Re: [IxDA Discuss] Nokia Morph Nanotechnology
The Nokia Morph concept is awesome! I just wrote an article for a class assignment on nanotechnology for new medical drug uses. It was my first time learning what nanotechnology actually was, and the potential of its abilities. I find it amazing, and a little scary at the same time. I agree with Dave. The Nokia Morph concept encompasses everything interactive. Nanotechnology may be a flexible type of technology, but what it can do for or show to a user still needs to be designed programmed into it. It still needs information architecture and an interface. The value of the flexible phone itself may seem to be useless to some, but to me, so are video games (no offense to video gamers out there). It's entertainment, fun, and most important to IxDers, interactive. The concept of technology like this one, clear walls and table top surfaces with touch applications in them is what's gotten me so interested in interaction design. I would love to work on things such as the Nokia Morph! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=26576 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] IxD Work on Various Product Types
Hi All, It seems that although IxDers do not necessarily have their hands deep in technology in terms of the implementation of it, we still need to know the capabilities of the technology behind what we are designing, so as to not request impossible solutions. Working on different types of technical products (other than web technology) is one of my goals for the future. Those of you who do not ONLY do IxD for websites/web applications, what product types did you begin your IxD experience? Then, how did you transition from one to another? For example, if you started out in the web, how did you move on to doing IxD for medical devices, hand-held non-web applications, desktop apps, etc.? For, I would assume that the technology behind such products as medical devices is so very different than what is used for the web. Do any of you shift product types depending on the project, or have you just shifted product types as a whole? What is the most difficult part of making such transitions? Thanks in advance for your responses. Lukeisha Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping 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] Thoughts on Alan Cooper's Keynote
This is all very interesting. I have always been a part of the waterfall development methodology, where there is (ANALYSIS, DESIGN, development, QA, then production). In the analysis design phase, that was where interaction visual designs were created communicated. Overall consistency of the look feel, and the determination of workflow reusable screens components where discussed. However, now, there are development methodologies like Scrum XP, where significant amounts of time has been lopped off in the sake of FAST development deployment, and the analysis design has been lopped off with it. The screen designs are done at the developer's desk in the simplest possible way to get the piece coded as fast as possible. And one recent experience that I've had was a company that used the Scrum method. They deployed a product that had very little consistancy. Lists that provided the same or very similar data were displayed differently throughout the app. Functionality that was supposed to be the same was conducted in various ways in different areas of the app, and more. But that wasn't their first concern. Their first concern was getting the major new enhanced functionality out to their users. Basically, regardless of how hard or how many steps it takes, it is able to do this for you. In light of what this post's concern regarding including proper IxD, it seems it will be quite tough to convince business/product managers that more steps time need to be added, when just recently, they have come up with ways to cut those very items down/out. How do IxDer's go about reversing that way of thinking? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=25686 *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] look and feel
Mark, I must disagree with your comment regarding ... only Java people. I learned of the term well before I became a Java person. In fact it wasn't even an OOP language, but TCL, HTML, CSS. In fact, the development team didn't make it up at all. We learned it from the Business Analyst who also did the interface/interaction designs for the client facing sites. They often said they were trying to achieve a certain look feel. I have always interpreted the look feel term to mean that the look refers to aesthetics, such as color, graphics, typography, and the feel to refer to things such as, the user getting the message, ease of use of the site, basically the feeling of the experience. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=25727 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] Differnce between user interface and interaction design?
An unequivocal '1 million %' (to quote my American Idol Buddy Randy Jackson) YES!, Dave's answer to Andrei's question regarding aesthetic skills. I have been following this post and many others like it, as I'm sure other newbies are, to see what's the best preparation to enter this field, especially if they are not coming from an art or graphic design background. Since reading these posts, graphic design fundamentals have opened my eyes. So, I do believe that those fundamentals are very helpful to know when a page is unbalanced or over crowded, etc. But how deep does the aesthetic abilities have to run? Please forgive me if this throws another layer of annoying discussion regarding definitions, but here is one from Webster's dictionary. Aesthetics: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/aesthetic My point is that graphics/web/visual designers do more than just have a knack for knowing when something looks pleasing. For example, there are many people who have, never drawn, coded a web site, etc. that can naturally tell what's beautiful and what is not. So to make the question more direct, do IxD's need to know how to manipulate graphics, create from scratch or make touch-ups? Do they need to know how to use photoshop, illustrator, and other graphic design tools at a proficient or expert level? Do they even have to know how to implement CSS? I could be wrong, but I think this is where people are wondering if most interaction designers creates the form layout, but then hand that over to interface designers to make the lines curve, swirl, add color schemes, blink, slide, etc, using some the nifty tools just mentioned above. Dave, I think you are absolutely right here: an interface designer IS an interaction designer, but not all interaction designers are interface designers and not all designers are interaction designers. But where is the line drawn when one person is not both? And knowing how companies try so hard to get more more out of less less people, how realistic is it to be an IxD, but not a UID, especially when IxD/IA/usability in general has to be sold to companies as useful? ~ Lukeisha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=25077 *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] Differnce between user interface and interaction design?
Just curious how some of you would differentiate an interaction designer from a user interface designer? Apologies if it's been discussed to death before. I think these kind of questions keep coming up again again for some of the following reasons: 1. Companies give many different titles to the same group of duties. So, which titles does one need to look for in a job search to ensure that you cover all of your bases? 2. Many people have different backgrounds. So, how does one know if he/she has the correct experience or training for the any of the multiple titled positions. i.e. My background is mostly in back-end web development. Even though, I've coded in HTML/JavaScript, but the design parts, like image croping/creation, colors, etc. was done by someone else. So, does one with that kind of background need to become proficient in Photoshop, Illustrator, or Flash to be a good IxDer? Unfortunately, I'm not sure if these kind of questions will slow down, until the field is many years old and dedicated training will define what these positions do. But the challenge will still be how to keep different companies from making a mis-mash of all the title. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=25077 *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
[IxDA Discuss] Prototyping for Computer vs. Mobile Screens
Hi All, There have been several posts on prototyping tools. For those who design for both computer mobile screens, what is the best way/tools to prototype based on screen size/resolution? Does the tool you use matter? Or, is it just the design patterns that matter? For example, many times the wireframe/prototype for a web site usually reflects the actual size of the real site. So, is that the same in mobile design? And, if so, what is the best tool or technique to accomplish that? Thanks! ~ Lukeisha Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ *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?
I have been looking into the IxD realm for about 3 years now. I chose to major in Psychology due to a natural curiosity of why people do what they do in general. And computers/technology has always kept my attention. One day I searched on the web to find out how I could apply my Psyc degree to my current career, and HCI popped up (I had never heard of it before). But I hadn't made a firm decision until about 2 months ago to try to enter the IxD field. The deciding factor was, as a web developer working for a firm with no interaction designers, but talented backend developers visual designers, there's never any time for creating proper functional flows or conducting usability testing early in the project. I always found myself, during regular testing for code bugs, wishing we had more time to do things like add a logout button to a web app that users must login to. Things like that drove me crazy. Not to mention, some times we had frustrated users, even though the capabilities of the apps were awesome. Also, after seeing some awesome usability interface design of products such as mobile phones operating systems, I'd like to be able to eventually branch out into doing IxD for non-web applications, such as for mobile devices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=23679 *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] Design in Interaction Design?
Seeing Graphic Design or Art backgrounds was a surprise to me because as I do research on how to prepare to enter the ID/UX arena, there are quite a lot of references (mostly in job posts) to education in cognitive learning (Psyc), or HCI which has Psyc courses in it's curriculum. And some even ask for PHD's in Psyc. But, it seems that no matter how you all arrived there, you all have been successful in obtaining maintaining your IxD careers. I guess the key requirement is having the desire to make the users happy by making their tasks as intuitive quick as possible. In other words, the app can do exactly what it is supposed to and look great, but if it is hard to use, users/product customers may either reject it or often complain. And I'm further guesing that how an IxD comes up with the solutions for remedies is not important as long as the problems gets solved. Please correct me if I'm off base. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=23732 *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] Gain IxD Experience Strategy
Thanks everyone for your very helpful comments and suggestions. I'm very glad to have joined you all here at IxDA!! I am very excited, and will definitely pursue some of the recommendations you all provided. I'm in the North East New Jersey Mid/downtown New York City areas. So, if anyone can suggest some usability meet up groups/communities, especially any that provide mentor programs, that would be great! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=22941 *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
[IxDA Discuss] Gain IxD Experience Strategy
Hi All, I'm trying to transition into the IxD area of IT. I come from a backend web application developer background, approx. 7 years. Although, I've done some minor CSS, JavaScript, etc., I'm not a visual designer. My interest in IxD has come about over the last year or so due to my having done tons of hard work, along with my teammates, on the backend of web applications, only have the users who don't know anything about all the backend stuff complain and not like the usability of the system. I began to realize that, although we did have visual designers on the team, the interaction design suffered due to lack of time effort spent on that portion of it. Not to mention I majored in Psychology, so I've always been curious about human behavior. And, what better way to combine 2 well loved interests, right? HCI :-) I have since left the environment described above, and I'm now working as a Business Analyst. I thought this might put me closer to my goal, but I realize that this particular position does not. I also know that working in certain firms, IxD is not the companies' core concern. They just want to get a quick application. So, I'm looking for a position in which I would be allowed the opportunity to become more involved with the IxD area of application design. However, every position I see requires 3-5 years experience. Although, I have 7 years web development experience, and I've been reading up on IxD, I've never had the opportunity to actually create any of the deliverables to be able to show a portfolio of any kind to a prospective employer. Can anyone give any advice on the following, and any more that you can think of? -- What is the ideal background for someone entering IxD? -- How can one obtain some practical experience, even when that person is in an environment that is not conducive to providing it? I appreciate any thoughts. Thanks! Be a better pen pal. Text or chat with friends inside Yahoo! Mail. See how. http://overview.mail.yahoo.com/ *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
