I participated in my first design jam hosted by EchoUser and Oracle, which focused on wearables in the workplace. Despite the narrow time frame, I learned a lot and broadened my design skills. It was a valuable tool for gaining a stronger framework on wearables and I would recommend it to other design teams.

San Francisco Design Week begins on June 13, and EchoUser is participating with an open house on June 17. The event will take place at EchoUser HQ and will include refreshments and small bites. The co-founders will be there to discuss UX and their Any Experience approach. Anyone interested in design and usability research is welcome to attend.

Wearable tech holds tremendous potential in the workplace, boosting productivity and connectivity. Use cases include medical diagnosis, retail experiences, field services, and warehousing. A Wearables Design Jam allowed designers to explore solutions for workplace challenges using wearables.

I was asked how virtual reality might affect businesses. Facebook's $2B investment in Oculus Rift signals the rise of VUIs. Challenges remain, but VR could become mainstream across industries. While gaming and social tools are closer to adoption, enterprise applications are further away. The potential impact on humanity is particularly intriguing.

I tried UserTesting.com and found it great for quickly conducting usability tests on consumer apps. The fast turnaround allowed for agile user testing and iterative design. Surprisingly, it performed on par with in-person testing, but had limitations for complex enterprise apps.

Innovative companies are transforming the transportation industry. Key players include Uber, revolutionizing taxi services; Google Maps, providing real-time navigation; Virgin, enhancing airlines; Tesla, making electric cars accessible; and Citi Bike, promoting urban bike-sharing. These companies are reshaping user experiences in transportation.

At the Future of Wearable Tech event, Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky shared key insights: focus on fashion, make wearables "sticky," customize for users, add context, wait for the right technology, and consider user experience for wearables.

Channing Tatum and other celebrities got early access to Twitter's new profile page layout, which prioritizes user experience. The redesign, which enlarges popular tweets and adds new features, raises questions about Twitter's target audience and future design direction.

I once loved flat design, but soon realized it lacked personality. To create depth and maintain usability in flat-design interfaces, I use colors, photography, subtle layer effects, subtle gradients, and blending modes like Multiply. These techniques can help you create vivid, interesting designs.

We studied BART to show how design improves experiences. As part of ride-alongs with users, we found **cleanliness, safety, and inter-transportation transfers were the main concerns**, more so than ticket prices or frequency. Our _Any Experience_ design process focused on the whole experience and found small changes that could have a big impact.

I recently presented a new design process called the CAPTivate Framework at SXSW Interactive. The framework is a four-step process that helps interaction designers and developers **incorporate time as the most important medium for users**. The steps include choosing an activity, determining its context, identifying barriers, and designing plans and triggers. The article provides a breakdown of the steps and how they can be used to design for engagement.

Jeremy Ashley, VP of Applications User Experience at Oracle, discussed designing a good user experience for wearables and their potential benefits in the enterprise space. He emphasized the importance of balancing utility and effort, understanding social implications, and recognizing preferences and limitations.