Greetings clients, colleagues and friends of Usability Matters! As we enjoy the last vestiges of summer and head into the final months of 2008, we’re pleased to bring you recent news from the UM offices….

Congratulations Sarah English!

We’re thrilled to welcome Benjamin Douglas Cordiner, the first child of Sarah English and James Cordiner. Benjamin was born on September 21, weighing in at just under 10 lbs.

We wish them the very best and look forward to Sarah’s return to Usability Matters at the end of her maternity leave at this time next year.

Welcome Manna Navai

Some of you have had the pleasure of working with Manna, who joined our team in June. Manna brings a range of experience in interaction design and human factors engineering to Usability Matters. Previously, Manna worked at General Dynamics Canada in Calgary, where she lent her expertise to the design and evaluation of a variety of military programs. Since joining us, Manna has participated in projects for Canada.com, FoodTV.ca and Wiley Publishing.

UM is a proud sponsor of IxDA Toronto

Through the diligent coordination efforts of UM’s Meredith Noble and Matt Nish-Lapidus of BiblioCommons, the Toronto chapter of IxDA (the Interaction Design Association) has served as the forum for a number of presentations and discussion on various topics in interaction design.

Most recently, Paul Eisen of TandemSeven talked about his experiences designing an enterprise portal for the Campbell's Soup Company.

IxDA Toronto meets regularly, and new faces are always welcome! To sign up for event announcements, please visit http://groups.google.com/group/ixda-toronto

Your 2008/2009 user experience objectives

This is a great time to think about your user experience goals for this year and next. Many of you may be aiming to complete a particular project, or get started with strategy and planning on a project for next year. We can help!

We’re currently scheduling engagements from mid-October through to the end of the year and beyond. If you are looking to secure our expertise, please contact Terry soon to discuss your requirements. Terry can be reached at terry@usabilitymatters.com or 416.598.7770 ext. 12.

Just a quick reminder to our agency clients – while we will continue to offer our services as a third-party usability evaluation partner, please note that we no longer provide subcontracted planning and design activities through agencies. If you are in doubt, please don’t hesitate to contact Terry.

Wishing you a productive end to 2008, from all of us at Usability Matters!