I think we would need to go beyond just a before/after bad to good example. I think we would also need to introduce the concept of context and how it is used.
What I think would be an interesting exercise would be to find a "bad design" and show what a good design would look like under different contexts. It might be fun to theorize under what context's the bad design would actually be good. Likely, these theories would be so absurd and the examples of good design so clear, that the reader may start to believe what we are saying not because we are experts, but because we have allowed them to begin to analysis the design. What made me being this up was how calendars are used in the world of the credit bureaus.. For folks whose jobs deal with credit reports, they need to see a calendar that starts from today and then goes backward in time. They want to look up data like: has it been 30/60/90 days since the last delinquent report was filed for this consumer. Plus they only care about the most recent x months of information. So, when a new month's worth of data gets added, the oldest month of data is removed. (information is put in at the top and something is taken out of the bottom). Out of context, it you where to look at the programs they use, you would think they where bad calendar designs. If you where to try and "fix it" for them, then they would constantly be making mistakes as they went between your fixed program and the dozens of other reports, programs, forms, and artifacts which still show calendars going backwards in time. Chauncey, I would be willing to collaborate with you on an effort like this. It would be fun and could be a new way to educate folks outside our field on what we do. Nick Iozzo Principal User Experience Architect tandemseven 847.452.7442 mobile [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.tandemseven.com/ Bad usability calendars are fun, but as a field, we are often criticized for showing mostly bad examples and not highlighting good designs that are recognized as usable by most. In fact, we often have trouble even agreeing on concrete examples of design that have 'high" usability. There are sites that highlight bad web sites, unusable products, poor signs, bad doc, and consumer products by mainstream companies that are rife with design flaws. It would be good to create a "good usability" calendar and sites that highlight designs that are considered usable. There are magazines that have the Top 100 designs, but many of those may not actually be usable (I'm thinking the round mouse that surfaces once every twenty years to win industrial design awards, but in fact, is not very usable). Perhaps when we show bad examples in presentations, we should be required to show an improved version (before/after shots). Chauncey ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
