Re: [IxDA Discuss] At what point does a mailing list become counter-productive?
For what it's worth, I enjoy seeing the job postings, announcements and even the occasional feel-good off-topic question. The list has garnered a huge gathering of talent and momentum - a threaded mailing list view might be your answer, but I vote to keep it as is (and growing). I've learned so much here, and it seems to be a never ending trove of great people and information in one big, wonderful soup-of-the day. Static is always the price to pay for popularity. Regarding recruiters: this career is exploding - when the recruiters stop knocking and looking for people, worry! We're in a recession and the jobs still abound - smile, it's a good time for us! I'm enjoying the growth and opportunities of this creative and interesting career path. Apologies if this offends - just wanted to voice a positive opinion of thanks and great respect to the people here. -Dan On Mar 27, 2008, at 8:15 AM, Zack Frazier wrote: Here goes ... First, I admit that I am not an IA but rather a developer who believes in creating a synergy with IAs and designers to help solve our common problems. That being said, this list has become unmanageable. There are great discussions happening here but it is becoming increasingly hard to find them amongst the job postings, event announcements, feel-good off-topic questions, and especially the numerous snarky replies. I mean there were 15 replies to the Nannybot etiquette post ... we get that you're all clever and witty. I understand this is a balancing act. Some people want to lurk and some want this to be their second home. Ultimately, what should a non- IA like me get from this list? Has the possibility of breaking into multiple lists been discussed? I fear that a monolithic list could further silo this community even while members are saying traditional walls in the industry need to go away. Have any list personas been created? Zack Frazier -- Senior Developer VSA Partners, Inc. 1347 South State Street Chicago, Illinois 60605 http://www.vsapartners.com 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Don't listen to your customers.
Depending on the situation, I do or don't listen to what people say. For really big innovations that have absolutely nothing to do with anything out there now, asking the average consumer about them isn't useful in most cases. One is better off researching trends, coming up with multiple scenarios of the future, forming hypotheses and then going into the field to substantiate or refute those based on what is happening today. Even that will not provide answers but simply point toward a more likely future scenario provided there are no great disruptions, new technologies out of left field, etc. For near term improvements on a product/service or innovations that are near-term and resemble something which already exists, I still don't listen to what people say but rather observe what they do and try to understand their base, emotional unmet needs. Here, archetype, semiotics, ethnography is very useful. For immediate improvements to existing products/services/interfaces, I listen to what lead or extreme users have to say and I watch them to uncover new opportunity. I look for outliers - people who do things differently from everyone else and either accomplish the same thing or figure out a better way. I also listen for what people don't say and observe any workarounds. If great detail is involved, I'll suck it up and do a time-motion study...;) So I really do think your objectives or those of your client should lead one's approach. But then, there are always exceptions to every rule! 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] Don't listen to your customers.
Talk to the customer to understand the needs and issues, not to have them help design. Designers design, consumers consume - that doesn't mean the consumer can't tell you what is bad about their current experiences to feed the design fire. We hold a lot of user meetings and have to craft them to keep the users from trying to design solutions. That said, the insight is invaluable. My opinion. On Mar 27, 2008, at 11:05 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm in a quandary. I like Dell Ideastorm [1], I like myStarbucksIdea [2] and I like the approach listening to customers espouse what they like and don't like about stuff I, and my clients, do. But, I keep digging up these quotes with monotonous regularity: a) If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said, 'a faster horse - Henry Ford b) We don't ask consumers what they want. They don't know. Instead we apply our brain power to what they need, and will want, and make sure we're there, ready - Akio Morita, founder of Sony c) It sounds logical to ask customers what they want and then give it to them. But they rarely wind up getting what they really want that way - Steve Jobs d) It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them - Steve Jobs (again) So should I stop talking about focus groups? Is the old method of ask and listen not applicable - particularly when designing stuff that's 'future proof' and therefore impossible to assess with the users of the future - or should we seek out new methods? Some have suggested trawling user communities, eavesdropping on online dialogue to perform a gap analysis . but is the next iPod or Flickr going to come out of a conversation on a Facebook wall. It just seems so vague. Of course, myStarbucksidea (flawed as it is from an Ix point of view) is an attempt to localise the dialogue but will the ultimate output of this just be a 'faster horse'? For us in the IxD arena when we're trying to create something unique and something innovative we press ahead with the development of prototypes and visuals that may reflect an interface and design that doesn't reflect where our users are today and, because they've not seen the insight we might have done, simply don't get why they'd need it. A case in point: a piece of work I've been involved with presented the idea that banking customers could tag transactions in their account - customers didn't get it: why would I do that . but we know from Mint [3], Wesabe [4] and others that people do use this feature. The problem being that the client has heard too many users in testing being dismissive about the idea and therefore increasingly thinks it's a waste of time. Granted, we could have fleshed out the prototype with 'why would I do this' type content and is this the failing here or simply that users don't always know best? Your learned opinions are sought. John. [1] http://www.dellideastorm.com/ [2] http://www.mystarbucksidea.com http://www.mystarbucksidea.com/ [3] http://www.mint.com http://www.mint.com/ [4] http://www.wesabe.com http://www.wesabe.com/ 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Fighting trolls
In discussion of loving/hating n00bs, I realized that what I really was fighting wasn't n00bs, but rather immaturity. Both are obviously mutually exclusive. From my previous post... rantDuring this discussion, I realized that what I'm fighting is immaturity. Since a dominant character of immaturity is impatience, I'm using the patience of a poster to determine the level of maturity./rant I realize my mistake of choosing the incorrect terminology, thereby misleading many in this discussion. Nasir, I agree with you in respecting mature new users. However, my stance is still strong on hating immature new(and old) users =). 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] Why beauty matters to IxD (a blog compilation)
Uday, I have to admit I struggled with the overly academic nature of the 1st pieces. But when I got to part 3, I was blown away. Your quarter of story, performance, utility and style are so on target, I wanted to yell hurray Wow, thanks Dave!! Glad you found the third part inspiring :-) The other material is a bit heavy for some...and that's the reduced version from the original 40 page thesis! hehe. No schooling. I'm self taught. It's interesting that you feel forced to characterize designers by their schooling, so many of us in IxD have no formal training in it or other design. I'm an I don't feel forced to... I just do it naturally :-) I am more biased towards design schooling for various reasons. But I've worked with many who have no formal degrees, self-taught like yourself, and I learned a great deal from them, like Andrei at Involution (we even taught a course together at SJSU), and others at Adobe, Oracle, etc. I have great respect for those who practice good design, even if it's learned in the real world at the school of hard knocks. I just find my education path enormously influential as that's how I met my first mentors who I feel still affect me today...as you have just read in the articles ;-) -uday 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] [Event] Chicago IxDA - Keeping Experiences Fresh - April 9, 2008
Hello, fellow Chicagoans, Spring is in the air (if you look past the snow), so it's time to break out of the office and bring our good perspectives together! We're pleased to announce our April event, hosted by the Institute of Design - IIT. Christopher Finlay will be leading our topic for the evening: Keeping experiences fresh: Investigating the difference between motif, theme and character. April 9 2008 6:30-8PM Institute of Design - IIT 350 N. La Salle -6th Floor We need to collect a list of names for security, so please RSVP by Monday, April 7th. To RSVP, please fill out this handy Google form: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=pKwbS7NpPcWkcItm81HeIRQemail=true Looking forward to seeing you there! 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] Skip or not
Congratulations! :) Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:53:49 -0400 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Skip or not Wow! Thank you for the helpful feedback! I just got my manager to agree to include the Skip button. The 'price' is to redesign the leading page so it will appear more fun and inviting to encourage users to go through the tutorial. Actually I don't view it as the price. It is what it should be. I took many valuable pieces from the responses and used them to make the case. Thank you all again. Min 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 _ 多个邮箱同步管理，live mail客户端万人抢用中 http://get.live.cn/product/mail.html 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] 2 part button - industry standard?
I have recently had to do some research into two-part buttons and I have found that there are two types of these buttons. One is the menu button and the other is a split button. The menu button has a category name or label on the button. Clicking it will always give you a list of options or actions that you can choose from. The label remains unchanged. Examples of this type would be the page button in ie7, the button to choose the search provider in firefox 2 and the amazon wish lists button. The spilt button on the other hand has two distinct parts - the left (and usually larger) part executes the default action when clicked. The right part provides the user with a set of related (and sometimes less frequently used) actions that they can choose from. I have also seen the drop down being used to change parameters for the default action. Depending on the situation that it is used in the default action may change or remain the same when a choice is made from the list. A save button with save as in the right side usually keeps save as the default choice. Other examples - button to execute the search and change the default provider in ie7, the print button in ie7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=27578 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] Fighting trolls
How about giving the noobies their own area. ... They can visit all forum areas, but can only post in their own Noobie folder for the first 2 weeks. Afterwards they can graduate to join the rest of the forum . I've dealt with this mechanism, and it is by far my least favorite because puts all 1, 2, and 3 into the same bin. This will drive away #1, which is a bad thing. 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] Recruiters
On Mar 27, 2008, at 10:55 AM, W Evans wrote: I know I have had a resume posted on Monster since about 2003, and I do update it every 6 months or so even though I have never gotten a job from monster - but what really burns my goat is that I very clearly say: 1. I have done IA and IxD work for a really long time 2. I have no interest in relocating for short term contracts 3. how much I cost About once a year, I get an e-mail query from someone who found my resume online. One that I posted to my first personal website. Last update: March 21, 2000. I leave it up just for giggles these days, and to give me an excuse to be rude to anyone who sends me a response from it. -- Jim 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] Don't listen to your customers.
At 6:05 PM + 3/27/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: ... snip ... So should I stop talking about focus groups? Is the old method of ask and listen not applicable - particularly when designing stuff that's 'future proof' and therefore impossible to assess with the users of the future - or should we seek out new methods?... If you're designing something completely new you have the opportunity to approach it in an entirely new way (cf the iPhone), but if you are improving or extending an existing product you can't break completely out of the existing mold (cf the 2nd to 5th generations of the iPod). And each project will have it's own limits imposed by time, budget, the visions/imaginations of stakeholders, the political structure, etc. Given all that, I have learned that you can almost never take a user's words verbatim. Listen to them, gather all the raw data that seems reasonable, but then try to dig down to the root causes, the core motivations that leads people to say what they do. then try to solve the real problems rather than the stated problems. For two interesting and useful perspectives on how far what users think and say depart from what the fundamental reality truly is, you might read Freakonomics and The Culture Code. These don't directly apply to UX design, but from two very different viewpoints they make it clear that you shouldn't take what most people say at face value. FWIW, Bill -- == Bill Fernandez * User Interface Architect * Bill Fernandez Design (505) 346-3080 * bf_list1 AT billfernandez DOT com * http://billfernandez.com == 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] At what point does a mailing list become counter-productive?
That being said, this list has become unmanageable. Zack, In the process of getting involved in the list, I've subscribed twice. The first one was at work. Here, I completely agree with you. I cannot manage the list on my work account at all. It is simply too much - too many emails flying in, no easy way of organising them: no easy way in Outlook, that is. On gmail however, the list is a joy. The way it deals with threading is a godsend and it is so much easier to ignore what I'm not interested in, as it is only listed once. If something you've ignored is popular, it is easy to dip in and see if the thread has taken an unexpected turn that I want to read. The only reason I keep my work account subscribed is to guage the volume of posts during the day. Give gmail a go! I mean there were 15 replies to the Nannybot etiquette post ... we get that you're all clever and witty. Alright, I apologise. The cake-over-IP post was indefensibly peurile! Alex. 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] Recruiters
W Evans wrote: Why can't recruiters read? I know I have had a resume posted on Monster since about 2003, and I do update it every 6 months or so even though I have never gotten a job from monster - but what really burns my goat is that I very clearly say: 1. I have done IA and IxD work for a really long time 2. I have no interest in relocating for short term contracts 3. how much I cost I think that a fair number of recruiters take the shotgun approach: if you throw enough shot into the air, eventually, something will hit. Or, they just blindly call/email whatever their automated tools hand them. I get the same sort of emails and calls from a local recruiting agency. They are using a 9 year old resume, and when I send them an updated resume and indicate that I now do IxD work, I'll still occasionally get calls about C++ and Cognos BI tools (which I used 9 years ago). Ron PS: On the flip side, at the end of 2006, when we were trying to fill a design/usability position, we had this one fellow apply. His main qualification, as far as I could tell, was that he completed a month of an automotive mechanics course. He also applied for every other position that the company had open, from sales to support to those requiring highly technical domain expertise. Again, shotgun approach. 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] Recruiters
As Dick Chaney showed us all last year - the shotgun approach, isn't always the most effective, is it? Thanks for your comment :-) ~w On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 7:27 AM, Ron Vutpakdi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: W Evans wrote: Why can't recruiters read? I know I have had a resume posted on Monster since about 2003, and I do update it every 6 months or so even though I have never gotten a job from monster - but what really burns my goat is that I very clearly say: 1. I have done IA and IxD work for a really long time 2. I have no interest in relocating for short term contracts 3. how much I cost I think that a fair number of recruiters take the shotgun approach: if you throw enough shot into the air, eventually, something will hit. Or, they just blindly call/email whatever their automated tools hand them. I get the same sort of emails and calls from a local recruiting agency. They are using a 9 year old resume, and when I send them an updated resume and indicate that I now do IxD work, I'll still occasionally get calls about C++ and Cognos BI tools (which I used 9 years ago). Ron PS: On the flip side, at the end of 2006, when we were trying to fill a design/usability position, we had this one fellow apply. His main qualification, as far as I could tell, was that he completed a month of an automotive mechanics course. He also applied for every other position that the company had open, from sales to support to those requiring highly technical domain expertise. Again, shotgun approach. 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] Recruiters
That does sort of bring to mind questions- what ~does~ getting into IT recruiting involve? Is it like being a real estate agent/broker, but for IT jobs? Special degrees beyond the obvious? HR background? Nice smile? Most of my interactions have been positive when I've been looking at positions, at least a combination of good intent and luck that the offerings were at least in the neighborhood where I was looking. This seems to vary wildly with the shotgun calls I get (No, I don't know Esperanto.), usually when I'm feeling solid in my current position. On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 4:01 PM, Brett Ingram [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Or you could get into the recruiting business yourself. My experience has been that this can't be automated very well - its a very personal kind of thing. -- 'Life' plus 'significance' = magic. ~ Grant Morrison 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] Don't listen to your customers.
On Mar 27, 2008, at 9:05 PM, Marijke Rijsberman wrote: For instance, testing prototypes is not a good way to suss out what (small?) percentage of people is going to do something like write reviews, tag their expenses, or do some other power user type of thing which demands a lot more dedication than the average user would bring to it. That requires a different (and likely more quantitative) type of research. Completely disagree. Last year we did several rounds of usability testing for LA Times w/prototypes looking at tagging, reviews, and other social idioms. In fact, the usability testing highlighted something we never would have seen in quantitative research—that while people aren't sure what tags are, the interaction of what a tag does meets their expectation. If we had done a quantitative approach, we would have seen near 0% interaction and based on that would have scrapped tagging, ratings, and reviews from the new Calender Live site. However, with in-person testing, we were able to get feedback from users that showed: 1. Only power-users are likely to migrate to tagging, ratings, and reviews. 2. Power-users are not age-defined. 3. 3-5% of users will rate, tag, or review. 4. Non-power-users were willing and often interested to explore tagging, ratings, and reviews, but sometimes needed some type of prompting. Understanding what kind of prompt they needed helped us engage them in future rounds of testing. Gaining this understanding is only something we could have obtained by in-person discussions, not through a web-survey. 5. Through in-person studies were able to perform some collaborative design with the participants and determine the priority levels of the information on the screen. This lead to design concepts that enabled us to put tags clouds (something that less than 2% of our participants knew what it was) in the appropriate place on the screen so that they were out of the way of those who wouldn't use them, but reachable for those who would. 6. When encouraged to explore tags, every participant who did found them extremely useful and immediately saw the benefit. We didn't explain the benefit and ask them to try them, we simply asked what they expected to happen if they clicked on those things and then had them try it out and followed up with how does that compare to what you expected? Very vague, but it does the trick w/o leading. Numbers 1-3 could be accomplished w/a quantitative study, but 4-6 took a qualitative study to perform. And frankly, 4-6 were insights that were new, while 1-3 are things we could have learned by googling. Cheers! Todd Zaki Warfel President, Design Researcher Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully. -- Contact Info Voice: (215) 825-7423 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] AIM:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Blog: http://toddwarfel.com -- In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not. 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] At what point does a mailing list become counter-productive?
One way to manage this list in Outlook is to create a simple rule that catches all the IxDA mail and throws it in a folder. This keeps it separate from everything else and it's fairly easy to search against once you've indexed it. I keep a local archive about the last 5000 posts on my machine and it's a handy resource when I'm disconnected or want to catch up on activity on the list. Chris Bernard Microsoft User Experience Evangelist [EMAIL PROTECTED] 630.530.4208 Office 312.925.4095 Mobile Blog: www.designthinkingdigest.com Design: www.microsoft.com/design Tools: www.microsoft.com/expression Community: http://www.visitmix.com The future is already here. It's just not evenly distributed. William Gibson -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Alexander Livingstone Sent: Friday, March 28, 2008 4:01 AM To: Zack Frazier Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] At what point does a mailing list become counter-productive? That being said, this list has become unmanageable. Zack, In the process of getting involved in the list, I've subscribed twice. The first one was at work. Here, I completely agree with you. I cannot manage the list on my work account at all. It is simply too much - too many emails flying in, no easy way of organising them: no easy way in Outlook, that is. On gmail however, the list is a joy. The way it deals with threading is a godsend and it is so much easier to ignore what I'm not interested in, as it is only listed once. If something you've ignored is popular, it is easy to dip in and see if the thread has taken an unexpected turn that I want to read. The only reason I keep my work account subscribed is to guage the volume of posts during the day. Give gmail a go! I mean there were 15 replies to the Nannybot etiquette post ... we get that you're all clever and witty. Alright, I apologise. The cake-over-IP post was indefensibly peurile! Alex. 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] What project management tool do you use?
I have used Primavera Teamplay and its another daunting task to learn it. Now that i am not in to project management part of the world we use scheduling in MS Project. Santosh --- Ari Feldman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: back in the day, i used M$ Project then at another organization we used M$ Project Server. unfortunately, no one ever used it because of the high learning curve and the fact that schedules became as worthless as US dollars in Europe. :-) now that i'm no longer involved in project focused work, we use basic scheduling tied to our issue/bug tracking system. On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 10:49 AM, Vishal Iyer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm no expert on this, totally hope to avoid a semantic debate and I don't fancy the term either- but IMO it has a well understood connotation of being large scale, large budget- you were right in a warped way. More importantly- having the need to work with existing systems. Please define Enterprise? My only experience with the word is that it's usually used by marketing dweebs to justify 6-figure implementation and licensing costs. -- -Vishal http://www.vishaliyer.com 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 -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- 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 Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs 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] SEO Rapper
So there's a guy up on YouTube with a whole series of raps on Web design and similar topics (like Social Media Addiction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0qMe7Z3EYg). They're funny, and pretty accurate. I like the Design Coding one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0qMe7Z3EYg 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] At what point does a mailing list become counter-productive?
Alex, the gmail solution is so 2006. In 2007 the hip people are doing RSS. Just let it fill your Google Reader, and then click to the web site to do replies. you only need to go to Gmail to start new threads. Further advantages: Keeps list activity separate from other probably higher priority messaging. Easy to share (on Google Reader) by starring and sharing. Taggable Can ignore much easier. As an interaction model it seems to work really well for me anyway. I highly recommend trying it. oh! you can subscribe to full posts or just to summaries (your choice). You can also subscribe to people, tags, topics, etc. (separately). I also must add that the list is only unmanageable if you actually attempt to read everything. I think of the list like twitter (but better content). I can go long stretches without knowing what is going on. I know it is there when I have time and interest, and I just skim titles/subject lines for tags like Events Announcements to make sure I don't miss the important stuff. But most of the list is really for community building and entertainment purposes (some learning, but in an entertaining way), so management is not really an issue the way I see it. -- dave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=27697 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] Don't listen to your customers.
The most common misconception about design research is that you are asking users what the design should be. You aren't (or shouldn't be). Instead, the best design research I've been involved in is about finding data on three things: 1. Unmet needs. Usually unspoken and unrealized. Yes, people would have asked for a faster horse, but what is the need there? To travel longer distances quicker. The automobile was the solution to that need. 2. Pain points. Where is what is being done now difficult? 3. Opportunities. Where is there a space for a product or service that would meet those unmet needs or fix the pain points? Then it is our job to design the solution. This is what we are paid to do. :) Now, obviously, if a research subject comes up with a good solution, by all means steal it! Dan 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] Don't listen to your customers.
What people tell they do What people actually do = completely different Listen to your customer. Get him involved. But even better, see him use a product/website/... Give him simple tasks. Ask him to describe what he's doing. Pay attention to the underlying issues; if he/she wants a faster horse, you don't have to build or find a faster horse. Extraction: you now know they want to go faster Your customer won't bring the solution, but he can point out some key-issues. That is, if you're a good listener ; K. 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] [Event] London local group meeting
Last night's meeting in London went very well! Again we had a wide range of backgrounds, experience and work. Interestingly we had almost a completely different cross-section of people from last time (although I suspect some of this was down to late planning on my part - sorry for the last minute notice, all!). The 'mixer' style event was good and the conversation was curtailed only by train times and the need to get up in the morning. The enthusiasm shown by everyone at both events is really great - good things to come and lots of perspectives to learn from. The general consensus for timing of events seemed to be once a month, so I think we'll be continuing down this path for the moment. It was thought a good idea to have topics or themes to talk arounnd an spark conversation, so for the 17th, pick a topic you're interested in for chat - languages, telephones, something you like, something you hate. We'll see what crops up and take it from there. The next event is going to continue down the 'third Thursday' theme so the details are: Thursday the 17th of April at 6:30 pm Upstairs at the Dog and Duck pub 18 Bateman Street, Soho, London W1D 3AJ. Google Map: http://tinyurl.com/2376b2 Google Search: http://tinyurl.com/2qafzo My number: O7879 655 3OO See you all soon, Alex. 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] Looking for Touchscreen/Interactive Gestures Documentation Examples
Hi. I'm working on the Documenting Gestural Interfaces chapter of my upcoming book Interactive Gestures: Designing Gestural Interfaces: http://www.designinggesturalinterfaces.com I'd like to include in this chapter some real-world examples of documentation you might have for touchscreens, environments, etc. I'm looking for wireframes, task flows, storyboards, movies, and animations. These would obviously have to be non-proprietary and the donor willing to have them be shared in a book that will be published worldwide. I would of course credit you (and your company/client). Please contact me off-list if you can share. Thanks! Dan 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] [Announcement] Lou Rosenfeld - Site Search Analytics For Better UX Workshop
[Workshop] Lou Rosenfeld, co-author of the Polar Bear book, is doing some new workshops and I wanted to get the word out. He has also been nice enough to post his presentation online for people to see the value before signing up for one of the workshops. Presentation (via SlideShare) here: http://tinyurl.com/2xw7j3 118 slides that try to make the case for site search analytics as a critical (if under-appreciated) user experience research and design method. The workshop schedule is April 4 (Boston), April 22 (Sunnyvale), and May 15 (Chicago); details here: http://louisrosenfeld.com/ssa - Site Search Analytics For Better User Experience http://tinyurl.com/32q3m7 Does your site have a search engine? If so, you're sitting on an often under-utilized pot of gold: search query data that describes what your customers really want from your site—in their own words. Site search analytics helps you understand and benefit from that data, enabling you to better diagnose and solve a multitude of user experience problems. The result: better content, better navigation, better search, better interface design, and a better user experience. In this day-long workshop, Lou Rosenfeld—co-author of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web and the forthcoming Search Analytics for your Site: Conversations with your customers—will combine lecture, discussion, and extensive hands-on exercises to cover the basics of site search analytics. And he'll show you how spending even an hour a week analyzing your search queries can help tune and improve your site and expose new opportunities for improving your business strategy. *Dates* *April 4, 2008 Boston, MA* $895 per workshop $795 if you register by March 7 *April 22, 2008 Sunnyvale, CA* Special course offered through Involution Master Academyhttp://involutionstudios.com/?cat=8 $699; limited to *nine* attendees *May 15, 2008 Chicago, IL* $895 per workshop $795 if you register by April 18 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Don't listen to your customers.
Microsoft uses a lot of focus groups. Take that for what's it worth. From an ideation and concepting perspective I think they have minimal value and can in fact be disruptive, in that they can force you down a prescribed path far too soon. Far better to follow Andrei's advice or even better augment it by watching people. Even one person with a camera and notebook making quite observations can be a great augmentation to structured interviews. The canonical example of focus groups is New Coke. They focus grouped the heck out of that before they launched. Chris Bernard Microsoft User Experience Evangelist [EMAIL PROTECTED] 630.530.4208 Office 312.925.4095 Mobile Blog: www.designthinkingdigest.com Design: www.microsoft.com/design Tools: www.microsoft.com/expression Community: http://www.visitmix.com The future is already here. It's just not evenly distributed. William Gibson -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Andrei Herasimchuk Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 7:17 PM To: IXDA list Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Don't listen to your customers. On Mar 27, 2008, at 11:05 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Your learned opinions are sought. Don't ask people what they want. Simply ask them what they *think* they want. Pause. Then ask them why. After that, you're on your own. -- 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Don't listen to your customers.
There are tools for the appropriate places and times. Focus groups are attitudinal and small group dynamics being what they are can skew consensus. Perhaps not the best use for some things we do. Ethnography and other social science approaches towards observing the user in the environment may be more fruitful for yielding gap analyses in terms of need generation. Then too, does anyone remember the often-recounted study about yellow boomboxes vs black ones, the users said they would all buy yellow ones, but then when asked to pick up free ones on the way out, they all picked up black ones? I love that. Don't get me started on who says they wash their hands coming out of the bathroom vs those who actually do. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=27702 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] GUI for interactive whiteboards
On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 7:03 PM, dustb!n [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Lots to think about and evaluate. I know the UK is ahead of us in the states with board adoption... wondering if any UK ixd'ers can point me to any useful info. Hi, this is my first post to the list and I'm not sure if the convention is top or bottom posting (I did read the guidelines) so apologies if this is wrong. May I suggest contacting Becta (British Educational Communications and Technology Agency) http://www.becta.org.uk/ I did a lot of consulting work with them about 5 years ago when the British Government were running a programme to get interactive whiteboards into all schools. They have good relationships with all the suppliers and have done a lot of research on the use of them in schools and colleges, so I think they would be in a good position to help. Kind regards Laura Francis 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] Fighting trolls
- On the post page, put a Do you want to search and see if someone's already answered your question? -- but off to the side - Let people write their question out and click Continue - Show the post preview AND automatically return the search results for answers that may answer their questions If user clicks on one of the old answers, it should probably open in-page using AJAX or in a separate window - If user goes ahead and posts anyways, fine. I think this is a great solution. The pattern itself has been used in the world of bug-tracking tools and customer support requests, where the submission (the posting, in this context) is used first as a query to see if any results cross a certain threshold in relevance. Above the threshold and the application asks the user if one of these other items is a duplicate or meets their needs. Otherwise, proceed. And its a great illustration of making the technology go to work instead of making the humans do more work. For the list, extending it to email would be novel, functioning as a sort of call-and-response in non-web channels. - Michel. 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] Recruiters
At the risk of really getting you guys going - I'd like to take a stab at this. I've been a creative recruiter for two years, working at a company that's been around for 30 years, working primarily in tech and creative, so I know at least a little about what is going on To start with - NO - most of us do not have a specialized degree; however, a good number of us have worked in the advertising/creative industries at some point in our careers. I started as a fresh grad with an English degree from a liberal arts school. I got my job because I have excellent communication skills, am a quick learner, and have an eye for design. So, NO, we don't actually do what you do. Most of us are not hands on designers, information architects, or interaction designers. I had a client once who was outraged that I couldn't read HTML code to determine whether it would be pixel perfect - I told her that if I could, I wouldn't be doing my job, I would be coding! In other words, if we could do what you guys do, barring some exceptions we would be doing it, not recruiting. My company is very specialized, so 98% of the orders we work on are the same song and dance. We know the types of candidates who do it, often we are friendly with them, and are able to get our clients the talent they want and our candidates the exact type of work they are looking for. Everyone is happy and there is much rejoicing in the streets! That said, sometimes we do get an order that we don't understand. I am guilty of once writing a job ad that read something like, first you wash the LAMP with the SOAP. At my company, when we don't understand an order we do a variety of things to get clarity - online research, drill the client, call up a candidate we have a relationship with that can shed some light on it (one of our recruiters is married to a hybrid AD/Flash Developer at an NYC agency, so he gets calls sometimes). All of those things completed, though, sometimes we still don't understand and we have a client that is crying and wants to give us money to find someone to help them. This is when things get troublesome. We often are forced to rely on skill searches to direct us to a candidate pool - so if you have the appropriate language on your resume, you will be worth calling in times of great desperation. (Also - our own candidate database is the most poorly designed piece of crap software that I have ever seen or tried to work with - but again, that's something that we can't fix because we don't have the software engineering skills to pull that off.) We often know that you haven't coded HTML/CSS for several years when we call. We know that your IDEAL position is not what we are presenting you with. But sometimes - probably more often than you'd believe - the stars line up and a candidate who is a little rusty in a particular area happens to be willing to do some work for a very desperate client for the proper amount of compensation. This won't happen, though, unless we make the call. Recruiters aspire to be matchmakers. It is personal in that way. However, sometimes in a desperate attempt to keep our clients happy, we have to make embarrassing cold calls. I don't like it any more than you guys do. I hope that helps and I'm bracing for your responses. Jackie O'Hare | Manager of Interactive Recruitment TTS Personnel, Inc Jackie at ttspersonnel dot com 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] Add to Cart Ethics / Best Practices - Studies?
Does anyone know of any good studies, reports or resources involving e- commerce/shopping cart ethics or best practices? Currently I am working with a site that automatically adds (extended) warranties to products when adding the product to the cart. The customer is in for a surprise when they enter the cart and find a price higher than they would expect, and must remove the warranty (which is subtle and easy to miss) manually. I am trying to support the idea that this is having a substantial (negative) impact on cart abandonment rates, and a more long term effect on customer trust and loyalty. My personal belief is that this warranty should never be an opt-out scenario and it should be treated and marketed as any other up-sell. Any data or studies outlining these scenarios would greatly assist me in supporting my position. Thanks! Thomas Marks Front-End Designer 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] Don't listen to your customers.
Wasn't it mentioned here or somewhere else that the first use of Focus Groups was for the Edsel?? If that doesn't about say it all - There is the story about the 12 people (?) brought in to focus group on a new personal stereo (boombox they were called at the time), and people were asked what colours they would like - and a large majority responded very favorably to the canary yellow boombox. At the end - as they were walking out the door - they were offered boomboxes as thank you's for doing the focus group. Yellow was offered. Everyone took black. Users lie. Ouch! What did Will just say? They lie. Sometimes they don't even know it. In user testing - they could have completed a task 10 minutes ago - and they will lie about what they did - well - they will not remember correctly what they did -- which is why you observe what they do - not what they said they did. Let the flames begin - I am pulling out my umbrella now - just incase anyone throws veggies. On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 12:13 PM, Chris Bernard [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Microsoft uses a lot of focus groups. Take that for what's it worth. From an ideation and concepting perspective I think they have minimal value and can in fact be disruptive, in that they can force you down a prescribed path far too soon. Far better to follow Andrei's advice or even better augment it by watching people. Even one person with a camera and notebook making quite observations can be a great augmentation to structured interviews. The canonical example of focus groups is New Coke. They focus grouped the heck out of that before they launched. Chris Bernard Microsoft User Experience Evangelist [EMAIL PROTECTED] 630.530.4208 Office 312.925.4095 Mobile 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] SEO Rapper
Appartently there's an entire genre called Nerdcore Hip Hop, rapping about all sorts of geeky stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerdcore See also this funny song about encryption: http://frontalot.com/index.php/?page=lyricslyricid=41 -- Alex On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 2:23 PM, Alan Wexelblat [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: So there's a guy up on YouTube with a whole series of raps on Web design and similar topics (like Social Media Addiction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0qMe7Z3EYg). They're funny, and pretty accurate. I like the Design Coding one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0qMe7Z3EYg 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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Add to Cart Ethics / Best Practices - Studies?
Thomas, Yikes! This violates a basic trust principle of shopping carts. Here's Jakob Nielsen on the subject (E-Commerce User Experience, pp.84-85): Trust is also related to pricing. High prices, shipping costs that appeared unreasonable, and hidden prices caused 5% of the sales catastrophes in this study. ... Our users commented negatively on hidden prices. They were unpleasantly surprised by high shipping costs that were not shown until after they had gone through a lot of effort to find suitable products. ... For these reasons and more, show the total price -- including shipping charges, taxes, duty, and any other fees -- as soon as possible. Don't wait until after the customer has placed an order. -- Kim + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Kim Bieler Graphic Design www.kbgd.com + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + 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] SEO Rapper
Don't be disrespectin' Nerdcore! CodeMonkey http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2006/04/14/thing-a-week-29-code-monkey/is a great song! On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 5:18 PM, Alexander Baxevanis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Appartently there's an entire genre called Nerdcore Hip Hop, rapping about all sorts of geeky stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerdcore See also this funny song about encryption: http://frontalot.com/index.php/?page=lyricslyricid=41 -- Alex 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] Don't listen to your customers.
Hi John, Instead of using focus groups, I use personas to get a clear view on the user goals. Constructing personas isn't about asking what users want. It is about trying to figure out their daily goals (anything from being happy to finish my todo list by the end of the day). I believe that as a designer I should always try to design in a way that enables users to accomplish these goals. Personally I prefer the goal directed design approach from Cooper. Qualitative research helps us understand the domain, context, and constraints of a product in different, more useful ways than quantitative research does. It also helps us identify patterns of behavior among users and potential users of a product much more quickly and easily than would be possible with quantitative approaches.[1] The people from Cooper posted some articles on their journal[2], these might be helpful. I think The Persona Lifecycle[3] is a great first introduction with personas. Gr. Erik van de Wiel 1: Book: About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design -- Alan Cooper (quote: page 50) http://www.amazon.com/About-Face-Essentials-Interaction-Design/dp/0470084111/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8s=booksqid=1206699216sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/About-Face-Essentials-Interaction-Design/dp/0470084111/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8s=booksqid=1206699216sr=8-1 2: http://www.cooper.com/insights/journal_of_design/articles/personas/ 3: Book: The Persona Lifecycle http://www.amazon.com/Persona-Lifecycle-Throughout-Interactive-Technologies/dp/0125662513/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8s=booksqid=1206699232sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Persona-Lifecycle-Throughout-Interactive-Technologies/dp/0125662513/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8s=booksqid=1206699232sr=1-1 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] Don't listen to your customers.
There are tools for the appropriate places and times. Focus groups are attitudinal and small group dynamics being what they are can skew consensus. Perhaps not the best use for some things we do. Ethnography and other social science approaches towards observing the user in the environment may be more fruitful for yielding gap analyses in terms of need generation. Then too, does anyone remember the often-recounted study about yellow boomboxes vs black ones, the users said they would all buy yellow ones, but then when asked to pick up free ones on the way out, they all picked up black ones? I love that. Don't get me started on who says they wash their hands coming out of the bathroom vs those who actually do. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=27702 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] At what point does a mailing list become counter-productive?
Reminds me of the saying that the reason time exists is so everything doesn't happen all at once. As for me there's no discussion here that is so urgent that I need to respond immediately. I second proposing several types of lists, ixda-jobs, ixda-needhelpnow, etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=27697 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] Don't listen to your customers.
The company I currently work for provides online services for restaurants. One of our greatest accomplishments for this company as a design team is a seating management program that is about to go into several test restaurants. When we began the research for this product, we went into all the restaurants here in the town of Durango to interview hosts and hostesses. We did not really introduce ourselves as designers looking to develop a better way to seat guests but more so as researchers for a start-up company. We began by asking them about the work they do and had them walk us through a typical workday. We then proceeded to examine their actual behavior. We documented the different types of mediums they used in taking reservations, handling walk-ins and dealings with restaurant staff. It was in observing their behaviors that allowed us to clearly see both the problems and solutions. Once we compiled this information, we were able to build solid personas, true-to-life scenarios, story boards, workflows and then wireframes that we then could take back to the host and hostesses for usability testing. From there, we did visual comp specs that we then tested again before turning over to engineering. Ultimately, it is the quality of the research and experience of the researcher that will determine the true value it can bring to the design process. We were fortunate to have an outstanding individual who truly understood how to properly perform research to give us such powerful results. I apologize if I seem condescending, but if you are not getting value out of your research, then you need to ask yourself if you are doing it right. We also have employees here who are not adept to doing research correctly and the results have been less than useless. Even with my experience doing this research, I do not consider myself an expert in this field. My only bit of advice (at this moment) is: Do not go straight into telling people what you are doing and then asking them what they think they would want you to do. Even by telling them what you are doing, you begin influencing their answers.Your interviewees will always want to impress you with their intelligence and try to say what they think you want to hear. So don't give them any clues. Research their behaviors, maybe even secretly (I know, easier said than done) They will give you more answers if they think they are not being tested under the microscope. Maybe save the hardcore interviewing as a means of usability testing with some low fidelity mock ups. We just made color copies and had people pretend they were computer screens. Have the right people do the interviewing. Many of us think we can do it right, but if others observed us, they may think differently. As for myself, I look forward to continually learning from all of you here - Thank you for your time! Stefan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=27702 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] Don't listen to your customers.
I second Todd's observation. There is nothing better than being in your customer's environment to help you as a designer puts some context around what they are saying. I'll share an IDEO story that they like to show to clients to help them understand why contextual sessions with customers are necessary. IDEO was working with a client in the health and beauty industry. As a part of the project, the team interviewed extreme users - those people who said they never, ever used beauty products or services, as well as those for whom pampering was a regular habit. The clip that IDEO plays is of a forklift operator - a big burly guy who falls into the former category. During the session, one of the observers noted that there was a home foot spa next to the sofa where the interview was taking place. When asked about it, the guy admitted that it wasn't just for his fiancee, that he used it as well, explaining that the boots he had to wear for work every day did a number on his feet and the spa helped relieve his aches and pain. He simply didn't (or didn't want to) interpret that to be a 'beauty product' or his daily foot spa to be 'pampering'... On Mar 28, 2008, at 5:45 AM, Todd Zaki Warfel wrote: There is a difference between doing what your customers say and actually finding out/interpreting their needs based on a conversation with them and observing their behaviors. Nancy Broden [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] OT: Webhost
I'm sorry for necroposting... I use hostmysite.com and I'm pretty happy with it. If there issues, usually they are get solved pretty quick. -- Maxim 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] At what point does a mailing list become counter-productive?
From: David Malouf [EMAIL PROTECTED] Alex, the gmail solution is so 2006. In 2007 the hip people are doing RSS. It's now 2008. We've all gone retro, back to rnews and plain text e-mail. You've gotta keep up, man! -- Jim 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] Finding Stuff: Search, Browse, Whatever
Hi folks, Apologies in advance for any topic duplication, banality, or blatant ignorance I show here. I only dabble in IA/IxD. I have this current thinking that goes something like this: 1. Search (be it for a Web site, application, whatever) should always just start with a single, keyword box. No advanced options. 2. Search results should always be limited to 50 items or less (no paging, no configurably changing max items returned) 3. Facilities should be provided to further, iteratively refine results, e.g., on the side provide options that are contextual to the search results that you can select one or more of. I'm thinking here like date range (if applicable), any categories/tags--things you might normally have seen on an advanced search. The key difference is that you can quickly tweak the filters to see how they affect the result set. Also, sorting functions as a kind of filter (top N of result set by X). It seems to me that this approach, by and large, should enable folks to find what their looking for almost all of the time, except maybe in extremely huge data sets (like Amazon and Google). I mean, as a rule of thumb. And if larger sets of data need to be rationalized, use some sort of visualization with drill down. No? Are there better rules of thumb for providing searching facilities? Also, in terms of browsing, I've become fond of the tagging paradigm w/ tag cloud-ish things. What do you all think of tags and, in particualr, tag clouds? What about multiple tag filtering (click tag X, then tag Y and see only things with both tags)? Finally, in terms of menus, what do you think of the menus that hide when not in use (sort of like the Start button/Vista button)? I mean say on a Web site or app. --Ambrose 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] Recruiters
what ~does~ getting into IT recruiting involve? Is it like being a real estate agent/broker, but for IT jobs? Special degrees beyond the obvious? HR background? Nice smile? I thought I would chime in as I am an IT Recruiter. The issues raised are all legitimate. It is true that many recruiters practice a shotgun approach. I do not subscribe to that as IT has developed in such a dynamic and specialized way; that finding the right person for an opportunity is all about the details. From a credibility stand point it does not serve anyones interest to propose a role to a candidate nor a candidate to a client; that is not a suitable match; this undermines the confidence of your constituency on all fronts. As a individual; I have also suffered the slings and arrows of blasts and errant calls that were no where near my profile. Mostly to blame are the companies and learship of these companies; they have no clue; to them it is a sales model and you throw as much dung at the walls and see what sticks; so they are often inclined to hire someone that has no clue and pay them less and cultivate a rote machine like manner; then to hire someone who approaches in a professional, analytical and yes ethical manner with the proper etiquette and builds a following that is based on mutual respect and interest. Most are not trained; simply given simple templates; but there are those that have an appreciation and the intelligence that develop into more reputable and effective advocates and agents that serve their end clients and candidates well. I have maintained relationships and developed friendships with indiviudals that I help facilitate an opportunity for since 1999; when I entered the industry and have earn the respect of clients and candidates alike; for providing a timely and cost effective service that has led to the development of successful careers and the loyalty of hiring managers that value my efforts and input. I have also learned much from the folks; (..your mailing list included.;o)that I serve and congregate with and it has made me a better recruiter and I too have learned to accept that in the execution of my duties and with all the best intentions; I will deal with candidates who are dishonest, self serving, deluded and lacking in social grace and ethical value; but as in life and in balance; the good outshines the bad. ...and yes; I'm advise that I have a great smile..infectious even; a degree in Theatre Mgmt, classically trained In Stanislavski Method, politcally active and socially conscious, a frustrated writer and most of all... my kids dad. Just wanted you to give you a beacon of sorts. I thought the litany of comparisons might lead to include; Theatrical agents and lawyers; but thats another post subject altogether...:o) -Bert 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] Add to Cart Ethics / Best Practices - Studies?
I don't have any data or studies to share, but you might want to bring up the legal angle as well. By adding the extended warranty to the cart (without the permission of the user), the company very likely opens itself up to fraud-related lawsuits. At the minimum... they're gonna get a lot of very angry customers canceling the extended warranty. Also, is the financial benefit going to outweigh the customer service costs of people canceling the warranty? Plus the cost of the loss in consumer trust? This whole scenario is also ripe for an internet backlash (digg/consumerist/etc). Joshua Lane Senior Web Designer / Information Architect Creative B'stro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=27755 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] Recruiters
Helen Killingbeck wrote: I think that a face to face with recruiters at a local chapter of your favourite UX/IxD/UPA/IA meeting would be helpful. Oooh, now that's a really clever and mutually beneficial idea for a good recruiter and a savvy local chapter to exploit. I have met some very good recruiters. Ones that have some understanding of what might be involved or at least the meanings of words and acronyms. Ones that take the long view and work at establishing relationships. I don't mind getting not a particularly good match calls or emails from these recruiters since I'd like to take the long view as well. Even if I'm not interested in that particular position or that position at this time, down the road, I might be interested in another position, know of someone who might be, or might need to fill a position myself. Then, I'll contact the ones that didn't make me feel like I got hit by errant buckshot. Ron 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
