As I drove home from the third IxDA Phoenix event, once again I was feeling completely overwhelmed. It never ceases to amaze me how inspiring those events can be and how passionate and enthusiastic not only the design community is here in Phoenix, but the entire community as a whole.

Over the weekend I attended a friend’s party and had a chance to catch up with some people I know and get to know some people I hadn’t met before. The formal UX community may be small here, but it is definitely not lacking. I couldn’t even tell you how it began, though I’m sure I started it as I’m constantly thinking about experiences and interactions users have with anything at all times. The entire table I was with, including people I knew and people I just met, ended up in a very lengthy conversation about the difference and challenge in designing a user experience for someone such as a police officer or fireman who had to potentially be doing activities while driving. It makes perfect sense that this would be an issue, seeing as how text messaging and talking on the phone while driving are prohibited in several states. The conversation was very engaging and some great feedback and thoughts were given by all. In fact, it drove people who are not UX or IX designers by trade to attend the recent IxDA Phoenix event.

Our last event involved physical prototyping, which was a suggestion from one of our members. I haven’t done too much of it, and most people have never done it before so I figured what could it hurt. It would be a fun challenge for all of us. I found some moving boxes left over from my trip out here ages ago, some tape, and other misc supplies and loaded them in my car. Once I arrived at Gangplank, I completely changed my mind about what we were going to do also.

The challenge was to break out into groups and think of a household appliance that could use some improvement in a new an exciting way. The improvement had to include a change in the product design and could not be simply sticking a software interface on it and calling it done. After two hours and lots of brainstorming, both groups came up with fantastic products. One was an improvement to a toaster oven and the other changes the way laundry is done. Head over to the IxDA Phoenix site to read a recap as well as view photos and video from the event. The video is also below:

IxDA Phoenix from James Archer on Vimeo.

Observing everyone brainstorming and collaborating together was truly inspiring. All of this reaffirms my decision to move to Phoenix and to bring a group like IxDA to the area. I don’t have a grudge against any of the cities I’ve ever lived in, but I’m not sure I’d have been able to pull anything like this off in them. Phoenix really seems to embrace learning and collaboration and has people that love not only growing in their own trade or profession, but learning about other interests too and why people love them.

I am giddy with anticipation over what the next IxDA Phoenix event in September will bring.

There are few times I have been more inspired than I was today when I took one of hte 90 minute tours of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West house near Scottsdale.

Not only was the architecture and scenery absolutely breathtaking, but our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable. He gave amazing and inspirational insight into how FLW worked, his philosophies on art and architecture and all the many things he invented and thought of throughout his life.

During the tour, I saw his cabaret room which had perfect acoustics… as close to being in a cave as you can get. It was also mentioned the 2nd building to have such acoustics was the ASU Gammage. That hit home as it was one of the things I noticed first about the Gammage when I was there for the first time to see Stomp.

The most inspirational quote I heard on the tour, really hit home for me. It is probably, to this date, one of the most inspirational things I’ve ever heard.

If you think outside the box, you are still a copy of the box. It is not until you destroy the box, that you can begin to have an original idea.

One of the things I strive for in my career and my life in general is to think in a different perspective. I often have in my bio that I love square plates and round beds. In other words, I like to think outside the box. While it’s still true that I like to look at things from a different perspective, I am now starting to wonder if thinking outside the box is enough.

This trip was an amazing inspiration and definitely warrants a membership.

Here are my pictures from today’s tour from my flickr album. Enjoy.

I’ve been spending a lot of time since I have been back from Vancouver thinking about what I could possibly write about Interaction 09 and all that I learned and experienced while I was there. I have realized that it was about so much more than the education on techniques, processes, and deliverables that were shared in workshops, lightning rounds, and keynotes; it was also about friendship.

There is no way for me to completely describe how amazing the experience was from a personal level. Up until Interaction, I had never met any of the people that were attending face to face. Thanks to Crowdvine I was able to begin tracking the people that I wanted to meet. There were people that I had conversed with through volunteering for the IxDA via email and phone. There were some that I had found through the lovely IxD twitter crowd, and there were some I was just plain a fan of. Not only did I end up meeting nearly all the people I had aimed to (Christian, I promise next time we are doing coffee or something), but I met so many more that I admired and those I had never been aware of until the conference started.

I made some great professional connections, but even more than that, made truly mind-blowing friendships; friendships that are truly real and extremely overwhelming, to the point of being emotional. Being around so many talented minds was truly inspirational.

However, as with anything else, I also learned that some relationships end up being one sided. Sometimes these relationships can appear to be fantastic, but when evaluated, it’s learned that you are the one putting all the effort into the relationship and making it work. Not much is being returned to you. While this does have to be done on occasion especially when learning a new craft or skill, I feel that mentors and other role-models should play a more active role in those relationships. It made me start to evaluate who I interact with on a daily basis through mediums such as Facebook, Twitter, and email.

And now, a list of people that I found truly awesome at Interaction, that I hope to continue to learn from and build better friendships with.

If I am following you on twitter (and even if I’m not), chances are very good I want to keep in touch. My account is locked, but please request a follow. My id is @toniambartz

• Mario – I cannot even begin to describe how truly energizing it is to even be around you. You are so inspiring and great to be around. Hell you completely threw me off my rocker and flattered me when you said I was an amazing person. You’re always in a good mood and constantly trying to make sure everyone else is having a good time.
• Denise – Super awesome woman!! We didn’t get to see a lot of each other (and I’m always told I’m the social butterfly), but hopefully that won’t happen again.
• Matt – I enjoyed meeting you. It was great to hear about all the awesome things that Toronto’s IxDA group is doing and to have some good IxD conversations as well.
• Liz – It was so awesome to finally meet you and be able to have discussions about IxDA, the profession in general and just get to hang out. I look forward to helping out more with the organization.
• Dante – What a great and innovative session you led at the conference. Not to mention you are fun to hang out with. And hey, anyone that thinks I’m awesome is a friend of mine. I hope we keep in touch.
• Eric (kink.com guy) – It was determined we are tied for the best business cards right? Rock out.
• Will – It was great to get to hang out with you, and no, not just because you had the kick ass suite. Maybe it was because we stalked each other haha. Hope we keep in touch, and hopefully will be at another conference together at some point!
• Whitney – Any friend of Mario’s has got to be phenomenal. It was nice to meet another down to earth woman around my age that is passionate about her career.
• Nasir – Glad to have had the chance to spend time with you and discuss the organization as well as hear your ideas for local groups. Next time I will be at karaoke for sure!
• Shaun – I cannot believe it took us until the last day of Interaction to meet. Thank you so much for all your help before the conference in regards to local groups and I hope to continue sharing that knowledge in the future.
• Angel – Loved getting to meet you finally. Any friend of Colleen’s is a friend of mine. Thank you for all of your help and support with starting up a local group.

If I left your name out I truly apologize. There was no way I was going to be able to write about everyone tonight – I would never get to sleep. I want to keep the friendships and conversation going.

Pics of my adventure are scattered both on Flickr and Facebook