I’m going to forego summarizing this one, since for me the topic of sketching was developed more fully in the next couple of sessions. (I’m probably biased though, because those sessions applied more directly to our specific practice at T+L.)

Not that I didn’t enjoy the presentation. Jerome was probably the most entertaining speaker at the conference, all things being equal, and a few CanUX buddies and I enjoyed a great follow-up chat with him over dinner.

One thing that Jerome mentioned at the outset got me thinking introspectively. He talked about how people who express different “cognitive preferences” are important to creative process: generators, conceptualizers, optimizers and implementors.

This sort of hit home because, well, I think I’m sort of important to creative processes every once in a while…so which one am I? What’s probably most important, and definitely most humbling here is that the answer probably isn’t: d) all of the above. Probably can’t be.

There’s this sort of epic (for interaction designers, at least) 60 Minutes episode where they profiled IDEO back in 1999. Towards the end, one of the folks being interviewed throws out this aphorism that’s stuck with me: something like “enlightened trial and error triumphs over the wisdom of the lone genius.” It’s a blatantly obvious insight, but easy to forget when the pencil hits the page.

Jerome and others at CanUX08 reminded me that the best design emerges out of humble collaboration.

By the way, noticed that Mack Male put up CanUX resources for those who’re interested here.