All posts tagged experience

13 Posts

January 5, 2013 · design

Why Design Matters

I don’t know if you own an Apple iPhone or an iPad but you only have to pick them up and touch them to realise that they are designed with a genius that goes beyond the physical. They are intuitive and work with an understanding that blends the human experience with technology.

Steve Jobs is maybe “the” design genius of the information age and has made major impact on several industries with his technology designs and creations including;

The personal computer industry with Apple in the 1980′s
The movie animation industry with Pixar in 1986 when he bought the company for $5 million from George Lucas (all of its movies are among the top 50 grossing movies of all time and have generated over $6.3 billion in revenue)
The music industry with the iPod and the Apple iTunes store
The mobile phone industry with the Apple iPhone and Apps store
The publishing industry with the iPad (the fastest selling technology device in history)

In 1996 Steve Jobs was interviewed by “Wired Magazine” and he said this about design.

“Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it “looks”. But of course if you dig deeper , its really how it “works”. The design of the Mac wasn’t what it looked like, although that was part of it. To design something really well, you have to “get it”. You have to really “grok ” what it’s all about. It takes a passionate comittment to really thoroughly understand something, chew it , not just quickly swallow it. Most people don’t take the time to do that.”

The term “Grok” by the way is a real word and not a “Jobian” expression.

It means according to the Oxford English Dictionary “to understand intuitively or by empathy; to establish rapport with” and “to empathize or communicate sympathetically with).

Wikipedia says “To grok is to share the same reality or line of thinking with another physical or conceptual entity“.

Author Robert A. Heinlein coined the term in his best-selling 1961 book Stranger in a Strange Land. In Heinlein’s view, grokking is the intermingling of intelligence that necessarily affects both the observer and the observed.

I am immersed and enmeshed in the web industry both personally and professionally and have the pleasure and privilege to work with people and their companies with their online stores, web design and digital marketing projects.

The constant challenge is to get under their skin and understand intuitively and empathically what they are trying to achieve and how they want to communicate to their audience. The websites we design and the solution we build need to go beyond the skin deep look and feel and provide the user with an experience that solves their problems and makes life a little easier. In essence we are trying to change the world in our small way.

The genius in design is to ask enough questions and spend enough time so that we “get it” and blend the technology with the human so we can provide an experience that goes beyond the ordinary and into the realm of of intuition and maybe a little magic.

Do you get under your customers skin?

Original article by Jeff Bullas

October 30, 2012 · design, digital, Experience Design, Social media, usability, UX

How excited am I?!

I’m not late to this party. I saw this when it first landed last month. What I have been doing is studying it… and quite intently… because from what I’m seeing ‘IF’ this is the experience they’re going to go live with and it’s not just a really polished up demo video (we’ve all done it to sell something, it’s what Computer Games have been doing with their advertising for decades; “Not actual game footage”) then this could be potentially game changing. Not just for social networks, but for the way we design our websites.

So what about it then? It’s an important piece of design because it’s gone balls out to be awesome. Which means no compromises. It means giving people the time and the bandwidth to do something amazing. Working within those variables inevitably means great (no, AMAZING) work emerges. All too often as UX practitioners we’re given the brief, but we’re not given the time or budgets to do the brief justice. A deadline dictates the output. The budget dictates the deadline. The competition / competitors dictate the deadline. What we end up with is work that quite often we are not happy with and that shows in the output. I believe that.

So just do what I’ve done for a while now and go over this video again and again and again and absorb the quality of the interaction design. The dedication to the experience design. The attitude of the team (which this oozes by the way – ATTITUDE – the attitude to want to produce the greatest interaction experience on the internet… it smells of hunger and want, doesn’t it?!) to win.

In four words: “I already love it“.

September 18, 2012 · design, mobile

Business Benefits of Responsive Web

As we all know by now, mobile is the new black, pink and whatever other color you can think of. Mobile is not going away anytime soon and it is increasingly becoming integrated into our lives. In fact, studies show that mobile web browsing will outpace traditional desktop browsing within 2-3 years.

For business owners and marketers, this shift can seem daunting as it ads in a huge layer of complexity and perceived cost. What approach do you take? Where do you start, and when?

The when part is really up to you, but for the how piece of the puzzle, I would look no further than Responsive Design.

Here are some reasons why you should consider updating your company site to utilize Responsive Design.

1. You Will Save Money

Before the practice of Responsive Design was widely adopted (it still isn’t, really), if companies wanted to have an optimal mobile experience of their website a separate set of templates or a device-specific app had to be designed and developed.

As you might guess, this can get quite costly. One site for iPhone, one site for iPad, another for Android etc. Then, what happens when a new device comes out? Make another website or app specific to that device? I’m guessing most business owners don’t want to spend that kind of cash just to keep up.

The beauty of Responsive Design is in the fact that it enables your site to fit perfectly in any screen size. One website, all devices. That means that your website only has to be developed once, significantly reducing the cost.

2. You Will Save Time

The fact that you can have the ability to design and build your site in one project will also free up your time. Less meetings, less approvals and less wondering if you’re just going to have to do this process all over again once a new device comes on the market.

3. You Can Beat Your Competition

Since Responsive Design is still in its infancy, there is a strong chance that your competition is not implementing it. Redesigning your website to fit optimally in all devices would take your competition by surprise. Visitors will get a much better experience on your site than on your competitors, and will likely take more action.

4. Your Site Will Be Relevant Longer

When adopting Responsive Design, your site will stand the test of time for longer. You wont be playing ‘catch up’ all the time. Your website will be future friendly, as they say.

5. Your Conversions Will Increase

When people visit your site, they are typically more likely to take action if they have a good experience. This means, giving them what they want with the least amount of ‘friction’. Using Responsive Design, you can greatly reduce the amount of friction involved and give your users a great experience—thus, increasing conversions.

6. You’ll Stress Less

All of the above reasons will help you sleep better at night knowing that your site is actually working at it’s optimal level on all devices. This will give you peace of mind when it comes to your online presence.

6.5 You Can Tell Those iPhone App Sales Guys To Take A Hike With Confidence

We had a client who told me that a salesman approached him and pitched a proprietary iPhone app for his Pizzeria at an astonishing price. The client was smart and didn’t purchase the service and asked if he thought that he should do it. The answer is NO for most businesses. With responsive design, you don’t need to spend tens of thousands on apps for all devices. Just one site for everything.

Now it’s your Turn. What do you think about the topic of Responsive Design and the Mobile landscape in general. How should businesses address this change in the marketplace?

August 25, 2012 · digital, Experience Design, usability, UX

Experience CVs – An approach

You know the score. You’ve been working in IA / UX for a while. You’ve got a pretty hefty CV and it’s boring. I’ve been having a play trying to find different ways of showing my experience. A lot of projects I’m working on at the moment involve Dashboard Design and information design. So I looked there for some inspiration. It’s just a rough, so don’t judge it on appearance, but see what you think about the approach:

July 9, 2012 · Books, Experience Design, IA, UCD, UX

My UX Book List – Essential Reading

I’m not a massive reader of books to do with work, if I’m honest. I prefer to sit down and read a tome that takes my mind off of work and I’m one of those UX’y people who generally prefers to learn by my past mistakes and other peoples actual work. Plus if it ain’t on Kindle then chances are I won’t read it these days. That said, I do have a set of books on my shelf that I’ve bought, been given, borrowed and forgot to return that cover lots of different angles of UX, Design, Marketing, Social and all those other bits I tinker with.

Obviously this list is mine and might not float your boat because of our different experience with scientific research methods, psychology, interaction design, user interface design, product or visual design and our levels of communication skill, but if you’re a voyeur you might like to have a look at my bookshelf.

So here is a list of books I would pick as the must read UX books.

Its by no means exhaustive and I’ll endeavor to add some more to it. But it’s the stuff on my shelf and I use them as references in much of what I do. Enjoy.

July 3, 2012 · behaviour, Experience Design, usability, UX

10 really neat experience principals

Found these little beauties nestled in a Seminar Summary from 2002 no less… Probably baffled the hell out people 10 years ago (say that out loud – I said 10 years ago, they’re a decade old – Scary!) but I would say they actually hold a lot of truth and value in todays digital era:

They’re from the book The Ten Demandments for turning the most demanding consumers into the most delighted customers. Rules to Live By in the Age of the Demanding Customer by Kelly Mooney.

Let me do things

As I move through the experience, let me do things that change the resulting display in a way that feels as though it has been designed for me personally, in my context. Move beyond mere viewing.

Let me win

Reward me every time I accomplish something. Make the experience transparent so that the structure, operation and purpose of the experience is comprehensible and valued.

Push me

Help me reveal my potential; don’t let me “get by.” Help me visualize what I want to accomplish, so I can plan what I want to do next.

Help me learn

Combine doing with understanding. Let us learn from each other…and from the web of connection.

Sense and respond

Let me customize while you dynamically personalize for me. Make me feel like the artifact is alive and aware of my needs. Think of responsiveness by time, format, form and structure and quality of response.

Orienteer

Give me a journey that I can take and tasks that I can do. Don’t steer, just give me a map to keep me located. Show me what and who’s interested so I can direct my participation effectively.

Outfit me

Deliver new capabilities and make it easy for this to become a part of my life while skilling me.

Connect me

Help me make connections with the subject matter, or across destinations, or with other people.

Immerse me

Plunge me into the experience in a way that makes me even less (or even un-) aware of the place or setting that I’ve come from.

Make waves

Engage me in co-discovery and co-creation and transform my life, my work, my business.

Original source: http://www.humancentereddesign.org/webconference/jf_se_outline.php

June 1, 2012 · behaviour, design, digital, Experience Design, mobile, UX

The lines of experience

It’s been an exciting couple of years hasn’t it? The whole offline / online thing… the internet went from being a place you visited to ‘digital’ which exists in multiple places simultaneously and intrinsically woven into our lives. The Eco-System effect. How about this one, you’ll like this and be repelled at the implications in equal measures. There are some bars and clubs in the U.S using a novel technology to help partygoers decide where to party. SceneTap, an American start-up, uses cameras to scan the faces of those who enter and leave participating establishments. Its software then guesses each person’s age and sex. Aggregated data is streamed to a website and mobile app. This allows punters to see which bars are busy, the average age of revellers and the all-important male-to-female ratio. The bar owners gain publicity and intelligence about their customers. For instance, did a promotion aimed at women attract many?

It’s the phone angle. You can adapt your behavior in advance when things used to be essentially ‘pot-luck’. We’re almost cyborg in nature by virtue of having our lives augmented with mobile. We can see through walls now. Bye-bye FourSquare, I’m not going to ‘check-in’ because it already knows I’m there and tells people if I opt in to be auto-detected.

Many companies face the challenge of creating entirely new behaviours for new products. However, my thinking is that behaviour change is far more successful when it aligns with a habit we’ve already formed, which apparently shapes nearly half of the decisions we make every day.

Around 74.2% of the UK’s population, totalling 47m, will go online at least once a month this year on a range of devices including smartphones and tablets, according to eMarketer stats… and that number has almost quadrupled in 5 years because of the rise of the smartphone. We’re all getting smarter at astonishing rates.

I’m also loving the Nike Fuel Band and it’s bigger applications… At SXSW this year, to promote the Fuel Band, Nike essentially turned the inside of a venue into one huge Fuelband wristband with the same colored lights and ability to track energy level. Except in this case, Nike was tracking the energy level of the whole crowd.

Across town from the gig they had rigged up lighting in a building to react to the audience at the gig. The more energetic the crowd, the greener the building became, so that people outside the event could witness the level to which the crowd was going off. It helped that Nike picked two very high energy bands for this show: Diplo and Sleigh Bells. Nike measured the crowd’s energy level by placing Nike FuelBands on the wrists of a large number of attendees, then tracked the activity using customized wireless technology that functions similarly to the way the iOS app works. It’s an extreme example but think about it… using digital, people influenced the lighting at another location. I remember when I got my first feature phone in 1997 people said I was mad because the SMS thing would never take off!

What happens when all these new ways of doing things start converging and the lines start to blur? For instance… Online sales are expected to reach to a staggering $317 billion by 2016 in the U.S which is phenomenal, right… but I’ve always had this hypothesis that online sales aren’t just about convenience, they’re also about data. People love the fact that they can see something rated or reviewed, or find obscure things that are just too difficult to find on the high-street. It’s a demand thing. I’d be fascinated to see what starts to happen when those ratings and ‘easy to find’ influences start popping up in more Urban environments – “Hey Pete, there’s a huge footfall of people like you occurring at this place not too far from where you are right now & they’re all buying things you might like, let me lead you there“. Augmented behavior offline using online data. Could be huge.

Users understand the importance of the internet and a bad experience can go a long way; 44% of online shoppers will tell their friends about a bad experience online according to a report by KissMetrics. So take that sentiment offline and there is this whole “don’t go in there Pete, a lot of people like you had a rubbish time”…

Then there’s the growing behavior around tablets. Sure, it was bound to happen, we just needed Apple to lead the charge, but it’s the way they’ve altered and augmented behavior that I find astonishing. 69% of tablet owners make a purchase on their device every month, according to stats from inMobi and Mobext. 50% of tablet owners spend at least an hour a day accessing media content on their tablets, and 72% use it while watching TV. So it’s not a huge leap ahead of us to assume ‘shopping the adverts’ is just around the corner. The advertising they said was dead is just about to be supplemented by technology. My behavior doesn’t change, but the experience is augmented by the ability to just a button on my iPad & buy what I’m watching. Makes sense. Especially if there are “100 people like you all doing the same”.

According to an IAB/ValueClick study, 52% of consumers are happy to see online advertising because it allows them to view content or use services online at no cost – they’ve brought their offline viewing habits with them. But 55% said they would rather see advertising relevant to their interests and 59% would prefer a lower number of relevant ads than a higher volume of irrelevant ones. So how long before that mobile or tablet you use influences what adverts you see while you’re watching your favorite shows, so when you reach out and buy it instantly you’re actually just choosing to buy from things you’re really only interested in. I don’t have a dog, don’t show me adverts for dog food… Augmented advertising comes to the TV experience. It’s all totally feasible now.

Digital experience crossing over in the real world is becoming more and more a reality and the next few frontier years are going to be really exciting. The possibilities are endless and impact on our lives can only be positive.

March 22, 2012 · Experience Design, UX

What is experience?

Experience is … a kind of huge spider-web of the finest silken threads suspended in the chamber of consciousness, and catching every air-borne particle in its tissue — Henry James

The apprehension of an object, thought, or emotion through the senses or mind: a child’s first experience of snow.

Active participation in events or activities, leading to the accumulation of knowledge or skill: a lesson taught by experience; a carpenter with experience in roof repair.

The knowledge or skill so derived.

An event or a series of events participated in or lived through. The totality of such events in the past of an individual or group.

To participate in personally; undergo: experience a great adventure; experienced loneliness.

To most men, experience is like the stern light of a ship, which illumines only the track it has passed — Samuel Taylor Coleridge

a particular incident, feeling, etc., that a person has undergone an experience to remember
accumulated knowledge, esp of practical matters a man of experience

Experience is like medicine; some persons require larger doses of it than others, and do not like to take it pure, but a little disguised and better adapted to taste — Lord Acton

the totality of characteristics, both past and present, that make up the particular quality of a person, place, or people
the impact made on an individual by the culture of a people, nation, etc. the American experience

Experience seems to be like the shining of a bright lantern. It suddenly makes clear in the mind what was already there, perhaps, but dim — Walter De La Mare

the content of a perception regarded as independent of whether the apparent object actually exists Compare sense datum
the faculty by which a person acquires knowledge of contingent facts about the world, as contrasted with reason
the totality of a person’s perceptions, feelings, and memories

to participate in or undergo
to be emotionally or aesthetically moved by; feel to experience beauty

A new element in her experience; like a chapter in a book — Henry Van Dyke

February 4, 2012 · advertising, design

The Crazies

Remember the Apple Think Different campaign? Seeing as how there’s been a few references to Steve Jobs and Jonny Ives (strategist / tactician and a designer working in harmony anyone?) recently I thought I’d just surface my favourite advert of all time:

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo.

You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.

About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.

Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy.

How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

We make tools for these kinds of people.

While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

It’s a beautiful piece of poetry by two incredibly talented wordsmiths Rob Siltanen and Ken Segall from Chiat Day. I was lucky enough to visit and work at Chiat Day in LA back in 2008 and it reminded me why I love what I do. Meeting someone as industry defining as Lee Clow was humbling and a grounding experience. These guys make things simple. They’re designers of words and thoughts and they make it approachable and elegant and I think we as UX tradesman and women can learn a lot from that.

January 11, 2012 · behaviour, Experience Design, IA, UCD, usability, UX

Death to the Persona. Long live the Information Persona

Am I the only person in UX that hates (HATES) Ben (32 – Reads the Guardian and loves riding his mountain bike) and his wife Becky (29 – Likes walking, Grazia and playing with her Poodle called Peaches) …I do… I hate them… they don’t represent anything. There is no ‘Joe Average’ and there never has been, so how are we meant to craft experiences around the average user? We can’t. So in the spirit of fixing the problem I hate here’s a debatable alternative… The Information Persona. Or Behavioral Persona. It’s not a new concept, in fact Jakob and his band of merry bearded user-philes were parroting the theory around about a decade ago, it’s just never been beyond the conversation and we still rely on Ben and his wife Becky (those average idiots and their stupid poodle).

Have a look at this set of alternative grouping from some user interviews conducted & a study of internet behavior. The belief is users can be categorized against six common primary behaviours for information seeking (I’m sure there are more, especially in todays world and this is excluding mobile obviously):

Starting: Identifying relevant sources of interest
Chaining: Following and connecting new leads found in an initial source
Browsing: Scanning contents of identified sources for subject affinity
Differentiating: Filtering and assessing sources for usefulness
Monitoring: Keeping abreast of developments in a given subject area
Extracting: Systematically working through a given source for material of interest.

So what exactly does this mean & how does it actually affect the way in which future proposals should be formed? Quite simply, by identifying & modelling the above personas we can create sets of tools that keep everybody happy! Well that’s the theory anyway…

Behaviour: Starting

This refers to identifying relevant sources on an average, content driven website. There are four principle ways in which users should arrive at given content on the site:

Typing in a URL directly
Referring to a bookmarked URL
Following a link from another section of a website (or another website)
Using the search engine (internal and external)

Example features to support Starting:

Thoughtfully-designed URLs for sections that are easy to remember
Unique URLs for different sections of the Website
Page construction that allows for easy and accurate book-marking
Carefully worded page titles that provide a useful context

Appropriate use of page tags to describe the content. This should not only facilitate indexing by the search engine on the website, but also yield meaningful descriptions in search results lists. Tags init.

In considering Starting as a behaviour, it is important to remember that users probably first come in contact with a given section of the website from a referring source, e.g. another section or elsewhere, such as a work colleague forwarding a link or other referring sources. The decision to go to visit one section over another is often based on micro-content found in the page title and meta-tags.

Behaviour: Linking

Linking is the act of following and connecting new leads found on initial pages. Chances are that when users arrive at a given section, they are not on the page they need to be. They must be able to orient themselves quickly, often within seconds, and determine which links they should follow.

Example features to support Linking:

Accurate, descriptive and mutually exclusive link names that make sense to visitors in terms that they can relate to and understand
Consistent navigation through design elements such as placement, style and general look and feel
Sense of orientation created with page titles, global elements, consistent use of colour and graphics
A way out or back – Generally this means not disabling the back button or using unnecessary extra windows or new browsers
Icons with clear meanings
A limited number of well-organised navigation options – 7 options are generally accepted as standard, although research shows that fewer than 5 are even better.
Navigation that provides the appropriate, relevant associations related to page content to anticipate users’ probable next moves.

Behaviour: Browsing

Browsing means scanning site contents and informally grouping items by subject affinity. This is a behaviour that is hard to image NOT occurring in every section. Browsing is a chief web activity. Supporting this behaviour in the new design, structure & architecture is essential.

Example features to support Browsing:

Meaningful categories that themselves convey a message and the purpose of the site
Prioritised navigation – separating navigation into meaningful types to facilitate browsing of options.
Clearly presented and readable text
Content overview – the Website offers the possibility to “chunk” content. That is, it is not necessary to present all content at once, rather in digestible pieces that provide a clear overview.
Bulleted lists, tables and other constructions that facilitate scanning

Behaviour: Searching

This refers to direct and targeted searches using a the internal search engine or similar functionality. Important considerations here are twofold: the design of the search interface and functionality, and display of search results.

Example features to support Searching:

Allows users to limit in meaningful ways – standard operators (AND, OR and NOT) should be available, in addition to others
Query syntax is standard or easily learned
Search results provide a context for understanding hits, such as page title, date, description –even show part of the sentence in which the search string was found
Opportunity to revise search and to search again
If no hits, suggestions to similar, possible sources are presented
Spell check with corresponding suggestions for “correct” spellings

Behaviour: Differentiating

Differentiating is the act of evaluating information for relevance to the information need or problem. In some ways this is the combined goal of the above-mentioned behaviours and features. Additional features, however, can directly help visitors uncover the value the Website has to offer. Designers should strive to strike a balance between control and freedom.

Example features to support Differentiating:

Logical and meaningful headings that explain content to some degree
Appropriate text lengths that are suitable for reading online
Chunking content into layers and allowing random access into different sections of information
Summary texts and abstracts that indicate the quality, usefulness and scope of content
Providing deeper content for those who need it
Contact information and help to assist people who need more information or who couldn’t locate exactly what they need
User comments and reviews of websites, Web content or products sold over the Web
Indications of and links to semantically related material

Behaviour: Monitoring

Monitoring is the behaviour of studying content from a distance. That a Monitoring User watches what happens on a site on a regular basis, but prefers not to actually visit the site because of time or location constraints. Users who monitor often don’t spend vast amounts of time on the internet and want delve straight to regularly visited sources on the occasions that they do.

Example features to support Monitoring:

Easily bookmarked pages for quick and easy access at a later date
Newsletter subscription
Email alerts that notify users of changes in content, current status, updates, etc.
SMS message to communicate up-to-the minute changes and breaking news
Online agents that collect, control and communicate information and changes
Customised pages that allow users to configure site elements to their liking
Personalised page that react dynamically to user activity

Behaviour: Extracting

As the name implies, extracting refers to taking and using the appropriate, identified information or pieces of information online. It is the final use of information.

Example features to support Differentiating:

The ability to print; print friendly formats, if needed. Dark coloured page backgrounds and frames complicate printing greatly and are a huge strain on ink resources
Cut and paste as an option – this means providing key bodies of information in HTML format. Other formats, such as images or flash, do not allow for cut and paste.
Download possibilities – Portable document files (PDF) have become standard and readers for this format are ubiquitous and free. Other formats for download can also be considered depending on use and target groups
Applications as filters of large bodies of information
Sorting functions

Conclusion

So I’m not dumb enough to think Ben & his irritating vanilla life are ever going to go away and we’re going to be liberated of such useful hyperbole. But I am interested in moving our clients away from what they think they know and into new ways of thinking about user-centered design. To me user centered design is about basing things around the behavior of users and not necessarily their personalities, it’s irrelevant if they read the guardian and ride a bike when they visit a banks website.

Some more sources for these behavior types:

http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1962324&dl=ACM&coll=DL&CFID=61696963&CFTOKEN=32720603

http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/729/638

http://crl.acrl.org/content/71/5/435.abstract

http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~donturn/papers/asis98/asis98.html

http://ec2-50-19-240-191.compute-1.amazonaws.com/1292/1/435.full.pdf

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