Re: [IxDA Discuss] Prototyping tools resources

[Andrew Boyd]

Hi Todd,

to clarify: a prototype shall be a series of representations of a
screen or screens?

Best regards, Andrew

On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 11:31 AM, Todd Zaki Warfel  wrote:
> I series of storyboards could be used in the prototyping process, but I
> wouldn't necessarily call it a prototype. That's one of those grey areas.
>
> On Mar 5, 2009, at 3:45 PM, Mary Deaton wrote:
>
>> In Todd's definition, a storyboard can be a prototype, but a one-page
>> mock-up cannot be. Right?
>
>
> Cheers!
>
> Todd Zaki Warfel
> President, Design Researcher
> Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully.
> --
> Contact Info
> Voice:  (215) 825-7423
> Email:  t...@messagefirst.com
> AIM:    twar...@mac.com
> Blog:   http://toddwarfel.com
> Twitter:        zakiwarfel
> --
> In theory, theory and practice are the same.
> In practice, they are not.
>
>
>
> 
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
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-- 
---
Andrew Boyd
http://uxaustralia.com.au -- UX Australia Conference Canberra 2009
http://uxbookclub.org -- connect, read, discuss
http://govux.org -- the government user experience forum
http://resilientnationaustralia.org Resilient Nation Australia

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Skittles Branding

[Anne Hjortshoj]

This should really be a discussion about Modernista.com, which is
where the idea for the Skittles site came from (apparently -- the
Modernista site got tons of press in the ad industry when it was
launched, so I imagine the idea was repurposed from there).

It works well as a brand site for an agency, certainly. I'm not sure
it does much to shape the brand for a product, other than conveying
the idea that Skittles is playful and current...

-Anne

On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 1:31 PM, tina725  wrote:
> Anyone beeing keeping track of skittles.com? First twitter, then
> facebook and now Wikipedia. Is it possible to really get rid of a
> branded website? Is that where the future of web design is headed?
> Interested to hear what people have to say.
> 
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org
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>



-- 
Anne Hjortshoj | anne...@gmail.com | www.annehj.com | Skype: anne-hj

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[IxDA Discuss] [EVENT] Boston IxDA: Funny Business - Using Comics in the Design Process. Thursday evening, 3/19.

[Boston IxDA]

Many of the challenges we face as designers relate not to the quality of our
work, but the communication of our ideas. Boston IxDA is thrilled to host *Amy
Cueva,* Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer at Mad*Pow, who will be
conducting a “how to” session on getting started with comics from a
strategy, process and tools perspective.

This event is open to all. However in the event of a last minute change,
follow us on http://twitter.com/bostonixda or sign up to our mailing list
here: http://tinyurl.com/azr77t

When : Thursday, *March 19th*. 6:30 socializing,
7pm start.
Where: *Autodesk.* 1560 Trapelo Road, Waltham, MA.


Event Description:
For years, usability professionals and interaction designers alike have been
using flow diagrams to demonstrate existing and proposed task flows. We have
integrated the great thinking from Kevin Cheng into our design process by
using the comic strip model to illustrate points of user frustration with
existing flows, recommend new approaches, and communicate how the
corporation and technology might support the solution. It has proven to be a
very engaging communication, combining the persona, their context and mental
model, other influencers, their multi-channel interactions and a high level
start to interface design.


Amy's Bio:
Amy partners with clients like Google, Aetna, Fidelity, and Monster to
create strong cross-channel digital strategies, first class user
experiences, and streamlined internal processes. She built Mad*Pow's
user-centered design methodology as the vehicle to synergize business goals,
customer needs, and technology requirements. She is the secretary and one of
the charter members of the NH UPA , is speaking at UPA
2009 , and was
selected as one of Mass High Tech’s Women to Watch in
2009
.

Prior to Mad*Pow, Amy worked for Putnam Investments simplifying experiences
for both investors and employees. She also spent time at MicroArts, Sapient,
and Sun Microsystems designing business to business financial applications,
marketing sites, and intranet sites. Prior to starting her career, Amy was
privileged to have the opportunity to study art history, painting and
architecture at La Sorbonne in Paris, France.



-- 
IxDA Boston organisers: Lisa, Jesse & Pauric
local site: http://www.bostonixda.org
Feed: http://boston-ixda.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is social networking doomed to frivolity?

[Ethan Smith]

I think it's a matter of personal mix. My younger brother and many of
his friends post things on Facebook I would consider way too much for
consumption on that scale - and also things I think are ridiculously
trivial. But it's his life - not mine - it doesn't matter what I
think.

He seems to be fine with interacting in that manner and he's a
pretty sharp guy so I trust he has thought about and experienced all
the ramifications of doing so.

I think the idea of frivolity is more a mechanism of your social
networking mix. What interactions are you comfortable with and how do
you go about fulfilling them? Social networking is great - but it can
enrich and damage at the same time.  

I think Grandin's point above is a very real and heart wrenching
example of how letting otherwise personal interactions out allowed
people to go through the grieving process in a way they would
otherwise not be enabled to do. 

The triviality, or lack thereof, has as much to do with personal
privacy preferences as anything else. Broader social nets will
perhaps lean toward lighter topics - and more closed ones will tend
to allow people to open up. Regardless, people are unpredictable and
will always defy generalization.

I do share Angel's preference for face to face communication for
really personal things, but again it's my preference. If you want to
reveal the most intimate details on your twitter feed, by all means,
it's good reading.  


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39528



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Skittles Branding

[Eily]

I think it's very brave of Skittles to use their brand to show what
everyone else is saying about their product as thats essentially what
the social media sites are. Twitter and Facebook are unmodulated and
as a result Skittles have no control over any of the content that is
displayed. 

I didn't realise another company had already done this type of
website 'design', if thats what one would call it. 

I doubt this is where website design is heading, as already mentioned
it wouldn't work for a lot of corporate websites. Businesses don't
want their clients to potentially be directed to negative comments
about their business. 

I've noticed that the Twitter feed for Skittles has been abused as a
result, with people using the word 'Skittles' in their tweets just
to show on that page. 


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39555



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[IxDA Discuss] interesting AIGA article, "Design & Business An ethnography primer"

[Jarod Tang]

Design & Business An ethnography
primer
.

It's just a primer, but interesting enough though not as heavy as
"Human-Machine Reconfigurations".

Cheers,
Jarod

-- 
http://designforuse.blogspot.com/

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Skittles Branding

[Adam Lerner]

I think that Amy & Whitney are right on as far as different needs
being fulfilled by full brand sites vs. the Modernista/Skittles
navigational overlay approach. But I would love to see an example of
this approach that didn't feel like a gimmick. Something with an
interplay between the overlay and the site that felt like a deeper
interaction than simply a "remote control" style navigation tool.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39555



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is social networking doomed to frivolity?

[Mike Myles]

IMO, the vast majority of social networking communication is
background noise. But to go from that to, "...since online
interaction lacks the human elements of empathetic facial responses,
body language, and touch, will social networking media be relegated
to only the more frivolous types of interpersonal communication?" I
think is simply going to far.

What of all the books, diaries, letters, and poems that have been
written over the millennia. No human contact, no empathetic facial
responses... does it matter? Do I need Lincoln to personally recite
the Gettysburg Address to me for it to be real? It's simply a
ridiculous proposition.

Now granted, in the history of the written word most of what has been
set to stone, or papyrus, or paper or a computer screen has not been
of earth shattering importance, nor does it offer the window into the
soul of ones humanity. Why would social networking be any different?
Why is the spoken word any different for that matter? I've heard
(and said) a lot of useless things in my life - that's just to be
expected. The important stuff is rare regardless of the delivery
mechanism.

No format is in itself doomed to frivolity. It may favor it, but not
exclude all potential for greater moments.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39528



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] The war on widgets

[Mike Myles]

I think the move is to more 'just in time' UI.

Look at tabs, more popular than ever. All the cool browsers are using
them now. :) They only show what pages you have active at any given
time.

The entire Office 2007 UI is built around task based, just in time
UI; contextual Ribbon tabs, for example. They are a blending of right
click/context menus, toolbars, and modeless dialogs.

All widgets have their place, but the ideal situation for any tool is
to only make it available when it's useful. It's not always easy to
figure out when that is, but then that's why there are designers
around - to work on those sorts of problems.


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39547



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Prototyping tools resources

[Todd Zaki Warfel]

I series of storyboards could be used in the prototyping process, but  
I wouldn't necessarily call it a prototype. That's one of those grey  
areas.


On Mar 5, 2009, at 3:45 PM, Mary Deaton wrote:


In Todd's definition, a storyboard can be a prototype, but a one-page
mock-up cannot be. Right?



Cheers!

Todd Zaki Warfel
President, Design Researcher
Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully.
--
Contact Info
Voice:  (215) 825-7423
Email:  t...@messagefirst.com
AIM:twar...@mac.com
Blog:   http://toddwarfel.com
Twitter:zakiwarfel
--
In theory, theory and practice are the same.
In practice, they are not.




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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Skittles Branding

[Whitney Hess]

Thanks for the link love, Amy!


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39555



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[IxDA Discuss] [EVENT] - Chicago IxDA - Interaction'09 redux, panel & video

[Chicago IxDA]

Sad you were stuck in Chicago and unable to attend the Interaction09
conference in Vancouver, British Columbia this past February?

Weep no more for the Chicago chapter is holding a conference recap on
March 18, 2009 at the IIT Institute of Design.

There will be a panel of local Chicagoan attendees ready to share
their experiences and perspective of the conference, answer questions
about the topics and speakers, along with highlight video compiled by
the organizing committee.

We'll try to recreate as much of the energy and the excitement of the
conference here in Chicago, save for the mountains and weather of the
West Coast.

Date:
 March 18th, 2009

Location:
 IIT Institute of Design
 350 N. La Salle Street
 Chicago IL

Time:
 6:30pm

Please RSVP to
http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=cEt3YlM3TnBQY1dsZkZ6LWRCQ0ttRFE6MA..

See you there!

-

About our host:

Since its founding as the New Bauhaus in 1937, the IIT Institute of
Design (www.id.iit.edu) has grown into the largest full-time graduate
design program in the U.S., with over 150 students from around the
world. The school offers professional Master of Design degrees in
communication design, design planning, interaction, product design,
systems design, and research; a dual Master of Design / MBA degree
program with the IIT Stuart School of Business; and the Master of
Design Methods, a nine-month executive program teaching how design
methods can be the foundation for innovation in many fields and
applications. The Institute of Design created the country’s first
Ph.D. design program in 1991, helping pioneer the development of an
international community of basic research in design methods.

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Prototyping tools resources

[Mary Deaton]

In Todd's definition, a storyboard can be a prototype, but a one-page
mock-up cannot be. Right?

On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 1:21 PM, Adrian Howard wrote:

>
> On 2 Mar 2009, at 12:46, Todd Zaki Warfel wrote:
> [snip]
>
>> In other words, while a single static element cannot be a prototype, a
>> series of them that represent the changes in state of a system (e.g. begin
>> point and end point) can be a prototype.
>>
> [snip]
>
> Y'know that reminds me of Scott McCloud's definition of comics in
> Understanding Comics. He excluded single panels (e.g. Far Side) because of
> that lack of a time element.
>
> (which is arguable... of course... but that's beside the point :)
>
> Adrian
>
> 
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
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-- 
Mary Deaton
Yes we can. Yes we did. Yes we will

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Skittles Branding

[Amy Silvers]

I think the question of whether it's possible to get rid of a branded
Website depends very much on the brand in question. Prior to the
much-tweeted-about launch of the new Skittles site, there wasn't
really a whole lot of reason for most people to go there; the new site
is generating lots of buzz and is enjoying its 15 minutes of
micro-fame, and there's a possibility that people will continue to
check Skittles.com in the near future to see if it changes, or to see
what interesting stuff might be forthcoming for the next iteration.
But the lack of a branded Skittles site isn't going to have a major
impact on either Skittles or its buying public, because, as Whitney
Hess pointed out in her blog post about it (1), Skittles doesn't need
a Website to enhance the product. So I'm guessing that over time, this
technique will be perceived to have worked well for Skittles, and any
impact on the brand is likely to be positive. The Modernista example
is also successful, because it was kind of cool and slightly risky
when they did it--good attributes to associate with an agency--and yet
you can get to pretty much any part of the traditional site with a
single click from the persistent menu, so functionality hasn't been
lost.

On the other hand, if you were going to, say, a car manufacturer's
site to find the nearest dealership, would you want to be detoured to
an overlay menu on top of a social networking site? Would that enhance
your perception of the brand? Probably not--and that's not even a
particularly good example, it's just the first one that popped into my
head. What if it were your health insurance provider? And so on.

My sense is that traditional branded sites aren't going away, but that
we'll continue to see new ways of approaching brand interactions, well
beyond the Skittles model.

(1) 
http://whitneyhess.com/blog/2009/03/why-the-new-skittles-website-is-ridiculous-but-i-dont-actually-care/


2009/3/5 tina725 :
> Anyone beeing keeping track of skittles.com? First twitter, then
> facebook and now Wikipedia. Is it possible to really get rid of a
> branded website? Is that where the future of web design is headed?
> Interested to hear what people have to say.
> 
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org
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>

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Skittles Branding

[Michael Dunn]

This was actually done before, by Modernista: www.modernista.com

On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 12:31 PM, tina725  wrote:

> Anyone beeing keeping track of skittles.com? First twitter, then
> facebook and now Wikipedia. Is it possible to really get rid of a
> branded website? Is that where the future of web design is headed?
> Interested to hear what people have to say.
> 
> Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)!
> To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org
> Unsubscribe  http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe
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> List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
>

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] The war on widgets

[USABILITY MEDIC]

Anyone have any idea why I can't fond this thread on the ixda web site?

My iPhone doesn't have the original post so I thought I'd read from  
the beginning via the site but it's not there. Unless I'm blind.


Sent from my iPhone

On Mar 5, 2009, at 11:00 AM, Jack Moffett  wrote:


Mattias,

I'm all for breaking conventions to introduce better solutions. I  
don't believe, however, that contextual menus are always the best  
answer. Given all of your suggestions, you are going to end up with  
one overloaded menu. It would become difficult to find the  
particular tool/option/function you are looking for. A well designed  
UI groups and presents different types of functionality in different  
ways, making it relatively easy for a user to remember or find any  
particular piece of functionality. If you throw everything into a  
contextual menu, you lose that mental mapping.



On Mar 5, 2009, at 10:02 AM, Mattias Konradsson wrote:

You could show "tool-mode" either by changing the cursor, or if in  
your case you really want a cross-hair a symbol could however in the  
vicinity of the cursor.


No, an icon hovering near the cursor would still be covering up  
nearby pixels.



But what's the scenario? If you need to scroll with the mousewheel  
to the end of the document it might be inefficient but you could  
combine it with a "goto page" context-menu


But how do I pick "go to the area about two thirds of the way down  
against the right edge" from a menu? A map view is even better than  
scrollbars for this, of course, but that's more "chrome".



Best,
Jack



Jack L. Moffett
Interaction Designer
inmedius
412.459.0310 x219
http://www.inmedius.com


Questions about whether design
is necessary or affordable
are quite beside the point:
design is inevitable.

The alternative to good design
is bad design, not no design at all.

  - Douglas Martin



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[IxDA Discuss] Skittles Branding

[tina725]

Anyone beeing keeping track of skittles.com? First twitter, then
facebook and now Wikipedia. Is it possible to really get rid of a
branded website? Is that where the future of web design is headed?
Interested to hear what people have to say. 

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Microsoft Office Labs 2019 Vision

[Mayur Karnik]

My experience with my last employer was quite divine in this context, learnt
a lot. More often, demos become the modes of communicating to other
stakeholders within the company and suppliers / technical or marketing teams
what your vision is. Or even for that matter, when communicating to media /
bloggers, etc. (yeah, at least u can get attract good employees or earn a
bit through patents).  I guess what would have been really good with this
was a more articulate and visible statement from the main folks who
'envisioned' this, if it's that in this case. I felt the video talked about
inter-cultural communication, mobile lifestyles (i cant read now, but let me
grab it) and more fluid - non structural modes of interaction and so i sort
of liked it...

regards,
mayur

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Tools for iPhone Apps

[Ricardo Seiji]

Hi Maurice,
For developement, Aptana Studio has a great plugin for it:
http://aptana.com/iphone

Guidelines and creation issues, I belive that Apple's own guideline is the
best resource:
http://developer.apple.com/safari/library/documentation/InternetWeb/Conceptual/iPhoneWebAppHIG/Introduction/chapter_1_section_1.html

(obs: this ithe the WebApps guideline. For native apps guideline you need a
developer account to get it in http://developer.apple.com/iphone/. But both
have essentially the same UX info)

Cheers,

R. Seiji Sato
Interaction Designer
http://www.rseiji.com
+55 11 8297-2930
São Paulo, Brasil

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] The war on widgets

[Jack Moffett]

Mattias,

I'm all for breaking conventions to introduce better solutions. I  
don't believe, however, that contextual menus are always the best  
answer. Given all of your suggestions, you are going to end up with  
one overloaded menu. It would become difficult to find the particular  
tool/option/function you are looking for. A well designed UI groups  
and presents different types of functionality in different ways,  
making it relatively easy for a user to remember or find any  
particular piece of functionality. If you throw everything into a  
contextual menu, you lose that mental mapping.



On Mar 5, 2009, at 10:02 AM, Mattias Konradsson wrote:

You could show "tool-mode" either by changing the cursor, or if in  
your case you really want a cross-hair a symbol could however in the  
vicinity of the cursor.


No, an icon hovering near the cursor would still be covering up nearby  
pixels.



But what's the scenario? If you need to scroll with the mousewheel  
to the end of the document it might be inefficient but you could  
combine it with a "goto page" context-menu


But how do I pick "go to the area about two thirds of the way down  
against the right edge" from a menu? A map view is even better than  
scrollbars for this, of course, but that's more "chrome".



Best,
Jack



Jack L. Moffett
Interaction Designer
inmedius
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Questions about whether design
is necessary or affordable
are quite beside the point:
design is inevitable.

The alternative to good design
is bad design, not no design at all.

   - Douglas Martin



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] The war on widgets

[Mattias Konradsson]

>
> I can't say I agree with this one. Toolbars not only serve as access to the
> tools, but may provide status as well. For example, when I'm working in
> Photoshop, I have my cursor set to the cross hair for perfect accuracy. The
> only way for me to check which tool I have selected, then, is to look at the
> toolbar or use it to see what happens. Furthermore, even as an expert user,
> there are some tools and tool features that I use less often. A toolbar
> provides discoverability, reminding me of the presence of such tools. If you
> rely on contextual menus for all functionality, it is completely hidden.
> There is much to be said for the phrase "a place for everything and
> everything in its place".
>

I agree that toolbars that provide state are useful in some interfaces, but
even the photoshop scenarion  could potential be solved without a toolbar or
palette. If you could just right click, chose tools from the context menu
(probably would have to be a submenu, but at the top of the menu) and pick
the tool. The more tools the less attractive that solution gets however. You
could show "tool-mode" either by changing the cursor, or if in your case you
really want a cross-hair a symbol could however in the vicinity of the
cursor.

As for discoverability I'm not so sure, if you only get context-relevant
options all the time, you will be reminded of other options in that context.
Maybe that might be even better since it wont be hidden in a cluttered
toolbar or deep within a menu.

Mousewheels can be horribly inefficient in long documents, zoomed-in views,
> and large work areas.
>

But what's the scenario? If you need to scroll with the mousewheel to the
end of the document it might be inefficient but you could combine it with a
"goto page" context-menu

All in all I agree that a "context-driven" interface might provide a more
difficult threshold for new users in that paradigm, but once you learn that
everything is available as context  (except state and indicators which
should of course be shown) might it not be easier? I doubt that completely
new computer users found toolbars and menubars to be totally self-evident
:)  The current interface paradigms are deeply ingrained in most of us but
I'm not so sure there arent better alternatives


best regards
--
Mattias Konradsson

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] The war on widgets

[Jack Moffett]

On Mar 5, 2009, at 6:45 AM, Mattias Konradsson wrote:
Toolbars:  Why clutter the screen with features might or might not  
be useful
for you, if the options are context-based they are better accessed  
through a

context-menu of the entity in question


I can't say I agree with this one. Toolbars not only serve as access  
to the tools, but may provide status as well. For example, when I'm  
working in Photoshop, I have my cursor set to the cross hair for  
perfect accuracy. The only way for me to check which tool I have  
selected, then, is to look at the toolbar or use it to see what  
happens. Furthermore, even as an expert user, there are some tools and  
tool features that I use less often. A toolbar provides  
discoverability, reminding me of the presence of such tools. If you  
rely on contextual menus for all functionality, it is completely  
hidden. There is much to be said for the phrase "a place for  
everything and everything in its place".



Scrollbars:  Don't we all use mousewheels nowadays? The scrollbar  
does have
a function in indicating position in current view but maybe that  
could be

shown more discretly in some other way.


Mousewheels can be horribly inefficient in long documents, zoomed-in  
views, and large work areas.



The desktop:  I never understood people why fuzz about their  
desktop, it's
never visible! :) Organizing files on a desktop is generally a bad  
idea and

launching stuff from the desktop also has better solutions.


And why should you have any desktop space in your office? All you  
really need is a support for your keyboard and a cup holder. The  
desktop is convenient. I don't use it to organize files, but I do use  
it as a place to throw something temporarily. And personally, I still  
prefer to have all of my discs and drives mount there. Besides,  
something has to be at the bottom of the stack. It may as well be  
useful.




The windows taskbar/The Dock:  Quicklaunch/launch options are better
replaced by things like quicksilver/launchy. Taskswitching is better  
done
through expose or something similar rather than the dock/taskbar.   
The only
useful thing remaining is some state information like clock, network  
state

etc.


The dock shows me quickly what applications are currently running on  
my system. It provides status information, such as the number of new  
email messages waiting in my inbox. Along with spring-loaded folders,  
It allows me to drag a file into a deeply nested area of my system, or  
onto the application I want to open it with, or the droplet I want to  
process it with. It provides quick access to certain functions in an  
application without switching to that application. And, it is  
sometimes quicker for me to switch to an application in a different  
space by clicking on it in the dock.



Best,
Jack



Jack L. Moffett
Interaction Designer
inmedius
412.459.0310 x219
http://www.inmedius.com


Questions about whether design
is necessary or affordable
are quite beside the point:
design is inevitable.

The alternative to good design
is bad design, not no design at all.

   - Douglas Martin



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Microsoft Office Labs 2019 Vision

[Jared Spool]

On Mar 4, 2009, at 10:15 AM, Dante Murphy wrote:

OK, so there were some neat-o gizmos in this infomercial, but it  
really fell short in context.  And this is a pet peeve of mine...why  
does something that is intended to communicate a vision of the  
future lack any narrative or labeling?


When Adaptive Path did their video for the charmr, it was so  
compelling because of the personal narrative that gave all of the  
innovations context.  This just has vapid techno music...and it's  
not the only one. Nokia did something a year ago like this, and I'm  
sure there are hundreds more.  If you don't have sufficient  
narrative to justify your vision, it's NOT A VISION.  It's just  
digital wankery.


Honestly, has anyone here ever gone in to pitch a client with just a  
video and some cool music?


I agree completely.

I've been teaching clients how to create what I call an 'experience  
vision' (see http://is.gd/lUG2 and http://is.gd/lUG5) and the  
narrative of the experiences is critical.


In my mind, there's a difference between a vision and a demo. The  
purpose of the vision is to get everyone on the same page as to what  
direction the team is marching. The purpose of the demo is to show  
people what is or could be done.


This is really more of a demo, I'm thinking. For a vision, you want to  
use researched personas and scenarios to form the basis of the story  
you tell.


Jared

Jared M. Spool
User Interface Engineering
510 Turnpike St., Suite 102, North Andover, MA 01845
e: jsp...@uie.com p: +1 978 327 5561
http://uie.com  Blog: http://uie.com/brainsparks  Twitter: jmspool
UIE Web App Summit, 4/19-4/22: http://webappsummit.com

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] The war on widgets

[Fredrik Matheson]

Yes, skilled users should be able to configure their tools to suit their
(expert) needs.
You might be interested in Vimperator for Firefox: http://is.gd/fRbU

Novice/less skilled users will require other solutions, of course, so we'll
have to live with a dash of chrome for some time to come.

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[IxDA Discuss] The war on widgets

[Mattias Konradsson]

Hi all,

One thing occured to me the other day, are we going towards a future where
we will have less visible widgets and controls in our applications? Seems
many of the controls we pretty much takes for given has little or no use for
atleast more advanced users A good example is google chrome which has much
less chrome than for instance firefox or internet explorer, and I can't say
that I miss my titlebar, or menu.

Let's examine:

In order from most useless to more debateable:

The statusbar:  Almost completely superflous, indicating state and progress
might be needed but it can be handled more in context (like an icon for a
tab or similar)

Toolbars:  Why clutter the screen with features might or might not be useful
for you, if the options are context-based they are better accessed through a
context-menu of the entity in question

Menubars: If we remove all context-based options from the menu all that's
left are things like preferences, exit command like options. They could
either be accessed through a "global" context-menu or a single menu-button
like in office 2007

Scrollbars:  Don't we all use mousewheels nowadays? The scrollbar does have
a function in indicating position in current view but maybe that could be
shown more discretly in some other way.

The desktop:  I never understood people why fuzz about their desktop, it's
never visible! :) Organizing files on a desktop is generally a bad idea and
launching stuff from the desktop also has better solutions.

The windows taskbar/The Dock:  Quicklaunch/launch options are better
replaced by things like quicksilver/launchy. Taskswitching is better done
through expose or something similar rather than the dock/taskbar.  The only
useful thing remaining is some state information like clock, network state
etc.

The caveat is of course that reducing clutter means hiding stuff, and that
makes interfaces less accessible for beginners. But couldnt one argue that
if it becomes more commonplace with interfaces like that and users make it
past the initial hurdle it should make things much easier for everyone. What
do you guys think?

best regards
--
Mattias Konradsson

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is social networking doomed to frivolity?

[Joshua Porter]

I would argue that not only is social networking not doomed to
frivolity, it is destined for as important a place in society as any
other communication medium. 

As proof, please consider this profile of Stephen Heywood, who passed
away from ALS in 2006. Before he died, his brothers James and Ben
built a site called PatientsLikeMe in order to help him deal with his
unknown disease, and today helps thousands of others do the same. 

While they might not be announcing their worst days on Twitter or
Facebook, they are sharing incredibly *non-frivolous* details of
their life in public, with other folks like themselves, trying to
make the best of it. 

http://www.patientslikeme.com/patients/view/40

So please, let's get the knee-jerk notion of frivolity out of our
heads, look a bit beyond the mundane tweet and wall posts we see so
much of, and look at how people are treating the entirety of their
lives online. Most of the frivolous stuff is there because people
*are* frivolous, it's part of how we have fun, but it sure doesn't
account for all of our time online. 


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39528



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[IxDA Discuss] Tools for iPhone Apps

[Maurice Carty]

Any leads of where I can find and/or review some tools used to create
apps for iPhones?
Standards, guidelines, tools, suggestions?

Thanks.

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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is social networking doomed to frivolity?

[Grandin Donovan]

I see the point of the original post, but I disagree. Granted, as most
do, that nothing can truly replace face-to-face, saying that
technology forcibly determines its own use is an oversimplification -
however much the media may be the message.

On the one hand, the public media space has always been a venue for
"serious" discourse, and even for serious emotion (think of the
many printed and radio memorials to Updike recently). On the other,
the fact that social tech mediates through a largely textual
interface does nothing to diminish the fact that, pre-phone
especially and pre-web at least, letter writing was used for both
very serious and frivolous purposes. 

Last year, a childhood friend of mine died - after almost a month in
a coma - from a brain aneurysm. While she was in an uncertain state,
there was a Facebook group, but also a - admittedly semi-private -
group on the site Carepages.com. On Carepages, her family let out
regular updates, people shared memories and commiserated on forums,
and then, ultimately, grieved briefly together. As one of my friends
put it, "It's like the entire town was in her waiting room," that
town including friends dispersed on both coasts. I am sure that this
helped those who were too far from the town to come for the funeral
come to terms with the support of a larger group - the mediation
notwithstanding.

Life-changing matters will certainly always have a more face-to-face
component, because it is at those times that things like twitter or
FB can seem most "frivolous". But as certain online social
activities become more normalized, they will become more intimate and
integrated for some users - indeed as they have proven to be already.

We risk underestimating the potential of our own work, our own
industry, and the future of both the web and human communication if
we take a too deterministic view of evolving platforms. 

My 2 cents.

G


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39528



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is social networking doomed to frivolity?

[Grandin Donovan]

I see the point of the original post, but I disagree. Granted, as most
do, that nothing can truly replace face-to-face, saying that
technology forcibly determines its own use is an oversimplification -
however much the media may be the message.

On the one hand, the public media space has always been a venue for
"serious" discourse, and even for serious emotion (think of the
many printed and radio memorials to Updike recently). On the other,
the fact that social tech mediates through a largely textual
interface does nothing to diminish the fact that, pre-phone
especially and pre-web at least, letter writing was used for both
very serious and frivolous purposes. 

Last year, a childhood friend of mine died - after almost a month in
a coma - from a brain aneurysm. While she was in an uncertain state,
there was a Facebook group, but also a - admittedly semi-private -
group on the site Carepages.com. On Carepages, her family let out
regular updates, people shared memories and commiserated on forums,
and then, ultimately, grieved briefly together. As one of my friends
put it, "It's like the entire town was in her waiting room," that
town including friends dispersed on both coasts. I am sure that this
helped those who were too far from the town to come for the funeral
come to terms with the support of a larger group - the mediation
notwithstanding.

Life-changing matters will certainly always have a more face-to-face
component, because it is at those times that things like twitter or
FB can seem most "frivolous". But as certain online social
activities become more normalized, they will become more intimate and
integrated for some users - indeed as they have proven to be already.

We risk underestimating the potential of our own work, our own
industry, and the future of both the web and human communication if
we take a too deterministic view of evolving platforms. 

My 2 cents.

G


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Posted from the new ixda.org
http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=39528



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Re: [IxDA Discuss] Is social networking doomed to frivolity?

[Andy Polaine]

I think there's a problem here with "doomed to frivolity" in the  
framing of the question. Frivolity doesn't necessarily mean lack of  
meaningfulness.


Although the definition of frivolous is supposedly to be without  
serious purpose or value, the same is often said of play and it's a  
false division. (Longer rants on this on my blog - also see Pat Kane's  
book, The Play Ethic). Most of our face to face conversation is gossip  
and gossip nurtures social bonds and structures.


Social networking is actually what we would naturally do all the time  
if we didn't have to work and it is what we do when we aren't working.  
That's why you go for drinks at the end of the day, have dinner, hang  
out, play sport together, etc., etc. Social networks are the movement  
back into normality, a reaction against the Industrial Revolution's  
Protestant work-ethic mind/body and play/work that has dominated our  
culture for the last 150-200 years.


The question should really be, "Are work environments doomed to  
seriousness?" Answer: http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/cubes/


Best,

Andy


Andy Polaine

Interaction & Experience Design
Research | Writing | Education

Twitter: apolaine
Skype: apolaine

http://www.polaine.com
http://www.designersreviewofbooks.com
http://www.omnium.net.au
http://www.antirom.com

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