Shannon Braun's Weblog

I registered for MIX 08, so I just thought I would show off my new bling.  This will be the first year I have attended MIX... I decided it would be a good opportunity to see how others are using WPF.  I have always been a huge UI advocate and had an interest in creating refined user interfaces.  The power of WPF has really made this substantially less complex then the hoops that you had to jump through before.

However, with this additional power it really helps to have a UI Designer involved to make the UI's look more professional... this also introduces other issues... from a workflow and collaboration perspective during the software development lifecycle.

If a UI Designer isn't involved developers can always use the default styles that are provided with the WPF controls, but then you just get an old fashioned Windows application look and feel.  Many developers struggled with usability and behavior not to mention color coordination, style and layout.  With this additional freedom how can we use it in a responsible fashion.  Most projects don't include UI Designers to help guide us.

There is a number of presentations that I am interested in hearing what they have to say about designers and their role in the development lifecycle.

How Design Impacts the Bottom Line
Audience(s): Business, Creative

Is design really worth the investment? Or should it be the first item to cut when time and money are tight? Hear from businesses about their experiences around the payoff for implementing design.

Applications = Designers + Developers
Audience(s): Creative, Technical

Behind the scenes, great applications feature not only clever code, but they also expose a great user experience and design. We illustrate the workflow possible using the Microsoft Expression tools and Microsoft Visual Studio to create great applications.