March 2013

What UI really is (and how UX confuses matters)

DTDT: UX is everything not-UI.

"People mix the terms UI and UX together. UX is tricky because it doesn't refer to any one thing. Interface design, visual styling, code performance, uptime, and feature set all contribute to the user's 'experience'. Books on UX further complicate matters by including research methods and development methodologies. All of this makes the field confusing for people who want to understand the fundamentals."

(Ryan Singer) courtesy of thomasmarzano

Posted by PJB on March 31, 2013 | Classification: HCI - User experience | Permalink

How design principles help you make design decisions

If no principles, then random and ad hoc decisions.

"While some principles are more important than others and are likely to be thought about first, I don't think you apply design principles in sequence. The principles of design are about how to communicate ideas and concepts graphically. Understanding them leads to better design decisions. While this post will focus on design, please note much of what's here could be applied to many other aspects of life. As a general rule I think understanding more about any subject is valuable in helping you make better decisions."

(Steven Bradley Glicksman a.k.a. @vangogh ~ Vanseo Design)

Posted by PJB on March 29, 2013 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

Flat or skeuomorphic is the wrong question: It's about satisfaction

Isn't hybrid always the best of both worlds?

"The point of this process is to determine what style appropriately conveys the attitude and personality of the app itself. The intended impacts of each theme are not mutually exclusive - in fact, the hybrid direction we ultimately recommended deliberately borrows meaningful aspects of each."

(Adam Faja a.k.a. @adamfaja ~ Specky Boy Design Magazine)

Posted by PJB on March 29, 2013 | Classification: HCI | Permalink

Five must-dos in designing an emotionally engaging experience

It's so easy. It just takes five.

"As customers' expectations change rapidly driven not just from you, or what happens in your industry but also by other companies they deal with who lead the way (e.g. Amazon, Apple, Starbucks etc.) you need to constantly innovate. There are fewer innovations when people are afraid to do errors. We have recently gathered former clients from different parts of the world who had a success with their customer experience programs and one thing was common that led to their success – the room for trial and error they had."

(Zhecho Dobrev a.k.a. @Zhecho_BeyondP ~ Beyond philosophy)

Posted by PJB on March 28, 2013 | Classification: Customer experience - Design research | Permalink

The end of channels: How digital experiences trump shiny objects

Preaching for the choire.

"This is the first of a series of posts on why digital experience planning has become a strategic priority of a growing tribe of digital leaders."

(Dave Wieneke a.k.a. @UsefulArts ~ Econsultancy)

Posted by PJB on March 27, 2013 | Classification: Customer experience - Service design | Permalink

The three components of content strategy success

Reducing the essence of content strategy to a holy trinity: create, publish, and govern.

"Creating effective website content can be an arduous task, especially when so many factors must be considered: varying role capacities, internal politics, customer expectations etc. However, following a structured strategy can make creating focused content a piece of cake!"

(Jessica O'Sullivan ~ SiteImprove)

Posted by PJB on March 27, 2013 | Classification: Content management - Content strategy | Permalink

User experience shape: Designing for engagement

Connecting the shape of UX with stories, personas and dialogues.

"Why do we even need web navigation at all? Well, for one, navigation provides access to the content of a site. But more important, it's the way that it provides access that makes navigation necessary. After all, site search also provides access to content. Why not just have site search and be done with the problem of designing and maintaining a complex navigation system?"

(James Kalbach a.k.a. @JimKalbach ~ Experiencing Information)

Posted by PJB on March 27, 2013 | Classification: Navigation - User experience | Permalink

A matter of character: Knowing your users and their stories

The journey is the story, actually. With users (a.k.a. people) as the personae.

"I'm fascinated with the concept of applying storytelling principles to the processes of product development to create great user experiences. Of recent interest is the similarity between making a film and creating a digital product or service."

(Sarah Doody a.k.a. @sarahdoody ~ UX magazine)

Posted by PJB on March 25, 2013 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Using service blueprints to create a holistic experience

Every field is entitled to its own deliverables.

"Service blueprints contain several foundational concepts for a service designer such as, value exchanges and touchpoints. They are fundamental tools for clarifying the interactions between customers, digital touchpoints, and employees because they reveal how these are supported by 'backstage' activities (essentially, everything the customer does not see). Blueprints can be invaluable assets for interaction designers working on multichannel services and digital products especially when there is a mix of digital and human-to-human interfaces."

(Izac Ross ~ Moment)

Posted by PJB on March 25, 2013 | Classification: Service design | Permalink

The next wave in branding: Merging experiences across markets

Brand experience, user experience or customer experience. Sum of all interactions? Don't think so.

"The design community has done its fair share to shape a UX-centric product-development culture, and in the last ten years, the practice of UX design - also often labeled with the same "UX" acronym - has arisen in parallel with the market relevance of UX itself. Even though the term "experience" and the expression "user experience" have both been abused to the point of sounding like yesterday's tired buzzwords, it is hard to deny that the rise of a UX design community has done wonders to improve the perceived quality of many recent products and services."

(Fabio Sergio a.k.a. @freegorifero ~ FastCo.Design)

Posted by PJB on March 25, 2013 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

A great UI is invisible

"The best computer is a quiet, invisible servant." once said the legendary Mark Weiser.

"A user interface that is invisible and that provides seamless interaction possibilities will help the user focus on their goals and direct them to what they need."

(Patrick Cox a.k.a @pcridesagain ~ Codrops)

Posted by PJB on March 22, 2013 | Classification: HCI - Technology | Permalink

Why user experience cannot be designed

You cannot design any experience, but that doesn't mean you can't design the experiential context.

"A lot of designers seem to be talking about user experience these days. We're supposed to delight our users, even provide them with magic, so that they love our websites, apps and start-ups. User experience is a very blurry concept. Consequently, many people use the term incorrectly. Furthermore, many designers seem to have a firm (and often unrealistic) belief in how they can craft the user experience of their product. However, UX depends not only on how something is designed, but also other aspects. In this article, I will try to clarify why UX cannot be designed."

(Helge Fredheim a.k.a. @helgefredheim ~ Smashing Magazine)

Posted by PJB on March 22, 2013 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

No to NoUI

When you use it, it has an interface. Even a paper book has one, the text

"Of course the interfaces we design may become normalised in use, effectively invisible over time, but that will only happen if we design them to be legible, readable, understandable and to foreground culture over technology. To build trust and confidence in an interface in the first place, enough that it can comfortably recede into the background."

(Timo Arnall)

Posted by PJB on March 21, 2013 | Classification: HCI | Permalink

Testing dialog design in a speech application

Scenarios, back/front-stage, stories, personas, scripts, and now ... dialogs. Sounds theatre to me.

"The best testing plan for speech applications will combine the methods above or will be a variation of one or more of them. When collecting user feedback on a speech application, it's usually a good idea to capture response files at the same time in order to perform more in-depth speech tuning. Full recordings should be enabled when doing Wizard of Oz testing, and so on. These methods will allow the designer to understand how real-world users interact with a speech system, and provide instructive input for improving and enhancing the quality of the dialog design. More generally, the same testing methodologies can also be adapted to other types of user interfaces outside of speech recognition. This includes the UX for web transactions, web chat, call center scripting, kiosk interfaces, and other systems where user input may be open ended or require semantic interpretation. The more real world testing that can be performed prior to building a system, the closer the launched product will serve its intended purpose right out of the gate, and the less rework will be required."

(Stephen Keller ~ UX magazine)

Posted by PJB on March 21, 2013 | Classification: HCI | Permalink

Embedding innovation in service: A human-centered framework

Getting the human dimension into the design of services.

"After decades of research on service innovation, it is still a very complicated and - sometimes - deceptive subject. Both concepts of service and innovation entails dramatic debates among academics and practitioners. Dealing with the challenge of harnessing both at the same time, be it in a research study or in a shop floor, is daunting."

(Mauricio Manhães a.k.a. @mcmanhaes ~ Service Design Network)

Posted by PJB on March 21, 2013 | Classification: Service design | Permalink

Web organization is not like book organization

That's why the concept of the ebook is flawed. It's 'The Link' that makes the difference.

"One of the most difficult aspects of moving content to the Web is that webs are not organized like other things — books in particular. And the difference is not small. It is not that web organization is somewhat different from book organization. It is so different that you can’t even look at web organization the way you look at book organization."

(Mark Baker a.k.a. @mbakeranalecta ~ Every Page Is One)

Posted by PJB on March 20, 2013 | Classification: Information architecture - Information design | Permalink

Emerging technologies are creating new ethical challenges for UX designers

Kind of challenges, we must be aware of. And what are our responses, Toynbee would ask.

"New technologies have always produced unintended consequences. But user experience designers and engineers face a number of new ethical challenges today with the rise of technology and our interaction and dependence on it. UX designers' primary job is to improve usability and extend productivity. But they also have a responsibility to address the unintended consequences of new technologies, some of them with a clear ethical dimension. Following is a look at some of the principle ethical quandaries that UX designers will run up against and must deal with responsibly."

(Bill M. Gribbons ~ GigaOm)

Posted by PJB on March 19, 2013 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

Can object-oriented principles be applied to web design?

And does web design also need a Gang of Four?

"I thought it would be interesting to explore if a connection between object oriented programming and how we develop visual design patterns exists."

(Steven Bradley Glicksman ~ Vanseo Design)

Posted by PJB on March 19, 2013 | Classification: Design research - Technology | Permalink

Should designers code?

Designers a.k.a. web designers and coders a.k.a. front-end coders.

"Last 15 years changed everything. Design is generally considered just as important as technology. User Experience Design became the key to success and it's hard to imagine any grown-up company, without UXers on board. (...) We don't need coding designers and designing coders – we need people who can communicate, respect and understand each other."

(Marcin Treder a.k.a. @marcintreder ~ UXPin)

Posted by PJB on March 19, 2013 | Classification: Technology | Permalink

Rethinking design thinking

Design thinking says what it is, thinking.

"So three cheers for design thinking, for those practitioners and schools that are using these techniques, that encourage breakthrough thinking, and that encourage asking the stupid question. Not all schools teach design thinking in this way. Not all students learn it. Not all designers practice it. But for those who do teach, learn and practice all of the techniques of design thinking, it can be transformative."

(Donald A. Norman ~ Core77)

Posted by PJB on March 19, 2013 | Classification: Design research | Permalink

Converting search into navigation

This space metaphor gets really to its limits.

"Most users are unable to solve even halfway complicated problems with search. Better to redirect their efforts into more supportive user interfaces when possible."

(Jakob Nielsen ~ NNGroup)

Posted by PJB on March 18, 2013 | Classification: Navigation - Search | Permalink

Multi-dimensional analysis of dynamic human information interaction

Studies and research for our fields of practice are important parts of our fundaments.

"This study aims to understand the interactions of perception, effort, emotion, time and performance during the performance of multiple information tasks using Web information technologies. (...) The results of this study can be employed as a theoretical foundation for designing human-friendly, adaptive user interfaces, which function as intelligent and affective central mechanisms and help users prioritise, monitor and coordinate their needs/tasks/goals effectively and efficiently. This study introduces the emotional factor, which is a newly emerging dimension, in dynamic information seeking and retrieval contexts and enlightens the existing areas of human information interaction."

(Minsoo Park ~ Information Research 18.1)

Posted by PJB on March 15, 2013 | Classification: Design research - Information design | Permalink

Bridging the CEO credibility gap

So, grow-up you UX community.

"Unfortunately, boardroom UX literacy does not develop by itself. It is the role of UX leaders to create an environment in which it can develop within their companies’ leadership teams and to provide meaningful data to which it can be applied. (...) I would suggest that the root cause leading to CEOs remaining underserved by the typical usability data available to them is a continued lack of business leadership focus and practice understanding among the UX community."

(Daniel Rosenberg ~ Interactions March-April 2013)

Posted by PJB on March 14, 2013 | Classification: Usability - User experience | Permalink

Government service design manual: 'Digital by default' service standard

Besides Estonia, these people in the UK are leading the way for sure.

"From April 2014, all new and redesigned digital services will need to be so good that people prefer to use them. (...) Remember, this site is currently a prototype. We are continuing to work on the content that is hosted here, and will add more guidance and features after the release in April 2013."

(GOV.UK)

Posted by PJB on March 14, 2013 | Classification: Service design | Permalink

Designing with context

And wasn't information contextualized data?

"The digital community has yet to fully understand the facets of the multicontext era. As a result, two stereotypes pervade: the desktop context and the mobile context."

(Cennydd Bowles a.k.a. @Cennydd) ~ courtesy of @nicoooooooon

Posted by PJB on March 13, 2013 | Classification: Information design - Mobile design | Permalink

Teaching and learning human-computer interaction

HCI is alive and kicking.

"Human-computer interaction as a field of inquiry necessarily evolves in response to changes in the technological landscape. During the past 15 years, the speed of change has been particularly dramatic, with the emergence of personal mobile devices, agent-based technologies, and pervasive and ubiquitous computing. Social networking has also profoundly changed the way people use technology for work and leisure. Who would have predicted a decade ago that (smart)phones would offer constant access to the Web, to social networks and broadcast platforms like Facebook and Twitter, and to hundreds of specialized apps? Who could have anticipated the power of our everyday devices to capture our every moment and movement? Cameras, GPS tracking, sensors—a phone is no longer just a phone; it is a powerful personal computing device loaded with access to interactive services that you carry with you everywhere you go."

(Elizabeth Churchill, Anne Bowser, and Jennifer Preece ~ Interactions March-April 2013)

Posted by PJB on March 13, 2013 | Classification: HCI | Permalink

The new experience economy: Activity as currency

Technology entering into the veins of society and culture.

"But the great equalizer to make this experience economy a true, two-way economy may be the simple sensor embedded in my clothing, car, or public space. Digital value exchanges are beginning to extend far beyond the screen of my phone or laptop. Embedded sensors will allow me to increasingly exchange my activity for currency."

(Graeme Waitzkin and Laura Richardson ~ designmind)

Posted by PJB on March 12, 2013 | Classification: HCI - User experience | Permalink

The third user: Why Apple keeps doing foolish things

UX and HCI facing the business community. Always interesting.

"Apple keeps doing things in the Mac OS that leave the user experience community scratching its collective head, things like hiding the scroll bars and placing invisible controls inside the content region of windows on computers. Apple's mobile devices are even worse: It can take users upwards of five seconds to accurately drop the text pointer where they need it, but Apple refuses to add the arrow keys that have belonged on the keyboard from day-one."

(Bruce Tognazinni) ~ courtesy of freegorifero

Posted by PJB on March 12, 2013 | Classification: HCI - User experience | Permalink

Why service design is so valuable

Whatever it takes: usability, user experience, customer experience, or service design.

"To be able to build sustainable businesses, they need to create real value. That's why service design is so great. Service design makes use of an analytic, methodical process, but combines this with a creative, exploring and customer focused approach. It combines left and right brain thinking. This makes sure your focus will remain on long term value creation, without neglecting short term results. And not only results for your own business, but for all stakeholders involved. And that's tough. That requires a change in culture. A culture, where the customer is really king. Where innovation is viewed as a responsibility for the entire company. Where people get the chance to try stuff out, and where they don't get hanged directly if it does not work. Where management includes creative people and functions like chief experience officer exist."

(Robbert-Jan van Oeveren a.k.a. @RobbertJan ~ Buro Koos)

Posted by PJB on March 07, 2013 | Classification: Service design | Permalink

How the web designs information

Great insight into paper versus digital, online, Web, 'what-have-you'. Now filter design included.

"On paper, information design is monolithic and paternalistic. It is all about static structures page layouts, indexes, tables of contents all specified by a supervising author. On the Web, information design is distributed and democratic. It is all about filters, about designing filters that work for you, and about designing content to work with the filters. (...) Content needs to be designed for the Web. The filters need to be designed for the content."

(Mark Baker ~ Every Page Is One)

Posted by PJB on March 06, 2013 | Classification: Information design - TechCom | Permalink

The complexity of simplicity

Ten principles doesn't strike me as complex.

"Here are ten principles that I've found helpful when trying to ensure something stays simple."

(Jay Selway a.k.a. @jayselway ~ UX Magazine)

Posted by PJB on March 05, 2013 | Classification: Complexity | Permalink

Service design in government: A systematic approach to designing digital government

System thinking connected to design thinking. Deep thinking for government digital services.

Disclosure: I work at Informaat (The Netherlands) ~ "In this ten-minute presentation, the new digital reality and grand challenges facing government are identified, and the way in which Informaat's systematic design approach can be a solution to meet these challenges is outlined. The guiding principles of this approach are putting citizens at the center of design, applying outside-in thinking throughout, and visualizing as much as possible. By harnessing the power of personas, journeys, ecosystems, dialogues, wireframes and prototypes, government services can be delivered in the best possible manner."

(Mark Fonds ~ BiRDS on a W!RE)

Posted by PJB on March 04, 2013 | Classification: Customer experience - Service design | Permalink

What is the client's role in user research?

Balancing client and user requirements? Out of balance mostly in fav of client.

"Successful user research involves close collaboration between clients and researchers to ensure that the research focuses on the right issues and provides acceptable recommendations. So, in this edition of my column, I'll speak directly to the clients of researchers about the steps they should take to stay involved throughout a user research project and ensure its success."

(Jim Ross a.k.a. @anotheruxguy ~ UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on March 04, 2013 | Classification: Design research | Permalink

Intranet social features

Intranet is getting social, sort of.

"Employee collaboration and open communication are now business drivers in many companies, but social enterprise features are often poorly integrated with the rest of the intranet."

(Jakob Nielsen ~ NN/g)

Posted by PJB on March 04, 2013 | Classification: Social Web | Permalink