Modeling Concepts: May 2009 Workshop

At a Glance

• Date: May 22, 2009
• Time: 1pm - 5pm (4 hours)
• Location: The Mansion at Strathmore, Bethesda, MD (Convenient parking and metro access!)
• Price: US$188

Register

Registration is US$188 and is managed through PayPal. You can pay with a major credit card.

Sold Out! Modeling Concepts sold out quickly, but don’t worry! We’ll offer it again! In the meantime, feel free to sign up for one of our other sessions this summer.

Outline

1. How Concept Models Help Designers
2. Anatomy of a Concept Model
3. Planning Them
4. Drawing Them
5. Incorporating Concept Modeling into your Process
6. Variations and Elaborations

Workshop Details

A staple in the information architect’s tool chest, the site map, approaches obsolescence faster and faster every day. The site map–a literal representation of every page on a web site–no longer adequately captures the structures behind today’s web sites. Information architects need a new tool.

Concept models can be that tool. While similar to the site map, it avoids confining information architects to a specific framework for representing structures. It provides flexibility for accommodating a range of concepts and objects–not just web pages. It can represent a variety of relationships and easily incorporate contextual information. Modern web sites no longer are a collection of static HTML pages. Instead, they rely on templates, portlets, and complex interactivity. A user’s experience of such sites are hardly linear or hierarchical. Information architect’s need a visualization tool to capture the range of abstractions that form the foundation of modern sites.

This workshop will help participants adopt concept modeling into their own processes. Besides introducing the deliverable and providing advice on how to create them, the workshop will help participants understand where and when concept models are appropriate to use. We will discuss the range of problems concept models can address and how to translate a model from an abstract representation of a site’s structure to concrete wireframes.

After providing an overview, the workshop will gradually walk participants through the process of creating a concept model. Working from a sample site, participants will start at the beginning, gathering concepts, compiling an initial model, reviewing with “stakeholders” (played by the facilitator and other participants), revising the model, adding a final visual polish, and turning the model into a screen design.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this workshop, participants will know:

• When concept models are an appropriate tool.
• How to create concept models to use in the gathering requirements.
• How to create concept models to use in the design process.
• How to design effective visualizations for concept models.

Register

Registration is US$188 and is managed through PayPal. You can pay with a major credit card.

Sold Out! Modeling Concepts sold out quickly, but don’t worry! We’ll offer it again! In the meantime, feel free to sign up for one of our other sessions this summer.