http://www.informationdesign.org/ Dedicated to the growth and improvement of the information experience industries. en-us plato@xs4all.nl 2012-02-05T18:58:30+01:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 LukeW and Forbes: quite a combination. "To me it seems more like inside-out versus outside-in. Inside-out thinking is, This is our process, this is our org chart, this is how we do things, and everything is sort of we, we, we. And they try to project that out to the world. Versus outside-in is like here's some poor guy who's going to wind up on our website, let's look at it from his perspective. He doesn't care that we have these fifteen departments. He doesn't care about these fifteen processes that we have for making decisions, he wants to do blank. And just kind of flipping your mindset like that can go a very long way." (Anthony Kosner ~ Forbes) Interviews 2012-02-05T18:58:30+01:00 And give me one word and I'll make a thousand prototypes. Words are just like requirements. "Building a good set of wireframes that become a working prototype helps your web project get off to a flying start, it becomes the hub of the design and development project which everyone involved can refer back to. You need to find the right tool to build your prototype. It must be capable of demonstrating how everything will work, whilst not being a complex or fickle beast you have to battle with. Ultimately you need a tool to help shape your thoughts and create a tangible model which is robust enough to be tested with real users and take you through to the next stages of the design process." (Leigh Howells a.k.a. @leigh ~ Boagworld)courtesy of sofia svanteson Prototyping 2012-01-05T09:16:39+01:00 What's the common denominator of structural programming, OVID, OOA/D, RUP, rapid/extreme programming and Agile? No design thinking regarding use involved. "There really is something here. Lean UX is an important new way to think about what we do, and I think there's real meat on it. Let me explain." (Jared Spool a.k.a. @jmspool ~ UIE) Technology 2011-12-01T10:51:38+01:00 Significant body of work on this type of software development. But what about design? "End-User Development (EUD) is inherently different from traditional software development, and trying to support EUD by simply mimicking traditional approaches is often insufficient to produce successful results. End users usually do not have training in professionals' programming languages, formal development processes, or modeling and diagramming notations. Moreover, end users often lack the time or motivation to learn these traditional techniques, since end users usually write code in order to achieve a short- or medium-term goal rather than to create a durable software asset that will produce a continuing revenue stream. Consequently, supporting EUD requires providing appropriate tools, social structures, and development processes that are highly usable, quickly learned, and easily integrated into domain practice." (Margaret M. Burnett and Christopher Scaffidi ~ Interaction-Design.org) UCD 2011-11-30T09:18:18+01:00 Goals are achieved when certain events occur. But what are the events? In all other cases, it's not a goal but an intention, motivation or just a task. "There are a lot of theories about what drives people and how they move through life. It's my belief that on a subconscious level we are goal driven creatures. There is nothing people do that can not be defined as a goal. From this starting point I designed a simple model that can help us as designers make the decisions where to focus on in the design process." (Jeroen van Geel a.k.a. @jeroenvangeel ~ Johnny Holland Magazine) UCD 2011-11-17T16:27:12+01:00 Lots of food for thought in it. A Conversation with Don Norman and Jon Kolko on Trends in and the Relationships between Art, Business, and Design ~ "The ~2-hour exchange with and between Don and Jon and the audience was particularly engaging, thoughtful, rich, and delightful." (Richard Anderson a.k.a. @Riander) User experience 2011-11-14T15:42:04+01:00 Or how designers can communicate with MBA's on strategy. "Alignment diagrams bring actions, thoughts, and people together to address the causes of poor experience at their root. Ultimately, they are a tool to help designers have real business impact. James Kalbach shows how designers can use their skills to map value creation and use design to solve business problems." (James Kalbach a.k.a. @JamesKalbach ~ Boxes and Arrows) UCD 2011-09-08T09:45:11+01:00 I would say AAPL, but that's problably not a satisfying answer. "Many companies struggle with the question of whether to develop UX strategy, research, and design capabilities internally, or to engage external UX firms as-needed when projects arise. Companies must forecast their need for these services on a long-term basis, and weigh the comparative costs and benefits of each approach. But is it purely a question of economics? Does an external UX team offer value beyond the flexibility and overall cost savings of not maintaining an internal team? When asked only in the context of individual projects, the answer to this question is probably 'no'. For a single project, the rationale for engaging an external UX firm may remain purely financial. But it's crucial to ask a broader question: how effective will each approach be at fostering ongoing UX innovation, beyond the limits or needs of existing projects?" (Nick Gould a.k.a. @nickgould ~ UX Magazine) User experience 2011-08-26T13:55:28+01:00 "Speed, cost or quality, just pick two." is 20th century thinking. "Creativity, productivity or freedom, just pick one." is 21th century. "What's wrong, you might argue, with keeping costs down? Quite a bit, it turns out. If your objective is to design a product people want to use, or to invent something brand new, you must embark on a journey of creativity and innovation. That might seem like normal, every day business, but don't make the mistake of trying to run your creative organization like a conventional one." (Alan Cooper a.k.a. @MrAlanCooper ~ Cooper Journal) UCD 2011-08-23T13:45:54+01:00 We call this "Eat your own dog food." "In pilot studies, you can occasionally relax the need for real users and let members of your own team serve as test participants. It's good for them." (Jakob Nielsen ~ Alertbox) Usability 2011-08-17T09:27:24+01:00 I love the phrase "Jakob Nielsen has long been at the forefront of information architecture innovation." "It's a common misconception that UX for mobile is all about creating something for users on-the-go - users with little time, checking in on their mobile on the train or at the bus stop waiting for a bus. But today's mobile user is so much more than that, with the rise in tablet usage further contributing to the growth and variety of their needs. No longer can UX practitioners expect to satisfy the mobile user with added pinch-and-zoom functionality or bigger call-to-action buttons; these things are expected, and don't improve UX. So as mobile use continues to grow in popularity and capability, how can we better appeal to a mobile audience?" (Laura Hampton ~ UX Magazine) Mobile design 2011-07-25T12:54:33+01:00 A lot of things stories can do. Make sure they do. "Within the everyday chaos of an average design project, part of what makes stories so valuable is their nimbleness and flexibility. They can easily be ordered, re-ordered, and grouped in any number of ways depending on your current need, such as by category, priority, complexity, sprint, or whatever, and you can do this in a highly ad-hoc manner. Team members can use the same card for everything from affinity diagrams to product road maps to scrum boards and on and on. But this level of flexibility also has drawbacks." (Anders Ramsey a.k.a. @andersramsay) UCD 2011-07-25T09:03:31+01:00 Reminds me of scenario-based design of John Carroll. "If you are a UX designer who wants to quickly get up to speed with integrating Agile and UX, there are few better places to start than with User Stories. They are both a quintessential embodiment of Agile thinking (i.e. if you understand User Stories, you understand Agile thinking) and a potential power tool for a UX designer on an Agile team. But like any tool, they can be both highly useful and help your team be highly effective, or, if you have no idea how stories work, cause some serious damage, especially to the UX dimension of your product. So, if you're using User Stories or thinking about adopting them as a tool, here are ten tips to help UX designers understand User Stories (we'll just call them Stories from hereon) and wield them to both yours and the team's benefit." (Anders Ramsey a.k.a. @andersramsay) UCD 2011-07-18T13:34:27+01:00 Definitely one of the highlights of the Chi Sparks 2011 conference. "In the past years scores of methods for user-centered design have been developed - and validated. But do they really work? In reality that is. In practice user-centered product development is hectic and messy, at best. This presentation discusses barriers and enablers for usability in the development practice of electronic consumer products, identified through three case studies across 10 product development groups." (Jasper van Kuijk a.k.a. @jaspervankuijk ~ Chi Sparks 2011 videos) Events 2011-07-18T09:13:47+01:00 "Every day, your users make judgments and decisions about the products and services you provide based on the way you present them. In this column, I'll talk about why seemingly insignificant aspects of information presentation can have surprising effects on people's perceptions and behavior." (Colleen Roller a.k.a. @DecisionUX ~ UXmatters) UCD 2011-07-05T16:37:27+01:00