[IxDA Discuss] Quick easy methods for usability testing micro-interactions?
Hey everybody, I'm looking for suggestions for ways I can usability test some micro-interactions on the site I'm working on. We've worked out a bunch of the big questions - the flow and IA seem to be working, the visual design is adding to the content, and users are enjoying themselves on the site - but a handful of issues regularly pop up that I would like to be able to test out with some users. I'm talking about really little stuff like whether an item with a variable price should be displayed as: Starting at $5.00 or $5.00+ or just plain old $5.00 How do you test the little things as they come up? Do you save them all up until you've got enough to warrant full testing sessions with users, or do you use other methods to knock out these little questions? Thanks! 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] Preparing a presentation on Fireworks
I'm becoming more and more interested in prototyping in FW, and would love the basic questions to be answered: - Why would I use FW at all? I've got other tools (and plenty of paper!), so why would I consider the switch? - Is there any way to get started quickly or to bootstrap the process? Then, I'd love to see some of your examples, but only after you've sold me on the whys and hows. Like Amanda, I'm not in the Bay Area but would love to see what you come up with. Any way you could spread the talk more widely? Josh On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 3:12 AM, Amanda Jahn ya...@yahnyinlondon.com wrote: Is there any chance that you would be able to share some of this presentation for someone non-local? I'm based in London but am very interested to hear about any new Fireworks techniques. Cheers, Amanda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38092 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://josh.ev9.org/weblog 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] User Research: Three user groups, five hours. What would you do?
To add to the great advice above: - Make sure the people you'll be observing are prepared for you to be there. They SHOULD NOT clear their schedules to be with you. They should have real, regular work to get done while you're with them and you need to set that expectation ahead of time. - An hour or two for each observation should be a good amount of time, but make sure that you're observing enough of the important stuff. The important stuff is the same as the Big Questions Dana talks about. - I second Nicholas's idea of starting the day with a group meeting, but don't let this go too long. Maybe half an hour, maybe. One thing I've done in the past is give people some homework at this meeting. You can hand out disposable cameras for people to take photos of their work spaces (if this is alright with the organization), or ask people to think about the last time they did that really important activity and write a quick paragraph about it so that you can take it away afterward. - Remember to relax, and don't make promises about things you might be able to fix. - Will you have anybody from your organization and/or the client's organization to do the observations with you? My best Contextual Inquiry research has ended with a client doing the big presentation to their own people. In my experience, clients buy into this type of user research almost immediately. Invite clients and coworkers to the observations if possible, and if not, have them help you with the analysis afterward. If even *that * is not possible, then make sure that your analysis and modeling are big and visible, so people are interested in what you've done. - Do your initial analysis *immediately*. Even if you take copious notes, the things people said are going to bleed together. I would type up or formalize your notes on the plane ride home. That's all I've got off the top of my head. Me and a coworker presented a paper at Agile 2008 about this topic, and I think there's a lot more in there about my experience doing a quick Contextual Inquiry. Here's the link to the paper: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=4599535isnumber=4599440 Good luck! Josh On Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 2:59 PM, Nicholas Iozzo i...@humansize.com wrote: I have found it is generally better to open the day with a group meeting. No matter how much explaining you do ahead of time, you will still likely be scheduled to meet with the wrong folks. The group meeting will allow the managers to have their say and give them a forum to tell you many things. You can then use that to start asking specific task questions. Usually during the course of these questions, they will say Well, Sue does that. Great time to say, I'd love to spend some time with Sue later today then to see how she does it. I have found that during the course of this opening meeting, names of individuals get brought up as the person who does X. This is the best way for you to then select whom you want to meet with and learn more about task x. Of course, as the prior posted mentioned. Preparation is the most important thing to do. Know what you want to observe, know how many events you want to observe, have research questions you want answered. Prepare a study guide During the course of the day, you will be presented with more opportunities then you have time to follow-up on. You need to have spent time developing your study guide so you can make on-the-fly decisions on how to best use your time. Even if your research techniques are all about not interfering with the user and letting it naturally flow. If you have not made decisions about what you want to learn, then you will not learn anything. This is more practical then ideal. Ideally you would have lots of time to spend with everyone, so you will be able to learn all you can. Practically, you have a very limited amount of time to spend with a limited number of folks. So you have to plan on how to use it wisely. Get clearance before you even bring out any recording devices. Many companies do not like it. Good luck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=38073 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://josh.ev9.org/weblog Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines
Re: [IxDA Discuss] What to do in an environment run by engineers??
Jared said: Ali, if you do what Patrick suggests, you'll not only fail, but you'll have a miserable time doing so. Your job isn't to *sell* your teammates on anything. It's about teamwork. Find out what the objectives and long-term vision of the team is. Work from there. I've got to agree with Jared here. I've made myself blue in the face trying to convince both clients and coworkers (simultaneously, mind you) of the value of IxD-related activities in general. It nearly always fails until I am able to understand my clients' needs and then tailor my design approach directly to them. For example, I ranted and raved for a while that we needed to bootstrap all of our project efforts with a Contextual Inquiry approach so that we could get a glimpse of user needs as they exist on the factory floor rather than coming up with perceived problems out of thin air. At my organization, where user research is not the norm, this approach was met with deaf ears. It was not until I spoke with a client that already had many of their technical needs met, but acknowledged that they still weren't solving their customers' problems after many product releases that I realized that *this* was a great candidate for my preferred CI approach. It didn't take much convincing that this approach would work, and when it succeeded, it bought me at least a little leverage within my organization to try other approaches with other clients. So Ali, if I were to give any advice it would be this: instead of thinking about how you would change the whole process (or the engineers' mindsets) in your organization, pick a few smaller issues that you see, and then make it your goal to solve them in a way that works within the organization's context. But remember: you should provide value to your organization every step of the way. Ask for feedback regularly, especially from the engineers you work with. Be just as user centered in your approach to organizational change as you would be to your product's design. Celebrate your small wins, don't sweat the losses (but make it a point to learn from them), and keep a keen eye out for opportunities where your skills will be helpful and valued. Most of all, relax, and try to have fun. Merely being calm in the situation you are currently in will win you some credibility, and the value you provide will buy you a ton more. Josh On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 5:16 PM, Jared Spool jsp...@uie.com wrote: On Jan 26, 2009, at 12:02 AM, Patrick wrote: Get used to it. ;) It's the real world. Your job is to sell them on it. Sounds tough, but it's true. On Jan 25, 2009, at 2:12 PM, Ali Amrohvi wrote: As a User Centered Design graduate I find it quite irritating to be working in an environment where engineers run everything ... Few of them have taken some HCI courses and THATS IT! There is NO qualitative research and both hardware-/software engineers think that their own opinion about the products matter. Patrick, I respectfully disagree. Ali, if you do what Patrick suggests, you'll not only fail, but you'll have a miserable time doing so. Your job isn't to *sell* your teammates on anything. It's about teamwork. Find out what the objectives and long-term vision of the team is. Work from there. Jared Jared M. Spool User Interface Engineering 510 Turnpike St., Suite 102, North Andover, MA 01845 e: jsp...@uie.com p: +1 978 327 5561 http://uie.com Blog: http://uie.com/brainsparks Twitter: jmspool UIE Web App Summit, 4/19-4/22: http://webappsummit.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://josh.ev9.org/weblog 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] Nokia Morph Nanotechnology
I was watching the Nokia Morph Concepthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX-gTobCJHsvideo this afternoon, and it got me thinking on a tangent. Perhaps it's only because there was only one character in the video, but I am having a hard time seeing how this sort of tool would benefit human interaction...the kinds we all potentially will design. I guess my broad question is, in your opinions, how will Nanotechnology impact Interaction Design? For the uneducated, is Nanotechnology just about mobile phones that you can fold up and put in your pocket (or wrap around your wrist), or will there be bigger interaction benefits as well? Looking forward to your forward-thinking opinions. Josh -- http://josh.ev9.org/weblog Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Offtopic: What music do you listen to while you design
There are 40 year olds on this list? Weird. ;-) Lately my team room has been playing a random person's ipod on shuffle. My best find so far: The Kleptones http://www.kleptones.com/. Oooh, and you can download their music for freehttp://www.kleptones.com/pages/downloads.htmlonline! Josh On Tue, Feb 26, 2008 at 6:33 PM, Lisa deBettencourt [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: awesome. :-) I can't listen to anything with words when I'm working - it messes with my thinking. So, I usually turn on XM online (I have a subscription) or iTunes to a heavy techno/house station that gets me into my Flow state... ~Lisa PS. nothing wrong with approaching 40... you're in good company! ;-) Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- http://josh.ev9.org/weblog Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Slightly OT: Where is the sustainable PC?
There's a great article in last month's Interactions Magazine on this
topic:
Two Digital Divides and Four
Perspectiveshttp://interactions.acm.org/content/?p=263by Eli Blevis
I think this is the first article in the new series on sustainability. Great
stuff, and not off topic for this group at all.
Josh
On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 10:13 AM, Sebi Tauciuc [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
Great questions.
I guess a way to rephrase the question would be: When will they start
providing services instead of products?. Obviously, as long the business
model is 'sell as many products as possible and use whatever resources are
cheapest, there aren't too many incentives for them to produce
sustainable,
or even durable products. But if they sold services instead of products
('have a computer at home' subscription, for example), they would be much
more motivated to retrieve the valuable materials that they are using and,
well, to design the products in such a way that nothing is wasted.
So, when will they start providing services?
...I wholeheartedly recommend Cradle to Cradle
http://www.amazon.com/Cradle-Remaking-Way-Make-Things/dp/0865475873to
anyone who gives a damn and wants some good insights into the problem.
Sebi
On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 5:55 PM, Kim Bieler [EMAIL PROTECTED]
wrote:
I've just finished installing a RAM upgrade to my three-year-old Mac
to keep it viable for another year and I'm wondering: Why is no-one
out there building a sustainable desktop PC?
In graphic design, we've got to buy new hardware every 3-5 years
(sooner, if you're not a cheapskate like me) just to stay compatible
with the rest of the world. I'll be forced to buy a new a Mac in a
year or two because they've switched to Intel-based processors and
pretty soon, none of my software will run properly on the old
processor. Old computers pile up like (giant, expensive) dust bunnies
around our house. I went to our local computer recycling station
eighteen months ago with an entire SUV's worth of old equipment, and
already the attic is filling up again.
It's as if the auto industry switched fuel every four years, forcing
you to buy a new car. But even car manufacturers let you trade in
your old vehicle when you buy a new one.
I realize this isn't an interaction design question, but there are a
lot of bright minds here. How come no-one's stepping up to the plate
and saying, we've got to end the madness! How hard could it be to
build something modular, where you could upgrade the insides
periodically, and ship the old parts back to manufacturer for a
rebate (and to be recycled)?
-- Kim
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
Kim Bieler Graphic Design
www.kbgd.com
Office: 301-588-8555
Mobile: 240-476-3129
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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Sergiu Sebastian Tauciuc
http://www.sergiutauciuc.ro/en/
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[IxDA Discuss] Donald Norman on 60 minutes
Last night I was jogging at the gym when all of a sudden Donald Norman flashed up on the TV above my head. He was interviewed as part of a segment called Get me the Geeks!. It was all about the various bits of technology in our lives today, and the tech support required to service users. Here's a link to the segment: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3657727n I'm sure there will be other questions that pop up from this, but here's mine: As Interaction Designers, how are we responsible for the products we work on fitting in with the bigger sphere of products out there? I agree with the segment's sentiment that there is simply *too much technology* out there for everyday people to deal with...so creating usable useful individual products may not be the answer. Can we (as IxDers) really make a dent by fixing one product at a time? Or should we try to take on the whole technology-focused culture? Or are these things really at odds with one another? Discuss. Josh -- http://josh.ev9.org/weblog *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] When/Where/How did you decide to be a designer?
Might as well pitch in my 2c of history: I think it all began back in the mid-80s when I overheard my parents arguing about whether they should get a computer. I distinctly remember my dad saying: A computer!? The only computer I'll ever need is [pointing to his head] *right here.* I sat in the back of the car and thought to myself, *Really???* Flash forward years later as I'm applying to colleges, thumbing through application packets with lists of majors: Hmm...is there anything in here where I can study how to *create tools that help people work better*? Ahh...Computer Engineering sounds about right. Two quarters of Computer Engineering classes later, I realized that I *was*getting the create tools part, but not so much the help people work better part. So I switched my major to Cognitive Science, not only because it seemed like a better fit, but also because those classes were just more enjoyable. I specialized in HCI, but the general Psych, Neuroscience, Anthropology, and CS classes have all helped me greatly on my path. I continued on to work toward a Masters in HCI/Design, and it was only then that I realized that I was meant to be a *Designer* more than anything else. It was only when I began to study Design that all the other stuff I had studied became concepts I could practically apply to real world problems. That's my story. Josh On Dec 21, 2007 9:03 AM, Vlad Fratila [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi! In my first post here... sorry if it's inappropriate...I just wanted to say that your manifesto is useful for one context, that is, the one that life in general creates. It was very inspiring, and I thank you. I'm thinking about Hesse, maybe because I'm reading him, or maybe not just that. Vlad F On Dec 20, 2007 11:27 PM, Jeff Seager [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've been a little reluctant to detail my experience because I feel I'm a bit of a thorn among the roses, but it certainly fits the winding path analogy! Here ya go: [...] Didn't mean to write a manifesto, but felt some of this may be useful for context. If not, mea culpa. Jeff Seager *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- http://josh.ev9.org/weblog *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
