A Celebration for the release of Professor Erin Malone’s new book, In Through the Side Door: Fifty Years of Women in Interaction Design, with a panel of pioneers profiled in the book and a book signing immediately following the conversation.
Malone’s new book follows the evolution of computer programming from software design into a fully realized and separate discipline of Interaction Design through the stories of women who helped define the field as they worked with technology.
IXD Pioneers Terry Roberts, Joy Mountford, Sue Booker, Abbe Don, and Lillian Svec worked as some of the earliest interaction designers and researchers across the first graphical user interfaces, personal computers, handheld devices, and the early emergent web.
If you plan to attend, register for free here: In Through the Side Door: Erin Malone’s Book Launch & Panel Discussion.
Meet the Panelists:
Sue Booker
Sue Booker is a designer, artist, ex-manager and advocate for many, who brings over 35 years of tech expertise with her here today. She began her formal career as a young 20-something, surrounded by arrogant European men who didn’t initially understand her value, but she ended up showing them a thing or two by spending the majority of her career working for a company whose products you may be sitting on, have strapped to your wrist, or have nestled in your ears. And most days she loved her job, or at least liked it, and was able to retire early just a few years ago. She has many patents, has spoken at many prestigious events, and has led teams to do great work. But what she really loves to do is give back and help the next generation figure out how to thrive.
Abbe Don
Abbe Don is a storyteller, designer, and healthcare innovator. She is currently focussed on mentoring young designers, advising healthcare startups, and helping non-profit organizations apply design to their communication and operational challenges.
Joy Mountford
Joy Mountford began her career designing physical experiences for Honeywell and quickly moved to Apple, where she ran the Human Interface Group. She changed the group from one that documented and policed interaction designs to one that innovated, experimented, and changed the way we all interact with computers. Since then she is always on the edge of innovation working with big data, physical devices, autonomous vehicles and more. All her work is integrated with mentoring and working with the next generation of designer.s
Terry Roberts
Terry Roberts comes from a computer science background, but she discovered that her passion is for empowering people to accomplish what they want to get done in a way that works best for them. She has applied this passion to systems ranging from the Xerox Star, the first windows-and-mouse office computer, released in 1981, to telecommunications, accounting systems, and interactive data visualization.
Lillian Svec
Lillian Svec started as a print graphic designer, pioneered information architecture as an essential planning process for web design during the dot-com boom, and championed user-centered practices that are now core to UX design and research. She’s worked in design consulting, corporate UX management, and education and training. Recognizing design as a versatile, creative problem-solving process has enabled her career to span periods of shifting paradigms and rapid technological innovation.
Erin Malone
Erin Malone is an author, design historian, educator, and a senior-level user experience designer and researcher who has spent her career deconstructing complex systems, designing web and software applications, and social experiences, and leading experience design teams. She is currently a Professor and the Chair of the Interaction Design BFA program at California College of the Arts. She is the author of the new book from MIT Press In Through the Side Door: Fifty Years of Women in Interaction Design, released in October 2024.
