I was struck by this section when reviewing the Design Thinking post on wikipedia. The Greek meaning of “to loosen up” and “to put together” are great concepts in regards to a standard “divergent” and “convergent” thinking and design methods. I like it and hope to incorporate it into my Design Workshop sessions – loosen up ideas then put […]
Category: ux
“Empathy is understanding people’s [observed] needs.” not making decisions based on intuition.
Quick summary, “Empathy is understanding people’s [observed] needs.” Good article from Gerry McGovern on “getting out of the building” and Tomer Sharon’s “Field Fridays” Developer + Customer speed [dating] feedback sessions. Research and valid “customer feedback” is observing people’s behavior, not listening to what they say. http://diigo.com/0tytt
Google’s Self-Driving Car: Blind driver Steve Mahan User #1
Pretty amazing stuff. I just wonder how the driver chooses where to go, probably well integrated nav system and place search 😉
Twitter’s “#lazyweb” … or the “#humancuratedweb
Interesting post and info graphic: http://www.fastcodesign.com//1664402/infographic-of-the-day-how-twitter-exposes-googles-limits I’ve done this before, just posted a questions to my Twitter/Facebook feed, hoping for a good recommendation on a restaurant or product purchase. As I comented on the post: #lazyweb is part of it, but, as you note, I’d propose it’s something like the #humancuratedweb that’s prompting these requests. […]
Ah, the iCloud…
Just read this great post about Apple and Google and their versions/spins on the Cloud. http://techcrunch.com/2011/06/08/apple-icloud-google-cloud/ With iPad/iPhone and now OS X Lion, you don’t save documents anymore. They save automatically — but an easier way to think about it is that they just exist, as is, in realtime on all your devices. … They just […]
“Web UI Themes” in Business Apps
Was pointed towards this recent blog poll on some interface methods and techniques that could be applied to improve the user experience of business applications. Ten Consumer Web UI Themes We’d Like to See in Business Applications – view post The “winners” although there are clearly a diverse set of methods that seem to rise […]
Wireframe Sketches with a Tablet & Illustrator
I’ve been wanting to grab a tablet and stylus and really give digital wireframe and concept sketching a chance. Hearing Jakub’s thoughts on using a tablet and Illustrator push me even further to following through with it. The key values being: Ease of editing Reusable Legibility (my handwritting teeters that line…) But at the same […]
Interview-based Tasks, Jared Spool
http://www.uie.com/articles/interview_based_tasks/ Reviewing this article from 2006 from EUI and Jared Spool struck a few key points: “Scavenger-hunt tasks work best when you’ve thoroughly researched the types of things people look for on the site. Our tasks came from extensive interviews and field research. Unfortunately, many times, teams just make up their tasks without doing the […]
Usability Testing… your own designs
Origin: http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/12/testing-your-own-designs-redux.php The challenge in dealing with conformitory bias – “People can reinforce their existing attitudes by selectively collecting new evidence, by interpreting evidence in a biased way or by selectively recalling information from memory.” – is real. Getting “over yourself” and seeking out valid user testing and feedback is a tough call when you’re doing […]
MapQuest 360 View
http://blog.mapquest.com/2009/12/11/street-level-imagery-comes-to-mapquest-com-as-360-view/ One of the more major projects that I’ve worked on at MapQuest is out in the “wild” and getting use. It’s midway through the first week of MapQuest’s street level imagery. Clearly on a much limited coverage than Google, and will forever be (Google’s probably recording video of the bottom of the the ocean […]
Action Method – get your tasks organized
Was just checking out this web/iPhone app that helps organize and prioritize things to get done. Like the interface, multiplatform action and will see how it goes, just downloaded the IPhone app and will test it out. Action Method http://www.actionmethod.com/
“Aesthetics are subjective, behavior is not.” – Bokardo
http://bokardo.com/archives/what-metric-are-you-designing-to-improve-today/ I keep going back to this post by Josh Porter about metrics to design to, rather than focusing on aesthetics and appearance, clear design values, meet that need when the time is right, but most importantly design to solve a problem, find a solution, make an improvement, set a metric, a goal and look […]
Twitter’s Redesign and “The Mark”
An interesting review of Twitter’s new site design – from the perspective of a content provider of “tweets”: http://ritubpant.com/why-twitters-new-design-totally-misses-the-mark/ His points are valid, that in Twitter’s new design the core function of social network is overshadowed by the emerging core function of search (clearly dependent on the successful social network use and content provision). But […]
Mmmm, to work at Netflix….
http://jobs.netflix.com/DetailFlix.asp?flix2998 “Netflix is looking for an outstanding user interface designer to join our small but amazing team. If you are as passionate about designing great experiences as you are about helping a successful business reach even higher heights, then we would love to talk to you. We are a close-knit team, so our ideal candidate […]
Jared Spool’s Denver UIE Roadshow
I was thankful to be able to attend Jared’s Denver UIE Roadshow and was encouraged to keep pursuing solid UX processes and design solutions. Here are a few thoughts and hope to follow up a bit on some more. Successful Experience Design is at the intersection of the User and the Business – Jared did […]