September 2010

UXpod: User Experience Podcast

"The User Experience Podcast features a wide range of interviewees and commentary. Transcripts are available for some episodes, and more are being added." (Information & Design)

Posted by PJB on September 30, 2010 | Classification: Podcasts - Usability - User experience | Permalink

Content strategy: The essential link

"Content strategy is catching on fast in the web world. But in many corporate communications departments, or their equivalent, it seems few people know what it means or what to make of it." (Diana Railton)

Posted by PJB on September 30, 2010 | Classification: Content strategy | Permalink

What Is a Plain Language Expert?

"A plain language expert combines skills in writing, information design, and usability. A plain language expert can help make instructions, headings, and other text clear to voters. This article provides help in evaluating someone as a plain language expert." (Janice Ginny Redish ~ Center for Plain Language)

Posted by PJB on September 29, 2010 | Classification: Writing | Permalink

The Digital Life: Episode 1

"We are proud to present our first - prototype! - episode of The Digital Life: adventures in design and technology. The purpose of the show is to provide insight into various topics and areas of interest pertaining to the bleeding edge of the industries behind digital technology. Leveraging our years inside the most important and progressive companies in Silicon Valley, we will provide insights and an interesting and ever-changing array of special guests to entertain you while helping your brain grow bigger. Bull Session: InfoViz." (Involution Studios)

Posted by PJB on September 29, 2010 | Classification: InfoViz - Podcasts | Permalink

How to measure the effectiveness of web content?

"(...) I can see two issues that make this a pretty difficult task, and it's the reason why the above three methods should not be used in isolation. In combination, they help tell the whole story. It is difficult to know what users really read on a page and it is difficult to isolate the effect of content changes from the other influencing factors on a page." (Rian van der Merwe ~ Elezea)

Posted by PJB on September 27, 2010 | Classification: Content strategy - User experience - Writing | Permalink

Gastronomy: A source of inspiration for user experience design

"Today, I delivered my presentation at the EuroIA 2010 in Paris on the relation between my two passions: gastronomy and user experience design. Gastronomy: A source of inspiration for user experience design. "A crazy topic with a scary video clip of a positive eating experience", I said in my impersonation as Lars Von Trier!" (Composing Cook ~ FoodUX)

Posted by PJB on September 26, 2010 | Classification: Events - User experience - Weblogs | Permalink

Design for Mobile: Future of Mobile UX

"The future of mobile isn't on the phone. It requires being aware of environments. People are more than an eyeball and a finger. (...) When investigating, predicting, developing new technologies, laughter and delight signal a business opportunity." (Luke Wroblewski)

Posted by PJB on September 22, 2010 | Classification: Mobile design | Permalink

Testing Accordian Forms

"Web forms are the linchpins of most online businesses and applications. Whether they are responsible for checkout on e-commerce sites, communication on social applications, or any kind of data entry on the web, forms allow people to complete important tasks. And web form design details can have a big influence on how successful, efficient, and happy people feel about the process." (Luke Wroblewski ~ A List Apart)

Posted by PJB on September 21, 2010 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

Global launch of Designing intranets: Creating sites that work

"The definitive textbook for intranet teams on how to design intranets that work for staff. In 275 pages, this book walks through a practical user-centred approach to the design process, richly illustrating each step with full-colour screenshots from organisations across the globe." (James Robertson)

Posted by PJB on September 21, 2010 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Improve Site Usability by Studying Museums

"Using a website should be easy. It should be intuitive. We should know what button or link to click to get to where we need to be. But sometimes websites can be insanely confusing. (...) This article aims to underscore lessons we can learn from museums and art galleries in relation to website usability." (Alexander Dawson ~ Six Revisions)

Posted by PJB on September 21, 2010 | Classification: Usability | Permalink

Dancing with the Cards: Quick-and-Dirty Analysis of Card-Sorting Data

"User researchers frequently use card sorting to understand how users perceive the structure of a Web site and the ideal way for them to navigate through the site. Usually card sorting starts with doing an inventory of a Web site's content, then creating a card for each stand-alone piece of content. Researchers recruit participants for a card sort from a Web site's target audience, then ask them to group the cards into categories that make sense to them." (Shanshan Ma ~ UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on September 20, 2010 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

Leveraging User Data by Embedding UX Design Knowledge in Products

"The role of data in a UX design process usually goes something like this: User researchers or UX designers gather data about users and their needs, using a variety of qualitative and quantitative approaches. They then analyze the data—often developing documentation that synthesizes the data, such as a task analysis or a set of personas. Finally, they use their analysis as a basis for making design decisions or influencing the strategy of the broader organization. Throughout this process, UX professionals mediate the relationships between the data that describes users and their requirements, design goals, and business objectives, seeking to align them as closely as possible. This article looks at how we can make this process of data analysis and design—or redesign—more effective by embedding UX design knowledge in computer systems." (Peter Hornsby ~ UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on September 20, 2010 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

What comes after mobile

"Matt Webb talks about how slightly smart things have invaded our lives over the past years. People have been talking about artificial intelligence for years but the promise has never really come through. Matt shows how the AI promise has transformed and now seems to be coming to us in the form of simple toys instead of complex machines. But this talks is about much more then AI, Matt also introduces chatty interfaces and hard math for trivial things." (Matt Webb ~ Mobile Monday Amsterdam)

Posted by PJB on September 20, 2010 | Classification: Events - Mobile design | Permalink

Can Experience be Designed?

"As in every other field there are con men that fool naive clients using experience design as a slogan. Some just make empty promises, some sell fluffy white papers, some use the slogan to hold pompous speeches, some just upsell naive clients with hot air. (...) Being an active facebook or Twitter user, a talented speaker, a winning sales man or a collector of UXD articles doesn’t make you an expert on user experience design." (Oliver Reichenstein ~ Information Architects)

Posted by PJB on September 16, 2010 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Information science as a social science

"This paper traces the specifics of information science as a social science. The paper examines the background of the social sciences in the history of academic disciplines. The paper discusses the ways in which positivism and interpretativism, the leading traditions of the social sciences, assert themselves in information science as a social science. It is argued that received ideas about the social sciences impact how information science as a social science is perceived. It is also argued that information science as a social science can and should provide valid scientific explanations. This paper distinguishes social interaction as the defining feature of information science as a social science. To this end, the paper proposes global complexity not as a theory or solution, but as a metaphor for information science as a social science to address the pressing issues of our increasingly interconnected world." (Sylvain K. Cibangu ~ Information Research 15.3)

Posted by PJB on September 15, 2010 | Classification: Design research - Information design | Permalink

The mobile experience is nothing like desktop

"I put together this list of typical differentiating attributes of the two experiences. It's not 100% correct because in some cases the reverse will be true … for example people using desktop computers are often in a hurry and don't have time to waste and sometimes people using mobile phones are sitting in a hospital with hours to spare. But it's a reasonable guide that shows how polarised the experiences are." (Nathanael Boehm)

Posted by PJB on September 14, 2010 | Classification: Mobile design | Permalink

So You Wanna Build a Library, Eh?

The Big Questions to Ask Before Building a Pattern or Component Library ~ "Design patterns and modular components are effective techniques for designing and building long-lasting, consistent experiences." (Nathan Curtis ~ Boxes and Arrows)

Posted by PJB on September 14, 2010 | Classification: Interaction design - Patterns | Permalink

Recommendations for usability in practice

"This is the final version of my recommendations for usability in product development practice, based on a PhD research project at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering of TU Delft. In the 25 recommendations I discuss how I would organize a company if the goal is to make usable products. So am I speculating here? Yes, to some extent. But the recommendations are based on evidence I found through the three case studies I conducted. The vast majority of the recommendations were based on actual practices within companies I studied or on suggestions by experienced product development professionals." (Jasper van Kuik ~ uselog)

Posted by PJB on September 13, 2010 | Classification: HCI - Usability | Permalink

Simplicity is Not Overrated, Just Misunderstood

"Usability and user experience design is all about making things simple and easy to use. I never would've expected such a contradictory statement coming from some one who co-founded the Nielsen and Norman group, a firm that offers usability consulting, training seminars and research reports. This statement puts a dagger into the back of usability and user experience design." (UX Movement)

Posted by PJB on September 13, 2010 | Classification: Complexity - Usability - User experience | Permalink

Design With Intent: How designers can influence behavior

"The central idea behind UCD is that designers create experiences based on a rich and nuanced understanding of observed and implied user needs over time. UCD grew out of a functional, usability-oriented philosophy that began in the workplace, but it has since expanded beyond the purely functional to take into account many dimensions of the user’s experience, including emotional needs and motivations. Using the UCD approach, designers are one step removed from the action. We influence behavior and social practice from a distance through the products and services that we create based on our research and understanding of behavior. We place users at the center and develop products and services to support them. With UCD, designers are encouraged not to impose their own values on the experience." (Robert Fabricant ~ Design Observer)

Posted by PJB on September 13, 2010 | Classification: Information design - User experience | Permalink

Children's Websites: Usability Issues in Designing for Kids

"New research with users aged 3–12 shows that older kids have gained substantial Web proficiency since our last studies, while younger kids still face many problems. Designing for children requires distinct usability approaches, including targeting content narrowly for different ages of kids." (Jakob Nielsen ~ Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on September 13, 2010 | Classification: Usability | Permalink

Mobile HCI 2010 Tutorials

"After more than 10 years of Mobile HCI, providing an overview of the state of the art becomes more and more challenging. During the tutorial days of Mobile HCI 2008 & 2009, a number of well-known researchers in Mobile HCI gave overviews of the state of the art and cover many of the relevant topics. The tutorials also introduced the must read papers in this domain. The audience varied and included new students starting a PhD in Mobile HCI, practitioners wanting a quick survey of the state of the art and educators wishing to get an overview of Mobile HCI for their own teaching." (Enrico Rukzio) - courtesy of Wolf Noeding

Posted by PJB on September 12, 2010 | Classification: Events - HCI - Mobile design | Permalink

The auteur theory of design

"Why is it that some projects never rise to the level of the talent of those who made it? It’s oft said regarding good work that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. But sometimes the whole is less than the sum of its parts—a company or team comprised of good people, but yet which produces work that isn’t good. In his session, John Gruber will explain his theory to explain how this happens—in both directions—based on the longstanding collaborative art of filmmaking. Learn how to recognise when a project is doomed to mediocrity, and, more importantly, how best to achieve collaborative success." (John Gruber ~ dConstruct 2010)

Posted by PJB on September 09, 2010 | Classification: Information design - Podcasts | Permalink

Quality Assurance as Applied to User Experience Design

"Of course verifying the integrity of the user experience is the role of the UX and design teams. While this may be true, many do not approach verifying all elements of a user experience with the same rigor as technical QA. This is in part because of easily made assumptions that once a design is near finalized or in development that it’s already been finalized from a UX standpoint. However, there are many elements of the user experience that need to be reviewed at this stage of the development process." (Catriona Cornett ~ inspireUX)

Posted by PJB on September 08, 2010 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

On defining UX

"Information architects, interaction designers, researchers, academics. They are all UX professionals and not necessarily involved in the broad process, but are a cog in the machine. (...) Just like the debate about whether designers should be able to write HTML, this discussion is just not as black and white as every one is making out. There's a whole lot of grey in there." (Mark Boulton)

Posted by PJB on September 07, 2010 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Strategic Content Management

"The rise of content strategy is dealing the content management industry a huge kick up the backside. In the web's Wild West era, the CMS was run by the IT department—or sometimes a lone webmaster who knew HTML—so CMS choices were based on features, price, and cultural fit, rather than web or content strategy. It was the classic IT drill: selection committees, feature matrices, and business lunches with men wearing neckties." (Jonathan Kahn ~ A List Apart)

Posted by PJB on September 07, 2010 | Classification: Content management - Content strategy | Permalink

Why I think Ryan Carson doesn't believe in UX Professionals, and why I do

"I think the reason Ryan thinks that 'UX professional' is a bullshit job title designed to 'over-charge naive clients' is because he's never actually been in the position to need one. If you look at Ryans' background, he worked for agencies in the late nineties and early noughties when the field of user experience was still in it's infancy. As such I suspect that he's never worked with a team of dedicated UX people." (Andy Budd)

Posted by PJB on September 06, 2010 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

No knowledge but through information

"This article argues for the following: (1) Information is a thing to be handled and controlled; knowledge is not. (2) Knowledge can be managed only indirectly, through the management of information. (3) Personal knowledge management is, therefore, best regarded as a subset of personal information management — but a very useful subset addressing important issues that otherwise might be overlooked." (William Jones ~ First Monday 15.9)

Posted by PJB on September 06, 2010 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

Three Reasons Why Persuasive Design Isn’t Enough to Influence Change

"To accomplish the good intentions of persuasive design, we need to do more than design to get people to act. We need to create content that influences people’s thinking in a positive way, motivates them to act, and makes acting easier. As the UX design industry pays more attention to content, we’ll be better prepared to influence what people do and think—and have a real chance at making the world a better place, online and off." (Coleen Jones ~ UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on September 06, 2010 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Juicy Stories Sell Ideas

"Stories are hot. And why not? We all know how to tell a story. Stories are a lot more interesting than most other ways of sharing information. And they work. Stories are a great way to introduce a concept in an imaginative way or sell an idea to your team or management." (Whitney Quesenbery and Kevin Brooks ~ UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on September 06, 2010 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Usability for Mobile Devices

"The mobile space is the new Wild West of technology. Much like the Web during the 1990s, mobile is the new domain at the forefront of innovation. Users are discovering new capabilities, integrating them with their daily lives, and experiencing new interaction models." (Demetrius Madrigal and Bryan McClain ~ UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on September 06, 2010 | Classification: Mobile design - Usability | Permalink

UX design framework: Interaction

"Undoubtedly, interaction design is a design discipline that has become a defining element of UX. Though the preceding two quotes assert the alignment with a user's behaviour they do so here in relation to their interaction (the person and the artifact). In other words, it is the behaviour of the object in relation to the user. The following principles reassert this notion that many interaction design issues are born out of preconceptions of what a user expects to be able to do with the interface they are presented with." (User Pathways)

Posted by PJB on September 05, 2010 | Classification: Interaction design - User experience | Permalink

ACM Hypertext 2010: As we may have thought, and may (still) think

"(...) I gave a keynote address at the Hypertext 2010 conference in Toronto where I found a community somewhat under threat by other web research conferences but nevertheless alive and kicking. The organizers had asked me to consider where the field might have gone wrong and where it might go in the future." (Andrew Dillon ~ ACM Hypertext Conference 2010)

Posted by PJB on September 02, 2010 | Classification: Events - Hypertext | Permalink

Future os Screens: Experience video

"Capacitive screens has now become a commodity for touch screen devices. Screen technology is now taking the next leap and the coming years imagination is the only thing stopping us." (Mobile User Interface Blog)

Posted by PJB on September 01, 2010 | Classification: Mobile design - Technology | Permalink