Jason Cranford Teague

Jason is a Web pioneer having designed the first Web based publication in 1994. In the thirty years since, he has worked on numerous products applying creative problem solving techniques to find solutions that innovate and satisfy. In addition to having written books and articles on digital media design, he is a sought after international speaker, worked with the W3C to establish Web design standards, taught UX Design at Drexel University, and is currently an advisor to the University of Richmond’s Customer Experience Program.

Jason recently started a digital strategy consulting agency — CranfordTeague.com — focusing on improving educational outcomes by creating digital experiences to meet students’ individual needs for learning.

He and his wife live in beautiful Greensboro, NC, USA. They are the parents to two children and two cats. In addition to his consulting work, Jason is the author of the children’s book Yuri Was Very Brave (www.yuribrave.com) about Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space.

Presentations

UX Camp Spring 2024

Age & Tech: Experience Need Not Apply

At the heart of the tech design industry is a worm in the bud: old people are not allowed. We see the stories every day, both explicitly and implicitly: “Tech is a young persons game.” It’s not that anyone would say it out-loud; well almost nobody. Mark Zuckerberg has been quoted as saying, ”Young people are just smarter,” but that was in 2007 when he was 23. One wonders how he feels about it now that he is rapidly approaching 40?

In this session I will explore the uncomfortable but vital topic of how ageism is an unspoken factor in hiring and advancement in the design industry, providing research and statistics on where we stand now. I’ll discuss some of the common “reasons” given for not hiring experienced designers, the benefits experience can offer in a constantly evolving and changing profession, and how ageism becomes a negative multiplier when combined with sexism and racism, further preventing diversity in an already homogeneous profession.

More importantly, I want to engage in a discussion with the audience to hear their experiences with ageism, how other forms of discrimination have compounded the problem for them, and consider paths forward.

UX Camp Spring/Summer 2023

To Be Rather Than to Seem: The Case for High-fidelity Prototypes in Experience Design

A great interactive experience should involve a lot more showing than telling. The end actor will need to know exactly how the product works with minimal explanation. Your demo should also require as little explanation as possible.

Static design tools (Photoshop, Sketch, Figma, etc…) do not present the reality of creating a digital product. They are also far less useful for creating interactions—macro or micro—and are especially cumbersome if you are designing for a variety of screen sizes.

To that end, I’ve started producing all client facing demos (prototypes) using core Web technologies (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) to create interfaces that closely match the interactivity of final product. In this session, I will be explain the pros (and cons) of high fidelity prototypes, how to avoid the “prototype fidelity cliff”, how to make the transition, and what to expect from clients and team members who may be used to a completely different process. To clearly illustrate my points, I will be using case studies from projects I have been working on for the last decade.

UX Camp Summer 2021

How to Talk to Your Developers About Accessibility

Although generally thought of as something only important to the “disabled”, considering accessibility for digital products improves everyones experience. This is true regardless of their particular abilities. Instead of treating accessibility as a checklist or afterthought, it’s important to build it into every decision being made in a technology project. Like many requirements that are commonly thought of as something included for a niche audience, accessibility is something that not only addresses the needs of the deaf or blind, it broadens the scope of how well all users interact with your product.

Accessibility is far more than just accommodating to a small audience of users with “special needs”. At its core, accessibility is about making sure that as wide an audience as possible can use the products you have worked so hard to create.

Although by no means the only myths that have built up around the limitations of making digital products accessible, these seven crop up most regularly. In this session, Jason will examine each myth individually, expose why they are not true, and talk about how to dispel them.

1. Myth: Accessibility only helps the “disabled”
2. Myth: Accessibility is just about the visual and auditory
3. Myth: If we are 508 Compliant, we are accessible
4. Myth: Accessibility compliance is a checklist
5. Myth: Accessibility is the designer’s job
6. Myth: Accessibility takes too much time & costs more
7. Myth: Making a product accessible limits design possibilities

UX Camp 2013: Prototype Camp

Interactive Prototyping: Avoiding the Fidelity Cliff

Interactive Prototyping is the next big Ux skill, but many designers may avoid embracing it. Prototyping can become needlessly complex, requiring designers to know when they’ve designed enough, and it’s time to start building. In this session, Jason will explain some of the most common pitfalls with interactive prototyping, how they can be avoided, and why it’s never been more important for designers to learn how to create working prototypes.

UX Camp 2013: Mobile Camp

Mobile Iconography

One of the daunting issues web developers face with mobile design is how to deal with interface icons and controls. You can create images with fixed dimensions for particular interface context, but what happens when that context changes? Buttons that are the perfect size for clicking on with a mouse pointer are not so good for pushing with big bulky fingers on a tablet or smart phone. You can create separate images for different contexts, but that is rapidly becomes a complex exercise, especially as new screen resolutions are developed. The solution is to stop using images for icons and controls, and instead use webfonts. Webfonts can be scaled up and down without loss of fidelity and allow for a wide range of dynmic styling without having to resort to images. Now that webfonts are ubiquitous, they provide the best solution to this growing issue. In this session, I’ll detail the issues involved, and outline a solution that not only allows for better responsive design, but can also increase search engine optimization and accessibility.

Available Videos