Re: [IxDA Discuss] The state of UI/UX employment.
To be fair, skill laundry lists are common in lots of fields. For example in IT, there are some ads with very silly requirements especially when the final salary is taken into account. Part of this may be for recruiters to get more "bang for their buck", but another part might be a lack of insight into how the field actually works. Consider the number of ads even here asking for "interactive designers" when they want "interaction designers"; or several ads I've come across in my travels asking for X years experience in a particular toolset when the toolset had not existed that long. As a question to this group, did the recruiters that put out these ads seem clued up about IxD/IA/UXD? Or are did they seem more like jumping on the latest bandwagon? Perhaps if we could examine some of these ads ourselves, it might be useful feedback for recruiters (e.g., "No, you shouldn't expect that level of effective skill for someone with less than 5 years experience but you're asking for new graduates"). Comments? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=49535 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] Sketching before the Wireframes
Jeremy: I've had something similar which I guess pointed to a failure in communication. "It looks like it was sketched up in 15 minutes!" said the skeptical DBA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=48924 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] iPad.
This would be great for my 18 month daughter to play with (unless she dribbles over it - is it splashproof?). I can see it being a big thing in education Just out of left field, this would have been nice if they could have worked like that 'siftables' thing were iPads in proximity begin to interact and work together. Siftables are smaller which makes them easier to manipulate from a tactile sense, but imagine being able to 'join' 9 iPads together to form a single large screen or workspace. That would be awesome for collaboration. "Can you send me that doc?" "Sure" [literally flicks it over] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=48704 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] Could use some eyes on this chart
Tom, What's this graph about? (i.e., where's the title?) I'm probably being presumptuous but I like graphs to be stand-alone things that don't need reference to information outside. Is it in the document that the graph is embedded in? If so apologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=48697 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] Age vs Date of Birth in sign up form
Assuming the business and legal case stands up to accepting either, you could offer users the option to denote their age status (ie, above or below 18 years) or enter their date of birth. This would give you the chance to offer value to customers if they enter their DoB (eg, "if you want you can tell us your date of birth and we can remember that for the future"). It also helps to sell the idea that you're not demanding to know their specific personal details which is a plus point from my own research. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=48490 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] Google redesign: nothing between me and my search bar
That blue colour really doesn't work for me (I wonder if that's the blue they wanted when they tested 41 shades? http://stopdesign.com/archive/2009/03/20/goodbye-google.html). Perhaps if they had a drop shadow on a reflective surface too? ;-) Am joking... The functionality is useful - I've been using it for a while in Google news where I can filter out all but the most recent stories. The buttons on the dropdown are needed because the existing buttons are covered which seems like a real cludge to me - a more elegant way is to have the buttons on the side like they used to but that limits the horizontal space for queries - I'm guessing that a large number of queries must require a lot of space. Agreed that the icons could be a little better but I disagree with the author that page counts aren't used because I use them myself as navigation markers and aides to check on my search strategy. Having said that, I may be different to most other searchers but haven't tested that aspect of searching myself so can't say with confidence. Does it work on IE6? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47708 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] Dustin Curtis, UX Design, and American Airlines
Sorry Alan: http://www.ixda.org/discuss.php?post=47237&search=corporate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47591 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] Functionality appearing below the mythical "fold" - what to do?
Just a thought (and probably a bad one because it may change your scheme) is that the menu isn't too dissimilar from the main content background. If the menu was more distinct, it may offer more of a clue that it continues below the fold. >From my own experience, most users are happy with scrolling and use the scrollbar as a visual cue of the document's length; some however, still scroll almost as a last resort after reading the viewport's content. Testing might help out here if possible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47522 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] Active/inactive state of physical buttons
One example that jumps to mind are fruit machines (as known in the UK; perhaps one-armed bandits elsewhere. I'm referring to the modern ones rather than the older and simpler ones). They often have little 'diversions' (nudge buttons, or paths to jackpots) outside of the normal path that are not always available. They indicate availability by light, often flashing when trying to attract attention to themselves (and give reward to the user) and work as an example of availability indicated by light. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47488 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] Should an e-commerce design agency test the usability of its own designs?
It sounds a little like an own goal here, but only work done by
someone else would show this up. If their usability testing doesn't
show up defects in their design, then I would be asking what are they
being paid for? (except for being able to tick the relevant box)
I guess it's one of those difficult questions for companies to ask
themselves when considering employing someone: if they are expert
enough in a field, why employ someone else? And if not, how do they
know who are the real experts?
This explains why a list of previous clients can be the best selling
point though I've known of products and services that have gained a
good client list based upon the strength of their client list ("they
must be good, look at the big names that use them!").
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=47287
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[IxDA Discuss] Corporate culture and IxD
A couple of articles to illustrate: http://dustincurtis.com/dear_american_airlines.html http://dustincurtis.com/dear_dustin_curtis.html Has anyone here had the same or similar experiences as Mr X? Briefly, Dustin Curtis came up with a redesign of the American Airlines website because of his perception of a poor customer experience. A UX Designer from AA replied discussing the difficulties of getting good work out of the door because of corporate culture. 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] Setting up a UX conference in Lisbon - need advice and ideas
Being able to make good contacts always attracts me. It makes a difference to be able to 'press the flesh' with people I've only met electronically before, to renew old acquaintances, and make new ones. Content is useful but comes after networking for me. The promise of lively and intelligent discussion and pointers to new directions that I have not considered before is probably the king of content for me. I like taking new views at old problems (an example: getting a good landscape gardener in to talk about their design principles and processes). The alternative is to make a conference compelling to employers: if they're paying for me to attend, then I'll be even happier, but that may take convincing in some cases. The easier you can show value to my work, the easier a job I'll have. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=46899 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] Article on Number of Usability Test Participants
The number of participants you need to achieve statistical power will depend upon the design of your study - which will be determined (in large part) by the questions you are trying to answer. This assumes you want statistical power of course. Many studies don't feel the need for it. Sorry it's not much help but statistical questions rarely have simple answers IMHO. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=46278 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] Unusable things
As long as we don't the same type of intelligent lifts as in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - these were given prescience so they knew where to be and where to go and as a consequence got depressed and sulked in the basement... One subject close to my heart (and other parts) is that of airplane seats. Okay, there is only a small amount of space, but it's one area where I think a good user experience person could help make journeys less tiring. I seem to recall a programme on British TV in which a couple of engineers/designers reinvented the aircraft seat and actually did quite well by challenging a lot of assumptions and putting the work in. Did anyone else see ths fascinating programme? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=46113 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] How trendy is UCD? Are we critical enough about it?
[apologies for posting in 2 posts - the web form won't allow the whole lot in one go] And depth? I mean to what extent should user information be used and to what degree it should impact upon the product design? Having worked in lots of different fields (heavyweight industrial through to quick and dirty), I would say that this depends upon the tasks, users and what the product is supposed to achieve. To rigidly be for or against any philosophy doesn't work for me. My job is to take business and technical requirements, elicit customer requirements, and merge the lot into a product that meets all of them as best as can be managed. To do this, I will use any research method out there that gets valid results and I'm not too fussed about UCD (and this after being taught by one of the original writers about UCD!). I'm not sure if UCD prescribes specific practices - could anyone enlighten me if it does, or am I mistaken here? btw Andrei - all power to you there mate, but I find that telling programmers and especially marketeers (given their influence) not to be lazy usually results in problems in the longer term. Having a justification based around the quality of the final product always worked better for me personally particularly if an exec decides that I'm being obtuse. I don't think any of us (Thomas aside, if I'm reading you correctly) seriously believe that information gathered from users is useless. In the right time and place, and if valid, it has a useful role in informing design. The real skill is in working out what the questions are and getting valid data to answer them but that's another argument and believe me, that one would run on even longer! Does this make sense? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=45486 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] How trendy is UCD? Are we critical enough about it?
I've been reading these various UCD-related discussions on and off with a little bit of bemusement for a while now. I'm just trying here to clarify what the discussion seems to be about from my interpretation. Apologies for mistakes. As far as I can see, the real disagreements are about: a) semantics b) depth Why semantics? Dave Malouf says that UCD means basing all decisions around user data. Magda seems to be saying that UCD is having users actually make decisions. Charles says it doesn't mean either of these but rather means advocating the users concerns along other product concerns. If my impression correct, perhaps we have "strong" and "weak" definitions here? There is a difference in definition of what UCD is and until this is clarified, there won't be agreement and we will chase each others tails until kingdom come. Oh yes and Thomas seems to say that user information is damaging. Given that I've based design decisions around the workflows of expert users elicited from many hours of patient observation to success, and seen business-, technical- and marketing-driven decisions drive products into the ground I would have to disagree that it is only and always "not really useful". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=45486 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] Aside from research, what do you do to relate better to users?
Re-reading old research, particularly the comments and introduction to the person I made is something I find useful to keep me on top. When I started my recent job, we started some weekly meetings to discuss future improvements. At the first meeting, I took everyone out onto the streets to ask passers by about our field and what they thought. I guess this is research of a kind, but it removed all the comfort layers that we had from testing in a lab and put us in the front line and in touch with customers who didn't necessarily want to take part in research. I also like to read about art but it doesn't relate directly to my job. I guess it's one of those 'what it is to be a human being' kind of things. Different interpretations on the same piece of art show how varied we can be. @Adrian - it's a good one isn't it? I spent an afternoon in the call centre and we're all planning on visiting local branches soon (staff as well as customers). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=45395 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] Best practise for adding items to comparison tool
>From my own research, there isn't going to be a single solution that suits everyone. Among the people I tested, half preferred a top-down strategy(start with everything then filter out what is not relevant) and half preferred a bottom-up strategy (begin with a few options and then add upwards). This isn't very useful to you but if possible, try some research and testing to find out how your users respond. For pagination or scrolling, I guess it depends upon the task and the number of items. Having several thousand items makes scrolling less effective; having 11 items over 2 pages with a single item on the second page is also annoying. It depends upon what you are trying to achieve for your users. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=45451 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] Which Job Category is Interaction Design part of?
Milan: I've seen similar things myself. It surprises me when a quick google will usually show what the field is about. Ali: it would be quite difficult to lobby government organisations though I guess it could be possible. Part of the difficulty is that it's made up of other fields (human factors, human-computer interaction, usability, graphic design, etc) and people doing IxD used to be doing these things. I have no doubt that in a few years, another field will be created with a new name that is pretty much what IxD is. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=44606 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] Just Because You Can Innovate Doesn\'t Mean You Should
Trite answer for design: What is best for the user? Seriously though, the OPs quote is very true. Ideas are very common and easy to get hold of. The problem is implementing them and getting them to market. It's similar to the famous quote that "genuis is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration". It seems to reflect a lot of what we do. We might have the occasional brilliant idea, but most of our work is just not that way (e.g., understanding & contributing towards business requirements, testing & research, fitting in with existing styles etc). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=44405 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] Which Job Category is Interaction Design part of?
Ali, I was in the same position myself recently for immigration reasons and used 'web developer'. It seemed about the closest fit that I could find among all the positions. No news yet on my permanent residence in New Zealand so unfortunately I cannot say if it was suitable or not. Hope this helps, Alan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=44606 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] Time to add some functionality to Minimize, Maximize and Close buttons.
I seem to remember some Linux window managers doing this. I cannot recall the commands exactly, but something like CTRL-click on the expand button would make the window maximise horizontally only, and ALT-click would maximise it vertically. This might have been KDE. It was quite a handy function but required recall of the exact commands and, I would guess, more effort to complete the task than plain maximisation. Having said that, it was a lot easier than maximising in only one plane by dragging the window to the required shape. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=44088 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] Writing for Information Scent?
(Part 2 - the online system wouldn't let me post all of this in one go) I also found that it was not a good idea to tailor the macrostructural elements to the users too much - this often gave misleading information about the content so people ended up choosing documents that were less likely to satisfy or satisfice their needs. Communicating the macrostructure without reference to users' contexts was important for them to make good judgements about which documents to read or not which is where I part ways with Google's way of making a search engine returns page. They prefer to reflect users' contexts back to them (seeing the keywords embedded in the summary) which led to more inaccurate judgements that providing information removed from their context (eg, the document title). This finding was replicated with different designs so I'm quite confident of it. I guess a lot of this depends upon your users. If you are designing for a bunch of academics, then abstracts are the best things to use because they are familiar with reading through many. Satisficing the needs of regular end-users is different again. My research also found that (contrary to Pirolli & Card's paper) that negative information scent can exist - this is when something that is definitely off-track, so for example like when searching for statistics algorithms and coming across a link to a site selling various drugs online. From what I recall, they felt that there was a continuum between positive scent or neutral scent whereas I found that people were actively repelled by some content. Hope this helps and doesn't have too many errors - it's been a few years since I covered this stuff in any detail. Email me if anything is unclear or incorrect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43708 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] Writing for Information Scent?
I'm not sure if this is what you're after but I did some work on information scent a while ago. The work on information scent on its own is a useful framework but for practical implementation, work on text comprehension can be a good complement. The work I relied on most was Kintsch & van Dijk's text comprehension stuff which described how a person may construct an understand of an entire document. The model was called the 'construction - integration' model and began with a macrostructure and works down through microlayers and on to propositions (statements), and how the whole are combined and aimed at a task. There are different ways to do this, but a classic example is good journalistic writing where the headline tries to summarise the story by placing it into its context (macrostructure). After this, there is a short introductory paragraph which expands and provides more details of the overall study (between macrostructure and microlayers depending upon the style of writing - broadsheets will be more towards microlayers whereas tabloids might expand a little on the macrostructure), and then to the details. Sub-headings can aid the construction of the macrostructure too which is what chapter headings and the like do - they help readers to construct a framework of a document while is then integrated with more detailed and lower-level information. The macrostructural elements can be used to provide the beginnings of scent by providing cues as to content, beginning with an overall view to provide a framework of comprehension, and then working down through to lower level framework constructions, and then specific information which can be integrated into this framework. Good summaries or abstracts expand upon this and help users to make accurate relevance judgements about the content of a document and whether it's relevant or not to their needs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43708 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] In 10 words or less, what is software design to you?
I always thought that software design was more the programming side of things: from architecture down to the algorithm level; not what we do. It should (ideally, if humans are to be using it) include work that we do, but there is a load more that is nothing to do with us, unless we're specifically designing for programmers that is. For example, a database API won't usually be used by end-users: programmers will instead put layers of abstraction over it until it ends up as a nice and usable human-orientated interface (eg, being able to search through Flickr for photos of a particular subject). We may design the interface for Flickr, but the software designer working on the database API has no need to consider what the end users of Flickr want or need. (later): Just checked and it is more of a programming field. I would like to suggest that because it (probably) already has a well-established definition that we leave it alone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43357 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] In search of: form design pattern
Alan - I'm sure you might have encountered this already, but LukeW's book on forms is worth a read, particularly if you are going to be designing more in future. (apologies for this), but I had an idea for handling forms that is a bit different. I did promise to put a demo up somewhere but the pressure of work had to take precedence. I'll try again tonight and post a link so you can all have a look and offer comments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43336 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] References to clients/colleagues/managers/companies in social networking discussions/posting
Chauncey Wilson: "I'm curious what others think about twittering during a session? " I've spoken at quite a few events with an endless background noise of keyboards tickering away, but it's no problem. As long as people don't have a conversation, I don't mind. In terms of having something like usenet's x-noarchive header field, it often doesn't work - for example, if someone quotes the message of someone who chose not to be archived, it has little effect. In reality, it's not workable and this may give some people a false sense of security and encourage them to make posts that they later truly regret. At least with everything being archived, everyone knows exactly where they stand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43305 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] The Essential Characteristics of User Experience (a language of critique)
Thanks Richard. Just one trivial suggestion: could you put the graphic up as a link to a larger graphic instead of a pdf - I cannot access your pdf at work and a graphic would be a quicker way to examine it. Thanks again. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43338 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] Interviewing sales teams and customer call centers for project research
Personally, I would start with a question for yourself: what is it that you want to find out about? That should guide the questions that you ask of the staff. If you're not clear what it is that you want to find out, then your research could be aimless. Of course, feel free to change mid-stream if some interesting stuff comes up that you didn't anticipate, but having a framework to guide things is useful so that you don't get distracted into irrelevant topics and focus instead upon what is relevant to what you want to do. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43265 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] Music to Design to - What gets your creative juices flowing?
"Its over a year since the last post like this..." http://www.ixda.org/discuss.php?post=39321 ;-) My choice depends upon the work. For coding complicated stuff or really working on interaction, then silence is best for me. Rock music does the job when I want some ideas (paper prototypes / loose concepts), classical (esp Bach) for putting things together (wireframing), stuff like Sylvian or later Talk Talk / Mark Hollis for artistic stuffs (high fidelity prototypes). I sense a kind of progression here... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42851 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] low cost wireframing/diagramming solution?
In addition to all the other answers, you can try the openoffice.org draw application (requires a download of the whole suite, but it costs nothing). It has a reasonable diagram function which I've used in the past. There's no reason it couldn't be used for wireframing too. http://openoffice.org and http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/OOoAuthors_User_Manual/Draw_Guide/Drawing_a_flow_diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42842 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] UX Generalists & Specialists
At the risk of sounding trite, the best to be is a specialist with general skills. Of course, this assumes that no one can specialise across the entire area. From experience, I've known professionals be capable of being world-class experts in different areas of the same field, but then there are so many areas that can be useful to IxD that a total mastery may be difficult... I do agree that circumstances will dictate the requirments of a person, but then circumstances always change. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42236 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] Testing for Learnability
Essentially, learnability can be seen with two aspects: 1) How well can a user recall what they did (hence the teach back protocol suggested by Whitney above) 2) How well can a user recognise something (slightly but not entirely different) Using these, memory testing is one way to test learnability. This doesn't account for when a system is so well learned that it becomes automatic (like using short-cuts for cut, copy and paste). Another problem you might face is at what level are you concerned? Do you want to look at the keystroke level (ie, very micro) or at a higher workflow level? And another is what kind of time period are you looking at? Are you interested in whether your users can remember one hour after? Or perhaps several months after? Like any research, the fundamental thing to do is to get the right questions before you do anything else. Once you know these, you can determine the research method, what data to collect, how to analyse, etc. Make the questions simple (make each one address a simple thing) and everything else becomes clear. All the best! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42209 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] Who am I?
Joshua,
Positions requiring both sets of skills are either rare (when they
grok design) or common (when they don't and want a developer 'with
an interest' in the design stuff). The first type of position tends
to be well-paid because the complete working skill-set is uncommon. I
guess that is what you are after than a close-to-base level position
churning out interface code.
No leads for you, sorry, but in my position, I am an interaction
designer only and I use my coding skills for hi-fidelity prototyping
and proof-of-concept; plus it gives me a leg-up when talking to
developers. Where I am, I cannot tackle the dev side as the dev
requirements are quite specialised. However, I can talk in tech terms
that we both understand which in turn makes communicating the ideas
easier and the whole process of making something a little smoother.
It's not a full dev job because I'm primarily a designer, but
coding skills aren't a negative point.
As for crappy postings - unfortunately, that is quite common. Some
see IxD as product management (seen postings asking for x years
experience making things), others as graphic design ("must have
design degree"), others as usability ("HCI degree essential"), dev
work ("5 years doing GUIs in C ") and probably others. Part of the
problem is the field because there are problems in defining its
boundaries (if there are any), and also us ourselves because we
can't agree what we are in terms that work for HR/recruiters. Hence,
they get confused and ask for all sorts, some of which are probably
better described under a different term.
Hope this helps Joshua and best of luck.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Examples of 'sliding' registration processes
I was thinking of something like this myself. No files to show just yet but will upload the demo later. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41982 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] Best Practices in Usability Testing of Search Results Page
I have done a fair bit of usability research with web search engines and how people deal with them. Curiously, our participants seemed to make better relevance decisions using just the page titles alone than the page titles along with something else. This implied that abstracting information from the main text content (whether initial mention, keyword embedded like Google, keyword extraction etc) actually misleads searchers into thinking that the document is more relevant than it actually is. However, people disliked using titles alone more than using some extra text from the document. Pictures didn't seem to play an important role unless they were looking for a specific thing / product / company and this was displayed. So there seemed to be a balance: decisions of a document's relevance to an information need were better made with less information, but users were less happy with dealing with search like this. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41852 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] Pagination best practices
I did some research on this a number of years ago - this began before Google became dominant in search which gives you an idea! Towards the end though, Google was a clear winner. I found, quite reliably, that many search engines satisficed and satisfied most user's needs within the first 10 links so there wasn't so much need to present many more. This depends upon a) how good a search engine is at extracting relevant information while leaving non-relevant information, and b) the information requirements of the user (is it a single, simple answer to a question like, "what is the height of mount Everest"; or is it more complex such as, "what is the history of the Beano comic" for which multiple sources may be needed for an answer that at least satisfices). This doesn't really answer your question as more information about the specific tasks is needed before any kind of practical answer can be provided. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41915 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] Feedback on Redesigned BART Ticket Kiosk Interface
One thing that jumped out at me was when going from the overall map to the map of a single line: I found the switch from lines going in various directions onto a single line with a different pattern and direction confusing - I felt myself having to reorientate and translate between the two (line A shows this - it initially appears as a single line going vertically but then goes horizontally when selected). Not sure how to get around it outside of keeping the same line pattern, and maybe an animated zooming transition from the overall map to the line map might help to show users what they are drilling down onto. It might help orientation but testing would show if this is a significant user concern. Also, when displayed horizontally, the direction was the opposite to what I expected with the destination on the left rather than the right. Users may differ in what they expect so testing awould be useful here. Maybe also some visual connection other than colour between the line and its button for people with colour blindness (as mentioned by others before sorry) And as David M said, some information about changes would be nice especially if printed out on the ticket itself, and expecting train times / journey times are extremely handy. Or maybe an arrow "go this way" to point users in the right direction once they've bought the ticket? I'm not sure about that - how easy is it to get lost in those stations? For the London underground, I find it was quite easy and sometimes walked off in the wrong direction! Other than that, I quite liked it esp the fade in after choosing a start point. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41790 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] Inspirations from art
When it comes to designing, is anyone here greatly influenced by things outside of what we normally design? By this, I mean primarily any particular artists or movements (eg, minimalism, abstract, Picasso etc) If so, how did your design change? Or does music play a role? We've discussed what music we listen to when working but I sometimes find that listening to particular types of music influences the mood of my designs. For example, listening to Mark Hollis' solo album inspires a stark look, but this gets richer with David Sylvian, and more 'out there' (rock and roll!) when listening to the Stereophonics. I'd be interested in seeing any examples of things designed by IxDers with a particular influence behind. 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] Streamlined sign up flow
Another source (who visits here) is Joshua Porter who has a site at bokardo.com/. I saw a talk of his at WebStock here in NZ recently which was about the sign-up process and presented a very interesting perspective that was obvious really but so obvious that many people (myself included) never gave it too much thought before. See more here: http://bokardo.com/archives/designing-for-the-social-web-the-usage-lifecycle/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41384 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] Sixth sense from MIT labs
Angel: "I'm really more interested into consolidating physical space and shedding more gadgetry. " it's a good point Angel. There is a real danger of having too much information available too often, but then people can always just switch the device off. Then, the danger would be that if this thing becomes entirely ubiquitous, people may not be able to function without it - imagine not being able to buy a bus ticket because you're fed up with always being bombarded with information and you want to take a rest? Sometimes, I like to have a coffee and sit back and just watch the world go by.. I can see that it has very useful applications across all sorts of areas of life, but like I said in a previous post, security needs to be paramount or else it could also be a nightmare of spam and id theft. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41348 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] Sixth sense from MIT labs
That was very entertaining and there are lots of possibilities for this. My only concerns are a) having access to authoritative information (ie, when requesting information about, eg, a product, not being redirected just towards advertisers) and b) ensuring that it's proof against spammers / phishers etc, who will relish the idea of being able to directly access people. Security needs to be built in from the very first or people are going to be swamped in crap. Having said that, IxD is going to be even more fun in the future than it is now! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41348 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] Great Personalization Examples
Is Amazon's book / product recommendations the kind of thing you're after? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41271 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] Opportunities with Mozilla Labs and IxDA
Thanks Pascal. This could b an interesting project for all us IXDers to contribute towards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40933 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] Opportunities with Mozilla Labs and IxDA
A wider rating system might be biased a) in favour of famous people, b) against static prototypes whose working needs to be explained in text (rather: in favour of slick and expensive presentations regardless of idea quality), or c) ideas that are. How will ideas that have never been rated (ie, just passed over and not voted on because no one was interested) be treated? Will they be forgotten or dragged up again in the future until enough people do vote? Sorry if I sound skeptical - I'm not really - but I'm aware that crowd mentality doesn't always work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40926 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] Some of the non-software things that interaction designers do
J Ambrose Little: "I do see some tendency to dismiss or at least minimalize and marginalize the "scientific" contributors in this space. Personally, I see value in both approaches to the problem of designing things to reach the Quality Without a Name. As a designer, I would prefer to synthesize the good in all these different approaches. I think a greater respect from all sides is called for%u2014*including the engineers* who are equally scoffed at by both the "scientific" and "design" folks. " I can sense that there is some of this so thanks for making the point. Like yourself, I have to concur that all approaches bring value to the table. In my team, we have 3 IxDers and 1 graphic designer, and we all have different backgrounds (business analysis, programming, art, research & testing) but the point is that working together, we have a skill-set that leaves few weaknesses. Even though we're a new team, we're already producing some great and practical ideas solutions to very real problems and (I would hope) are stronger than most single candidates because we bring so many viewpoints to the process. This helps in reviewing ideas to that when we finish with our work we can be more certain that it meets all our requirements: those of the user, those of the business, those of the developers, sleekness and smoothness etc. Sadly we can't talk about these things until they've been released - I wish we had a live lab where we could put up ideas for wider examination and feedback. Anyway apologies as this post has turned into another "problems with IxD" post as opposed to chatting about stuff we do. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40619 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] "Help! Is there a Cardiothoracic Surgeon in the room?"
Andy: "You mean I should drop my PhD? ;-) " It (sometimes) doesn't help much! See the post by Rich Rogan http://www.ixda.org/discuss.php?post=30388 Back to the initial point: the important thing is that if you are having a medical emergency, then you want someone with at least a base medical training to be there - a set of common skills and understandings about how the body functions and how it can be put right when it goes wrong. I guess there are two problems: 1) which skills and knowledge comprise this field; and 2) how can we get people outside of us to agree on what skills and knowledge are required so that they don't start making the main criteria as "must have 5 years C GUI experience" I get the impression that the community is quite happy to deal with skills rather than roles but this often falls over when recruiters are being dealt with. Quite often, they need a nice single title to summarise everything because they deal with so many different roles. Stepping outside of the norm can cause serious problems in getting jobs if you're not perceived as a guru (just talking from my own experience here - I sincerely hope other people's is better) Well, we're supposed to be experts in people's experiences - why don't we find out how we really are perceived in the wider world so we can address any discrepancies? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40833 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] Expandable windows
Ah just got it - I was using FF with NoScript and flash turned off. I would call it an expandable frame. I thought about a zooming frame but it doesn't really zoom, does it? I've just been doing something like this in Javascript. Thanks for the help everyone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40767 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] Command line or GUI
IMHO, it depends upon the frequency of use over a long period of time. If something is going to be very regularly used and (as Caroline pointed out) can save work by being scripted, users will often invest the time needed to learn a CLI. Jobs like system administration can be made a lot easier with a CLI. As I said in another thread, a former lecturer of mine mentioned some research she did way back when which showed sys admins performing more efficiently with a CLI than a GUI. On the other hand, people will often stick to inefficient strategies even when a much more efficient one is demonstrated to them. One colleague of mine tested this and found that there was a trade-off in terms of mental activity - users were sometimes willing to give up time to use "think" less. Another (purely anecdotal) example featured people being shown how to use Excel to add up a list of numbers and then reverting back to a calculator when asked to do it again with a slightly altered list. So quite often, users will prefer a GUI even when there are known advantages to learning a CLI. As designers, we have to remember that the most efficient design in (say) terms of the KLM doesn't always meet user's needs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40758 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] Expandable windows
This isn't really related, but I noticed that the menu items differ from convention. Expandable items have a ' ' to the right whereas 'final' links have a right facing arrow. On Windows at least, it is the right-facing arrow that indicates that there are more items to see and final links have nothing or "..." to indicate that a dialog will be produced. Were these the ones you meant as I can't see an expandable window (just got into work so I'm still half-asleep and probably missed it!) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40767 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] Some of the non-software things that interaction designers do
Patrick: "For most of us, we build things that have an impact on the bottom line of a company, and that's all (or since when did a web widget save someone's life?)." At least I have that boast ;-) (helping towards the design of safer commercial aircraft cockpits and enabling doctors to learn about skin cancers, etc) Right now, I am bottom line only and that's all, but it's still a great job to have, a wonderful career to be building, and the work is still fascinating. I guess a lot of the 'other' stuff we work on will depend upon our background. As I said earlier, I'm a psychologist with training in human factors and HCI so I got to work on some large juicy projects with a demonstrable impact on people's lives (perhaps I should say a 'lack of impact' given the subject matter of aircraft cockpits?). However when all's said and done, I think most companies would rather hire someone with a creative background as that is closer to IxDs perceived nature. Even things like usability testing seem a million miles away from being a trained researcher when they are just the same things. I cannot say for certain, but I get the impression that some companies/recruiters are quite confused when a psychologist applies for any kind of UX job, especially when they advertise for candidates with computer science degrees... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40619 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] Some of the non-software things that interaction designers do
Currently, some customer research (I'm a psychologist by training so have a lot of experience measuring various things about people). Previously, I also * helped to design educational tools (though delivered with software, the aim was to get general practitioners participating fully on an e-learning course and interacting with each other), * helped design aircraft cockpits to reduce pilot error, some have done some stuff on commercial branding, * process design, * paper form design * some commercial innovation design. This is as well as communicating ideas about research methods to other people (there are lots of useful methods out there that are just not widely known about in the practitioner community). I guess pretty much all my research is non-software really though it is often applied through that medium eventually. It's quite fun when you get to build towards something 'real' though. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40619 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] Five things Interaction Design probably isn't
Designers who give a shit about how people really think and behave. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40375 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] looking for examples of how to best edit large forms
I came across a document called, "Best practices for form design" by Luke Wroblewski (senior principal designer at Yahoo!). It might be available on his website at http://lukew.com/ Sorry, just checked - it's available as a book from http://www.lukew.com/resources/web_form_design.asp. I also saw an interesting talk by Joshua Porter at WebStock (Wellington, NZ recently) - it's more about 'pulling' customers into your website and encouraging them to be persistent visitors so it might not be relevant to your context (http://www.webstock.org.nz/09/programme/presentations.php#porter) but he might have his presentation on a site somewhere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40496 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] Five things Interaction Design probably isn't
One problem about not defining the field is that recruiters will do it for us - and they can make mistakes. For example, there are already jobs out there that demand a BA or MA in a design related discipline as part of the qualifications. This means that all the artists, the engineers, psychologists, people with bags of experience but no direct qualifications etc, are left out regardless of their competence. This is no problem for the gurus but for most of us, it presents a real challenge to even get a foot in the door because the initial criteria filter us out. Having said that, it is a hard field to define because it is so multi-disciplinary. The beings an outstanding issue: many recruiters don't realise this and assume that IxD is uniquely associated with one particular approach. So some will say they want an interaction designer with X years flash experience and a fine arts degree; others will want business analysis skills; and yet others will want 5 years of programming GUIs in C . All of these can be relevant, but they focus too hard on one approach and don't seem to realise that while our current jobs are similar, our backgrounds are strikingly different. I' m quite lucky. I have a good job now where I was taken on for my research skills and this should give me the experience I need to grow and be able to prove it, but I had an awful lot of rejections on the way without getting past the first stage of recruitment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40375 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 descriptions
While six sigma isn't central to my role (though I am comfortable with statistics because of my previous research experience), some of the research done in my present work has been useful in highlighting process problems that can be resolved, in part, by my work. It's a tool for insight into something, no more and no less, and can help in some situations. I don't see it as a regular part of my job though. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40367 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] Command line vs. menu driven interface
That's curious Katie. I seem to remember when I did my human factors component of my psych degree, my lecturer had done research way back when with systems administrators and found that they accomplished tasks far more quickly with the command line than a GUI based system. Sorry but I don't have a reference to hand. I would imagine that differences between performances on each mode of interaction will depend in large part upon the competency of the user: so experienced sys admins will whizz through a CLI and stumble on a GUI whereas new users need to learn the commands for a CLI but can explore and figure out menus of even a new application. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40330 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
