Author: sethmsparks

My UXD Principles and Concepts Notes – Week 1

By sethmsparks

Preface – As of Jan 2019, I’ve enrolled at Kent State University, seeking a Master of Science in User Experience Design. As such, certain coursework in the curriculum will require regular blog posts (reflections) of weekly learnings. This is the first of those posts. In reflecting on Week 1 in UXD Principles and Concepts, I…

Gamification is Poised for a Podcast-like Resurgence

By sethmsparks

Gamification Origins Gamification is a stupid word. I think at this point just about all of us agree on that. Yet despite the words silliness, the definition is important: the process of applying game-based elements to non-game activities. We humans have been trying to gamify non-game situations (at least knowingly, at scale, in business, according…

What is The Gen Z Frequency?

By sethmsparks

I was selected by publisher Kogan Page to read an advance copy of one of their upcoming titles, The Gen Z Frequency (scheduled for release on September 28). Over the last few weeks, I’ve worked my way through the text with relative ease. It’s a well-written, fun book. In what I would now call the…

My 2018 Personal Balanced Scorecard

By sethmsparks

Every year, I take a different approach to resolutions. Since 2013 I’ve crafted a personal balanced scorecard to guide my personal behaviour, and, hopefully, improve it. Most of this is pretty personal to me, but I’m happy to talk with anyone about it if you have questions. For the last few years, I’ve broken my…

What Can Video Game Design Teach Marketers?

By sethmsparks

It’s more than the gamification buzz that’s been thrown around. I’m a total nerd. It took me a long time to realize how big of a nerd I really am though. In high school, I was friends with people that played sports (when I did not). Being friends with “jocks” clouded my self-assessment accuracy, and…

I Built A New Computer Because of This.

By sethmsparks

Last month I decided it was time to do a new custom PC build. It wasn’t much on the “budget” side, but I did already have an Nvidia GTX 1070 that I’d picked up last year, so I didn’t have to worry about a GPU. Here’s a capture from CAM of the system upon completion:…