[IxDA Discuss] Pie Menu Spotted on the Web
I've been trying to shoe-horn a pie/radial menu into just about every experiential site I've worked on this year so it's nice to see someone actually get one out [1]. However, this Converse example isn't the greatest execution (I'm not keen on the dynamic element of the menu) and the context of the slightly bewildering shopping/filter elements detracts from the overall experience. How do the IxDA community feel about this site (ignoring the nauseating soundtrack)? John. [1] http://www.converse.com/connectivity/ 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Pie Menu Spotted on the Web
So here I was still playing with it on the right hand side, when it jumped to the left hand side. :( What happened to consistency? The site looks like fun to play with, but when the fun wears off, will it be functional to shop on? There are so many options, you have to click too much to see something. It is standing in the way of getting to a product. I personally would have prefered to get to a product quickly and then get options on it. But you asked about the menu... In theory I don't see a problem if you provide a menu in a block, circle or triangle. It is what follows that will be challenging. If you are looking for another example of a pie menu, check out www.gobanking.co.za/ 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] [Off-topic] Alarm Clock Recommendations
I agree with that a sunrise alarm clock is delightful. Absolutely my last alarm clock. Mine doesn't make any sound and allows any lamp to be plugged into it, so it is a lovely as the lamp you choose (if you hide the box). It is a small black box (~3inx5inx2in), with a red digital clock, 6 buttons, and a socket for your lamp. It is easy to set and you can carry it with you when you travel (except of course, in CA, you also have to bring an incandescent light bulb as well because hotels can only use flourescents these days). It also works in reverse -- you press a button to bring the light up to full brightness and it slowly decreases the brightness until it is off. I always read in bed and used to wake up with a start at 3AM after I had fallen asleep with the light on and suddenly turned over into full light on my face. My husband gave this to me for a Christmas present last year and splurged on the one that allows me to set the durations of sunrise and sunset. The standard duration is 45 minutes (non-programmable in the cheaper model). He and I both thought that being able to set the duration would be important. I found that 45 min isn't bad for me, but I believe I set it to 1 hour for sundown and 30 minutes for sun rise just because I could. They picked a reasonable default and now that I've used it for 18 months I don't think I would recommend paying the extra $50. This one is called the SunUp Indoor Dawn simulator (the SunRizr is the cheaper one that has a fixed duration). It is available at http://www.indoorsun.com/Pages/lightingpeople.html Bonnie Bruce Esrig wrote: The sunrise alarm clock is rather wonderful. We have one with a round orb and a strong white light. We clipped one of the wires inside, so it just glows for an hour without ringing at all. If you're willing to admit that it's daytime, it makes waking up a natural experience. The ultimate user experience is to have no alarm clock. It works if your internal clock tends to run early, or if you can get yourself to wake up at some regular time. It might be worth experimenting with. If it works, it works really well. Once awake, you can pad over to an ordinary un-alarming clock to find out what time it is. You might still need an ordinary alarm clock on days when you have to get up *really* early. Best wishes, Bruce On Sat, Jun 21, 2008 at 8:13 AM, Todd Moy [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I found a sunrise alarm clock at a yard sale a few years back. Basically, it's a clock/lamp that slowly brightens in the minutes leading up to your awake time. A bit after that, a typical alarm will softly ring and build in intensity. It's quite nice since you don't wake up in fight-or-flight response :). Similar ones can be found by doing a google search for alarms clocks for the deaf. Here's an example from HammacherSchlemmer, though not the one I own: http://tinyurl.com/5x8bwk Unfortunately, the ones I've seen are quite ugly. -Todd On Fri, Jun 20, 2008 at 8:44 PM, Michael Micheletti [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've had a Zen Alarm Clock for some years now: http://www.now-zen.com/cgi-bin/orders/shop.pl?ACTION=ENTER+SHOPthispage=zenclocksAFFILIATE=google73ORDER_ID=%21ORDERID%21 I love it, but then I'm a left coast tree-hugger from the Pacific Northwest, your mileage may vary. The tall triangular versions are better than the little portable ones with the lids IMHO. Michael Micheletti On 6/20/08, Jonathan Abbett [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: There was a list discussion a couple years ago about alarm clocks... http://www.ixda.org/discuss.php?post=5934 ...and it made me wonder-- what do usability-sensitive people use for alarm clocks? I'm at a point where I'm ready to buy the last alarm clock I'll ever need, so for argument's sake, let's say money is no object. What's the most delightful alarm clock experience you've had? -Jon 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 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 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
As a disclaimer, I've been recently working on consumer electronic space, designing about 60% to the devices, 30% for web and remaining percentage points for various other media. Why this is meaningful hopefully opens up later on in the reply. In any case, many of the faults in UCD that I've encountered are not often the faults of UCD itself, but the way in which people try to follow the taught methods. It's not uncommon to hear or see that something is done just because it's supposed to be done, without questioning. Further, given that many products fail, UCD undoubtedly has a place on many areas to increase the probabilities to make a decent thing. Not all of us are Google or Apple, and not all projects are there to change the world in fundamental ways. As if that was not enough, a designer can end up working on area that s/he has no previous knowledge of - in which case doing user research is more or less fundamental even if done without adhering to full UCD cycles. Finally, the benefits of UCD are more clearly seen in refinement iterations of your projects. Now, the good out of the way, there are some issues with many UCD practices, even if not with the concept itself. One of my biggest issues is with the kick-start of new projects. Moments when you don't know who your users are, when you are working on areas that provide new models and break technical barriers. The times that you just know that asking from the right users is almost impossible or extremely hard. When there are no established practices. It's not even that hard to come up with such stuff these days. In some of these cases, user research findings can destroy good concepts that haven't been explored deep enough yet. In some ways, ignorance can be a blessing. Users lie. They are unable to imagine themselves and the change in society. They are in some ways fixed to their current practices, which themselves can be a result of necessities, not optimal decisions. Thus, user-research can, in some cases, prevent break-throughs. After all this bashing, though, it would be good to remember that designers are not always that much better. If design is separated from implementation and engineering work, it is often easy to come up with unrealistic specs. Lack of technical know-how can lead to wrong guesses of what is possible and ignorance to the points where expanding what is possible would be within reach. This is not as easily seen with web-stuff, given the relative stable UI model. But there are times when you can work with the platform and make the thing less involving just by technical advancements. UCD might not help here, but neither would a purely designer-driven team either. The examples earlier that showed engineers making breakthroughs fit this picture quite well. And none of this should be any news, really. In the end, I guess the question is a bit moot. UCD, in my view, faults in that it is at times followed blindly. But it can be utilized in many circumstances. Other methods exist as well, but such does not make UCD dead . UCD is a bit like democracy - it's not perfect, but at least the chances of achieving a mediocre thing are increased and avoiding disaster is made a bit harder. 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
While digging through this discussion I was wondering why someone didn't say something like this: On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 6:05 PM, Will Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think there are some great fundementals in UCD that can help make the other 999 products a little less crappy, a little more humane - and the truth of the matter is that you, me, and just about everyone on this list - makes our bread and butter by working on those 999 products. If you're lucky enough to work with Steve Jobs or the Google guys, then good for you. But I've never worked with innovators (despite what they might have thought). Much of my career has been spent trying to make dumb-ass ideas and lazy implementations a little more humane (excluding a project I'm currently working on, whose other members read this list). And UCD, when I'm allowed to do it, helps me do that. Blah blah two cents, and all that. ken 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Guidance on P.G.in Interaction Design.
Hi Kedar Nimkar If u don't have time than Go for HFI Certification. I think u r living in Mumbai. HFI having Mumbai Center. U can also do following short tem course. http://www.idc.iitb.ac.in/~anirudha/workshopAug08.htm#Fees Thanks Gaurav . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30577 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] IxDA Curriculum (Was: Importance of Masters Degree for IxD Professionals)
To Andrei YES!! I would just add a specific class on intro Anthro and another for applied anthro besides what Dan calls Design research. And I'm good to go. ;-) Personally I would also require all undergrads to at least pass the AP in a foreign language or have 2 semesters of foreign language study and do an study abroad program, but that's me. ;-) --- dave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30515 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
Ambrose, I think you are confusing BAD design with the fundamentals of design. The same is true with BAD UX Pros. There are even bad design schools for that matter. Again, if all you want to think about is UCD as a philosophy of empathy towards users than it needs to be considered as one part of a greater whole of total design methods that have to include centers of markets and technology as well. It is at least a 3 legged stool and the designer needs to consider all of them. Now not all UX Pros are designers so maybe they can focus on evaluation of user success or do up front user research. But the designer needs to be holistic and inclusive of the user perspective, but not centered on it. I still don't get this whole political/power thing. -- dave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30642 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Pie Menu Spotted on the Web
The jump to the left got me too. Even though I read AJKocks response prior to viewing the site. Also, the navigation itself seems a little mystery-meatish. I mean, its not like there are a ton of options in that immediate menu to explore, just the four, but I'm not sure anyone would get that an asterisk=limited edition stuff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30716 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] [off-topic] work for equity
On Jun 24, 2008, at 9:16 PM, Gabriel Friedman wrote: would like to negotiate for equity rather than pay[...] Why not get both? Cheers! Todd Zaki Warfel President, Design Researcher Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully. -- Contact Info Voice: (215) 825-7423 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] AIM:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Blog: http://toddwarfel.com Twitter:zakiwarfel -- In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not. 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
[IxDA Discuss] Pie Menu Spotted on the Web
Is it possible that our reactions are at least partially biased by our ages? The site appears to be designed for a younger generation than (I'm guessing!) we all are. According to Susan Weinschenk (Chief Technical Officer of HFI) in some research she's currently conducting, the majority of UX practitioners are Gen-X'ers but the majority of folks using the Web are Gen-Y and Baby Boomers. Their needs, tolerances, and preferences are pretty different than ours. At least this site is trying something different from the regular old top or left-hand nav. cheers brooke 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Pie Menu Spotted on the Web
Busted! :) I am also shock to learn that Gen-Y's are more tolerant than Gen- Xers. :) Kewlness, fashion and preferences come and go. Intuitive work-flow is cross-Gen and forever (more than one generation). I don't see Gen-Yers or any Gens for that matter will have a preference for inconsistency if they want to complete a task. I have no problem with different but intuitive navigation. I (my opinion) don't think we were are critising the menu. We are questioning the IA and task flow. 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Using Laban Movement Analysis for Interaction Design
On Jun 25, 2008, at 1:13 AM, Andrew Boyd wrote: Here is the big question: could a smart system record these meanderings and keystroke-model-analogue them sometime in the future? It may not be technically possible yet (without the human tagging that we do with the likes of Morae) but I am wondering if perhaps it is desirable. Thoughts? It would be desirable, although limited in use and require some sort of multi-camera setup that would either have to be installed and callibrated, or you could pay to go to a special location and do it, much like a sound studio. There are several systems now for the Wii that do this sort of automatic recording of movement with the Wiimote, saving oodles of time, but nothing, as far as I know aside from motion capture systems which are pretty expensive and require a lot of specialized equipment, for this sort of easy full-body capture. Dan 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] unique search result interfaces
I think you guys are onto something. For example, it would be helpful if searching YouTube provided moving video previews of Search Results, like Viewzi does: http://www.viewzi.com/search/videox3/flight conchords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30633 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 7:10 AM, dave malouf [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Again, if all you want to think about is UCD as a philosophy of empathy towards users than it needs to be considered as one part of a greater whole of total design methods that have to include centers of markets and technology as well. It is at least a 3 legged stool and the designer needs to consider all of them. Agreed, and that's exactly where I think things like DDD help, at least for internal apps. For products, well, that's why you want to have product managers and devs/architects participating in the research and design. I wouldn't say UCD is just a philosophy; it's that but also a procedural framework and set of techniques. Now not all UX Pros are designers so maybe they can focus on evaluation of user success or do up front user research. But the designer needs to be holistic and inclusive of the user perspective, but not centered on it. If you don't know who your users are, what they want to do, and maybe sometimes even how they like to do it, common sense seems to say you won't be able to design successfully. I'd love to just tell the business to trust me, and some will (as no doubt you've found). But that's just not going to fly with many, maybe most. At least that's the feeling I have based on my gut. Just trust me on that. :) Having some framework and set of standard techniques to add some predictability and reliability is not only far more attractive to those spending the money, but it is also helps guide designers to do the right thing, especially less experienced ones. I hear what you're saying about user centricity in that the user perspective is one piece to the overall design puzzle. I agree. But I'm thinking if something has to be at the center (and I tend to think our human nature will make this so), maybe users are the best choice for building successful things that are to be used. I still don't get this whole political/power thing. My experience and current thinking is such that you need to try to get it to function well in human society. The desire to control others seems to be part of our DNA. I was just thinking about this yesterday as I suffered through this talk on Standards in the Enterprise. Standards. Governance. Management. Process. Etiquette. So much of our social fabric is permeated with control structures that, if looked at cynically, are all about one person/org trying to control others, through money, through force, or through social pressure. Of course there are positive sides to most of it. Working towards the shared good being at the core. Streamlining communication. Providing safety and predictabiliy (even if only ephemeral). But it does seem to be an inescapable reality, so factoring it into my approach to life and, in particular, dealing with others, seems essential to success. (Sorry; don't give me any philosophical bait. :) ) Thanks for the thoughtful response, Dave. --Ambrose 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Pie Menu Spotted on the Web
Hmm, I'm only 27, so in some definitions (Wikipedia puts the threshold on Gen-y around 1980) I still qualify as Gen-Y. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30716 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Relocating - Was: Importance of Masters Degree for IxD Professionals
Ok, I understand your question. At my point in my career (14 years experience), the question of how much relocation plays a factor is significant in my evaluation for schools. Others may not consider it a big deal (especially those that are single and w/out children), but I have to ask myself it would be worth all the uprooting and expenses involved. For the intellectual discourse, yes, it would be well worth it. But in the grand plan, I'm probably much better off staying put and tayloring a local MAIS degree to fullfill my needs. David On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 4:19 PM, Allison [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: No, I wasn't comparing the financial difference between relocating for school vs. relocating for work. Not everyone gets financial assistance when relocating, and some moving costs are unrecoverable, but it's not like when you get there you have no job at all. No, in asking the question I was just trying to understand how much of a factor relocation of any kind was in the decision - I realize that the response is much more complicated my simply posed question. I'm just guessing here, but it seems like with 5-10 years of experience you don't really *need* to go to school to advance your career, unless there's a specific skill you want to learn or want to change your career (like MBA). However, with years of experience you might make a good candidate for a scholarship and a possible teaching opportunity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30669 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 -- Art provokes thinking, design solves problems w: http://www.davidshaw.info 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Using Laban Movement Analysis for Interaction Design
Dan, I look forward to your upcoming book on Interactive Gestures. I think that there are two different questions here: 1) Putting aside the difficulty and complexity of various movement notation systems for a moment: As we move from basic implementations of multitouch (e.g., Mac mousepad) to more expansive partial and full-body movement as input, then does the range and quality of this movement have to be more rigorously studied and analyzed? IxDA members have probably seen many of the videos I've collected in two different posts that show the extent to which body and movement play an ever greater role in the latest interfaces: http://greatdance.com/thekineticinterface/mydocs/movement-is-at-the-heart-of-sc.php http://greatdance.com/thekineticinterface/2008/06/gesture-movement-and-the-body/ 2) If it's decided that this movement does have to be studied and captured, then what is the best system and approach for doing this? And do people in interaction design field need these notation skills or will they need to work with people who have these skills? My hunch is (and I'm not in the interaction design field) that there will be a strong need to document all of these movements and gestures - for baseline, research, analysis and comparative purposes. And that the automated capture process that you refer to above will clearly improve over time. But trained movement notators will also be required for some time to come. Also, in my post above, I did not include a recent post of mine : Applying Laban Movement Analysis to Interaction Design http://greatdance.com/thekineticinterface/2008/06/laban-movement-analysis/ In this post, I reference one of the only examples I could find of how Labanotation was used to analyze interaction design. I think that the passages I quote are especially interesting because they explain why a body-based notation system is necessary and what specifically it contributes to the understanding of this process. Allison, I think that you bring-up an important point about knowledge and experience with movement education systems. If I hadn't taken classes in Skinner Release Technique and other somatic education approaches, then I would have only the vaguest idea of how these movement systems might relate to interaction design. And the question for this discussion is how much knowledge and experience is really required in this movement-education area to create a new generation of gesture and body-based interfaces? A tough question to answer I think and the answer, of course, cannot be that designers need to become movement experts. Max, thanks for mentioning Natalie Ebenreuter and her presentation. I'm very interested in her research, but I was not able to watch the Flash presentation - any ideas? BTW, I'm obviously very interested in intersection of interaction design and dance/movement. If you know of examples of applications, products and research in this field, I'd be delighted to learn about them. Best, Doug Fox [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://greatdance.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30674 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] [off-topic] work for equity
I am actually doing this at the moment. I have been working for a small start up company that I felt would be a great experience. They had some capital, but I negociated with them to find what will work best for both parties. Part of what they are doing is selling apparel, so basically I get free merchandise of most of the pieces and can request any others I would like. I also am in discussions with them as to on going royalties, as I help manage the online store and have done some designs for the apparel as well. The deal will still involve the free merchandise as well as a percentage of their monthly online sales profits. But I would be interested in hearing anyone elses experiences doing similar things like this. I really enjoy working with startups and non-profits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30708 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
One of the problems I find with UCD is that it can be too process-oriented. I think it has to do with our need to systematize wins in order to recreate them again and again. I think we implicitly assume that if we use the right processes at the right time then we will somehow be able to guarantee success. But hasn't history shown this to a wild goose chase? We have to seriously ask: how many designers can consistently create success? Even the companies mentioned, Google/Apple have failed as much as they have succeeded. The difference is that their successes make us forget about their failures. And, to complicate things further, we judge design by different criteria depending on which way the wind blows. Ask a designer about how well the Google homepage is designed and you don't know what you'll hear. What the best designs do is that they focus solely on the end result. Process doesn't matter, techniques don't matter, design deliverables don't matter...the only thing that matters is does the software kick ass. If nobody is using it or nobody cares about it, then it can't kick ass. If lots of people are using it and are passionate about it, then it kicks ass. (insert Kathy Sierra quote here) While it's helpful to ask what are the most successful designers doing?, it seems less fruitful to generalize to hard-and-fast rules. If there is one thing that design history has shown, is that there are no hard-and-fast rules or processes by which to work. Just focus like hell on the end result because that's all that matters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30642 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
[IxDA Discuss] Navigation problem
Hi all, I am working on an online application that explores the anatomy of certain body systems. In one section, we have a cross-cut diagram of a body part (the eye). Next to it is a list of its subparts (macula, retina, cornea, etc.). Originally, it was intended that when any of these items was clicked, that would launch a highlight on the subpart, a voice over, and a text box explaining what the part is and does. The graphic designer added a roll-over function, which would highlight the subpart as each item is rolled over. The problem is obvious: if we are clicked into an item, reading the text and listening to the vo, should the user be able to continue to roll over other items in the list? If so, how should that roll over be distinguished from the item we are clicked into? If the user is locked out of rolling over, how do you restore this function after the user is finished learning about the subpart (if he clicks into another item, he is still not in rollover mode). If this is not sufficiently confusing, I can probably make it more so. :-) Any ideas or best practices suggestions I can return to my team with? Thanks! Nancy 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
Almost everything I've read in UI design until very recently was about user-centered design. It seemed to make a lot of sense but then when I read that there was a book Designing the Obvious, by Robert Hoekman, and his rather disparaging posts about user-centered design that also seemed to make sense. One thing I feel very strongly is that the user is not other, that I am such rearing-to-go user myself and I identify with other users. I mean, we are all users and yet some of us are not able to put ourselves in the shoes of other people using their systems when really in a lot of cases it can be pretty straightforward to do so. I guess it's like we all have emotions and yet some of us (well, not me) are much better at empathising with other people's emotions. As we all do, I use a lot and I find so much of bad user design seems to be just mind-boggling thoughtlessness. To give a couple of examples: Where I work, a scrollable text box that was known to often contain a lot of text and was constantly scrolled by the users was reduced to three lines because of space constraints - in fact it would've been very easy to rearrange things on the interface to maintain the original size of the text box. That text box deeply offended me and I often thought about it. I just scratched my head and thought How could you possibly do that? It's a total pain. People say that users aren't considered - sometimes I wonder if some people just like to torture them. I have just spent two weeks at the Sydney Film Festival. On the website they said that in response to feedback they had made it possible this year for attenders to redeem tickets for voucher packages online. In past years, you could buy single tickets online but for voucher packages you had to submit each voucher at the venue in exchange for a ticket. Well, d'uh. They surely didn't need feedback to know that a significant customer body will, of course, want to be able to redeem vouchers online rather than wait in long queues and panic about missing the beginning of their film. I bought a 50 voucher package and was delighted with this news - until I went to redeem my first voucher. You seriously would not believe how many buttons I had to press to get a single ticket (at least 15) and repeat exactly the same process for the following 49. I even had to put in my name, address and phone number for every single ticket. They said something on the website about the process not being as seamless as they'd hoped. It was RSI-inducing but I plowed on because once I'd started on the online path it was actually a much slower process to redeem vouchers at the venue. I did thoroughly enjoy the festival but I would've enjoyed that little bit more without all the button pressing. Regards, Petra Liverani 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Pie Menu Spotted on the Web
Yeah, feels to me like the jump to the left was a bug in their Flash that was left in. I do see 4 items in the pie, but for me the one with the pen thing doesn't do anything on click. Then clicking Limited I noticed the Limited pie item did nothing. Just seems kind of off to me, like the selected pie item should show in some way We're already here, and clicking me does nothing. Maybe spinning the pie so the selected item points to the right, maybe with a big triangle arror coming out of it or something. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30716 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
On Jun 25, 2008, at 6:33 AM, J. Ambrose Little wrote: Having some framework and set of standard techniques to add some predictability and reliability is not only far more attractive to those spending the money, but it is also helps guide designers to do the right thing, especially less experienced ones. Design is not about having a set of standard techniques that you follow blindly. Similarly, playing music is not about just hitting notes on whatever instrument you play. If you want predictability or reliability being a designer, then the only way you'll ever get that is through practice and more practice. But following a process to get reliability in design is like creating a player piano and then listening to its music. At first, it's moderately interesting to hear The Entertainer on it, but after a short while, it's both monotonous and lacks any human touch. You want a framework? Go take a design class. Simple as that as far as I'm concerned. As for the people who pay the checks? All they care about is getting a great product. If you design great stuff they don't care how you did it. Guaranteed. -- Andrei Herasimchuk Principal, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] c. +1 408 306 6422 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
Petra, I think you are spot on. Some people naturally emphasize with the needs of others. I think this is a key quality and explains how some people can design quality systems without doing as much UCD research, etc. Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner identifies 7 types of intelligence - one of them describes Interpersonal skills. From http://professorlamp.com/ed/TAG/7_Intelligences.html Interpersonal Children who are leaders among their peers, who are good at communicating and who seem to understand others' feelings and motives possess interpersonal intelligence. Donna Fritzsche Information Architect, Ontologist I guess it's like we all have emotions and yet some of us (well, not me) are much better at empathising with other people's emotions. As we all do, I use a lot and I find so much of bad user design seems to be just mind-boggling thoughtlessness. To give a couple of examples: Where I work, a scrollable text box that was known to often contain a lot of text and was constantly scrolled by the users was reduced to three lines because of space constraints - in fact it would've been very easy to rearrange things on the interface to maintain the original size of the text box. That text box deeply offended me and I often thought about it. I just scratched my head and thought How could you possibly do that? It's a total pain. People say that users aren't considered - sometimes I wonder if some people just like to torture them. I have just spent two weeks at the Sydney Film Festival. On the website they said that in response to feedback they had made it possible this year for attenders to redeem tickets for voucher packages online. In past years, you could buy single tickets online but for voucher packages you had to submit each voucher at the venue in exchange for a ticket. Well, d'uh. They surely didn't need feedback to know that a significant customer body will, of course, want to be able to redeem vouchers online rather than wait in long queues and panic about missing the beginning of their film. I bought a 50 voucher package and was delighted with this news - until I went to redeem my first voucher. You seriously would not believe how many buttons I had to press to get a single ticket (at least 15) and repeat exactly the same process for the following 49. I even had to put in my name, address and phone number for every single ticket. They said something on the website about the process not being as seamless as they'd hoped. It was RSI-inducing but I plowed on because once I'd started on the online path it was actually a much slower process to redeem vouchers at the venue. I did thoroughly enjoy the festival but I would've enjoyed that little bit more without all the button pressing. Regards, Petra Liverani 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 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
[IxDA Discuss] Pie Menu
It's mystery meat and it's lame. Frank Siraguso 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
Nice Andrei. Ambrose, I would ask you why have any sort of centrism at all? I also think there is a big difference between ethics and design methods frameworks, no? I may choose one based on my ethical underpinnings, but first should come the ethics and then the framework. I do not believe that UCD frameworks are the only means towards an ethical design philosophy. BTW, I don't think that UCD is broken so much as I believe that UCD is not THE answer, or always the right answer. In my mind I know what UCD is and I have learned to use its tools and other tools I have learned a long the way. -- dave -- dave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30642 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Navigation problem
1) The area should be highlighted on hover, but not play automatically, and there's a prompt: Click to learn more, or a noticeable Play button/icon, at which point the animation/voice-over whatever can start. 2) It should be really easy to pause or stop the highlight/movie/audio aspect. Is there a progress bar with a Stop or Pause button available? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30736 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Navigation problem
Nancy, We are working on a similar system! What about having all the behavior happen on rollover (skip the clicking part.) When the user has rolled over the item - no other areas can be active. Then when the user rolls - off the the focused item with text, etc, or clicks a small close box - all areas become active again. (depending on the situation, a small directive telling the user that they can get more info on rollover may be necessary). If that isn't practical, I would still say that while an item is active (clicked on), that other roll overs should be disabled until the user either actively closes the interaction or rolls off of it. Donna On Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:26:08 -0400, Nancy Roberts wrote Hi all, I am working on an online application that explores the anatomy of certain body systems. In one section, we have a cross-cut diagram of a body part (the eye) . Next to it is a list of its subparts (macula, retina, cornea, etc.). Originally, it was intended that when any of these items was clicked, that would launch a highlight on the subpart, a voice over, and a text box explaining what the part is and does. The graphic designer added a roll-over function, which would highlight the subpart as each item is rolled over. The problem is obvious: if we are clicked into an item, reading the text and listening to the vo, should the user be able to continue to roll over other items in the list? If so, how should that roll over be distinguished from the item we are clicked into? If the user is locked out of rolling over, how do you restore this function after the user is finished learning about the subpart (if he clicks into another item, he is still not in rollover mode). If this is not sufficiently confusing, I can probably make it more so. :-) Any ideas or best practices suggestions I can return to my team with? Thanks! Nancy 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 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Using Laban Movement Analysis for Interaction Design
I saw a great presentation at Design and Emotion 2006 in Gothenburg from Philips where they used Laban Analysis to help design the quality of the movements of the indicator for a computerized home system. The conference proceedings are available here: http://www.de2006.chalmers.se/m/ppd/de2006/workshop/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30674 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
It seems we have to do the empathy thing like a periodic flare-up of the plague. We might want to be a little more critical about the whole idea of empathy and what it means to walk in someone else's shoes. When we look at someone living in primitive conditions and say, oh, my god, those poor people! then we are experiencing some kind of fellow-feeling, for sure. But the fact is that we're not putting ourselves in their shoes, we're putting them in our shoes. Did we ask how they are feeling? No. We just jumped straight to the conclusion that they must be unhappy because we would be unhappy. As long as we and the people to whom we are ascribing our own feelings are very similar, everything's cool. Self-centeredness is not a big deal when the other is just like you. The psychological research understands empathy to be, on the other hand, not the skill of saying, oh, I know just what you mean!! or poor thing, I feel for you! but a cognitive skill of attentiveness to another person (a _tangible_ person whom you can see, hear, or otherwise observe and not a construct like earthquake victims or shoppers or users) and interpretation of the clues embedded in their behavior so as to enable you to reconstruct what that other person is in fact experiencing. This is not to substitute your own feeling for theirs, but to try to understand what feeling or other experience that person is having. (A good intro to empathy is Bill Ickes' Everyday Mindreading or you could try the older volume of scholarly essays Empathic Accuracy that he edited.) I certainly agree that there is a lot of bad design out there that no decent designer needs to do any user research to fix or prevent. But it is really hard to understand how to support the needs of people who don't know what you know or whose values are different from yours, without observing them in one way or another. Let me just offer my favorite example, not from my design experience but from my time teaching composition to inner-city African-American college students. They faced an end-of-semester test that demanded they could exhibit a solid grasp of standard English grammar (as opposed to the black vernacular) even though nobody, in all their years in school, had ever wanted to get anywhere near this thorny and politically sensitive issue. A lot of people failed the test. Feeling bad for them, because in fact they got shafted in the worst way, was a noble thing I'm sure. I did feel bad for them. But it was much more important to finally figure out that the standard instruction to teach subject-verb agreement (the subject and the verb must agree in person and in number which they could all recite from memory) is not only difficult to understand if nobody has taught you how to find subjects and verbs in your sentences but is in fact arrant nonsense in and of itself. It looks like English, but it isn't. You can only decipher it if you know what first-person plural or second-person singular stands for. And _that_ nobody had ever pointed out to my students. If I had to design something to get them past the hurdle of the end-of-semester test, then I'd have to know that last little bit, which is the little bit that nobody in the composition program at my university or in the college-level composition books had figured out was missing in the students' repertoire. Feeling something on behalf of another person is easy compared to figuring out what they know and don't know, what they need and don't need in terms of their own value system (rather than in terms of your value system), and it just can't be done by intuition. It takes knowledge, to be got from research. It's not a design skill, although design skills are required to come up with a solution that addresses the issues research can surface. Of course, there's always a fall-back: before you design something for someone else, walk a mile in their shoes. That way, you'll be a mile away and you'll have their shoes. Marijke Rijsberman http://www.interfacility.com http://landfill.wordpress.com Donna said: Some people naturally emphasize with the needs of others. I think this is a key quality and explains how some people can design quality systems without doing as much UCD research, etc. Petra said: I guess it's like we all have emotions and yet some of us (well, not me) are much better at empathising with other people's emotions. As we all do, I use a lot and I find so much of bad user design seems to be just mind-boggling thoughtlessness. To give a couple of examples: 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
[IxDA Discuss] [EVENT] [REMINDER] **TONIGHT** IxDA LA HUGE present Methodology Madness Part 2: Usability Testing, Wednesday June 25th, 7-9pm
Tonight's IxDA LA event is going to be hot! By popular demand, we've extended the capacity again. Tonight will be a great discussion about usability testing lead by IxD practitioners and specialized testers alike and a fantastic spread of food and wine from our hosts at HUGE. Check out the Evite for more details and RSVP while space lasts! *http://www.evite.com/app/publicUrl/UGTAXBYWVJYTYMZDEZFR/usability * *WHEN* TONIGHT Wednesday, Jun 25th 7-9pm WHERE HUGE LA 11135 Weddington St., Suite 132 North Hollywood, CA, CA 91601 US 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Navigation problem
The first thing that came to my mind was that the rollover should be kept, but I think it will ultimately depend on your intended user base. I'm thinking that keeping the rollover allows the user to preview other areas while within another. So if I'm clicked in one part and rollover another the rollover may just says the part name. Just a thought. But as I said i think it really does depend on who the application is being created for. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30736 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Navigation problem
On Jun 25, 2008, at 9:26 AM, Nancy Roberts wrote: Any ideas or best practices suggestions I can return to my team with? Nancy, The visual representation of the selected state should differ from the roll-over state. For example, if you are changing the color of the item to bright orange to show selection, the roll-over state could be a light orange. There should never be a question as to which is which. Best, Jack Jack L. Moffett Interaction Designer inmedius 412.459.0310 x219 http://www.inmedius.com Questions about whether design is necessary or affordable are quite beside the point: design is inevitable. The alternative to good design is bad design, not no design at all. - Douglas Martin 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Pie Menu Spotted on the Web
www.Chipotle.com had a pie menu for years, made of a circle of taco chips, but on their most recent site iteration the main nav menu's gone drop-down. 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
I find the responses of most on this thread a little surprising. Many seem to hark back to the old reactions to UCD and other, similar processes - that it stunts creativity, makes it a slave to process etc etc. Then of course there are the anecdotes that are getting thrown in as if they somehow disprove the theory and understanding behind the UCD approach. They're just that - anecdotes. I have plenty of anecdotes about poor design decisions taken in non-UCD projects, but they don't prove design doesn't work? User centred design is an approach based on gaining genuine insight from potential or existing users of a system, to ensure that the planned system meets their needs. The exact methods and techniques used in that process vary, but the fundamental point here is that it facilitates design based on genuine understanding of what users need. If you're creating a software application for airline pilots isn't it a good idea to conduct some first-hand research with airline pilots to understand their particular circumstances or limitations? Or should we all just go home and knock out some software based on our personal genius? Another common misunderstanding is that UCD means asking users what kind of system they want - this isn't UCD. We use contextual research to understand how users behave, then designers are still needed to develop a system that fits those needs. So the creativity is still there, but the research aids that creativity. UCD is a process that aids creativity and avoids waste, no-one has ever claimed it's a guarantee of brilliant products - just the same as employing a designer doesn't guarantee good design. __ Sent from Yahoo! Mail. A Smarter Email http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Pie Menu Spotted on the Web
I've always followed the mantra, Tell Show. Always. The menu could be that much more effective if they included the text along with the icons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30716 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
The past is filled with far more examples of products, innovative thinking, and success stories based on activity-centered research, magic, genius design, and just plain *luck* than UCD can claim even on its best day. How do you know this? Where is your data? Do you know what UCD has accomplished and how are you comparing it to magic? UCD, as you pointed out yourself, is only 30 years old. The past is much, much older. Did the guy who invented the first desk lamp think about his users? Perhaps, but that doesn't make him a UCD practitioner. Now the title is cute and the point a really good one. I agree with it completely. But to suggest that ACD is the replacement for 30 years of development is really simplistic. Norman was doing exactly what I suggested in my original post – suggesting how to improve on existing techniques. But I doubt that he would seriously suggest that we need to abandon user centricity as a goal. In fact, he said just the opposite. The best way I've found to improve on those techniques is to replace them, and doing so has resulted in many successes for my clients and employers. Of course, my ultimate goal is to design something that works great for users, is valuable to them, and meets or exceeds the underlying business goals. But I can achieve that any number of ways, and the UCD way has not worked, for a myriad of reasons. It was because of this fact that I looked for new solutions. And the new solutions worked. Hence, this debate. 2.Let's agree that the world has changed since 1982 when UCD was first created and let's expand and extend it with activity centered design and every other good idea we can come up with so we create even better tools. Amen. I think we should stop equating UCD (or whatever you want to call it), which has 30 years of effort and research behind it as if it were irrelevant. Many things with 30 years of development have been replaced. Vinyl records. The horseless carriage. The steam engine. Sure, these things are still around, but superior artifacts have long since replaced them as the dominant choice. (Though, it has yet to be determined if a CD is in fact better than vinyl, but that's a different story) Personally, as long as the design approach creates a product that is useful to the user and usable, I don't care what name you give it. Nor do I. Honestly, I couldn't care less how you achieve the result as long as it's achieved. But I've seen UCD fail time after time after time in real business situations where deadlines are tight and money is short. I push ACD because it has worked in all those situations where UCD wouldn't cut it. Part of my motivation for writing that article series and for pushing ACD all the time is to give people who are suffering the same fate a solution to give to their managers (and themselves). One that gives them another way to go—one that might succeed when UCD methods aren't an option. -r- 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Pie Menu Spotted on the Web
On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 10:51 AM, Michael Alexander [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've always followed the mantra, Tell Show. Always. The menu could be that much more effective if they included the text along with the icons. Icons often violate visibility principle: their meaning is not visible - Jeff Raskin -- Oleh Kovalchuke Interaction Design is design of time http://www.tangospring.com/IxDtopicWhatIsInteractionDesign.htm 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
On Jun 25, 2008, at 8:49 AM, Lee McIvor wrote: UCD is a process that aids creativity and avoids waste, no-one has ever claimed it's a guarantee of brilliant products - just the same as employing a designer doesn't guarantee good design. I'm going to be blunt: The only people I've ever met who need UCD processes as a means to design are the exact people I think need to consider going back to take a few good design classes in industrial or graphic design. Preferably both. You can shoot the messenger all you like. -- Andrei Herasimchuk Principal, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] c. +1 408 306 6422 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
In the referenced article, you say: Do you think Google's home page was designed for a specific set of user types? At *An Event Apart* today, Jeffrey Veen said, essentially, yes--he didn't show personas, per se, but he did show pictures of and described target user types that sure sounded a lot like them. And in fact he said, and I quote, weaving all that [Google apps] together took a tremendous amount of user-centered design. [...] Google's homepage was started long before its UX design team. It was originally designed, as the story goes, simply as a way to input tests for the search engine. As recently as 2 years ago, Google's UX team consisted of about 60 people, out of about 10,000 employees. It took them several years to even start a UX team, let alone work it into their process. It may (or may not) be going strong now, but Google was certainly not built on a foundation of quality interaction design. Interesting side note: Veen first gave that talk back in 2005. He's modified it over time (from what I've heard), but it's essentially the same talk he's been giving for 3 years (I think before he joined Google). I don't know if this affects the net sum of the talk, but it's interesting. (Any way you look at it, Veen is an awesome speaker.) -r- 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
On Jun 25, 2008, at 10:33 AM, Terry Fitzgerald wrote: Going back to school may improve their design skills. It certainly will not necessarily improve their understanding of what to design! I'll let the folks who have taken heavy industrial design courses defend themselves here. Every major design school I know of gets heavy into research and ergonomics. -- Andrei Herasimchuk Principal, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] c. +1 408 306 6422 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
[IxDA Discuss] any ideas for icon research?
I need to prepare a strategy document for a large financial client that explores appropriate visual metaphors for paperless billing or e-statements in a global context. I will include a competitive icon audit, but I'm not finding a lot of icons for paperless billing. The biggest challenge for me is the global context. I can easily suggest an appropriate metaphor for Norhern Californians, but how can I research which visual metaphors might work for people in Italy, Britain, Canada and so on? Any ideas? 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Pie Menu Spotted on the Web
Oops! When I read the title of this post this is what came to mind... http://www.simplesimonspies.co.uk/menu_pies.htm Guess I got the wrong end of the stick! Laura PS - I wanted to link to this site, but cos its flash I couldnt link you to the menu! http://www.pieminister.co.uk/ They are local heroes round here :) 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] any ideas for icon research?
I would recommend that you conduct a metaphor brainstorming session on your topic and then list the criteria that are important and narrow the list down. When you do the metaphor brainstorming, you'll come up with ideas that you can use when you work with a visual designer. The other things you can do is have some in-person or online braindrawing sessions. I would be happy to share a bit more about these techniques offline if you are interested or post a few more details. Thanks, Chauncey On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 2:12 PM, Jim Reed [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I need to prepare a strategy document for a large financial client that explores appropriate visual metaphors for paperless billing or e-statements in a global context. I will include a competitive icon audit, but I'm not finding a lot of icons for paperless billing. The biggest challenge for me is the global context. I can easily suggest an appropriate metaphor for Norhern Californians, but how can I research which visual metaphors might work for people in Italy, Britain, Canada and so on? Any ideas? 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 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Looking for good examples of 3D interfaces
http://k2.inavi.com/ On Thu, Apr 17, 2008 at 11:21 AM, Paul Sherman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I cited some 3D apps in my March Uxmatters article; see http://uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000271.php for some vids links. Paul Sherman -Original Message- Am looking for some good examples of 3D interactions online, ideally with relation to navigating around a building. Anybody seen anything good recently? Thanks in advance. joe 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 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
Going back to school may improve their design skills. It certainly will not necessarily improve their understanding of what to design! On 6/25/08, Andrei Herasimchuk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Jun 25, 2008, at 8:49 AM, Lee McIvor wrote: UCD is a process that aids creativity and avoids waste, no-one has ever claimed it's a guarantee of brilliant products - just the same as employing a designer doesn't guarantee good design. I'm going to be blunt: The only people I've ever met who need UCD processes as a means to design are the exact people I think need to consider going back to take a few good design classes in industrial or graphic design. Preferably both. You can shoot the messenger all you like. -- Andrei Herasimchuk Principal, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] c. +1 408 306 6422 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 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
[IxDA Discuss] [PLUG] Adaptive Path's UX Week 2008; Fundamentals, Service, Play, and The Future
IxDA folks-- A plug for Adaptive Path's UX Week 2008, taking place August 12-15 in San Francisco. http://uxweek.com/ Early registration ends June 30. Each day covers a distinct aspect of UX design and practice: * Day 1: Fundamentals of User Experience * Day 2: Service and Media Design * Day 3: Play and Immersion * Day 4: The Future of User Experience You can sign up for any collection of days. We've got amazing speakers such as Don Norman, Jane McGonigal, Bruce Sterling, Jeff Veen, and Jesse James Garrett, and speakers from interesting companies such as Pixar, iRobot, Current TV, Zipcar, TheDailyShow.com, and the Exploratorium. Use the promotional code FOPM and get 15% off the registration price! --peter 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Pie Menu Spotted on the Web
Guess, the following may be little off topic. But thought I will bring this up: Is the advent of Pie menus a cause of increased use of circular selection dials in our day-to-day electronics? Like iPods, Cellphones, digital cameras, camcoders, etc. Is this more trying to get along with the changing mental models of our users? I think if this was a 7-8 years ago this design may look like violating user mental models. But now I dont think it violates any mental models or design tangent, irrespective of the Gens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=30716 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] any ideas for icon research?
Maybe approach the icon creation from how people view their paper statements. Just create a statement icon. Why differentiate paper versus online? Do people really make a distinction between a paper statement and an online statement? Isn't an online statement just a digital version of the paper statement? Steve Schang Interactive Design Group | eCommerce | Wachovia Corporation 704.715.3845 Usability | iRise | TrendsCast Blog Jim Reed [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent by: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 06/25/2008 02:12 PM To [EMAIL PROTECTED] cc Subject [IxDA Discuss] any ideas for icon research? I need to prepare a strategy document for a large financial client that explores appropriate visual metaphors for paperless billing or e-statements in a global context. I will include a competitive icon audit, but I'm not finding a lot of icons for paperless billing. The biggest challenge for me is the global context. I can easily suggest an appropriate metaphor for Norhern Californians, but how can I research which visual metaphors might work for people in Italy, Britain, Canada and so on? Any ideas? 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 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] [off-topic] work for equity
Hi Gabriel, Use a sliding scale weighted towards pay in the present and towards equity in the future. Get the agreement in writing. A bit more detail: It's a new venture, so you want to realize some short-term value now and as you progress. Getting paid today means that if they have to close the doors on short notice, you've used your time wisely. After all, you could be doing something else with your time that has pay and benefits. If the company, its revenues, and your role develop as time goes on, then your remuneration would shift to some pay plus some equity. Use milestones as clear markers for when and how to shift. Milestones could be revenues, amount of time in operations, or client portfolio, or a combination. For example, you get 100% pay until they reach $1M quarterly revenue, and then it shifts to 75% pay 25% equity. (You should work out the dollar value of that equity so you know it's 25% of your total. This could mean you stay at the same pay amount and add equity on top.) Or, if you bring on new business, then your equity is balanced to how much that new business increases the overall portfolio. This way, at any end point, you'll have been paid and friends can stay friends. In the distant future, your remuneration could shift to something like 10% pay and 90% equity, which should reflect your role maturing to something more like a managing partner than a billable resource. It worries me to see something like, i work for them now for pay, but we're talking about me getting equity. Really? What's your confidence level? Get it in writing. Better, put it in writing and take it to them. When it requires action on their part, you'll start to see their intentions and they will see yours. (it's just like any other client - you only have a deal when the contract is signed.) I hope this helps. -Jay On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 8:16 PM, Gabriel Friedman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi - Sorry for the slightly off-topic posting, but the quality of this list makes it my first choice; and I expect some of you have experience with this question. I may have a chance to work for a small (3-person) startup. They have seed capital, a good idea, a wireframe, and are now looking to design a working prototype. My role would be designer/UI/UX guy. I'm impressed with the team and the idea, and would like to negotiate for equity rather than pay (it's a freelance position). I'm not sure where to start, or how to value my contribution. Any thoughts on how to approach this question? Thanks, Gabe Friedman 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 -- Jay A. Morgan Information Architecture Scenario-based design. Design Patterns Mental Models. 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
On Jun 25, 2008, at 12:35 PM, Terry Fitzgerald wrote: If I asked any of these folks or you to go out and buy me a car - could you decide without asking me (the U in UCD) what kind of car meets my needs? You're missing the point. Have you taken an industrial design class? -- Andrei Herasimchuk Principal, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] c. +1 408 306 6422 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
If I asked any of these folks or you to go out and buy me a car - could you decide without asking me (the U in UCD) what kind of car meets my needs? On 6/25/08, Andrei Herasimchuk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Jun 25, 2008, at 10:33 AM, Terry Fitzgerald wrote: Going back to school may improve their design skills. It certainly will not necessarily improve their understanding of what to design! I'll let the folks who have taken heavy industrial design courses defend themselves here. Every major design school I know of gets heavy into research and ergonomics. -- Andrei Herasimchuk Principal, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] c. +1 408 306 6422 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 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] any ideas for icon research?
Sorry..but I can't resist this one. As a former Northern Californian, I could imagine an icon that depicts an Earth First fanatic camping out high atop an old growth redwood tree to protest cutting said tree down for paper to be used for commerce such as paper statements. Things sure are different down here in Georgia! 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 3:17 PM, Andrei Herasimchuk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Jun 25, 2008, at 12:35 PM, Terry Fitzgerald wrote: If I asked any of these folks or you to go out and buy me a car - could you decide without asking me (the U in UCD) what kind of car meets my needs? You're missing the point. Have you taken an industrial design class? Andrei is spot on here. Any reputable design program (Industrial or Graphic) will have significant emphasis on considering the user during the design process. I know that mine (at the University of Washington) certainly did. For example, one of our design projects involved designing a digital thermometer. Every single student went out, observed and talked to prospective users -- for some parents or home users, for me, doctors and nurses -- and then used our findings in the design process. If you go and examine the history of any of the existing design disciplines: graphic design, industrial design or architecture, you will find a consistent consideration for the people affected by design decisions. Not as the only consideration certainly but as a significant and consistent one. UCD just isn't necessary in addition to this already established design behavior. Chris Hunter [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
Yep. True... When I did my ID degree at Michigan, we took a Design Research course, and the concerns of people-context-tasks were woven into the studio projects, particularly the upper level ones (lower level were typical form studies, tools/materials, shop experience). Most of that involved Dreyfus and Eames of course. I'd think any reputable ID program nowadays has this as a routine with perhaps even broader knowledge bases today drawing upon pysch, anthro, and more, beyond the typical/historical HF and ergo sources... Hope this helps, Uday Gajendar Sr. Interaction Designer Voice Technology Group Cisco | San Jose On Jun 25, 2008, at 11:06 AM, Andrei Herasimchuk wrote: On Jun 25, 2008, at 10:33 AM, Terry Fitzgerald wrote: Going back to school may improve their design skills. It certainly will not necessarily improve their understanding of what to design! I'll let the folks who have taken heavy industrial design courses defend themselves here. Every major design school I know of gets heavy into research and ergonomics. 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
On Jun 25, 2008, at 8:07 AM, Andrei Herasimchuk wrote: You want a framework? Go take a design class. Simple as that as far as I'm concerned. Two personal anecdotes from design school: 1) My first graphic design class, I remember trying to get the hang of compositional space and laying out letters and image with the grid, etc. And I was trying too hard to be artsy. Prof came over, moved the elements around trying different arrangements (this is all paper pieces with hand-drawn letters, btw). I was blown away. I asked her what was she thinking about as she was organizing elements. And she walked me through a framework of person/space/word/image (i forget the actual words, but similar) which I found fascinating...That there's a basic framework that guided her design actions in an intuitive manner because it had become her habit and evolved with her many years of experience, operating sub-consciously. At that moment I realized that there is something specific and capable of being articulated that really separated communicative design from expressive art, which I found very powerful. 2) Dick Buchanan's graduate design seminar, he wrote out the steps of a typical UCD process on the whiteboard, going on about the major steps, etc. When he concluded, I raised my hand and asked, So if someone just walked in right now and memorized and did those steps, is that person then a designer? And Dick just smiled sneakily, hinting something about the personal and the noumenal... hmmm! I share these to show that designing actually balances both frameworks and ingenuity or talent (for lack of a better word) in a kind of back-and-forth dialogue, left/right brain if you will (a dialectical method). What we must avoid is heavy handed bureaucracy and stifling of creativity by forcing designers to march lockstep step after step, all mandatory, all documented and codified, etc. Else it becomes a crutch and kills inventive spirit, imho :-) As for the people who pay the checks? All they care about is getting a great product. If you design great stuff they don't care how you did it. Guaranteed. Execs may care about great products (altho in enterprise i bet they care more about sales contracts to drive more revenue for the quarter :-) but I'd guess most designers work day-to-day making and fighting decisions with middle managers who are much more concerned about CYA, political power, ego and don't really care all that much about great products...If they did, they wouldn't persist crappy legacy tech or absurd features! There in it to protect themselves and use user experience to blame sadly. So we end up pushing standard UCD process with repeatable methods as a source of authority to combat those folks and assert a design's legitimacy...Sucks but that's reality I bet many designers confront daily. Uday Gajendar Sr. Interaction Designer Voice Technology Group Cisco | San Jose 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
Damn. I'm so glad I didn't get sucked into this discussion. Since my name was cited in the original post, I did want to suggest that I've been talking about this problem for years. Most recently, I wrote about it here: Surviving Our Success: Three Radical Recommendations http://tinyurl.com/5z78qs (Unfortunately, a bit hard to find on the unusable UPA web site. And nobody can explain to me why it's a PDF.) And I talked about it here: IA Summit 2008 Keynote: Journey to the Center of Design http://tinyurl.com/5kasbm (Listen to the audio or the slides won't make sense.) Basically, my thoughts are that, for many folks, UCD is a dogma. These people treat it as the only viable way of thinking about product design. However, there is no real evidence to suggest that following UCD dogmatically produces any better designs than ignoring it dogmatically (like Robert seems to want to do). In fact, all the evidence seems to suggest that it's a gestalt effect that any success is derived at all. In either of the above pieces, you'll hear (or read) about my thoughts on how the techniques of UCD are really just the stone in the soup. I believe that something else -- something we never talk about -- is what actually provides the best designs. (Just like it's something else that makes the soup, not the stone.) I'm way to busy this week to actually say anymore than this. I'm glad there's a discussion. People should just consider whether their personal dogmas are really what they think they are. Jared Jared M. Spool User Interface Engineering 510 Turnpike St., Suite 102, North Andover, MA 01845 e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] p: +1 978 327 5561 http://uie.com Blog: http://uie.com/brainsparks 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 11:07 AM, Andrei Herasimchuk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Design is not about having a set of standard techniques that you follow blindly. Similarly, playing music is not about just hitting notes on whatever instrument you play. If you want predictability or reliability being a designer, then the only way you'll ever get that is through practice and more practice. But following a process to get reliability in design is like creating a player piano and then listening to its music. At first, it's moderately interesting to hear The Entertainer on it, but after a short while, it's both monotonous and lacks any human touch. I'm really trying to believe you're not intentionally twisting words to attack a straw man, but it is hard, nigh on impossible. In any case, I'm not about to engage on an ephemeral debate about what design is or is not. *There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.* Have fun with that. You want a framework? Go take a design class. Simple as that as far as I'm concerned. *Businesses* want a framework. *Businesses* want reliability and predictability and accountability. This is not a question of what I want. I want folks to throw money at me and let me sit in a room and do whatever I want all day, play violin, read, write, play chess, philosophize, make stuff... As for the people who pay the checks? All they care about is getting a great product. If you design great stuff they don't care how you did it. Guaranteed. Andrei, I caution you against making broad generalizations like this. The software industry is way bigger than the few companies at the top who make the great products. If that's all you want to care about, more power to you. I'm interested in talking about how to make the other 99% of software being developed better, not just what works for me. --Ambrose 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 11:39 AM, dave malouf [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Ambrose, I would ask you why have any sort of centrism at all? I also think there is a big difference between ethics and design methods frameworks, no? I may choose one based on my ethical underpinnings, but first should come the ethics and then the framework. Sounds like a personal question. :) Can I get away with yes? I do not believe that UCD frameworks are the only means towards an ethical design philosophy. BTW, I don't think that UCD is broken so much as I believe that UCD is not THE answer, or always the right answer. In my mind I know what UCD is and I have learned to use its tools and other tools I have learned a long the way. Sounds like you and I can agree. I appreciate your nuanced thought in this matter. --Ambrose 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
As for the people who pay the checks? All they care about is getting a great product. If you design great stuff they don't care how you did it. Guaranteed. Andrei, I caution you against making broad generalizations like this. Actually, I completely agree with Andrei's statement. I've never once seen a company who cared about how you achieve great products, as long as you do it (and can repeat it). And I've worked with a lot of companies, ranging in size from Fortune 500s to 1-man startups. -r- 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 7:57 PM, Jared Spool [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Since my name was cited in the original post, I did want to suggest that I've been talking about this problem for years. Most recently, I wrote about it here: Surviving Our Success: Three Radical Recommendations http://tinyurl.com/5z78qs (Unfortunately, a bit hard to find on the unusable UPA web site. And nobody can explain to me why it's a PDF.) Hi Jared, it was good to meet you in person yesterday. Thanks for replying. Looking at this article, I hear what you are saying, and in fact I agree with your suggestions wholeheartedly--100%%%. I'm not even a usability pro historically, but one thing I've tried to tell folks at my company is that UX is *everyone's* responsibility, not just some consultant or small consulting team within the company. Everyone needs to be reoriented towards users. I agree it is the only way that this important shift in the way so many software dev shops will scale--there will never be enough UX folks, certainly not enough highly educated designers. That is in fact one reason I'm so keen to engage you all--to understand this field better and try to formulate new ways to inculcate user centrism into the common software dev shop. I'll be glad to help out how I can in exploring these new ways. [BTW, UX pros shouldn't worry; you'll never be out of a job if this works because it will only make what you do more and more widely known and appreciated.] All that said, I still come to different conclusions about the value of UCD per se. That different usability folks found different problems does not at all invalidate doing usability reviews. That you want to teach these techniques to the teams themselves also says you think otherwise. I get the sense your issue is less with UCD and more with consultative UCD, based on this article, and in that I agree that consultations only have so much value--they'll only address the particular problems (maybe not even all of them) at that particular time on that particular project. I would also point out that doesn't even mean that consultative reviews are not valuable. They'll amost certainly find something, even if they don't find everything, and some improvement is better than none in my book. But I totally agree the ideal is to help these teams to think better about their approach to software creation. Basically, my thoughts are that, for many folks, UCD is a dogma. These people treat it as the only viable way of thinking about product design. That is sad. However, there is no real evidence to suggest that following UCD dogmatically produces any better designs than ignoring it dogmatically (like Robert seems to want to do). I don't know why it has to become dogmatic. There are only so many ways to create software. Folks don't have to adopt a full, formal, dogmatic UCD (whatever that is) to get value from it. In fact, all the evidence seems to suggest that it's a gestalt effect that any success is derived at all. In either of the above pieces, you'll hear (or read) about my thoughts on how the techniques of UCD are really just the stone in the soup. I believe that something else -- something we never talk about -- is what actually provides the best designs. (Just like it's something else that makes the soup, not the stone.) I'm not sure the metaphor is apt in this case. UCD is definitely adding important flavor. It's just not the whole soup. I think you're selling yourselves short if you take this view. Maybe you've just grown too accustomed to the flavor? I'm way to busy this week to actually say anymore than this. Well, I appreciate what you *have* said in any case. I realize I'm late to this discussion, as it were, so I hope nobody but me is taking my opinion seriously. :-D --Ambrose 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 10:38 PM, Robert Hoekman Jr [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: As for the people who pay the checks? All they care about is getting a great product. If you design great stuff they don't care how you did it. Guaranteed. Andrei, I caution you against making broad generalizations like this. Actually, I completely agree with Andrei's statement. I've never once seen a company who cared about how you achieve great products, as long as you do it (and can repeat it). And I've worked with a lot of companies, ranging in size from Fortune 500s to 1-man startups. While we're sharing anecdotes, I've worked with a lot that do care and talked to a lot of folks (being big into the software dev community as I have been) who work at a lot more companies where they do care. As a further anecdote, these folks don't even call what they do products. They call them projects, which is actually more telling than you might think. So again, let's not make too broad generalizations. I might suggest that being in the design/UX field, the kinds of companies you work with are going to already be, dare I say, somewhat enlightened. Rejoice at your good fortune! :) Good night! --Ambrose 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is UCD Really Broken?
On Jun 25, 2008, at 6:54 PM, J. Ambrose Little wrote: On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 11:07 AM, Andrei Herasimchuk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: As for the people who pay the checks? All they care about is getting a great product. If you design great stuff they don't care how you did it. Guaranteed. Andrei, I caution you against making broad generalizations like this. If I sat down with a few business executives and showed them two versions of their product, as well as showed them substantial proof that one of the products, which had been tested over a three to six month period, returned significantly higher customer satisfaction, fewer rates of return, higher sales throughput, but that the product was designed by a 21 year old in college who did it in his dorm room and knew nothing about UCD, and the other product was designed by their in-house design team following company approved UCD methodology, those executives wouldn't say, We'll use the product designed by our in-house folks since they obviously followed the correct procedure. Those business executives would take the better product designed by the 21 year old who did it solo without using any methodology at all... then they'd promptly fire their entire design team. If that's a broad generalization, then consider me guilty as charged. -- Andrei Herasimchuk Principal, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] c. +1 408 306 6422 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Pie Menu Spotted on the Web
When I saw pie menu, I immediately thought of the pie menus designed at the University of Maryland by Don Hopkins et. al. https://drum.umd.edu/dspace/handle/1903/442 The website didn't seem to be the same kind of interaction that I had expected. I guess there are different definitions of what a pie menu really is! John ---Original Message--- From: Laura Francis [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Pie Menu Spotted on the Web Sent: Jun 25 '08 18:18 Oops! When I read the title of this post this is what came to mind... http://www.simplesimonspies.co.uk/menu_pies.htm Guess I got the wrong end of the stick! Laura PS - I wanted to link to this site, but cos its flash I couldnt link you to the menu! http://www.pieminister.co.uk/ They are local heroes round here :) 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 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
