Awareness Days
This week we celebrate World Usability Day. This is a day of events around the world bringing ‘together communities of professional, industrial, educational, citizen, and government groups for our common objective: to ensure that the services and products important to life are easier to access and simpler to use’ to quote the website.
This is what my job is all about as a UX designer so it is great to see it embraced for a day. Each year there is a slightly different theme and this year it is Sustainable [Green] UX. The idea being that by making things sustainable we are designing products and services which are better for people too.
There are loads of events happening across the world, including UXPA UK in London, however sadly I can not attend and will have to enjoy it from afar via twitter.
"This is a great opportunity to learn more about IA to improve our skills back at our desks."
But this is not the only Day of the year which I think it is appropriate for a UX designer to celebrate.
In February we have World Information Architecture Day, and although Information Architecture (IA) is a reasonably specialised subject it is something which UX designers sometimes get involved in. So this is a great opportunity to learn more about IA to improve our skills back at our desks.
In May we have Global Accessibility Awareness Day which everyone should be involved in. Although the emphasis is normally on digital products, accessibility should be across the board, making everything inclusive to all. Being someone who is Temporary Able Bodied (TAB), these events always open my eyes to things I have not even thought about and encourage me to continue on my quest to make the things I work on inclusive.
And in October there is Ada Lovelace Day. This might seem like an odd one, but for women in tech Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) is an inspiration. She is known as the first computer programmer and now inspires millions of women to work in tech, even when there are obstacles.
I imagine there are other days which are just as appropriate for a UX Designer but these are a good start if you want to learn more and meet like minded people.