Re: [IxDA Discuss] MadLib form increases conversion
Counterpoint: http://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/02/27/lesson-from-madlibs-signup-fad-do-your-own-tests/ (found via hacker news) Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] data/research distribution templates?
Two quotes jump to mind: The effectiveness of a research report is inversely proportional to the thickness of its binding - Todd Wilkens This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read. - Winston Churchill Good luck! Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Software for transcription?
There is software available to make the act of transcription less of a burden. You can even buy a USB foot pedal that pauses / rewinds the content. http://www.transana.org/ http://videonotetaker.sourceforge.net/ http://tamsys.sourceforge.net/ (for analysis of the transcriptions) http://www.google.com/search?hl=enq=usb+foot+pedal+for+transcription You may want to consider whether you really need to transcribe the lot or just the interesting bits. Harry -- http://90percentofeverything.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Specs for usability lab
Hi Hilary You'd be best of starting with a clear idea of the type of research they want to be running. Do they want people in the viewing room be able to tune in to any of the participants in the group research room? Will the research be normal qualitative usability testing or hardcore quant? Do they have a budget in mind? Once you've done the requirements capture, the lab will almost design itself :-) Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Online tools (Possibly free ware) that we can use to create a knowledge base of glossary
I'd personally steer clear of mediawiki, unless you have a group of people who are familiar with writing/editing articles using wiki markup. The learning curve is quite steep, and once the novelty wears off you might find you're the only one who's holding the fort. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] office interface presentation
You're probably thinking of Jensen Harris: http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Influencing user behavior
When I see these fun theory videos ( http://thefuntheory.com/ ) I can't help thinking it's little more than a massive novelty effect. I don't think they're really interested in changing people's behaviour for the better (as the site claims). I think they're interested in creating a successful viral campaign. Hats off to DDB - it's very nice indeed. But its not quite what it claims to be. Moving beyond novelty - that's where the hard work is. Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Article on Number of Usability Test Participants
Thomas, Moving buttons is easy. Changing copy is easy. Any surface-level UI changes are easy. Changing substantial chunks of business logic is not easy. In fact, it can be prohibitively expensive. I agree with you about the idea of just getting it out there and testing it in beta - after all, that's SOP these days for almost everyone. But I think you're over-egging the pudding. Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Article on Number of Usability Test Participants
If you do all your user testing on the same 5 people (an extreme case of 'favourites') then you're product is going to be heavily skewed towards their particular needs, opinions, goals and expectations. That's pretty obvious, isn't it? ... But this alone doesn't create a case for throwing user research out entirely. Quite a few epic failures relate to over-reliance on the vision of a genius without doing any research to ascertain whether the market exists, whether the business model is viable or whether the designed experience is fit-for-purpose. Wait, haven't we had this discussion before on this list? A few times? Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Article on Number of Usability Test Participants
In other words - You can fix it now on the drafting board with an eraser or you can fix it later on the construction site with a sledge hammer - Frank Loyd Wright Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Article on Number of Usability Test Participants
David, Jared, AFAIK you can't set tasks in userfly and you can't capture basic KPIs like task failure rate, task time, user satisfaction (expressed through post-hoc likert scale questions), etc. As such there is no test plan to create, and there's no way including / excluding certain users. It's not an unmoderated remote usability testing tool - it's means of unfiltered remote user observation. I can imagine it being useful for certain people in certain contexts. For example, if you find people aren't completing the lead generation form on your small business website, you could install a userfly script on that page. This could be kind of eye opening for a newcomer to user research - *wow, there really are users out there... and hey - the design of our site has an influence on their behaviour - which determines the success of our business! Fancy that!* Personally, it's not for me since there's no way of aggregating the data - each video has to be watched sequentially. Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] shopping cart (basket) design pattern
This article seems relevant to your question, Sam - http://www.getelastic.com/continue-shopping-means-what/ http://www.getelastic.com/continue-shopping-means-what/You’ve added your item to your cart, but you’re not finished shopping. So, you look for the “Continue Shopping” link to thrust you back to…to what? The product page? The category page? The *home* page? Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Article on Number of Usability Test Participants
I was trying to say that evidence that your audience finds compelling is still worth gathering (provided it's not prohibitively expensive), even if you personally don't find it particularly useful and you get everything you need from good old fashioned observation and interviewing. I'm sure you'll agree that insights and design opportunities is only the beginning of a long journey - getting buy-in from stakeholders comes next. For some people, this is the hardest part. I'm obviously not advocating using data that is flawed, misleading or made-up, though I have a feeling you might argue that eye tracking data is in this category. :-) Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Article on Number of Usability Test Participants
re: flawed, misleading or made-up - I only was making an indirect reference to that lighthearted post when you mentionned getting a just say no to eye trackers t-shirt printed, and suggested Ouija Boards might be more effective. :-) I remember it because I recently quoted you in a presentation I gave at barcamp brighton ( http://j.mp/13K7Wd ) I've found this thread really interesting. Thanks everyone! Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Article on Number of Usability Test Participants
Dana, I'm interested in a point you made earlier in this thread: ***Doing remote, unmoderated tests of an early design or a prototype of any sizable design is dangerous. If your customer pool is large enough to do remote, unmoderated tests, you probably need to be doing A-B testing.* Why dangerous? I'm intrigued... thanks Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Article on Number of Usability Test Participants
Larry, I couldn't agree more. I'm pretty much born and bred in your approach to design research, but I guess I'm just keen to learn for myself whether I'll get any distance out of remote UT with prototypes. Because the costs are low, the benefits don't need to be huge for it to be a valuable adjunct to traditional face-to-face research. For example, I find that though I'm often personally sold on a finding, when it comes to evaluating cost of implementation, suddenly only having 1/5 or 2/5 users worth of evidence can raise question marks. I suspect that having data like 40/50 user tested could complete the task given / XX/50 rated it as satisfactory or better / XX/50 indicated they understood the core product concept / etc - these kind of broad findings, however foggy, would still be worth having. I vaguely recall, in another thread, Jared mentioning that user researchers at Google sometimes use eye tracking specifically because it's appealing to the engineers (who hold a lot of political clout)... i.e. they choose a method that produces evidence that's most compelling to their audience; as well as using a method that is most effective at generating insights for them. From this perspective I also think remote UT may prove useful for people in certain political situations. Still, it's different stroke for different folks! Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Dear CEO:
Hi Charles I'm sure other people will have different things to say, but I suspect that a couple of your points sound too good to be true, which could somewhat undermine the message. - On UXD being risk free I'd probably argue that iterative prototyping and research can mitigate risk, reduce the chance of reaching market with an unappealing product, and reduce the chance that you may need to engage in costly redesigns because mistakes are caught at early stages. Though risks are reduced, they are not removed entirely. Everything has a certain degree of risk. For example, in a UXD process, there's a the chance that you spend too much money or time in the design process, and then get to market late. - On UXD being inexpensive In the long run, yes, but only after a increased upfront investment. In the short term, the design process will likely become more heavyweight, involving some form of iterative user research and design. If a company is used to dreaming up some requirements and then just building them, then moving to a UXD process is going to bring more immediate costs. Anyone else care to comment? Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Article on Number of Usability Test Participants
A number of the discussions on this list are reminding me of the Ron Jeffries article We tried baseball and it didn't work - http://xprogramming.com/xpmag/jatBaseball In other words, I can't help wondering that discussions around methods being great / rubbish boil down to past experiences with a method, rather than the inherent qualities of that method. In my next piece of research, I'm going to do remote unmoderated usability testing alongside classic face-to-face usability testing. Unfortunately I can't share the findings - another core problem with this sort of discussion - we are stuck in vagueness because NDAs prevent us from sharing findings like academics can. I don't think I agree with Jared's conclusions about throwing out eye-tracking and unmoderated usability testing (in lieu of more evidence, at least) - while eye tracking is inherently expensive, but I suspect remote unmoderated usability testing has potential to bring affordable usability testing to the masses. Anyone else care to comment? Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Incentives for UI testing
I usually just pay cash, between £35-100 for 60 minutes depending on the user type (£100 only for special cases). I suspect that anything other than cold hard cash is going to involve a lot of no-shows ... Unless you are dealing with dedicated community members who are looking forward to the opportunity of getting their voices heard. Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Camtasia Sync and your favorite UE software
Janna, loss of sync is a common problem on many screen recording apps. Are you using a PC that meets the minimum spec for Camtasia? Are the drivers up to date? Have you tried reducing the screen resolution to 1024 x 768? You'll notice audio is still synced with the screen recording but not the webcam - so you may find it less distracting if you export the video without webcam footage in the corner (I'm not sure if you can do this in camtasia though). Adithya, a while ago I put together a list of apps here: http://j.mp/4ehGeX- check out the comments too. best of luck Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Microsoft Courier ...
The concept video shows the user writing some very small text onto the tablet, as if it is a fine-tipped pen on good quality paper. http://gizmodo.com/5365299/courier-first-details-of-microsofts-secret-tablet Even assuming the technology will be available to provide that kind of accuracy, I can't help wondering whether a hard, slick glass surface and plastic stylus would allow you to write in that kind of detail. Is some degree of friction and give necessary to allow you to write that small? Any TabletPC users care to comment? Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] [Event] UX Brighton: Remote U ser Research - A 360° degree view
** Sorry for the cross-posting ** Hi Everyone, The next UX-Brighton event on remote user research, and we've got a fantastic line-up for you. As usual it's free to attend. *When*: October 13th, 2009 (6pm start) *Where*: iCrossing, Black Lion Street, Brighton. (If there's a big demand for tickets we may move the event to a bigger venue nearby) *Tickets*: Free, but you need to book a place on eventwaxhttp://uxbri_1.eventwax.com/ux-brighton-remote-user-research---a-360-degree-view Although the audience of websites is global, the most common ways of user research are spatially bound, and confined to a research laboratory. This is in direct contrast to both the global spirit of the web and the broad selection of people who view a website or online application. Tonight's talks will show how you can use online methods for carrying out usability research at each stage of the design process. *Remote usability applied - A case study by Louise Klinker* Louise will discuss how she used a remote research tool in a recent project. She will explain how remote user research can be applied, and how it can influence the development process of the project. Louise is a User Experience Consultant at Flow Interactive. She has worked for some of the leading companies in design and research, including Mollerup Designlab, X service design, and of course Flow. Bill Buxton said in ‘Sketching User Experiences’ that “Louise can hold their own with the best of them”. She has worked with clients including The BBC, The Guardian, The Foreign Office, BUPA, Tesco, Nokia, Sky and Shell. *The Birth of an Idea - Remote Ethnography by David Tait and Ofer Deshe* Ofer and David will take us through a journey from initial concepts through the design of a new remote ethnography web service. The service is a new framework that enables easier access to contextual research and includes data capturing technologies such as smart phone apps, an online web diary, email and social media integration. Additionally, the framework includes a number of built-in qualitative analysis tools. Analysis is conducted in real-time allowing ongoing monitoring of behaviours in remote locations and contexts. Before pursuing this venture, Ofer worked as a Principal Consultant at Flow and has led numerous user experience research, design and strategy projects. David is an innovative computer scientist with expertise in designing knowledge, customer insight systems, and search algorithms. Prior to working on this service, David designed a search interface for a financial trading solution and a Mandarin phonetic search algorithm. *Testing the Prototype - Synchronous Remote Testing by Volker Gersabeck of pidoco°* Volker, who is coming all the way from Berlin, will show off the next version of pidoco°. Pidoco° is a web-based software suite for prototyping and testing. It allows for live-collaborative designing a prototype, which is instantanously available on many devices (desktop, mobile, etc). Built around the prototype are different ways for collecting feedback from all the different stakeholders. With the new version comes a module which allows for moderated remote usability tests with zero set up cost. Volker co-founded pidoco°, and has been leading its development since the first line of code was written three years ago. He also co-organised the UXcamp 2009 in Berlin, and is already planning a European one for next year. *Testing the Product - Asynchronous Remote Testing by Sabrina Mach* Sabrina will present Webnographer, a tool for un-moderated remote usability testing, which enables fast and cost effective testing of any website with participants across the world. She will show how Webnographer can be used to inform the design of your website, how it benchmarks performance, and how to gain insight into user behaviour through the different reports that the tool offers. Sabrina is co-founder of FeraLabs, a usability consultancy specialising in remote user research. Using Webnographer, Sabrina helps clients understand their user’s behaviour, providing them with formative insight for design teams, as well as summative results for benchmarking website performance. *→ **Book your free ticket now on eventwax*http://uxbri_1.eventwax.com/ux-brighton-remote-user-research---a-360-degree-view -- Dr. Harry Brignull User Experience Consultant http://www.90percentofeverything.com + 44 (0)7920 474784 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] [Event] UX Brighton: Remote U ser Research - A 360° degree view
** Sorry for the cross-posting ** Hi Everyone, The next UX-Brighton event on remote user research, and we've got a fantastic line-up for you. As usual it's free to attend. *When*: October 13th, 2009 (6pm start) *Where*: iCrossing, Black Lion Street, Brighton. (If there's a big demand for tickets we may move the event to a bigger venue nearby) *Tickets*: Free, but you need to book a place on eventwaxhttp://uxbri_1.eventwax.com/ux-brighton-remote-user-research---a-360-degree-view Although the audience of websites is global, the most common ways of user research are spatially bound, and confined to a research laboratory. This is in direct contrast to both the global spirit of the web and the broad selection of people who view a website or online application. Tonight's talks will show how you can use online methods for carrying out usability research at each stage of the design process. *Remote usability applied - A case study by Louise Klinker* Louise will discuss how she used a remote research tool in a recent project. She will explain how remote user research can be applied, and how it can influence the development process of the project. Louise is a User Experience Consultant at Flow Interactive. She has worked for some of the leading companies in design and research, including Mollerup Designlab, X service design, and of course Flow. Bill Buxton said in ‘Sketching User Experiences’ that “Louise can hold their own with the best of them”. She has worked with clients including The BBC, The Guardian, The Foreign Office, BUPA, Tesco, Nokia, Sky and Shell. *The Birth of an Idea - Remote Ethnography by David Tait and Ofer Deshe* Ofer and David will take us through a journey from initial concepts through the design of a new remote ethnography web service. The service is a new framework that enables easier access to contextual research and includes data capturing technologies such as smart phone apps, an online web diary, email and social media integration. Additionally, the framework includes a number of built-in qualitative analysis tools. Analysis is conducted in real-time allowing ongoing monitoring of behaviours in remote locations and contexts. Before pursuing this venture, Ofer worked as a Principal Consultant at Flow and has led numerous user experience research, design and strategy projects. David is an innovative computer scientist with expertise in designing knowledge, customer insight systems, and search algorithms. Prior to working on this service, David designed a search interface for a financial trading solution and a Mandarin phonetic search algorithm. *Testing the Prototype - Synchronous Remote Testing by Volker Gersabeck of pidoco°* Volker, who is coming all the way from Berlin, will show off the next version of pidoco°. Pidoco° is a web-based software suite for prototyping and testing. It allows for live-collaborative designing a prototype, which is instantanously available on many devices (desktop, mobile, etc). Built around the prototype are different ways for collecting feedback from all the different stakeholders. With the new version comes a module which allows for moderated remote usability tests with zero set up cost. Volker co-founded pidoco°, and has been leading its development since the first line of code was written three years ago. He also co-organised the UXcamp 2009 in Berlin, and is already planning a European one for next year. *Testing the Product - Asynchronous Remote Testing by Sabrina Mach* Sabrina will present Webnographer, a tool for un-moderated remote usability testing, which enables fast and cost effective testing of any website with participants across the world. She will show how Webnographer can be used to inform the design of your website, how it benchmarks performance, and how to gain insight into user behaviour through the different reports that the tool offers. Sabrina is co-founder of FeraLabs, a usability consultancy specialising in remote user research. Using Webnographer, Sabrina helps clients understand their user’s behaviour, providing them with formative insight for design teams, as well as summative results for benchmarking website performance. *→ **Book your free ticket now on eventwax*http://uxbri_1.eventwax.com/ux-brighton-remote-user-research---a-360-degree-view -- Dr. Harry Brignull User Experience Consultant http://www.90percentofeverything.com + 44 (0)7920 474784 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Research into the experience of \free trial software\?
Nice little example: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2009/feb/10/gameculture-apple http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2009/feb/10/gameculture-apple iShoot was widely ignored for several weeks before Nicholas decided to produce a cut-down 'Lite' version which he made available for free. it quickly became the #1 free application, and iShoot sales followed suit. [...] While at the top of the Paid Apps chart, iShoot was getting over 10,000 downloads a day, at $2.99 each. Take out Apple's standard 30% commission and Nicholas was pulling in $21,000 a day. He quit his job at Sun and is now working on a new game Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] UI Translation Resource
Carsten Schmitt and Poppy James did a talk on this general topic at a recent UX Brighton event. The video is here if you're interested: http://www.vimeo.com/6113642 http://www.vimeo.com/6113642 -- Dr. Harry Brignull User Experience Consultant http://www.90percentofeverything.com + 44 (0)7920 474784 On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 2:51 AM, mediametrics sa...@mediametrics.co.inwrote: I can get you my partner company, in case you have any specific spec which they have to work with. I used a company here in India for my US client, worked well on cost and also in output. I can put you directly to them, if you dont mind working with an outside company. Thanks, Sathish Sampath www.sathishsampath.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=45321 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org 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 ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] JOB: User experience designer, mobile - San Jose, CA
We are looking for a user experience designer with very strong skills in information, visual, and interaction design with a primary focus on consumer mobile applications. The company: Siri, Inc. is building a virtual personal assistant that will launch later this summer. With deep experience in artificial intelligence and mobile technologies, we're a top-notch team building a fun, innovative product. Based in San Jose, Siri is well funded and backed by SRI, Menlo Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures. And although we're still pre-beta, Siri is already making a splash: in the past few months, Siri was chosen as one of the top emerging technologies by the MIT Technology Review, was a premier demo at Walt Mossberg's All Things D conference, and has been mentioned in the New York Times. The role: We're looking to complement our small but very talented user experience design team with a highly competent and original designer who will help us define, design, and implement the appearance and behavior of our innovative mobile product. The designer will help us create an extensible visual design language that's adaptable to multiple platforms, solve challenging information design problems, and bring visual and interactive sophistication to all of our products.The successful candidate will play a key role in an exceptional and expanding design team. You should be able to demonstrate experience and skill in the following: Visual interaction design: detailed UI element design, UI component specification, look feel / theme development Information design: ability to organize and present voluminous information legibly on small form factor devices Ability to work at both conceptual and detailed aspects of user experience design Prototyping: from storyboards, wireframes, and visual comps to interactive, testable mockups Creating materials and guides for usability testing Graphic design, typography, and illustration for content Integrating branding and user interface Developing design standards and guidelines Competence in web/app standards such as HTML, XML, CSS, etc. Familiarity with web/app languages and frameworks such as JavaScript, WebKit, JSON, etc. Demonstrable previous experience with consumer mobile applications, preferably on a variety of platforms Ability to work closely and effectively with software developers We're in downtown San Jose, a few blocks from the CalTrain/Amtrak station (easy access from SF and the East Bay). If you're interested, please email j...@siri.com with a URL to a portfolio resume. We'll be in touch. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Test structure recommendations
I'm assuming you're talking about usability testing (face to face lab research)... I often start studies with an open exploration task (imagine you've arrived here from google and you want to find out what the site is all about), and then follow this with a self defined task (I get the user to tell me what they want to do, then let them do it). Following that, I then have a list of compelled tasks that I will give the user if they didn't already cover them. One benefit is that the whole thing feels natural to the user, and they often appear more motivated and involved. One weakness is that your notes will be all over the place, as users jump about haphazardly between pages, sections and activities. Another weaknesses is you will have minimal quant data, so things like task failure rates, task times, and so on will not be captured (IMHO this is fairly worthless in a small qual study anyway). It really depends on the context of the site you're testing, your research objectives, and the politics of your workplace... Harry -- Harry Brignull User Experience Consultant http://www.90percentofeverything.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] [event] UX Brighton August Triple Bill: Designing for Persuasion, International Research, and Eye Tracking!
Hiya IxDA peeps, On the off-chance that any of you are in Brighton (UK) on August 11th - the next UX Brighton event will located in the lovely iCrossing offices, and there will be free drinks provided by Madgex. More info below! Harry http://uxbrighton.org.uk/ --- *Date*: Tuesday 11th August, 6.30pm – 10pm *Location*: iCrossing, Central Brighton, BN1 1ND *Price*: Free, but you must book a ticket on stubmatichttp://www.stubmatic.com/uxbrighton/event/1489 This free event will be comprised of three parts – two talks and a demo! 1. Carsten Schmitt Poppy James are coming down from Bunnyfoot to give a short talk on “How to run successful international user research projects” 2. Rob Gillham of Human Factors International is going to give a talk on “Designing for Persuasion, Emotion Trust on the web” 3. The Bunnyfoot team will be giving an eye tracking demonstration, over drinks nibbles *1. How (not) to run successful international user research projects* *Speakers*: Carsten Schmitt Poppy James, Bunnyfoot. - User research across several countries – be it surveys or user tests – has its own challenges. Some of them are well known (but nevertheless often forgotten) others are unexpected. - Poppy and Carsten – a Briton and a German – do not aim to give you the ultimate 101 of international user research. A lot has been written about that already. What they do want to do instead is to talk about their own experiences to show you which problems you could encounter before you even start your testing abroad and what could happen if you don’t have that foreign language expertise in-house. - Prepare to be surprised, shocked, and, hopefully, amused. And the end of this talk you should be able to add a few bullet points to your checklist for the next international project (bullet points will be provided). - Some of the topics include “Foreign affairs – Managing multi-national clients” and “Parlez you Italiano? Language issues beyond ‘translations’” Carsten Schmitt Poppy James are consultants at Bunnyfoot, a User Experience Consultancy that’s passionate about Eye Tracking. Bunnyfoot’s clients include the BBC, the COI, Virgin Holidays, and Yell.com to name only a few. *2. Designing for Persuasion, Emotion and Trust On The Web* *Speaker*: Rob Gillham, HFI - Since the early ’60s, Social and Experimental Psychology Research that has taught us a great deal about the nature of persuasion in human psychology. - In recent years, there’s been a flurry of books and articles on the subject – after all, persuasion is part of the elusive magic recipe for success in business. What’s been lacking, however, is a selection of case studies that give a solid understanding of what works and what doesn’t in the context of human-computer interaction. - This is exactly where Rob Gillham’s talk picks up. Rob will give a talk covering the underpinning Psychological research and insights from HFI’s own research findings. - Rob’s talk involves a 1 hour sneak peak into HFI’s ‘Psychology, Emotion Trust’ training course, normally only available for paying customers. Rob Gillham is a Project Director at Human Factors International (HFI), the world’s largest UX consultancy with offices in UK, US, Germany, India, China and Singapore. *3. Audience Participation Eye tracking demo* - After the talks we’ll be cracking open the beers (and wine and snacks) for an eye tracking demo from the Bunnyfoot crew. - To make it more fun, we’ll be accepting submissions from attendees. Feel free to email Harry Brignull harr...@gmail.com with your site screengrabs, art, or naked photos (1024×768 PNGs are ideal). - Submissions will be drawn at random from the pile and used in the demo. (PS no naked photos). This event is sponsored by Madgex http://www.madgex.com/ and iCrossinghttp://www.icrossing.com/ . -- Dr. Harry Brignull User Experience Consultant http://www.90percentofeverything.com + 44 (0)7920 474784 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Introduction in a Quick Start Guide
Don't bother writing an introduction. If there are two or three key facts that need to be known prior to installation present them as large, conspicuous bullet points. Harry -- http://www.90percentofeverything.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Good examples of branched flow
Hi Alan You might find the NHS Direct self help guide interesting. http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/help/index.aspx Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Ungraceful degradation of HTML emails and conversion rates.
I agree that security is worthy concern, but I expect that it's something that only relatively technical users think about. For most people, I think having to click a link to see images is just a strange extra step that many don't bother doing. (I'm guessing.) Email is stuck in the dark ages. - Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Ungraceful degradation of HTML emails and conversion rates.
Hi everyone, I'm currently doing a bit of desk research on HTML email, and I've been really unimpressed with how many sites use templates that degrade very ungracefully when images are turned off. I'm wondering if anyone has any stats on the proportion of users who have images turned off by default, or any stats on the proportion of users who click display images below (etc) to reveal them. What I'm really interested in is the impact on conversion rates. Personally I don't need any convincing, but I'd love some stats or a case study to show my clients. Anyone got any references or anecdotes? Thanks Harry -- http://www.90percentofeverything.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] interaction data entry before log-in?
Hi Vicky, Sounds like you might be referring to a 'lazy registration' interaction model. I've put together a screencast on the Madgex implementation of lazy registration, which you might find interesting: http://www.90percentofeverything.com/2009/03/16/signup-forms-must-die-heres-how-we-killed-ours/ And here are some related links: http://ajaxpatterns.org/Lazy_Registration http://webjackalope.com/lazy-registration good luck! Harry -- http://www.90percentofeverything.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] What is a mobile phone called in your country?
Slightly off topic, but in various pieces of mobile-related research I've done over the past few years (in the UK), I've noticed that a surprising number of people don't know what SMS means. Text message is pretty universally understood, though. Harry -- http://www.90percentofeverything.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Any IVR experts in the house?
I've used voxeo to build IVR prototypes in the past. Free hosting, and you can dial into a US number (with a PIN). It was very easy to make a push button IVR in VXML. Voice activation also looked a bit easier than you'd expect... http://evolution.voxeo.com/ Twillo's mark up language looks pretty impressive, never tried it myself though... -- Dr. Harry Brignull User Experience Consultant http://www.90percentofeverything.com On Fri, May 1, 2009 at 8:49 AM, greg greg.petr...@sap.com wrote: One thing that may help in building IVR's is better tools to do it. Check this out: http://www.twilio.com/ Super disruptive as anyone can now build telephony with simple web dev skills, and it scales. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41631 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org 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 ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Recommendation needed: usability recruitment firms in LONDON
here's a list... http://bit.ly/18WLEp I'm currently using Saros, who have worked out cheaper than criteria for my recent projects. They've also been very patient regarding arranging replacements for mis-recruited participants, which as far as I'm concerned is the hallmark of a good recruiter! Harry -- http://www.90percentofeverything.com + 44 (0)7920 474784 On Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 2:54 PM, Johanna Kollmann johanna.kollm...@gmx.atwrote: Back at Flow Interactive, I frequently worked with Criteria http://www.criteria.co.uk/ I can recommend them! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=41549 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org 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 ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Two \Delete\ behaviors - one type of label?
There's also a third pattern - deletion with undo (as used on gmail). This combines immediacy with safety... http://37signals.com/svn/archives2/googles_gmail_undo.php Perhaps that's your solution right there, and it avoids futzing around with a new term or icon for instant-delete which lets face it, isn't going to receive widespread adoption. Harry -- http://www.90percentofeverything.com On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 2:58 PM, Daniel letran...@yahoo.com wrote: There are two Delete patterns I have noticed out there: 1. - Immediate Deletion: As the name implies, the delete action takes place immediately. There are no confirmation steps of any kind. 2. - Mediated Deletion: This type usually includes an intermediate page or dialogue box that asks the user to confirm that they indeed do want to delete the item along with very important pertinent information associated with the delete action. The problem for me arises when we use the same label for both of these different types of behaviors. In other words, nothing differentiates the different delete actions. Both of them may simply say Delete this XYZ Has anyone here seen a label that provides the users some sort of clue as to which action will take place? DISCLAIMER: (In the interest of clarity and saving time...I don't want this question to be confused with the closely related topic of whether Confirmation dialogs or confirmation pages are necessary. That's another question. For now I'd like to ask you to suspend your preference on whether you think confirmation is needed or not and assume that the system you are working on will have a confirmation step for some of the delete actions. To complicate things, the system will ALSO use Immediate Deletion. This way the problem is clear. Once again, this is not a question of whether you think the choice to allow both types of deletion is right or wrong. It's a question about labeling and differentiating two different delete processes.) Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org 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 ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Online, unmoderated user testing tool
Looks interesting - I've registered for the beta. The list of sites tested is impressive (ebay, yahoo, apple...) but I have a feeling these aren't actually clients but site's they've tested independently. Also I'd love to know who's behind this. Loop11 people - care to speak up? Harry -- http://www.90percentofeverything.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Examples of tags as dominant navigation?
Hi Nicole, Have you considered faceted navigation and rejected it? (e.g. http://konigi.com/interface/hulu-faceted-navigation ) sounds like the perfect solution to me. Harry -- http://www.90percentofeverything.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Different form fields: mobile v. computer browsers?
Hi Eric Is there a particular reason why you need to double check that the user has entered their email address correctly? I'm sure you're aware that when registering on most well known sites, the user is not required to type their email address twice - this is reserved only for passwords. I'd remove the email confirmation field unless you have a really solid reason for needing it... Harry -- http://www.90percentofeverything.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Feature discoverability
Looks like your designers have worked hard to give the app an aesthetic minimalism - which looks fantastic but you might have to compromise it slightly to make the controls more discoverable. A disk space manager app is only likely to be used every few weeks. Even once the UI is learned, users may forget by the time they use it again. Personally, I'd experiment with having a single left-click trigger a menu strip to appear along the edge of the window. This could list all the functions as words on button labels. Single click to select, double click to drill-in, perhaps? Not very exciting, I know, but perhaps worth experimenting with. Good luck! Harry --- http://90percentofeverything.com/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google
Data-driven design, though, is not entirely a bad thing, is it? The whole web 2 approach of getting a basic webapp out there in beta, then optimising and extending it based on user behaviour / feedback - that's data driven post launch. Even running tests on paper prototypes, is, in some respects, data driven, but qualitative and messy. It seems there's a continuum from anal retentive Every pixel must be quantitatively tested for impact on our KPIs to creative use qual and quant data as appropriate to steer our creative design process. As Dave M said earier - if you want to research and derive inspiration from research, or research and live by the data, that is a choice, but I would argue that one is design and the other is not. Harry -- http://www.90percentofeverything.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Persona skeptics
I was under the impression that persona's based on assumptions were called assumptive personas, and should be treated as such. I vaguely recall being told about a research company (the name escapes me) who have a system that require field researchers to tag their fieldnotes. These tags get aggregated into categories, and ultimately, personas are generated that consist of a series of hyperlinked statements. The reader can click on any statement and drill in to get the field notes. In theory this means you get data-backed personas that are accountable for their claims. Any opinions on this? Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] CAPTCHAs and conversion rates
Thanks everyone for their input. Really helpful! I'm a little unconvinced but the statement In general, if you're being attached by spam, using a captcha is a good idea It's not that clear cut - captchas have costs and benefits. It makes sense to at least start by trying the approaches that are invisible to the user (i.e. honey pots etc). If the spam problem still proves too great, then resort to captcha as a backup, rather than as a first response. Interesting to see that in the sampa.com case study, Marcelo said their conversion rate went from about 10% to 10.9% conversion. (i.e. removing the captcha meant that almost one extra person per hundred completed the activity). This isn't insubstantial, but I'd expected it to be higher than that, since personally I always struggle with captchas. As Jeff said, the other thing to consider is that they aren't a uniform commodity, some are easier than others; while also user journeys can vary wildly. If a user spends 10 minutes signing up to a service that's highly important to them, a simple captcha isn't going to deter you much. But for a 3 second transient interaction (like a quick comment or thumbs up), a tricky captcha is going to feel inappropriately heavyweight. I'd really hoped to discover a large scale quant study on this... Anyone? Harry www.90percentofeverything.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] CAPTCHAs and conversion rates
Thanks everyone for their input. Really helpful! I'm a little unconvinced but the statement In general, if you're being attached by spam, using a captcha is a good idea captchas have costs and benefits. It's not that clear cut. It makes sense to at least start by trying the approaches that are invisible to the user. If the spam problem still proves too great, then resort to captcha as a backup, rather than as a first response. Interesting to see that in the sampa.com case study, Marcelo said their conversion rate went from about 10% to 10.9% conversion. (i.e. removing the captcha meant that almost one extra person per hundred completed the activity). This isn't insubstantial, but I'd expected it to be higher than that, since personally I always struggle with captchas. As Jeff said, the other thing to consider is that they aren't a uniform commodity, some are easier than others; while also user journeys can vary wildly. If a user spends 10 minutes signing up to a service that's highly important to them, a simple captcha isn't going to deter them much. But for a 3 second transient interaction (like a quick comment or thumbs up), a tricky captcha is going to feel inappropriately heavyweight. I'd really hoped to discover a large scale quant study on this... Looks like there's nothing publicly available? Harry -- www.90percentofeverything.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] IxD blog aggregator site - are you interested in contributing?
Hi IxDa people, Is anyone interested in the idea of adding their blog to a IxD community aggregator site, in the same vein as http://www.brightonnewmedia.org/ ? I've noticed many IxDA types have their own blogs, and write great articles - but they post infrequently, myself included. I know RSS should make this idea defunct, but I'm thinking it might be a nice idea to bring these disparate posts and people together. If you're interested, follow this link and fill in your blog details: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=p27oWwqQa9clXPH4PjWQqDg If we end up with a decent list of blogs, then we can expect the site to appear in the next month or so. Remember, if you blog about UX once in a blue moon and normally blog about your pet cat, you can still participate by tagging your posts appropriately and giving us an RSS feed of just your UX posts. Alternatively, if you think it's a terrible idea, or if it's already been done, do let me know! Harry -- http://www.90percentofeverything.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] IxD blog aggregator site - are you interested in contributing?
Nikhil, I agree, the quality of the discussions on the IxDA mailing list are outstanding. Just to clarify, this site would not have any formal affiliation with IxDA. It will simply be a site somewhere else on the web where people can add their rss feeds to a 'river of news'. I thought it might be useful to newcomers to the field, people who aren't big RSS-heads, and so on. Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] CAPTCHAs and conversion rates
Does anyone have any stats on captchas and the impact they have on conversion rates? Marcelo Calbucci of Sampa.com reported that they have a 10% uplift in conversion rates by removing captchas ( http://tinyurl.com/bqtdef ). Anyone got any more figures like this? - Harry On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 3:23 PM, Nikhil Paul nikhil.p...@itsme.it wrote: Hi Harry, Thanks for clarifying. In that case its a great idea. In my project blog http://www.itsme.it/ well as of now its kinda institutional, but we are trying to upgrade the website into a more interactive one, with a blog type forum to encourage developer communities and interaction design community to get together and discuss about interactive systems etc. Lets see how it goes. We plan to get online in the month of march. And i think it will be great to direct posts focusing on UX to the collaborative blog site you are talking about. Nikhil On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 4:07 PM, Harry harr...@gmail.com wrote: Nikhil, I agree, the quality of the discussions on the IxDA mailing list are outstanding. Just to clarify, this site would not have any formal affiliation with IxDA. It will simply be a site somewhere else on the web where people can add their rss feeds to a 'river of news'. I thought it might be useful to newcomers to the field, people who aren't big RSS-heads, and so on. Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] User Research: Three user groups, five hours. What would you do?
I vaguely recall reading that Microsoft OneNote can be used to record audio and binds it with your notes as you write them. When you are viewing them afterwards, you can double click on any line of text, and it will jump the audio recording to that point. Has anyone tried it, and is it any good for taking notes in interviews? Are there any other apps that do this? Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Testing- Remote Focus Group
Hi Shima The quality of insight that you can get from one on one interviews is almost always better than focus groups. I think is point of view is pretty standard in and you'll find it in most research textbooks. A lot of UX specialists sneer at focus groups as a method - some consultancies refuse to use them, period. Why? - opinions are easily influenced in group situations - it's hard to build rapport (which is necessary if you want to ask really probing questions) - it's easy for attendees to just ride the wave and go along with the conversation - in any conversation, only one person can speak at a time, which means you only end up with a small proportion of spoken words from each person. - it's tempting for moderators to ask what if? or If then? questions (e.g. if you used the product I just web demoed, would you find it easy / enjoyable?). These questions, though tempting, are well known to be unreliable. - as a result, critics claim that instead of gathering useful insights from all of the attendees, you end up with a collection of relatively trivial / shallow comments Focus groups seem like attractive things because they appear to deliver so much - qualitative depth research with impressive numbers of people in short periods of time. But for the reasons I've outlined above, many UX specialists see them as a false economy. A really skilled focus group moderator can reduce the impact of these problems (like Sarah - who's given you some great advice in the previous message) but they never completely go away. I wonder if this view is shared by everyone on IXDA - if anyone disagrees, it would be a welcome discussion! Harry On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 4:22 AM, Shima Kazerooni shkazero...@yahoo.comwrote: Hi Harry We would like to get pre-screened participants' feedback on something. The participants are all over the place and the format of the session will be a focus group remotely instead of a 1-1 interview. Shima -- *From:* Harry harr...@gmail.com *To:* Shima Kazerooni shkazero...@yahoo.com *Sent:* Tuesday, January 27, 2009 1:32:35 AM *Subject:* Re: [IxDA Discuss] Testing- Remote Focus Group Shima, When you say remote - do you mean a group of strangers calling in to a conference call service? I can imagine that might be problematic. Have you considered doing one-on-one telephone interviews instead of a remote focus group? Harry -- Dr. Harry Brignull User Experience Consultant http://www.90percentofeverything.com + 44 (0)7920 474784 -- Dr. Harry Brignull User Experience Consultant http://www.90percentofeverything.com + 44 (0)7920 474784 -- Dr. Harry Brignull User Experience Consultant http://www.90percentofeverything.com + 44 (0)7920 474784 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Selenium (or similar) for Usability Testing?
Hi Nik Your question sounds interesting, but it's hard to make out exactly what you're asking. The idea of having a piece of software that can test UX / usability by pushing a button - this is a wonderful idea, but a complete fantasy. User experience can only be understood by observing the behaviour of real users in some manner. This is absolutely fundamental to the whole concept of user experience. The best shortcuts you can hope for are expert evaluation techniques like heuristics, checklists and standards - even these require an experienced expert to operate. Looking at the demo video, Selenium looks entirely inappropriate. Perhaps you're after a screen recording app like morae, silverback or camtasia - but without knowing more about your needs, it's hard to guess. Tell us more and we'd be happy to help :-) Harry On Wed, Jan 28, 2009 at 9:57 AM, Nik Lazell nik.laz...@realadventure.co.ukwrote: Hi all, Does anyone have any experience of using Selenium for testing (http://seleniumhq.org/)? I have been asked to research it's potential for UX testing. I have used it briefly as a developer, but it seems to be more suited to testing the functionality of a site rather than from a usability point of view. In fact, can any automated tools really test usability? Thanks, Nik Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help -- Dr. Harry Brignull User Experience Consultant http://www.90percentofeverything.com + 44 (0)7920 474784 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Selenium (or similar) for Usability Testing?
Jon and Andrew have made some very good points - I can see my comment about Selenium being entirely inappropriate was a sweeping generalisation. So - while a tool like Selenium would never be appropriate as your one stop shop for UX research, it clearly can be useful in certain situations, as they've pointed out. Harry Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] usability testing equipment for mobile devices
Hi Juan, Beware of fixed device positioning - this will effect the way the device is used. Consider a traditional candybar handset - the user normally holds the device and presses buttons with the same hand (single handed interaction). If you fix this device to a table, then users will find it more natural to type by poking the buttons with their forefingers. A problem of ecological validity. In the past I've used a mobile testing kit put together by http://www.tracksys.co.uk/ (UK company) - composed of off-the-shelf components nicely packed into a flight case. It was a perfectly good set up, but if I was setting up a mobile lab now, I'd probably use the new version of Morae since it supports multiple cameras. (and the VNC set up you refer to, with a bit of tinkering). There are lots of different possible camera configurations you can consider. Try googling Helmet camera or bullet camera for some possibilities... Hope that helps Harry -- Dr. Harry Brignull User Experience Consultant http://www.90percentofeverything.com + 44 (0)7920 474784 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Any suggestions for Quick start guides
Hi Ali You might find this presentation interesting: http://www.90percentofeverything.com/2008/08/18/my-presentation-on-out-of-box-experience-design/ It's a talk gave on out-of-box experience design for UX Brighton. Good luck! Harry -- Dr. Harry Brignull User Experience Consultant http://www.90percentofeverything.com + 44 (0)7920 474784 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Outstanding examples of permission management UIs
Can anyone recommend any outstanding examples of permission management UIs for CMS or similar systems? In other words, the area where an administrator can create user accounts for their staff, set permissions for access to certain areas, set privileges e.g. ability to draft or publish articles, and so on. In general, this kind of UI tends to be designed quite badly, and I'd love to be pointed to some good examples. Thanks in advance! Harry (long time IXDA lurker) -- Dr. Harry Brignull User Experience Consultant http://www.90percentofeverything.com + 44 (0)7920 474784 Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Interaction Designer in new Ford Commercial
I remember some years ago (~1995?) when a female Ford engineer was featured and she was explaining some of the details (and difficulties) designing the control panel for the Ford Taurus. Also, a recent Lexus commercial features the satisfying touch and feel of the controls in the Rx350 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=28813 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] Designing for Specific Audiences- in this case Finance
Hi, Gloria Paige; Good additions; some comments: the question about whether the sytem was client-facing or employee facing is part of what was intended with the which audience question I posed first... you can break financial interactions down further by asking if it's DIRECTLY client facing or INdirect (e.g. a broker, funds manager or IA betw. client and provider). For Gloria's last question, I make the heroic ( but reasonable ;) assumption that there ALWAYS is a piece of back-end or legacy app that you will have to integrate with. Why the question about agency v. insider? and relationship w/ developers? These shouldn't affect requirements, altho they may have major impact implementation details trade-offs... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=28426 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] Designing for Specific Audiences- in this case Finance
Paige; Have you already looked at some of the very good finance-related web sites that are out there already? Not knowing exactly which type of finance-related transactions you have in mind, you might look at Fidelity dot com, Diversified (DivInvest dot com) and CitiBank dot com (which doesn't look at all flashy but works great. I can send you to some bad ones too ;( Regards =harry= 1 917.696.0707 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=28426 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] Designing for Specific Audiences- in this case Finance
Hello, Paige; Which specific audience do you have in mind? Finance is way broad (I've only done about a quarter century of work designing stuff for Financial audiences ...;) This can include institutional traders, retail brokers/wealth managers, funds managers/trust officers, small businesses needing to make credit decisions, and individual customers with various levels of sophistication, e.g. someone monitoring their retirement plan, online banking and bill-payers, active traders, credit card users, etc. These tend to be rather different audiences with very different requirements. Also, venue (place of use) makes a difference - do I want to check my account from a workplace where I generally do something else (like designing websites - so I want to get in and out and transact quickly)? or is my job finance so I have the time to access a richer information set and use more analytic tools to support my financial decision making and transacting for my job? Some general things about finance interactions (1) they tend to be information dense (2) information often changes rapidly (3) you often need to see a history (transactions, or market trend) (4) it's easy to make [user] mistakes and the client company doesn't want to be liable. So UI, especially presentation, reasonableness test (in case of a transaction, etc.) can be rather important. So let's answer the user questions (personna, purpose of interaction, venue, device) and then get I'll be able to help you more ... Good luck =harry= 1 917.696.0707 - Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now. 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
