My first piece of feedback being rather more on the facetious side, I thought - inspired by Will's ongoing commentary - that I might elucidate somewhat.
I don't like the site. I don't want to search blindly through an undifferentiated list of objects in the (possibly) vain hope of finding something useful. The site works a little bit like that memory game you play with pairs of symbols, except you never 'show' anything, and there's no sense of completion; ever. The objects you have viewed don't even retain some hint or clue as to what was in them after you close them; they just rather unhelpfully turn themselves grey. I'm all for 'fun' and 'play' in Web sites, but there are certain characteristics that are required - like rewards, for example. The interaction design isn't particularly unique - you see similar concepts in use in mind mapping tools for example - so it doesn't even really qualify in the 'innovation' stakes. Overall I thought this was an idea that was released into the world with a lot of thought and work still to do. Steve 2008/12/17 Will Evans <wkeva...@gmail.com> > Oh, right - and one more thing - > > Perhaps we should have a completely different set of heuristics by which we > review and discuss sites clearly designed by a marketing/advertising agency. > We should not use HCI, usability heuristics, best practices or notions of > affordance or any other design principle found in the literature and beaten > into us by demanding sadist professors. > > Think of it as - um - handicapping, fairness doctrine, or simply short-bus > special treatment. It's unfair to judge them using the same measuring stick > as real UX professionals; it's bad for their self-esteem and we should be > sensitive to that. Not all pigs are created equal - some are more unequal > than others - certainly the ones prone to putting on more lipstick. > > > ~ will > > "Where you innovate, how you innovate, > and what you innovate are design problems" > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Will Evans | User Experience Architect > tel: +1.617.281.1281 | w...@semanticfoundry.com > aim: semanticwill > gtalk: semanticwill > twitter: semanticwill > skype: semanticwill > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > On Dec 16, 2008, at 3:00 PM, Will Evans wrote: > > Keep wondering about this marketing website. And the topic won't seem to >> die. >> 1. If we all adhered to rules, where would innovation come from. I am not >> defending the site, usable is only one facet in the 7 facet honeycomb of >> user experience, and it's importance is ONLY relative to the context of the >> design, the goals of the business/stakeholders and the users. I have no idea >> what those are - but usable is just one attribute, not all 7, and even the >> most ardent, hardcore Jacob Nielson that I have talked to is incapable of >> answer this one simple question: >> "When reviewing an application, product, or website -- when do you/your >> team deem it 'usable enough'"? >> 2. Ogilvy, one of the founders of modern advertising, had a book, Ogilvy >> on Advertising, which is a classic. It also has a number of rules regarding >> effective positioning, branding, and selling of a product. If everyone in >> advertising followed that book religiously, we would have never have had the >> "True" ads for Budweiser. Or the frogs. >> >> Rules of thumb are good; heuristics, well applied, are useful, but >> orthodoxy is an evil slave-master beating creativity and innovation into >> desperate submission and it's your obligation to challenge him and his >> bastard step-child, "design patterns." >> >> :-) >> >> Rock On! >> >> >> ~ will >> >> "Where you innovate, how you innovate, >> and what you innovate are design problems" >> >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> Will Evans | User Experience Architect >> tel: +1.617.281.1281 | w...@semanticfoundry.com >> aim: semanticwill >> gtalk: semanticwill >> twitter: semanticwill >> skype: semanticwill >> >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> >> >> On Dec 16, 2008, at 11:48 AM, Kevin wrote: >> >> I'm not saying there isn't room for all-Flash sites, Michael, I just >>> thought that for a truly solid and accessible interface, Flash just >>> wasn't the way to go. The linked site above crashed my computer and >>> I have a pretty solid machine -- it hogged WAY too much RAM and took >>> a too long to download. >>> >>> "Pretty" or "cool" or "desirable" doesn't make a site usable. >>> I used to be a total Flash advocate until I started designing sites >>> for wide audiences. Perhaps someday Flash will be completely >>> accessible and usable for everyone, but I'm not convinced it's >>> there yet. >>> >>> BTW -- most of those highly-paid actionscripters don't have a iota >>> of usability training -- the site linked above and the link you >>> posted is proof of that. I got the hang of the site listed above >>> after a while (after rebooting my laptop twice), but for something >>> that's angled for commercial means an all-Flash site is just not >>> accessible for everyone. >>> >>> >>> >>> . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . >>> Posted from the new ixda.org >>> http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=36319 >>> >>> >>> ________________________________________________________________ >>> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! >>> To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org >>> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe >>> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines >>> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help >>> >> >> ________________________________________________________________ >> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! >> To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org >> Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe >> List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines >> List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help >> > > ________________________________________________________________ > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org > Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help > -- Steve 'Doc' Baty | Principal Consultant | Meld Consulting | P: +61 417 061 292 | E: steveb...@meld.com.au | Twitter: docbaty Blog: http://docholdsfourth.blogspot.com Contributor - UXMatters - www.uxmatters.com UX Book Club: http://uxbookclub.org/ - Read, discuss, connect. ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
