We’re thrilled to have applied psychologist and interaction/UX designer David Hogue take the stage at Dribbble’s Hang Time Los Angeles. Since 2013, Dave has been a UX Design Lead at Google, coordinating collaborative efforts on Android design and research across devices to improve UX quality, cohesiveness, and consistency.
In his own words, Dave tells us why he’s excited about Hang Time LA:
Tell us about your design background.
I started in the field before there were any classes, programs, and degrees in UX. I didn’t go to art or design school, I went to graduate school in Applied Psychology and was working in academia as a professor when I decided to make the jump into a new career. I was lucky to work with some very talented designers and learned mostly through hands-on experience, reading, observing, making mistakes, and lots of practice. I still think of myself more as a pragmatic scientist, and I would love to take some graphic design courses.
What are you working on right now?
I lead a team responsible for designing tools and dashboards used by Google and many of our partners to manufacture, monitor, and manage the global Android device ecosystem. It’s a challenging problem-space including complex workflows, big data, data visualization, and machine learning with worldwide reach. In the past 20 years, I’ve worked on projects in online learning, intranets, e-commerce, mass customization, financial services, healthcare, and travel.
Tell us what you’ll be speaking about at Hang Time LA.
My career path has been atypical, but my training and experience has proved valuable because I am able to bring different perspectives, approaches, methods, and ideas to my work. I encourage my students to leverage their histories, not abandon them, and I look for people who find their advantages and sense their opportunities, so I’m going to talk with people about finding our paths, even when we don’t know where they might lead.
During Hang Time Los Angeles, we’ll be exploring the willingness to Try New Things. How do you incorporate trying new things into your workflow?
As a scientist, everything is a hypothesis and an experiment built upon abductive reasoning, exploration, evidence, and synthesis. What are all of the possible explanations? All of the possible methods? All of the possible solutions? Which is best in which context? This openness to possibility drives scientific exploration and understanding as much as it drives design and innovation. I’m always trying new tools, new methods, new models, and I’m always questioning what we think we know. When you think you know the answer and don’t need to consider alternatives is when you stagnate.
What are you most excited about for Hang Time LA?
I love hearing other people’s stories, experiences, and perspectives. It helps me see the world through different eyes. It enlarges my world, and it changes me, hopefully for the better. I look forward to having other people help me think new thoughts, try new things, and open my mind to new possibilities.
See all the Hang Time Los Angeles speakers and purchase your ticket. Want to hear more from Dave right now? Follow him on Twitter or at www.idux.com.
Find more Hang Time stories on our blog Courtside. Have a suggestion? Contact [email protected].
