Dennis Kardys
Dennis Kardys is a Chicago based UX designer and author with an affinity for all things mobile. He’s the author of the recently published Mobile Web Triage, and a contributing author to Smashing Magazine’s The Mobile Book. As Design Director at WSOL, Dennis leads a team of wisecrackin’ designers and developers in helping universities, hospitals and corporations alike take the plunge into mobile and responsive design.
For more, keep up with Dennis at robotregime.com or on Twitter as @dkardys.
Presentations
UX Camp 2014: Mobile Camp
Navigating the Mobile Web
We’ve learned to reject the notion of creating desktop-lite mobile experiences. But as we attempt to map larger, more complex systems to smaller screens, it becomes more and more challenging to help people find what they’re looking for. How do the interface decisions we make and the mobile interaction patterns we rely on impact how people process information and find content? Each time we adapt our design to a different range of screen sizes we create a new landscape our users must familiarize themselves with. Done right, this can lead to more seamless multiscreen experiences. Done poorly and your users will be left frustrated, disoriented and hunting elsewhere for information. This dissection of mobile UI and IA best practices will help you help your users find their way around your site–no matter what size screen they’re on.
UX Camp 2013: Sketch Camp
The Straight Up “How To Draw Better” Workshop
One of the first things taught in sketching workshops is, “It’s okay—you don’t have to be good at drawing.” True as this may be, when it comes to visual thinking a little drawing skill goes a hell of a long way. Fortunately, anyone can learn to draw. Roll up your sleeves, it’s time to bust out the vine charcoal and take a studio crash course in drawing fundamentals. We’ll do some basic exercises designed to develop your visual perceptual skills while equipping you with an arsenal of rendering techniques you can apply right away.
If the terrifying stare of the blank white sketchbook page paralyzes you with dread, or feelings of self consciousness leave you hesitant to show your sketches, you should attend this session. Novice and expert sketcher alike, you’ll leave with more confidence in your drawing ability and some practice exercises that’ll have you seeing noticeable improvements in no time!
Speaker Camp Chicago
Mentor
UX Camp 2013: Mobile Camp
Convincing Your Boss to Go Mobile Now
A lot of organizations recognize the need to provide their Web visitors with a better mobile experience, but struggle with how to get there. What do you do when the decision to invest in mobile is in somebody else’s hands? Trying to get all vested stakeholders onboard can be an overwhelming challenge. How do you factor in the needs of your content authors? How do you address the disparity of devices that exist? What’s going to be the most sensible long-term or short-term investment of development resources? If you want to get your project off the ground, you’re going to need a plan. In this talk we’ll look at how to build a solid case for mobile.
You’ll leave armed with some useful data, actionable techniques, and mobile web best practices that will help you convince your boss, and others in your organization, to go mobile now!
UX Camp 2012: Prototype Camp
Replacing Photoshop Comps with HTML Prototypes in the Real World
Many clients (and bosses) still clamor for static, finalized Photoshop comps to sign off on. How do you convince them to evolve beyond rigid deliverables and embrace a prototype-based approach to interface design? In this session I’ll share recent experiences upending internal design processes and discarding Photoshop comps in favor of HTML based design guides. We’ll cover practical considerations for getting stakeholder buy-in (and sign-off) and walk through the code you need to start building device-agnostic design systems.
