Creating Products with Character

Companies can spend thousands of dollars developing brand values and mission statements - but often struggle to translate them into action across all areas of the business. Product teams then inherit the challenge of deeply understanding the company’s brand and acting in a way that’s true to it.

Just as great actors bring life to a scripted role by pushing to understand and be true to their characters’ motivations, teams can delve into the value propositions and missions of their companies in order to better define their product’s character. In this talk we’ll explore the process of forming product value propositions and design principles that are true to character, with the greater goal of designing from a deeper and more meaningful foundation.

ABOUT

Carolyn has been working in the field of User Experience Design for 20 years, as a consultant and practice leader for companies such as Open Text, Manifest Digital, and Mira Fitness. Now as a User Experience Strategist with Eight Bit Studios, her areas of specialty include brand and product definition, team workshops, interaction design, information architecture, and user research and modeling. She has co-authored

A Project Guide to UX Design with Russ Unger (now in its second edition) and Adventures in Experience Design with Anna van Slee. Due to her work in teaching and mentoring students and start-ups, Carolyn was named one of “Chicago’s Tech 50” by Crain’s Magazine.