Yahoo! Design Group Dinner

We had the wonderful opportunity to attend an informal dinner on Monday night here in SF with the Yahoo! design group and a mix of fellow designers, developers, and even some HCI and usability legends.

On the Yahoo-side, I had the pleasure of meeting Larry Tesler, VP of user experience and design, Havi Hoffman, Catalyst for Social Media Marketing, Joy Mountford (founder of Apple’s International Interface Design Project), Kevin Cheng and Tom Chi (the duo behind OK/Cancel). Kevin and I actually recognized each other from the “people radar” on Plazes. I also talked to Don Norman and Jared Spool, Peter Merholz and Jeff Veen of Adaptive Path, Thomas Vander Wal of InfoCloud Solutions, and Julie Stanford of Sliced Bread Design. The conversations mostly centered around new web applications – which ones we use, issues with various interfaces, what elements of local search and maps are working well and which aren’t, and how design and social applications are so inextricably linked. I probably spent more time listening than talking, but it’s hard not to when surrounded by some of the great brains of web design and user experience. Thanks to Yahoo for their hospitality. I look forward to more conversations and socializing!