IxDA Finland

Our next meetup is now scheduled: mark Thursday June 11th 18:00h to your calendars!

As this is our final get-together before the summer break, we thought that it would be nice to enjoy fresh air, evening sun and green grass for a change, so instead of our usual hang-out Nolla we’re heading to a picnic at Koffin puisto (Sinebrychoff park).

Let’s meet up at 18:00 outside the entrance to Bar Fanny. If you come later, just find our merry group somewhere on the grassy hills. Address to Bar Fanny (formerly known as Fanny Goes to Hollywood) is Bulevardi 40, easily reachable e.g. via tram 6 from center.

Do bring your own blankets/seats, food, drinks, frisbees, boomboxes, …. And come early, as our agenda contains not only picnic & park life but also our first book club gathering. Check the details on the book club on our previous blog post.

In case of really bad weather, we’ll go to Bar Fanny instead (which is conveniently just by the park).

After June 11th, the next meeting will be organized after everybody has returned from summer holidays, most probably in late August. Remember to subscribe to our blog’s RSS feed to keep yourself updated on things after & during summer, and also join our Facebook group!

Grass photo by RyanBSchultz

We are proud to announce another addition to our meetup agendas: the IxDA Helsinki Book Club!

In the spirit of the UX Book Club, our very own Book Club meets every two months discussing a book closely (or loosely) related to interaction design. Everybody is welcome to join in – you don’t need to read the book to get something out of the meetup.

There will be an introduction to the book and the subject matter by a designated main panelist, and other people who have read the book will join in on the panel discussion. The discussions are as laid-back as all IxDA happenings, so anybody is free to throw in their five cents – even if you haven’t read the book. Throw in your ideas about the subject, ask the panelist tricky questions…

If you do read the book, try to select two issues from the book that struck a cord with you and one issue that you didn’t get or disagreed with.

At the end of the discussion, candidates for the next book will be presented and voted upon and the winning book will then be the center of attention in the next book club meeting.

Schedule – 11th June and onwards

The idea is to organize the book club gatherings bi-monthly in the future, which means every other IxDA Hel meetup will revolve around a certain book & theme. 2 months should give everybody enough time to get the book & read it. The first round will however be a bit faster:

The first book club meeting will be on the next IxDA Hel meetup, 11th June – more info on that on a separate blog post. We’ll continue with book club & IxDA meetups after summer break in August in more regular schedule.

And the first book of the club is…

…with a landslide win on the voting organized in the April IxDA meetup:

Bill Buxton:
“Sketching User Experiences:
Getting the Design Right and the Right Design”

Read more about the book at Amazon.com.

The most inexpensive option for purchasing the book we could find is Book Depository (fast shipments to Finland, no additional postage fees).

Join the club on June 11th!

So: go get the book or borrow it from your colleague, read it through and bring your thoughts with you to the next IxDA meeting and you’re all set!

And do come in and join the discussion on June 11th even if you haven’t read the book!

“Book Club” photo by infowidget