If paring down a page to a single form field, and peeling away all the clutter that was part and parcel of "search portals" at the time, was a radical act, a defiant act, on behalf of users. If it was not THE PRIMO example of UCD, I don't know what is.
Yes, Google's back end and guts were the value proposition, the fast search, the intuitive results. But the gamble, the biggest gamble Google made, was to dare to stand up for users being more important than advertisers, and to court those users with pure functionality, SEARCH. The devotion to users, by making that search as pure and true and close to the Akashic Records of the Internet is, far and beyond, over and above Google's incredible valuation, a PUBLIC SERVICE on behalf of users that will live on in history, long after Google's founders have been forgotten. Maybe Google doesn't pinch its butt cheeks together and chant "Here we are self-consciously doing UCD," (I have no idea one way of the other, although they most certainly hire UX people), but when the net result is to radically SHOW UP those people who do sit around and chant the chant, by advocating even more radically for users and the user experience, all UCD people can do is sit around and feel embarrassed for having sinned and fallen short of the glory of Google. Google is also an innovator in another area that is still under active contention, but it is something I would argue is again, UCD, pure user advocacy. I am referring to the endless Beta releases as a direct business strategy. Calling a product "beta" invites users, audiences, social groups, to participate in co-authoring the design, because the design is confessedly unfinished, and requires users to bring it to its full beauty, its best UCD completeness, which may never be complete, because Google is redefining the value of a fiction called "completeness." That has done more for UCD than any UX "process" that I'm aware of, because it self consciously makes design "social." Chris On Mon, Jun 23, 2008 at 6:56 PM, Andrei Herasimchuk < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Jun 23, 2008, at 3:39 PM, James A. Landay wrote: > > It seems odd (and in fact dishonest) to me that you cut that part out. He >> is asking questions here, not making a statement that it is true. And the >> fact is that there are UCD practices at Google, on the iPod team, etc. (I >> don't know much about Facebook or Twitter's practice, but I'm doubtful that >> Facebook doesn't have some UCD going on). Some companies do not want you to >> believe they practice these techniques so that they can make their designers >> into superstars and use that in their marketing. >> > > > Google practices UCD? Really? How so? Their bread and butter with the > search engine was built and designed by engineers, pure and simple. I guess > Google Apps are "user centered design" but really... how much is user > centered versus how much is working from a wealth of knowledge form the past > 30 years of making email, word processors and spreadsheet applications? > Sure, a few features here and there are interesting, but those pieces are a > small portion of the entire product offering. > > Apple has been on record as not practicing UCD many times now. They design > what they like, pure and simple. Are you saying they are lying? > > Facebook? Um... have you been inside Facebook and seen how they work? Built > by engineers and a bunch of youngin's during "Hackathon" fests that start in > the afternoon and go all night until they get something. In fact, you can > watch the Facebook Platform video yourself to see one prominent Facebook > engineer say, "We basically make a bunch of stuff, throw it against the wall > and see what sticks." > > To my knowledge, Twitter was built organically, hardly planned on how > people would use it at all. It just sort of happened from a fun project some > engineer started. UCD there? Please show me. > > For the people who are offended that there are people out there (like me I > might add) who shun "UCD," well... it's really about time to shut us up by > proving how much better products designed with that process are. I have yet > to encounter a product that was designed via the "UCD methodology" that > excelled in its product category. I attribute largely to an inherent flaw in > favoring "users" over all else, which are both technology and business > concerns. > > I also attribute it to a phrase I have written on my whiteboard at home: > > "Designers have a process. Designers don't use a process." > > -- > Andrei Herasimchuk > > Principal, Involution Studios > innovating the digital world > > e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] > c. +1 408 306 6422 > > > ________________________________________________________________ > 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 > ________________________________________________________________ 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
