I like your discussion and it is an important one -- context can affect perceptions of usability. A simple example would be a wizard user interface where a person is stepped through doing their national taxes; you don't mind going through 65 steps since you can't know all the changes and you don't want to be audited, but put a wizard onto a program where a person does something several times a day and what is branded as very usable becomes a source of derision. The external and social environments can do this as well. I sometimes tell people who want to minimize clicks that there are other metrics and situations where a few extra clicks can reduce errors and minimize re-work that results from errors. So, before/after could show evolution of an interface but we could also show the same thing could be perceived quite differently (very usable in one context; not so usable in another.). We could create a poster showing different contexts and the impact on design. Context can be subtle and sometimes subtle differences in context can have profound effects on interaction.
The next few months are going to be too fill to do anything, but this would be a good project for IxDA or UPA or CHI. Chauncey On Jan 31, 2008 9:15 AM, Nick Iozzo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I think we would need to go beyond just a before/after bad to good example. > I think we would also need to introduce the concept of context and how it is > used. > > What I think would be an interesting exercise would be to find a "bad > design" and show what a good design would look like under different > contexts. > > It might be fun to theorize under what context's the bad design would > actually be good. Likely, these theories would be so absurd and the examples > of good design so clear, that the reader may start to believe what we are > saying not because we are experts, but because we have allowed them to begin > to analysis the design. > > What made me being this up was how calendars are used in the world of the > credit bureaus.. > > For folks whose jobs deal with credit reports, they need to see a calendar > that starts from today and then goes backward in time. They want to look up > data like: has it been 30/60/90 days since the last delinquent report was > filed for this consumer. Plus they only care about the most recent x months > of information. So, when a new month's worth of data gets added, the oldest > month of data is removed. (information is put in at the top and something is > taken out of the bottom). > > Out of context, it you where to look at the programs they use, you would > think they where bad calendar designs. If you where to try and "fix it" for > them, then they would constantly be making mistakes as they went between > your fixed program and the dozens of other reports, programs, forms, and > artifacts which still show calendars going backwards in time. > > Chauncey, I would be willing to collaborate with you on an effort like this. > It would be fun and could be a new way to educate folks outside our field on > what we do. > > Nick Iozzo > Principal User Experience Architect > > tandemseven > > 847.452.7442 mobile > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://www.tandemseven.com/ > > > ________________________________ > > > Bad usability calendars are fun, but as a field, we are often criticized for > showing mostly bad examples and not highlighting good designs that are > recognized as usable by most. In fact, we often have trouble even agreeing > on concrete examples of design that have 'high" > > usability. There are sites that highlight bad web sites, unusable products, > poor signs, bad doc, and consumer products by mainstream companies that are > rife with design flaws. It would be good to create a "good usability" > calendar and sites that highlight designs that are considered usable. There > are magazines that have the Top 100 designs, but many of those may not > actually be usable (I'm thinking the round mouse that surfaces once every > twenty years to win industrial design awards, but in fact, is not very > usable). > > Perhaps when we show bad examples in presentations, we should be required to > show an improved version (before/after shots). > > Chauncey ________________________________________________________________ *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
