WIAD 2017 – education, study cases and innovation, directly from Iasi

Romanita Oprea Business, Case Studies, Creativity, Digital & Media, e-Commerce, Education, Events, Innovation, Marketing, Mobile

Iasi was last weekend the capital of the informational architecture. Over 60 people took part at one of the most important global events dedicated to the architecture information – WIAD 2017. The conference, organized locally by the agency Grapefruit, at its sixth edition in Romania and that took place this year at the same time in 58 locations, 24 countries, 5 continents, was hosted for the first time by Iasi.

The speakers’ presentations were structured into two main pillars: how we apply Architecture Information in the professional and the personal lives.

Examples of applying Architecture Information in the professional life offered Flavian Cristea (Digital Strategist Grapefruit) that talked about the benefits of organizing and defining OKRs (the methodology Objective Key Results). OKR represents a framework of organizing the acidity in the company that Grapefruit implemented last year and that until now brought important results. Some of the most specular ones being:

  • Time invested in education and public appearances –  893 hours
  • 91 refresher courses finished, from which 30 % in web development
  • 78 public appearances (18 as speakers to events, 25 written articles, etc

The passing was done easily towards a study case presented and proposed by Victor Keller (UI/Graphic Designer Grapefruit), for Cinema City: the creating of Cinema City App.  The Grapefruit team saw the fact that this type of app didn’t exist at that time on the market and wanted to prove its utility and importance, at the same time, feeling that it’s a need for these type of products on this niche. The proposal was received with enthusiasm and the majority of the participants said they wanted this app to be implemented in reality, because they empathized with the identified problems. Moreover, this application would make their lives easier and revolutionize the reservation / administration of online tickets’ system in Romania.

When we’ve started to work on it I literally fallen in love with this concept and I felt that I can do more that I first proposed myself to. In the end I’ve invested more than two months, being very taken in by this project and I believe that what I proposed shouldn’t remain just a simple study case,” said Victor Keller.

It’s not the first time that the Grapefruit team shows these types of initiatives. During WIAD 2013 the Grapefruit team formed of Alexandru Cahnita and Alecsandru Grigoriu, UX Designers Grapefruit, proposed an improved interface for the CFR Calatori website.

We are glad to be able to bring WIAD (World Information Architecture Day) this year in Romania. If in the previous years Grapefruit proposed projects like “CFR” or “D200”, this year we’ve taken another rabbit out of the hat: “Cinema City App”. This proposal was received with enthusiasm by the conference participants and, just like before, our study case proposes itself to solve a problem that most of us have,” added Georgiana Dragomir, Managing Director Grapefruit.

The agency went even further with developing ideas, trying to place them even more in the practical, real world. Therefore, the IDEO Course presented by Alecsandru Grigoriu, UX Lead Grapefruit, has at its basis the concept of “Human Centered Design”, the result being a solution through which the agency resolves the real problem of the people with low income that are eating unhealthy.

Following the entire course and the weekly workshop for a period of 2,5 months the proposed finale solution was a prototype of real dimensions, a kit for 4 persons, with ingredients already portioned and cooking instructions. The learnt user research techniques were integrated in the Grapefruit design process,” said Alecsandru Grigoriu.

The Information Architecture methods and the way they can be applied in the professional life were illustrated by Ion Turcanu, UX Designer Grapefruit, using Card sorting and highlighting the benefits of implementing in a project.

Not the least, about the manner in which the IA concepts and methods may be implemented in the personal life talked Andrei Postolache (co-founder and trainer at Introspecials) and Andreea Marinciu (Content Manager Grapefruit). On their turn, Corina Cilibiu and Iavi Rotberg attracted the attention also over a very important and potentially dangerous aspect: the way in which the information can lead us into error.

WIAD 2017 took place at the same time in Europe in: Barcelona (Spain); Bristol, London and Manchester (UK); Jonkoping (Sweden); Ljubljiana (Slovenia); Lyon (France); Palermo, Rome and Verona (Italy); Saint Petersburg (Russia) and Zurich (Switzerland).

Based very much on the idea of learning that must be shared with the persons around, a gesture that will lead easily and simple to the general growth and developing of the whole industry, the event is a unique celebration and local teams are creative, designing a day that brings value to their community and awareness to the practice of information architecture.