As Jeff mentioned on Friday, most of us are here at the SXSW Interactive Conference.  If you’ve never been, it’s definitely worth a look.  The fact that it is held in our hometown of Austin, Texas every year makes it a no-brainer for us, but I personally find a lot of great takeaways… and I’m not talking about free swag.

One of my favorite sessions so far was “The Right Way to Wireframe”, a 2 part series featuring Tod Zaki Warfel, Russ Unger, Fred Beecher, and Will Evans.  This group of designers and design agencies challenged the big names in UX and UI Design to “show your work”, and subsequently put together a design challenge for themselves.  I won’t go too far into detail, because these AWESOME time-lapsed videos will tell the story better than I can:
The Right Way to Wireframe video series

Also, in the spirit of posting trends, Jeff, Kate, and I have been documenting all of the trends we see popping up here at SXSW.  I started compiling these yesterday and thought they might make an interesting post.
Disclaimer: We don’t necessarily think all of these are good trends, but these are our observations. Enjoy…

UI Trends:

  • UI Standards – out
  • Design Patterns – in
  • Pattern Libraries – in
  • The Wireframe vs Prototype debate – IN!!
  • User research and Personas - in
  • UX – IN!!
  • UCD - OUT!! (I haven’t heard a single person use the term all conference)

Technology:

  • iPhone apps for EVERYTHING - in
  • Netbooks - out (SOOOO 2009!!)
  • Blackberry - WAY OUT!!
  • Laptop battery life - out
  • Wifi - in (way better than last year, good job SXSW)
  • Recharging stations - IN!!
  • CMS’s – out
  • WordPress - in
  • Location - BIG IN!!
  • Hashtags – in
  • Microsoft – out
  • Google – in
  • The economic downturn - OUT
  • The future - IN
  • Telling everyone you pre-orderred your iPad - BIG IN!!
  • AT&T  coverage - so far so good, IN!!

Conference-y Type Stuff:

  • Good free conference and trade show swag - out
  • Free drinks - in
  • Small sessions - out
  • Standing room only - in
  • Attendance - in
  • Personal space – out
  • Too many slides – out
  • Actual presentation content - in
  • Standing up and asking the speaker a relevant question - out
  • Standing up and wasting everyone’s time by telling the room about your company and/or blog - IN!!
  • Panels using online resources and mobile apps to moderate questions - IN!!

Food:

  • Coffee - out (controversial, I know)
  • Beer - in
  • BBQ - controversially, OUT!!
  • Bacon - in
  • Vegan - OUT (surprisingly… if you disagree, you’re in denial)
  • Breakfast tacos - BIG IN (proof)
  • Fried chicken and waffle - in
  • Buying food at the convention center – out
  • Using location based apps to find good food - IN!!

Austin Trends:

  • Westside - out
  • Eastside – in
  • Peddy cab – out
  • Bring your own bike – in
  • Little dogs - out
  • Big dogs – in
  • Road construction – in
  • Confusing building layouts – IN!!

And last, but not least… Fashion and Style:

  • Aviator sunglasses - out
  • “Buddy Holly” glasses – in
  • Vests – out (soooo, 2009)
  • Sweater vests – in
  • Blazers – in
  • Plaid – no brainer, IN
  • Tight shorts – in
  • Jorts - IN
  • Layered clothes - in
  • Neon – in
  • Colored Jeans – in
  • Full beards – on the way out (beards were big last year, Jeff and I feel out-dated)
  • Mustaches – in
  • Bedhead - OUT
  • The fade - IN!!
  • Little and/or Skinny ties – in
  • For girls, high water pants – IN!!
  • Plunging necklines, V-neck shirts, and cleavage (both male and female) - BIG IN!!
  • Belts – in
  • Sandals – out
  • Extremely uncomfortable shoes – in
  • Military shirts and jackets – in
  • Track jackets - out
  • Scarves and bandanas – in
  • Tight rolled jeans – in
  • Jeans tucked into your boots – in