Categories: graduate school, learning

Today wasn’t as nearly as hectic as yesterday. We visited two companies.

Hewlett Packard
HP has been around since 1950’s and from my observations they are a traditional corporate company. However renovations were being made to improve the work environment more modern looking.

At HP we met with another former IU Alum Joe Bach. He didn’t answer too many of our questions about HCI design and how it fits into HP’s business structure. But he did speak about his personal experiences at HP and how the company evolved during his 20+ years. Not only did I appreciate his career advice, but I also enjoyed his philosophy and analogies on life. One particular analogy resonates in my head, “Your life’s past is like the rear view mirror in your car. If you keeping staring at it, you will eventually crash. It’s okay to look occasionally at your mirror to reflect about the past, but don’t dwell on it and keep looking forward… look forward to the future.”

Ebay
We all went to lunch at Ebay’s cafeteria and then Vamsi Gadey gave the group a tour of the usability labs and the “war room” - where designers, project managers, and other project stakeholders discuss and resolve design-related issues. I vividly remember the “war room” being filled with toys, rough sketches of diagrams, wireframes, and concepts on butcher paper from the bottom of the floor to the ceiling.

After the tour we all entered the “bingo conference room” which had bingo cards and chips decor on the walls. Vamsi and another Interaction Designer talked about Ebay’s user experience design process from research to a UI specification document. I also took note of a sketch they drew on the whiteboard. The sketch displayed their views on how design fits in relation to art, science, and business. In summary, design helps clearly communicate what is presented to the user and how it may enrich their lives, thus being at the intersection of the three. Also he expanded on where people fit in depending on their background. For example, a person with a fine arts background working as an design consultant would fall under of art and business, while a person with an engineering undergraduate degree and an MBA would fall under the intersection between science and business.

Since my experience and background is in information systems, programming, and digital media, I fit in between art and science with some interface design experience.

I barely touch the design intersection because I’m just getting my feet wet and deeper into the IxD field.

Overall, I think the Silicon Valley trip went exceptionally well considering this is the first type of School of Informatics career trip ever planned. Again a big kudos to Jeremy Podany for organizing the trip logistics and making this happen.

Press release:

• Silicon Valley high-tech firms open doors to IU Informatics students