootcamp. The instructors were excellent and the material we covered was top notch. I would definitely be up for attending another one in the near future and I highly recommend it. Excellent group of people to learn with also. Cheers to all those involved.
- Daniel Beere, Digital Media Design Student

Getting to learn the nuances of code from experienced professionals was much more effective than learning from some online tutorial. Of course, meeting and socializing with other UX professionals makes it even better.
Brian Pagán, User Experience Consultant; User Intelligence Amsterdam

In the weeks since Prototyping in Code Bootcamp there is some evidence to show that at least some of the bootcampers are still using and developing their skills, and there is talk of future meet ups to get together for some quality prototyping in code time.

We’re hoping to run another Prototyping in Code Bootcamp in October. If you’re interested in attending, add your name to this list and we’ll make sure you’re the first to know.

Photo by  Alan Colville.

Prototyping in Code UX Bootcamp is go!

20 Jul

We’re just about to kick off our inaugural UX Bootcamp – Prototyping in Code, starting with a day of HTML and CSS Basics for people new to (or incredibly rusty at) code.

If you’re not coming to Bootcamp but you’re thinking about doing some prototyping in code you might be interested in the HTML & CSS Cheatsheets that Anna Debenham has prepared for us, or to see what technical set up our trainers have recommended we use for prototyping in code.

You can follow our experiences of bootcamp on Twitter – @uxbootcamp or #uxbootcamp and stay tuned for a debrief of bootcamp once we’ve recovered from three days of coding!

If you’re interested in doing a Prototyping in Code Bootcamp later this year, get your name on this list and we’ll keep you informed.

Prototyping in Code – Sold out.

12 Jun

We’re really excited to let you know that we now have a full complement of Boot Campers for the upcoming Prototying in Code Bootcamp in July.

If you’ve missed out on a ticket and might be interested in doing the bootcamp a bit later in the year, leave your details here.

We’re also planning two other bootcamps for later this year including:

  • Advanced Prototyping in Code Bootcamp where we’ll be learning how to make use of JavaScript libraries to simulate interactions/dynamic transitions. Register your interest here.
  • Visual Design Bootcamp where we’ll be learning the foundations of grid based design, typography, colour theory and more. Register your interest here.

We’re looking forward to sharing more of the UX Bootcamp experience with you as it happens and thanks to everyone for your support so far.

Announcing UX Bootcamp: Prototyping in Code

7 Jun

The ability to prototype in code is becoming an increasingly valuable skill for UXers. Want to learn how?
Welcome to UX Bootcamp.

UX Bootcamp is an extremely hands on, intensive program designed to help you break the back of the learning curve so that you can apply your new skills immediately and have an ongoing program to improve ability even further – which is all the more fun once you’ve mastered the basics.

Develop the skills to start making the stuff you design.

The inaugural Prototyping in Code Bootcamp will be held in London, UK over two days on 22 & 23 July 2011 (that’s a Friday and a Saturday). The course will assume a basic knowledge of HTML and CSS.

For those who are starting from scratch there will also be an optional first day of ‘code fitness’ to get you up to speed for the bootcamp proper.

You should attend the introductory day if:

  • You’re quite new or have never written HTML or CSS before
  • You’ve got a bit of basic knowledge, but want some good grounding
  • You want to find out a bit more about the new HTML5 elements

You shouldn’t need to attend if:

  • You’ve already got a bit of a grounding in HTML and CSS, and it doesn’t put the fear in you.
  • You know how to create a document with images, headings, links, and how to add basic styles them.

The program has been designed to ensure less yammering, more hammering – meaning that you learn by doing – actually coding real projects and working with mentors who are brilliant at the code stuff, excellent at teaching what they know and passionate about helping us make better prototypes to improve the user experience of the web and beyond.

Our goal for this bootcamp is let you stop using Visio & Omnigraffle for wireframes and to wireframe in code instead.

We’re planning an Advanced Prototyping Bootcamp for later in the year where we’ll aim to remove the need for tools like Axure through more advanced CSS and JavaScript knowledge. If you’re after more of the ‘shiny’ stuff then you might want to hold off for that bootcamp.

In order to retain a good trainer/trainee ratio places are VERY limited, so you’d better register your place now!

Read more about the Prototyping in Code UX Bootcamp or get in touch with questions, feedback or idea.