[IxDA Discuss] Starting up a local group in Florence (Italy)
Hello Folks, I'm looking forward to start-up a new IXDA Local group based in Florence. I have absolutely no idea of how many people living or passing by Florence could be interested. I'm pretty sure there could be somebody interested in Siena, but blank for all the rest. I'd also like to hear about people interests in this subject and ideas on how to develop an interesting and active local group. So, should there be anyone in Italy or around who'd like to join or share idea on how to get started and on, please, show up. Cheers, Maria Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Thinking in Systems Book Club
For those interesting in systems-thinking, I wanted to invite you to the newly-created Thinking in Systems book club. http://thinkinginsystems.pbwiki.com/ All are welcome! To get started all you have to do is add your name to the list. The first book we'll discuss will be Donella Meadow's Thinking in Systems: A Primer. We'll read the book and discuss online at some point (tentatively April 8), probably through Skype or Campfire or a combination of both. My personal interest is all about how we can apply systems-thinking to UX design...how to create valuable self-sustaining social software...etc. Josh Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Joel Spolsky claims the "Program Manager" roledoes UI design... ????
An appearance model is a term used in industrial design. It is the final model made that represents exactly the color, finish, shape, and behavior of a product. If it has buttons, you can press them. If there are doors you can open them. Its purpose is to get final consensus from ALL stakeholders on go, no-go on every aspect of the product's industrial design. BTW, this is not the last representation. The next representations are usually soft-tooled products. This means that they are put through non-final tooled fabrication processes and WORK! (all aspects). There might be 2-3 rounds of this. These are used for physical testing (heat stress, drop tests, etc.) In software IxD we don't use the term per se, but this is exactly what Andrei has been describing when he talks about final prototypes. It is an exactly looking & behaving model. It is that chance for everyone to see exactly what the team/client will be getting when it goes out the door to production. That yes/no. hope that helps! -- dave On Tue, Mar 17, 2009 at 4:31 PM, Meredith Noble < mered...@usabilitymatters.com> wrote: > > > On Tuesday, March 17, 2009 1:20 AM, Dave Malouf said: > > > to even be in conversation with mechanical engineers. You have to > > know the material that people are going to be interacting with, how > > to forge it to what you need it to be AND to your point about > > communication, you need to be able to create your own apearance > > models. NOT b/c you have to do them in the real world, but having the > > craft mastered is a process of well mastering the craft of your > > medium, so when you communicate within it, or to others who have to > > understand it, you do so with unparalleled command. > > Okay Dave, you've mentioned this twice now and Google and Wikipedia are > leading me to things that I can't quite tie to your quotes. > > So, can you please explain what an "appearance model" is, in the context > of IxD? > > Thanks :) > > Meredith > -- Dave Malouf http://davemalouf.com/ http://twitter.com/daveixd http://scad.edu/industrialdesign http://ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] interesting article & comments, "Why the Japanese Hate the iPhone"
On 18 Mar 2009, at 03:43, Jarod Tang wrote: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/02/why-the-iphone.html the most inspiring points, why iPhone is hot welcomed somewhere, and cold at other place? and deeply, what can be called good (or bad) interaction design? For those who haven't already heard - there are a fair few folk saying that the Wired piece has rather a lot of selective quoting and misrepresentation of what folk actually said. See http://tinyurl.com/anklow for example. Google will find you more pointers I'm sure. Cheers, Adrian -- delicious.com/adrianh - twitter.com/adrianh - adri...@quietstars.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Examples of the impacts of good design on customer service centers.
Hi all, I'm currently involved in a project focusing on improving efficiencies in a membership enrollement process. The applicant will now be able to submit most enrollment details online, but will still have to supply supporting documentation (original hard copies) for review by mail. Staff will, on receipt of the supporting documentation, associate it with the online submission and review the material to assess eligibility as a member, finally notifying the applicant of the result. The time between an applicant sending in their supporting documentation and receiving the assessment outcome can be up to 4-6 weeks for some overseas applicants. One of the current issues seems to be that the assessors need to dedicate a large proportion of their time to answering queries (phone and email) from applicants, thus decreasing the number of assessments they can complete in a day. The project scope seems to be heading towards simply migrating the printed application form online and providing an application to support the assessment process. I am (very quickly) trying to put together a case to include an improved support system for applicants throughout the enrollment process into that scope. Very basically, reduce the applicant's need to contact the assessors directly by a) providing a simple online progress status of their enrollment, and b) improving the applicant's access to information, documents, etc. relevant to enrollment online. Therefore, freeing up more of the assessor's time to complete their core task. What I really need is some statistics, case studies or existing explanations to communicate the ROI for such ideas. Something to convince stakeholders that some user research (at the very least) before the scope/requirements are finalized is worth the resources invested. I know I've read this kind of stuff before. But now, when I need it, its disappeared. Any suggestions, links, experience or ideas would be most appreciated. Thank you. Marcus Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Companies that value UX/IxD/IA - NYC area
I think it is clear that there are many consultancies in NYC that value UX. I took the main query to be what about in-house/product companies? Here is my list of NYC metro area companies that value UX in some way (I'm including Jersey) * JPM Chase * TD Ameritrade * Thomson/Reuters * AP * NY Times * AOL Media I think there are a host of others, but these jump right to the top of the list. There are a few technology cos in NYC like About.com that you could easily include in this list as well. -- dave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40020 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Starting up a local group in Florence (Italy)
Ciao Maria, here I am :-) Francesca Rizzo from Politecnico di Milano. I'm really interested in collaborating to the IT IXDA Local group. ciao francesca itando Maria De Monte : Hello Folks, I'm looking forward to start-up a new IXDA Local group based in Florence. I have absolutely no idea of how many people living or passing by Florence could be interested. I'm pretty sure there could be somebody interested in Siena, but blank for all the rest. I'd also like to hear about people interests in this subject and ideas on how to develop an interesting and active local group. So, should there be anyone in Italy or around who'd like to join or share idea on how to get started and on, please, show up. Cheers, Maria Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Enabling iphone type experiences for non-consumer devices such as industrial, medical and automotive products - looking for strategic partners from an IXDA/UX background
Rob, I tried to contact you offline, but the message didn't go through using the address you provided the IxDA web site. Can you contact me offline please regarding this topic. (NOT a sales pitch). -- dave dave@gmail.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40050 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] interesting article & comments, "Why the Japanese Hate the iPhone"
The best part of the wire article in in the comments, especially from japan & u.s. "You know, It seems pretty obvious to me from the comments why no one in Japan would want an Iphone and in fact, I live in USA and I really see no point either." , "Why the Japanese/Chinese/Koreans and people in other Asian countries hate iPhone?", from personal observation, many young Chinese like it (most in it domain) "Gid: Why hasn't Japanese cell phones penetrated the western market? They have been using a different system since the beginning while western phones have been stuck with plain old GSM. That is why. Besides, I believe that one Japanese/Swedish phone is making good progress in the west." , this is not true, Japanese phone try to sales well in china in past ten years, and never succeed, while nokia and moto are extremely successfull here (now moto declined for months) ... Also a report from alsha is interesting, among the japan iPhone user, 5% are extremely satisfied, while 2.5% satisfied, but no number on who explicitly express "No". Cheers, -- Jarod On Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 7:47 PM, Adrian Howard wrote: > > On 18 Mar 2009, at 03:43, Jarod Tang wrote: > > http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2009/02/why-the-iphone.html >> >> the most inspiring points, why iPhone is hot welcomed somewhere, and cold >> at >> other place? and deeply, what can be called good (or bad) interaction >> design? >> > > For those who haven't already heard - there are a fair few folk saying that > the Wired piece has rather a lot of selective quoting and misrepresentation > of what folk actually said. > > See http://tinyurl.com/anklow for example. Google will find you more > pointers I'm sure. > > Cheers, > > Adrian > -- > delicious.com/adrianh - twitter.com/adrianh - adri...@quietstars.com > > > > > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org > Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help > -- http://designforuse.blogspot.com/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Starting up a local group in Florence (Italy)
Hi Francesca, good to know you're also excited about the idea... I'm holding on a little more to hear about other interested parties... Will be back soon... keep on cooking ideas!!! ;-) Maria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40132 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Examples of UI fading in and out over content?
I'm a bit curious about the emergence of a pattern in recent years. In embedded Flash movie players it has become pretty common to see player controls (play, ff, rw, etc.) fade out after some time of inactivity or mouse out, and fade back in on action, mousein, etc. We can also see this when you use a quicktime player in full screen mode. The benefits of creating a seamless way to shift focus are obvious. I was wondering if anyone could add a few more examples of when a UI changes opacity to shift focus from control to consume? Or for any other reason? Other examples than web? Cheers. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Examples of UI fading in and out over content?
Google Earth has its controls fade-in upon rolling over. However, in the "off" state, an outline of the controls remains. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Mobile phone as a fashion accessory
People use clothing to express how they want to be perceived. Mobile can also be used as a presentation of self within a community. There are already a bunch of fashion centric phones out there like LG Prada, Motorola Aura, Samsung L310 etc What do you think are the most important design aspects for a fashion phone? -- Sachendra Yadav http://sachendra.wordpress.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Starting up a local group in Florence (Italy)
Hello Maria, I'm interested about building a Florence based local group. I'm here ready to parse. ciao, Luca Luca Cappelletti from Rome, Italy (EU) Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] JOB: Senior Information Architect/UX Designer, Central London (Temporary) - Tribal DDB London
Tribal DDB London are looking for a Senior Information Architect/UX Designer. The position is temporary, and the expected duration is three months. The Senior Information Architect/UX Designer is responsible for developing IA documentation (site maps, transaction flows, schematics, navigation models) for both web sites and applications, and designing interfaces for rich internet applications. This person must be able to work closely alongside other team members including other Information Architects, Content Strategists, User Researchers, and others from our Creative, Technology and Strategy groups. You must also work closely with the client to develop, present and review IA/UX deliverables, while ensuring that the interests of the user are always kept in mind. Tribal DDB London is one of the most established and successful agencies around. We are a full-service digital agency that works with our clients to create ‘Brand Demand’, a business strategy that recognises the importance and power of today’s consumer. Much of our work is on digital marketing sites, where the emphasis is as much on persuasion and motivating the user as on the organization of information. Tribal is part of the Tribal Worldwide network with 45 offices over 28 different countries throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. In 2008, Tribal DDB Worldwide was the world’s first digital agency network to be named Global Agency Network of the Year by Advertising Age. We are also part of DDB UK, which The Sunday Times recently identified as one of the 100 best places to work in the UK. Our clients include: Volkswagen, Philips, ExxonMobil, GSK, The Guardian and Hasbro. Senior Information Architect/UX Designer Core Duties/Responsibilities: • Creating the information architecture for marketing, informational, and transactional websites • Designing interfaces for rich internet applications • Understanding target audiences' needs, tasks, and goals and translating them into creative concepts and functional components • Working closely with clients and fellow team members to translate business requirements into meaningful interactive experiences • Leading and/or participating in immersive user research, concept testing, and usability testing • Developing user personas and scenarios to clarify results of user research and focus the team’s design efforts on the needs of key users • Collaboratively developing prototypes for demonstration of concepts to clients • Conducting competitive audits and market research • Developing and documenting detailed user experience specifications for highly interactive interfaces As a Senior Information Architect/UX Designer you will ideally have: • Demonstrated ability to execute on IA of complex transactional interfaces, taxonomies and metadata frameworks, and templates for content management systems • Demonstrated experience conducting user research and translating user research into design decisions • Demonstrated experience using web analytics data to inform design decisions • Demonstrated ability to develop big ideas, and execute flawlessly against them in a highly collaborative environment • Excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills • Experience in client services and negotiating business decisions • Readiness on occasion to extend your role to encompass activities normally associated with other disciplines • Openness to contributions from other disciplines to the project’s information architecture or interaction design • Typically 5+ years experience as an information architect, interaction designer, or experience designer (or similar role) • Degree in a related field, such as Library Science, Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Technical Communications, Anthropology, Economics • Advanced proficiency in a variety of design tools including Omnigraffle, Visio or equivalent, as well as the MS Office Suite You’ll be an expert at managing relationships and you’ll need enthusiasm for and strong knowledge of all things digital. We’re after a confident communicator who is comfortable expressing their opinion but also knows how to maintain a professional attitude and do what it takes to keep our clients smiling. Being part of the creative industry, fun is not just part of our culture, it's also what we're paid to deliver to the user; so if you have a can-do attitude and are willing to demonstrate your initiative you can expect plenty of stimulation in a company that will really develop your career. We are currently located on Bishop's Bridge Road just north of Paddington Station, although we will be moving to another central London location some time later this year. We're looking to fill the position as soon as possible. If you're interested, please contact Jason West , indicating where you saw this message. -- Tim Ostler Senior Information Architect Tribal DDB London Welcome to the In
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Examples of UI fading in and out over content?
A basic example of this might be the alert for apps like Thunderbird or Entourage which notify you of new emails. Hover over the alert to keep it from fading out and click it to go directly to the email. The Android OS includes a "touch overlay" feature which provides a contextual menu upon touching the screen. Here's an example from Google Maps: Lastly, I've got custom AppleScript for rating songs in iTunes that pops up a minute or so after a song starts playing if it doesn't have a rating. Hope those help. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40142 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Examples of UI fading in and out over content?
Oops, I guess the board software doesn't like HTML in posts... http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss194/happyandsad/ixda/google_map_zoom.gif http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss194/happyandsad/ixda/itunes_rating.gif . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40142 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] [Job] Visual Designer, HP Labs Palo Alto, Contract
If interested, please respond with a resume AND a portfolio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40116 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Examples of UI fading in and out over content?
There are situations where a screen or viewport needs to be scrolled or panned. In some cases the interface provides controls that become visible in order to enable this behavior. An example of this is the LovelyCharts UI. http://lovelycharts.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40142 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Examples of UI fading in and out over content?
Apple's DVD player, not surprisingly, works in full screen mode very much like QuickTime player. In another fashion, selecting text in nytimes.com 's article pages, brings a control to look up said text. There was a nifty script for blogs allowing users to add a quoted comment of selected text, but mi Google foo is weak today. -- Santiago Bustelo Buenos Aires, Argentina Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Examples of UI fading in and out over content?
Apple's MobileMe photo gallery slideshows have controls that fade in and out. There was a version of Powerpoint that had a button that would fade in during a slide show, providing access to options. The iPod controls on the iPhone and iPod Touch are displayed over the album art and hidden with a tap. The same for video controls in the YouTube app. Jack L. Moffett Senior Interaction Designer inmedius 412.459.0310 x219 http://www.inmedius.com To design is much more than simply to assemble, to order, or even to edit; it is to add value and meaning, to illuminate, to simplify, to clarify, to modify, to dignify, to dramatize, to persuade, and perhaps even to amuse. - Paul Rand Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] JOB (Updated): Senior Information Architect/UX Designer, Central London (Temporary) - Tribal DDB London
NOTE: Apologies for the cross-posting: this is an updated job description. Tribal DDB London are looking for a Senior Information Architect/UX Designer. Temporary Contract: Salary Competitive 3 months pro rata (no daily rates) The Senior Information Architect/UX Designer is responsible for developing IA documentation (site maps, transaction flows, schematics, navigation models) for both web sites and applications, and designing interfaces for rich internet applications. This person must be able to work closely alongside other team members including other Information Architects, Content Strategists, User Researchers, and others from our Creative, Technology and Strategy groups. You must also work closely with the client to develop, present and review IA/UX deliverables, while ensuring that the interests of the user are always kept in mind. Tribal DDB London is one of the most established and successful agencies around. We are a full-service digital agency that works with our clients to create ‘Brand Demand’, a business strategy that recognises the importance and power of today’s consumer. Much of our work is on digital marketing sites, where the emphasis is as much on persuasion and motivating the user as on the organization of information. Tribal is part of the Tribal Worldwide network with 45 offices over 28 different countries throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. In 2008, Tribal DDB Worldwide was the world’s first digital agency network to be named Global Agency Network of the Year by Advertising Age. We are also part of DDB UK, which The Sunday Times recently identified as one of the 100 best places to work in the UK. Our clients include: Volkswagen, Philips, ExxonMobil, GSK, The Guardian and Hasbro. Senior Information Architect/UX Designer Core Duties/Responsibilities: • Creating the information architecture for marketing, informational, and transactional websites • Designing interfaces for rich internet applications • Understanding target audiences' needs, tasks, and goals and translating them into creative concepts and functional components • Working closely with clients and fellow team members to translate business requirements into meaningful interactive experiences • Leading and/or participating in immersive user research, concept testing, and usability testing • Developing user personas and scenarios to clarify results of user research and focus the team’s design efforts on the needs of key users • Collaboratively developing prototypes for demonstration of concepts to clients • Conducting competitive audits and market research • Developing and documenting detailed user experience specifications for highly interactive interfaces As a Senior Information Architect/UX Designer you will ideally have: • Demonstrated ability to execute on IA of complex transactional interfaces, taxonomies and metadata frameworks, and templates for content management systems • Demonstrated experience conducting user research and translating user research into design decisions • Demonstrated experience using web analytics data to inform design decisions • Demonstrated ability to develop big ideas, and execute flawlessly against them in a highly collaborative environment • Excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills • Experience in client services and negotiating business decisions • Readiness on occasion to extend your role to encompass activities normally associated with other disciplines • Openness to contributions from other disciplines to the project’s information architecture or interaction design • Typically 5+ years experience as an information architect, interaction designer, or experience designer (or similar role) • Degree in a related field, such as Library Science, Industrial Design, Graphic Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Technical Communications, Anthropology, Economics • Advanced proficiency in a variety of design tools including Omnigraffle, Visio or equivalent, as well as the MS Office Suite You’ll be an expert at managing relationships and you’ll need enthusiasm for and strong knowledge of all things digital. We’re after a confident communicator who is comfortable expressing their opinion but also knows how to maintain a professional attitude and do what it takes to keep our clients smiling. Being part of the creative industry, fun is not just part of our culture, it's also what we're paid to deliver to the user; so if you have a can-do attitude and are willing to demonstrate your initiative you can expect plenty of stimulation in a company that will really develop your career. We are currently located on Bishop's Bridge Road just north of Paddington Station, although we will be moving to another central London location some time later this year. We're looking to fill the position as soon as possible. If you're interested, please contact Jason West , indicating where you saw this message. -- Tim Ostler Senior Information Architect Tribal DDB London __
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Examples of UI fading in and out over content?
When viewing images on the iphone the controls fade away, you must tap the screen again to see them. Some people are starting to use hovering to reveal additional options like 'edit', 'delete' or 'save' on objects. This is the only example I could find (from a previous email thread): http://opl.bibliocommons.com/collection/show/4922901_emenel/library c a s e y e d g e t o n - Interaction Designer | http://www.designasaurusrex.com cedge...@gmail.com | casey.edge...@oracle.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Companies that value UX/IxD/IA - NYC area
I am a member of the User Experience team at Misys. We have locations in New York, Raleigh and London. Let me know if you want more information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40020 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Examples of UI fading in and out over content?
Some of the open source video players (MPlayer, VLC) do this in full screen mode. I'm fairly sure Windows Media Player does the same thing too. Eye of Gnome also does this when viewing pictures in full screen mode. However, the transitions are not gradual but sudden. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40142 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Joel Spolsky claims the "Program Manager" role does UI design... ????
Dave, I admire your ability to generate interesting conversation! "The economies of scale require that there is a UI Designer. ONE person. The age of having an IxD, a Visual Design, and a GUI coder as 3 separate roles is fading." The counter-trend is that a lot of front-end development is getting harder, not easier. Front-end web development is increasingly embracing advanced programming patterns, making it harder for designers to contribute meaningfully. Our tools are trying to catch up, but soon designers are going to have to start reading about OO patterns instead of design patterns. Now, I strongly believe a CS minor should be a requirement for anyone designing software, but no one seems to be listening :) "[an appearance model] is an exactly looking & behaving model. It is that chance for everyone to see exactly what the team/client will be getting when it goes out the door to production." It's always struck me that one of the great leaps forward in working in software, and more so on the web, is the fact that our production processes are adaptable. So, why not make the most of this advantage and embrace parallelism? Build that pixel perfect prototype, but why make it a pre-condition of production? -- jackson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39701 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Sound design tools?
My last question got me such excellent responses from you guys that I'll give it another go. I need a rapid-turnaround sound design tool for user interfaces. I have extensive sound and music production experience, but I don't know where to turn for a versatile software synth that can quickly make and export UI sounds: collisions, sweeps, clicks, vooms, etc. Ideas? Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Sound design tools?
Sounds like what you want is a sample pack, not a softsynth. There are great collections out there from EastWest, and they come with the software you need. Ableton Live, Logic, Adobe Audition, or even GarageBand in a pinch will help with that. You can layer the sounds with the synths that come with each of these if you want to give it your own touch. There's a film scoring sample pack I saw that got great reviews from Sound on Sound magazine. I'll dig it up and send it along. - Nasir On Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 11:17 AM, David Birnbaum < total.sensory.immers...@gmail.com> wrote: > My last question got me such excellent responses from you guys that > I'll give it another go. > > I need a rapid-turnaround sound design tool for user interfaces. I > have extensive sound and music production experience, but I don't > know where to turn for a versatile software synth that can quickly > make and export UI sounds: collisions, sweeps, clicks, vooms, etc. > Ideas? > > > > Reply to this thread at ixda.org > http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40158 > > > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! > To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org > Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe > List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines > List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help > Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Sound design tools?
Coming up dry on my search, but look for Sound Effects, or SFX, libraries; browse the Sound on Sound and Keyboard Magazine websites for reviews on the latest. An FM synth is good for getting spacey sounds-- I swear by Native Instruments' FM8. Their IxD has gotten really good over the years, too. - Nasir Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Joel Spolsky claims the "Program Manager" role does UI design... ????
I agree with Andrei in principle and practice. I think depending on the organization one is in, the exact skillset required does vary (frog for example defines separate IxD, VisD, and Design Technologist roles). But baseline skills across these areas is certainly advantageous. I've been posting an exhaustive list of IXD - related skills every couple of years... maybe it bears posting again now. It might be hard to acquire all these skills with any level of proficiency, but ALL are useful in the work we do. INTERACTION DESIGN SKILLS & COMPETENCIES Core Skills Research techniques(qualitative, quantitative, when/why/how to use each) Ethnography and discovery (user goals, motivations, work patterns) User modeling (persona and scenario creation; role-playing) Product design (product-level interactionprinciples and concepts) Interaction design (function-level interactionprinciples and concepts) Interface design(component-level interactionprinciples and concepts) Information architecture/design(content structure/presentation principles) Business Skills Project management Time management Stakeholder/client management Basic business writing (letters, email, meeting notes, summaries) Communications Skills Rhetoric/persuasive writing Expository writing and composition Technical writing Public speaking/presenting Visual communication Interpersonal Skills Mediation & facilitation Active listening Interviewing/observation Team-building/collaboration Usability Skills Knowledge of usability testing methods and principles Knowledge of cognitive psychology principles Media Skills Handling bit-depth, pixel density, and resolution issues Managing color palettes Icon (pixel-level) design GUI/screen layout and composition Page layout and composition Animation Sound design Prototyping (Paper, Visual Basic, HTML, Director, Flash, etc.) Knowledge of file formats and tradeoffs Technical Skills Understanding of basic computer/programming principles, tools, technologies GUI development principles, tools, technologies Database principles, tools, technologies Understanding of software/hw development processes (specs, coding, testing) Knowledge of existing/new technologies and constraints Knowledge of mechanical engineering and manufacturing (for HW devices) Tools Skills PowerPoint Visio / Omnigraffle Photoshop / Fireworks Illustrator Flash/AfterEffects InDesign Word, Excel, etc. Dreamweaver, etc (for web-based applications) Personal Skills Empathy Passion Humor Skepticism Analytical thinking Ability to synthesize information (identify salient points) Ability to visualize solutions (before they are built) Robert Reimann IxDA Seattle Associate Creative Director frog design Seattle, WA On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 10:40 AM, Andrei Herasimchuk < aherasimc...@involutionstudios.com> wrote: > > On Mar 10, 2009, at 8:59 AM, Russell Wilson wrote: > > Why is that surprising??? We (us, the industry, etc.) have to agree >> on a name for our role. >> > > Agreed. > > This contains two pieces: > > 1) A formal name, which has been beaten to death (by me of course). But too > many people still think is a non-issue when it's obviously been one for at > least two decades. I still claim "interface designer" is far more > appropriate for the *software* medium, which will also include pretty much > everything that requires code and a screen as its end product. I'm not > concerned with IxD as it pertains to industrial design or general product > design or systems design. However, if "interaction designer" is going to be > the term and that term is going to be pushed onto the software world and > shared by other industries, it has to stick. The HR people need something to > stick, and we do too. > > 2) What the role does. This is actually more important. > > I got derided at IxDA for making the claim that "interaction" designers > need to learn how to draw. I still found that reaction to be the most > telling moment of the conference and where this community stands in the year > 2009. (Which is, still not far along as some think is or wish it was) Some > agree with me, many vehemently seem to oppose the notion for reasons I have > yet to get. > > Well, it's 2009. Saffer said it as well, Time to wake up. > > If the title in the software world is going to be called "interaction > design" then that person needs to know these hard skills: > > * Understand type, color and layout composition/grid and can execute on > those design fundamentals with their own two hands > * Know the fundamentals of I/O and behavior with hardware (like a mouse and > keyboard, and now with multi-touch displays) > * Understand how algorithms, code, frameworks, databases and other software > engineering aspects of the product wor
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Joel Spolsky claims the "Program Manager" role does UI design... ????
HI Jackson, On your 2 pts. re: trends No doubt the UI is getting more complex and the need for amazing programmers to work on them is important. But I think tools like Blend and Catalyst are stepping in and putting in a new layer that previously wasn't there and enabling designers to more forward. (see below) re: the malleability of software and parallelism yea, done that, been there. Seriously. This is a pipe dream. Design control is the only way to get designer intention out of production engineering. Phased approaches that separate pre-production & production will always produce more accurate results of the designer's intentions. BTW, this problem is not only ours. IDs have this problem in studios where they don't take on the engineering schematics of all surfaces. In those cases, where it stops with mere models that are not in the engineering databases (sorry for too much ID speak; maybe you all should learn some) the ODMs often come in and change the outcome at points that can't be re-done. Oh Well! Yup, this happens everyday in software too. So unless you have an appearance model that is fully signed off on with staged approaches of production checks that design reviews throughout with other stakeholders, you'll end up with skewed execution from the intention. BTW, designs are not done w/o engineering collaboration. At least not where design is done well. That's a given. Also, often there are tons of parallel things to be done in the architecture and platform of systems (the stack) way below the GUI layer. So there ARE parallelisms for sure. Just not at the usable form layer of presentation and behavior. - dave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39701 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Joel Spolsky claims the "Program Manager" role does UI design... ????
On Mar 18, 2009, at 2:52 PM, Jackson Fox wrote: The counter-trend is that a lot of front-end development is getting harder, not easier. Front-end web development is increasingly embracing advanced programming patterns, making it harder for designers to contribute meaningfully. Our tools are trying to catch up, but soon designers are going to have to start reading about OO patterns instead of design patterns. Front-end development is not getting harder. It's actually getting easier, especially for designers to contribute meaningfully. I remember teaching myself enough coding back in the early 90s on the Mac to draw windows, menus and dialogs on my Mac SE/30. That was a pain in the ass compared to the stuff I did with Hypercard then. These days, doing HTML+CSS+JS or MXML+FlashCSS+AS is an order of magnitude easier. And *what* you can do with the technologies these days with the larger screen sizes, far more robust animation and compositing engines, richer APIs, etc., is far more advanced. Toss in things like Dave mentioned, Blend or Catalyst and there really is no excuse now for a designer to not learn enough scripting to get a prototype -- or appearance model, using Dave's new religion of ID terminology -- built. It's only hard if you haven't been keeping up with the trends which are quickly reaching a critical mass of standards and flattening technology. The good news is this: Learning HTML and the DOM, learning CSS, and learning JS or AS is not rocket science. In fact, if you know professional creative software inside and out (Photoshop, Fireworks, Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, Framemaker, CorelDraw, Quark XPress, etc.) then you are more than a third of the way there as the concepts in traditional creative software permeates the technologies I listed. That can lead to other things like Ruby, Pearl, PHP, etc. Not actively learning those things and claiming that you design interfaces will soon be like claiming to be a furniture designer but having no idea how a lathe works or how various types of wood handle stress and weight. If you follow the parallels with high-tech products and the history of automobiles, you'll start to see that the high-tech is quickly coming upon what was known in the auto industry as "the golden age of design." The golden age of design was made possible once technology reached a critical mass while also standardizing enough to allow designers more freedom to spread their wings with the overall design of the car, which became increasingly more important in how car manufacturers differentiated themselves in the market. When that age hits the tech industry, those that don't know the skills or craft with their own two hands will quickly be weeded out. There's still time to catch up however. To close, I got a demo of Shaun Inman's new Fever feed reader while at SXSW. (http://feedafever.com/) Simply put, it's amazing. Shaun designed and coded the whole thing himself, and he did it in a year's worth of time rebuilding the entire product three times over. The Shaun Inman's of the world are the future in this field with regard to skills, craft and aesthetic. -- Andrei Herasimchuk Chief Design Officer, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. and...@involutionstudios.com c. +1 408 306 6422 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] [Possible Spam] Represented (designer\'s) Model
Dave, Here are some excellent books that I recommend. They don't address mental models directly, but then what would be the fun of that? They all shed light on the inescapable fact that "mental models" are things inside the head of human beings. Notes on the Synthesis of Form, by Christopher Alexander. http://www.amazon.com/Notes-Synthesis-Form-Harvard-Paperbacks/dp/0674627 512/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237442928&sr=8-1 Systemantics, by John Gall http://www.amazon.com/Systemantics-Underground-Text-Systems-Lore/dp/0961 825103/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237443111&sr=1-3 Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Hidden-Forces-Decisions/dp/ 006135323X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237443223&sr=1-1 The Black Swan, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb http://www.amazon.com/Black-Swan-Impact-Highly-Improbable/dp/1400063515/ ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237443276&sr=1-1 Good luck, Alan __ cooper | Product Design for a Digital World Alan Cooper a...@cooper.com | www.cooper.com All information in this message is proprietary & confidential. "Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly, I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it." - Theodore Roosevelt -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Dave Wood Sent: Friday, March 13, 2009 10:13 AM To: disc...@ixda.org Subject: [Possible Spam] [IxDA Discuss] Represented (designer\'s) Model Importance: Low Hi, I am currently engaged in doctorate research enquiring deeper into what Alan Cooper et al describe as 'represented models', and what Don Norman describes as a 'designer's model' for a PhD practical project. Could the community suggest some seminal books, journal articles and papers I should read? I have read 'About Face 3' and 'Design of Everyday Things'. Keywords I suggest would be: represented models, designer's models, design models, conceptual models, user's mental models, user's models, system images. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Joel Spolsky claims the "Program Manager" role does UI design... ????
Dave & Andrei, I completely agree that our ability to produce interactive prototypes has increased significantly. Better libraries, better tools, and better platforms (web standards FTW) have made it easier than ever to produce models of interaction. I think I may have misunderstood Dave's point about not needing GUI developers -- I was approaching it from the point of view of production engineering, and I see now that he was talking about prototype development. I was trying to make the point that front-end *production* is getting more complex. Look at the work that Douglas Crockford and others have done in bringing sane development patterns to Javascript. They make JS more powerful, but at the expense of requiring a much deeper knowledge of the language and OO design patterns. -- jackson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39701 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
