We had a blast at Luminous Elephant for a one-night printmaking class!
OXD and ThoughtFarmer staff explored the beginner basics of printmaking by learning to transfer a sketch, carve, and then print their own piece on Lino using watercolour printing inks. While many of us opted to draw flowers (maybe to summon Spring to come?), others chose gnomes and chevron patterns. Some of us played it safe with one colour, while others mixed it up with ombre and experimental mixes.
Pizza was eaten and laughs were had all around. Check out some of the beautiful prints we made!
“Printmaking is something I've always wanted to try! It was a fun time hanging out and experimenting with a new craft.”
Amanda Chan
“With most of my creative outlet being on a computer, I jumped at the chance to make something with my hands. And as I work remotely, it gave me the opportunity to see some faces I haven’t seen in person in a long time, and meet some new ones! It was such a fun event.”
Outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers in British Columbia (BC) have a reason to celebrate: the newly revamped BCParks.ca website is now live thanks to the collaborative effort between BC Parks and OXD.
BC Parks embarked on the website redesign project to enhance the accessibility and enjoyment of BC’s incredible natural landscapes. OXD was tasked with helping transition the BC Parks website from a beta version to a fully functional production site. This required a significant content migration and website cutover effort before the official launch.
Working closely with the BC Parks Information Services team, our User Experience (UX) team guided the audit and transfer of thousands of content pages. Our developers refined the site's architecture, employing automated processes to efficiently migrate valuable content. This collaborative effort ensured a seamless transition from beta to the live version.
The previous content management system (CMS) posed functional and usability challenges for the BC Parks team, complicating content updates. In response, we enhanced the CMS and staff portal's user experience and streamlined the process for updating site content. Swift updates are crucial for maintaining the site's relevance, trustworthiness, and accuracy.
Thanks to our integrated team's meticulous planning and execution, the BC Parks website launched successfully, just in time for the 2023 camping season. The improved CMS now offers a better digital experience, enabling users to easily access information on parks, trails, and camping opportunities.
Our commitment to enhancing the BCParks.ca website continues. In partnership with BC Parks's developers and operational staff, our UX team supports regular user research and usability testing. This ensures the new features and functionalities we’re designing meet user expectations, promoting continuous improvements to the user experience.
Gordon Ross, Vice President and Partner at OXD, has been invited to present an introduction to the use of design methods in justice on February 7, 2023. He’ll provide perspectives on public sector innovation and the role design can play, as well as concrete examples of how the theory and practice of design is applied.
I’m excited to share the work we’ve done with British Columbia’s own Ministry of Attorney General with this group of the legal services branch.
Gordon Ross
Gord will also share resources (authors, organizations, journals, and books) for participants to further explore, and connections to those within public service in BC who have made design part of their operations.
The UVic Law 325, ‘Access to Justice: Designing Change in the Legal Sector’ course confronts the fact of diminishing access to justice and responds with proactive, problem-solving, and human-centred approaches. The aim is to provide both theoretical and practical frameworks and methods to help students recognize, understand, and respond to access to justice issues.
The course is taught by Professor Robert Lapper, QC who is the Lam Chair in Law and Public Policy at University of Victoria. Gord will present to students on January 17, 2023.
Sharing our experiences in designing for justice with projects like the BC Online Divorce Assistant is one of the ways OXD supports access to justice initiatives. Our work with the Ministry of the Attorney General of British Columbia on this project helped provide fair and equitable access to justice through Agile development and citizen-centred design.
We’d be happy to speak about our experience at your next event or initiative.
It’s time to get festive! It’s the year of the Rabbit (兔), the fourth year in the 12-year Chinese zodiac cycle. The rabbit is the luckiest of all the zodiac animals (but maybe don’t spend all your money on lottery tickets just yet!) To help celebrate the Lunar New Year (also Chinese New Year) that starts on January 22, we’ve put together a few ways for Vancouver area residents to enjoy local festivities, learn about traditions, and of course, eat their way into 2023.
How to celebrate
Chinatown New Year Parade
The Lunar New Year is a big part of Vancouver’s culture and history. The first Chinese New Year Parade in Vancouver was held in Chinatown in 1973, and it’s now an annual tradition organized by the Chinese Cultural Centre. After a two-year hiatus, the 48th Vancouver Chinatown Celebration returns and will be held on January 22. The festivities include family-friendly activities, live entertainment, cultural dance troupes, marching bands, martial arts performances, and traditional lion dance teams.
Want to get involved? Local organization S.U.C.C.E.S.S. is in need of 200 parade day volunteers.
LunarFest
Lunarfest Vancouver celebrations will be held January 21-22 at šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énk Square (Vancouver Art Gallery North Plaza). You can also join LunarFest at the Ocean Art Works pavilion for workshops and exhibitions, crafts, music, and performances from the diverse communities that make up Vancouver. Find a list of all the LunarFest events and dates on their website.
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden
On January 21st and 22nd, the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden is honouring Lunar New Year with a variety of performances, arts and crafts, and delicious food. Check out the opening of an exhibition by Chairman Ting while visiting. You can buy your tickets online with all proceeds going toward the ongoing support of their seniors and educational programs, and garden conservation projects.
How to celebrate… with food.
A.Bento 飯匠 is offering limited Rabbit Gift boxes that are available now until January 20 for pre-order. Choose from three boxes or a combination of them, including yummy treats like candies and homemade sauces, or a meal box that has fish, pork, and rice dishes.
“Hike” the Dumpling Trail, (no, it’s not literally a hiking trail filled with dumplings), but enjoy your way through one—some—or all—of the restaurants participating along the trail. Richmond BC Tourism has put together an awesome resource including a trail map and pre-planned itineraries, like Hidden Gems, to take out the guesswork.
Celebrate at home by taking a virtual Lunar New Year cooking class or picking up ingredients to make your own hot pot or traditional dishes like glutinous rice cake. Feeling less-adventurous? You can pick up pre-made frozen dim sum and dumplings in Chinatown or from most supermarkets. You can also order party platters from restaurants like Western Lake.
Check our our 2022 article for more restaurant and food options.
Let’s “hop” into 2023, together.
We want to wish everyone prosperity and good fortune throughout this Lunar New Year.
Get an insider's view of the step-by-step process OXD uses to evaluate the security of our projects.
Our Web Application Security Testing Checklist includes valuable resources and steps you can take to ensure the security of your website or web application.
In this checklist, you’ll find:
standard OWASP Top 10 Web Application Security Risks,
resources from PortSwigger, a well known web security company, and
avenues to address potential security risks within a project.
Join us for our Design Systems 101 webinar on Thursday, November 24th at 9 a.m. PST / 12 p.m. EST where James Byun, Lead Designer at OXD will take us through what a design system is and the benefits of using one.
Over the course of this informative 45-minute session, you'll learn:
an understanding of a design system and its various governance and maturity models
how we created a design system with the Alberta DDI team, and how their various project teams use and maintain it
how different design teams working with design systems can collaborate to ensure project success
Who should attend this webinar? UX designers, UI designers, students, organizations with a nascent or basic design system or that want to build one, or anyone who wants to learn more about design systems in general.
During the pandemic, the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) of BC launched an online service that allowed British Columbians to update their COVID-19 vaccination records, or to submit COVID-19 vaccines received outside of BC. This tool was an important ally in the Provincial immunization plan. And due to its success, it revealed the additional need for BC residents and health care workers to be able to upload and keep track of any vaccine they'd received.
Working cross-functionally in an agile fashion with the PHSA team, we developed new user flows based on all possible scenarios vaccinated people might take. We worked closely with their data specialists and business analysts to simplify and align the form fields to what people using the tool needed. In collaboration with the Government Digital Experience (GDX) Content Design Team, we ensured the updated tool matched content and design across government websites. Using this information, we created design resources to capture requirements for the high-fidelity wireframes we built. We developed clickable wireframes for us to use to facilitate remote usability testing with people who used the digital service. After we completed usability testing, we updated the wireframes to include the feedback and needs of the users. The updated wireframes were used by PHSA’s internal development team to build and launch the online tool based on our findings.
Screen example of the high-fidelity wireframe of the BC vaccine submission tool
People in BC can use Health Gateway to see their immunizations from the Provincial Immunization Registry. If any of their immunizations are missing or need to be changed, they can use the online form. After review by a healthcare professional, their record is updated, and the changes will then show in Health Gateway.
The digitization of vaccine records means BC residents and health care workers get an improved service experience. They can now manage immunization records in one convenient place.
Learn more about the work we've done on helping improve the digital experience for residents of BC during the pandemic, including our collaboration with the federal government of Canada and Canadian Digital Service (CDS) for the COVID Alert mobile app.
