[IxDA Discuss] Help some design students in the Bay Area with field research
Hello, I am teaching an interaction design class at Stanford and as part of the class I am helping students set up sites for field research for their projects. We are still looking for people to interview who fall into the categories listed below and I was wondering if any of you on this list might be interested in volunteering yourself as a subject. Normally I don't solicit subjects off this list for my projects but in this case, I thought I would see if anyone was interested in volunteering to talk to students because I think it's sort of fun to be interviewed by fledgling designers. We're looking for people who fall into any ONE of the following categories: - Have close family who lives remote from you that you communicate with on a regular basis using phone, email, web, etc... - Use any health-related device like a glucose monitor, blood pressure cuff, heart rate monitor (i.e. for exercise) on a regular basis - Have a senior living in your home (or are a senior yourself) who needs some special assistance HOW THE INTERVIEWS WILL WORK: The students are doing all the field interviews on Sunday, January 31 and Monday, February 1. The students will be conducting the interviews in their projects groups of four which will include 2 Stanford students and 2 students from Peking University in China (it's a collaborative class with Peking U). If you can spare the time for an interview, a group of 4 VERY enthusiastic students will come to your house and ask you some questions about your experience with the particular subject matter. So, if you're interested and live in the Bay Area, review the list above and let me know if you fall into one of the categories and are available this upcoming Sunday or Monday. Cheers, Julie _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design www.slicedbreaddesign.com | 650-969-0400 x706 http://www.linkedin.com/in/jstanford 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] JOBS: Sr. Interaction Designer and Sr. User Researcher | Mountain View, CA | Sliced Bread
Sliced Bread Design is looking for talented senior interaction designers and user researchers for contract and/or full time positions. If you are interested please send an email with your resume and a link to your portfolio to car...@slicedbreaddesign.com. About Sliced Bread We are a boutique interaction design agency that works on web, mobile, voice, and touch screen interfaces. Our clients range from larger companies such as Adobe and Intuit to smaller innovative startups. To learn more about our company, visit www.slicedbreaddesign.com. **SENIOR INTERACTION DESIGNER POSITION** Top 4 Things You MUST Have for the Interaction Design Position: . A strong body of work demonstrating experience with complex web and/or mobile applications . Personal knowledge of a user-centered design process including rapid prototyping and user testing . Ability to create interactive prototypes in HTML (Not final working code, just smoke and mirror prototypes to share) . Excellent time management Responsibilities . Interacting with clients to build a relationship and communicate about design . Creating a design strategy based on understanding user, business, and functional needs through methods such as contextual inquiry, stakeholder interviews, workflow analysis, and competitive/heuristic review . Designing the experience, including the overall information architecture such as site maps and task flows, and detailed interaction designs such as wireframes . Evaluating usability through informal and formal user testing Additional Requirements . Minimum of 1 year experience working directly with clients in consulting relationships . Ability to work from home and in our office in Mountain View . Expert with Dreamweaver, Photoshop or Fireworks, Illustrator or Visio . Basic understanding of technologies that influence UI design including .net, JSP, ASP, and XML . Flexibility, including the ability to work in pajamas and bunny slippers **SENIOR USER RESEARCHER POSITION** Seeking a well-rounded SENIOR-level user research specialist with expertise in a range of qualitative methods including usability testing and field studies. Top 4 Things You MUST Have for the User Researcher Position: . A strong body of work demonstrating experience conducting ethnographic field studies, classic lab usability tests, and more informal quick and dirty user research for complex web and/or mobile applications . Experience working with clients . Excellent writing skills . Great time management Responsibilities - Conduct user research for clients using appropriate methods based on the goals of the study - Plan, design and conduct usability evaluations including 1:1 usability sessions, remote usability testing, card sorts, contextual interviewing, online questionnaires, etc. - Analyze and interpret data, compile reports and present findings to cross functional teams Additional Requirements . Minimum of 1 year experience working directly with clients in consulting relationships . Ability to work from home and in our office in Mountain View . Flexibility, including the ability to work in pajamas and bunny slippers _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design www.slicedbreaddesign.com | 650-969-0400 x706 http://www.linkedin.com/in/jstanford 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] Looking for interaction designers in China
I am co-teaching a Cross-Cultural design course at the Stanford d.School in the spring. The course is a collaboration between graduate students at Stanford and graduate students at Peking University. Stanford students travel to China in early spring to do user research. The Chinese students take a design intensive course in the winter to prepare for the design projects they do with the Stanford students in the spring. And, the projects are actually done for corporate sponsors of the class so students are working for real clients. This is the second year that the course is being taught we thought it would be great if we could find mentors for the Chinese students at Peking University. Do you know of any awesome interaction designers, industrial designers, or user researchers in the Peking area or have any leads on where to look? Julie _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design www.slicedbreaddesign.com | 650-969-0400 x706 http://www.linkedin.com/in/jstanford 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] How to find people who use SmartGridCity in Boulder, CO
We are doing a project related to energy use and are looking for people who live in Boulder, CO and are part of the Smart Grid City energy program there. Does anyone have any ideas or tips on how to find people in this pilot program? We are on a limited budget and have posted on Craigslist in Boulder and have asked all our friends, changed our status on various social networks to look for people. Any other thoughts on how to find these folks? Julie _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design www.slicedbreaddesign.com | 650-969-0400 x706 http://www.linkedin.com/in/jstanford 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 Reports: A waste of time?
I personally like summary reports (not huge reports but a nice manageable size) for several reason: - When I am designing, I go back to the findings/recommendations and makes sure that I have addressed all of them - In fact, sometimes some of the findings/recommendations are small and not worth discussing in the meeting so it's nice to have them all written down to make sure that the designer addresses them - I refer back to reports I have written a while ago all the time to refresh my memory on what happened on a specific project (prevents rediscovering the wheel over and over again) - When presenting the findings, I need a way to gather my thoughts for the preso so I use the report for organization The key is not having some giant unmanageable report in a crazy detailed format but using a format that doesn't create a lot of busy work and is instead helpful for analysis. Julie -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Mashhoor Aldubayan Sent: Saturday, August 22, 2009 10:44 PM To: disc...@ixda.org Subject: [IxDA Discuss] Usability Reports: A waste of time? Hi, I'm wondering: how many of you think that writing a big report on the findings/recommendations for a project is inefficient? From my experience, it seems that I end up discussing (and often justifying) almost every single thing I write on the report, no matter how logical it is. Isn't a better way to just sit with the client's development team and/or management, and get things done together? I know Steve Krug is against reports, but I wanted to know what other professionals' take on this matter. 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] IXDA at Burning Man?
Anyone on this list going to Burning Man this year? If so, email me and maybe we can set up a IXDA event at Black Rock city if enough of us are there. I will be at Camp HiLuxury at 4:30 Portal so drop by and say hello even if we don't end up setting anything up. Julie _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design www.slicedbreaddesign.com | 650-969-0400 x706 http://www.linkedin.com/in/jstanford 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] SXSW Panel Picker- please vote for my panels!!!
I want to share my two SXSW Panels with you as well...please vote thumbs up on the site if you're interested (Note that you can vote Yes for an unlimited number of panels). 1. Mac-n-Cheese: Learning About Product Design from Comfort Foods http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/4218 Comfort foods are the epitome of success. Delicious, ubiquitous, and easy. This panel of top chefs and designers will explore what food can teach us about product design. What makes a new recipe take-off? How do you make your product comfy on first use and then make people want to use it again? How do you get a following for your food? For your restaurant? For your product? 2. Flex, Silverlight, Javascript??? Picking your RIA Technology http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/4236 Dazed and confused in a sea of technology and marketing fluff? This talk will help you pick the right technology for your Rich Internet Application based on the user experience implications. See specific examples of the trade-offs with each so that you can finally make an informed decision _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design www.slicedbreaddesign.com | 650-969-0400 x706 http://www.linkedin.com/in/jstanford -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Michael Dunn Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 1:12 PM To: disc...@ixda.org Subject: [IxDA Discuss] SXSW Panel Picker- please vote for my panels!!! Hey all, I have two panels up for consideration this year: Devil in the Details: Appropriate Wireframe Fidelity: Wireframes can be executed in many different ways; From hand-drawn napkin doodles to very precise layouts. Is one better than the other? When is the right time to do a sketchy wireframe versus a high-fidelity one? When should you take it to the next level and turn it into a functional prototype? As the nature of the web and the way we use it changes and adapts to advances in technology, so too do we need to change and adapt how we define user experiences on the web. Wireframing needs may differ from project to project, and it is vital to retain a level of flexibility when determining your approach. http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3068 How I Stopped Worrying And Learned to Love My Audience: An Introduction to UX (User Experience): Some describe it as making things enjoyable and easy to use. Others describe it as all of the elements that impact one's perception of a product or system. From information architecture, to user research, to user testing, this presentation is about what UX (User Experience) is and why it should be an integral part of every website or application project. http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/3078 Please take a moment to look over and register and vote if you feel so inclined! Thank you, -MIKE DUNN 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] SXSW Panel Picker- please vote for my panels!!!
Given that there were only a max of 9 words for the title, really it was important to be as concise is possible. Julie -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Andrei Herasimchuk Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 3:09 PM To: IXDA list Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] SXSW Panel Picker- please vote for my panels!!! On Aug 17, 2009, at 1:47 PM, Julie Stanford wrote: 2. Flex, Silverlight, Javascript??? Picking your RIA Technology http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/ideas/view/4236 Dazed and confused in a sea of technology and marketing fluff? This talk will help you pick the right technology for your Rich Internet Application based on the user experience implications. See specific examples of the trade-offs with each so that you can finally make an informed decision Not to be picky, but are you referring to your choice of technology platform (Web Browser, Adobe AIR or WPF)? And if so, shouldn't the title be something more like Adobe AIR, Microsoft WPF, Appcelerator Titanium or WebKit+Gears be technologies to choose from an RIA? -- Andrei Herasimchuk Chief Design Officer, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. and...@involutionstudios.com c. +1 408 306 6422 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] Contractor Rates
We haven't really seen a trend in requests for discounts. The real issue we've seen a few times is that we'll be discussing an opportunity and then the project will be cancelled and the budget completely cut. So it's not the case that the budget isn't big enough...it's that it disappears altogether. Julie _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design www.slicedbreaddesign.com | 650-969-0400 x706 http://www.linkedin.com/in/jstanford -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Audrey Crane Sent: Friday, August 14, 2009 8:47 AM To: disc...@ixda.org Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Contractor Rates I can say that I've had clients say, In light of the current economy, we expected the price to be lower. And I've lowered it, 10-20%, when that happens. But it's happened less than half the time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=44693 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] Infographical War over Health Care Reform
This was really neat. Thanks for sharing. I esp. liked the link from one of the articles that showed a redesigned clear infographic of the healthcare plan: http://rp-network.com/blogstuff/healthcare.pdf Julie 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] to do list transitions/animations
I am looking for some good examples of transitions in a to do list when items get removed and other items get added. I have looked at th yahoo library of transitions and found the self-healing and fade out/in transitions, but I am looking for examples of a more complicated case where several to do items get removed at once and several other new ones get added (i.e. when the user returns to the to do list after doing things elsewhere in the app). The basic cases where one to do item is removed and the rest slide up or one to do item is added and the rest slide down is easy.but I am wondering if people have created a successful transition for the more complex case or if it is just going to look strange. Julie _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 x706 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] [PLUG] My Blog - Edible/Usable - the usability of cooking and eating
Kim, I LOVE your blog. Simply love the concept of what you are doing. This has been an issue that has been on my mind for a long time because I think there is a lot of similarlity between cooking/recipes/users and design/users. For example, when I visited Sunset Magazine recently at their open house, they described how they develop recipes and user test them in their test kitchen (does this sound familiar?!). Also, I think that magazines/restaurants have similar challenges introducing new things as creators of new digital experiences have. How do magazines create new popular recipes when people like cooking old standby comfort foods? How do restaurants create buzz and a return customers? Although I don't think the problems are identical, I think there is definitely a lot of crossover. Thanks for putting this blog together! Julie Stanford _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 x706 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] infographics
Does anyone on this list have the skillset to design really neat infographics? For example the sorts of things that are on this site: _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 x706 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] infographics
Sorry, the link didn't go through for some reason. Here's the examples of infographics I was trying to post: http://www.princeton.edu/~ina/infographics/ If you do this sort of thing, let me know off list. Does anyone on this list have the skillset to design really neat infographics? For example the sorts of things that are on this site: _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 x706 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 we do diagram updated
Dave, I completely agree with what you are saying, but I think in the two examples below, there was still a problem space definied -- i.e. savings, or mobile communication. I can think of a number of problems where we hired to explore a particular space and find problems there that needed solutions, but there was always some bounded area to that space. I think that is what that Your concept circle is trying to get at -- the contribution that the client brings to the equation in terms of defining the space to be explored. What would be a better title for that circle to encompass that? Here's a link to the diagram again in case someone missed the first post and wants to take a look: http://blog.slicedbreaddesign.com/ Julie -Original Message from Dave Malouf- This is what I posted on the blog: Ok, better, but I do believe that sometimes the concept comes from outside of us and sometimes the concept comes directly from us, or more accurately from a combination of sources. i.e. where would the work of Jan Chipchase fall into this? or look at the case study of IDEO's BofA the change goes into your savings project. Design generated the concept out of nothing more than to say, We need to find a way to get people to use their savings accounts more. 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] what we do diagram updated
Hello, Thanks to everyone who responded on my blog to the last what we do venn diagram I posted. The feedback was super helpful and I took the feedback and posted a new diagram. Take a look and let me know what you think about the update: blog.slicedbreaddesign.com Julie _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 x706 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] diagram of what we do
Yesterday, I had an inspiration after a conversation with someone who was trying to understand what I do and created a diagram that I just posted on our blog explaining where my work fits in at a high level. http://blog.slicedbreaddesign.com/index.php/2009/06/554/ What do people think? I felt like something about it suddenly made clear where we fit in when we work with companies to create products. Julie _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 x706 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] Palm Pre
I think for the Pre it is going to be about growing apps in the app store and showing how much more you can do with it than the iPhone. I know I'm harping on the background processing thing but it is so key to being able to do anything cool. The iPhone can't notice something around you that you're interested and tell you about it, it can't notify someone else something about your status that it knows -- it basically can't do much that is smart on its own. Everything involves the user having to do something which is really limiting. I think that once the apps for the Pre are unleashed that harness the power of backgroundprocessing and multi-threading, that device is going to be incredibly appealing. Julie -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Den Serras Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 9:34 AM To: disc...@ixda.org Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Palm Pre I'd say integration and excitement. Meaning it has to answer the question how well does it fit with my existing computer system, PIM, music service, service provider, headset, etc.? and how much does this phone excite me about doing things I couldn't before? We don't even have a way of reliably prejudging two of the most critical, battery life and signal reception/transmission, since it varies so much by usage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=42837 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] Palm Pre
So the Palm Pre came out recently but I have not seen the kind of buzz on this list like we saw for the iPhone. I tried out a friend's device recently and was really impressed. Notably, I think that the lack of background processing and the ban on multiple apps running at once on the iPhone is its Achilles heel. Pre does not have that limitation along with what looked to be an elegant UI and a nice keyboard. Does anyone have this device and care to report back? Julie _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 x706 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] hover delay
We are trying to figure out the right amount of delay time for an interaction that happens on hover delay over an image. Does anyone know how long the hover delay is for the Netflix hover that appears on with film info? In our particular situation, on hover an image immediately looks selected and on hover delay it sort of pops out in this card thing with more info in a unique way (hard to explain here). We're trying to figure out how long to delay before it pops out. .5 second? 1 second? 1.5 seconds? Somewhere in between? Julie _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 x706 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] Review of ProtoFarm
I just attended Protofarm this evening and had a few comments about the event and how to make future Farm events more effective. Overall, there were a few good presos - I particularly enjoyed Tellme talking about the Mobile Phone Sleeve and bringing their paper prototype to life with a live demo, the talk about the Person prototype for GPS research, the Axure prototype, PPT prototype, and Arduino. These were all good because they actually showed off their working prototypes! Sadly, lots of people did not really show prototypes in action or spent the majority of time talking about their design process. The five minute time slot was supposed to be focused on prototypes so I was disappointed that the time was not used primarily for that. Here are a few ideas for how to make things better in the future: 1) Strictly enforce the time limit. There was a five minute time limit on presos and it was not at all enforced. Given the number of speakers, the time enforcer needs to be a total slave driver, keeping people on track. 2) Have people arrive early to test their computer setup. There were numerous IT issues with projecting; Yes, I know this always happens but one solution is to require that speakers come early and test out their set up with the projector so that they figure out what resolution/set up is going to work in advance. Given the number of speakers, this is super important for next time. 3) Make it clear what people should focus on in their presentation and create a list of dos and don't in advance. I was expecting the presentation to show off prototypes. Some people did that but a lot of people spent a lot of time talking about their process before the prototype (i.e. ethnographic study, requirements, blah, blah, blah). I was really interested in seeing the prototypes and hearing how people MADE the prototype, not how they came up with the design. Only a few presenters did that which was disappointing. In the future, I would like to see some guidelines about what people should present in the five minutes they are allotted to make things go smoothly. 4) Some people were presenting wireframes, not prototypes. Again, I think this had to do with the lack of guidelines for content of presos. Although straight non interactive wireframes would be interesting in a WireframeFarm event, this was ProtoFarm. If you have a paper prototype, than the thing to do is to show how you used it in an innovative manner like the folks from Tellme did instead of just showing the wireframe on a screen. 5) Ask for more info when selecting speakers. People signed up for Protofarm by adding a comment. To enhance the content, it would be nice to ask people to answer a few questions about what they are presenting to make sure that people are really presenting something that is on topic. I'm sorry if I come off as grumpy but I just think the event had a lot of potential and could have been a tad better if things were more concrete. Julie _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 x706 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] Sliced Bread's Interaction design blog
I'm please to announce the the birth of Sliced Bread Design's interaction design blog, the Bread Board -- blog.slicedbreaddesign.com. We've added some content over the last little while so I think it is finally ready for prime time. Yes, we're a little late to the party, but give us a break, we've been busy doing design! _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 x706 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?
Noel's story of that horrible IVR reminded me of an IVR usability study we ran a few years ago which actually made someone cry and made another user slam down the phone and say she couldn't take it anymore. The test involved asking Walmart employees to call an IVR for a well known investment company and attempt to change the allocation of the mutual funds in their 401k. A few things to keep in mind in this crazy study: 1) Most employees that Walmart provided for the study were not aware that Walmart even provided them with a 401k and had no idea what a mutual fund is...nonetheless understand reallocating their mutual funds 2) The IVR was ridiculous. It confirmed everything three or four times for no reason making you start doubting your sanity. 3) At the beginning of the interaction, if you chose Path A, this process might take you 5 minutes. If you chose Path B, you feasibly could still complete the task but it would take you a minimum of half an hour. It turned out Path A and Path B did basically the same thing...Path B just did it in a convoluted crazy fashion. And, initially Path B presented itself as more appealing. 4) People using the IVR were presumably looking at a statement from the investment firm for the 401k. However, the IVR used language that did not match anything written on the statement resulting in mass confusion. You can only imagine the madness that ensued in this study. Let's just say that the by the end the day the client couldn't watch the train wreck anymore. Although I am sure you can draw your own conclusions from this exercise, here are a few key points: - If your users is going to be looking at artifacts while using your IVR, review the artifacts and make sure you are using the exact same language - Be very clear about each path in the IVR and do not create strange meandering longcuts to entrap users - Although confirmations are good for natural language interfaces especially, do not overconfirm -- you offend your user's sanity. - When designing the system, keep in mind the knowledge level of your users and ask yourself if this is really an appropriate use of IVR for your target audience 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] Streamlined sign up flow
Does anyone have any examples of articles discussing the cons of having a sign-up process before using an application that requires personal information (i.e. your address). I remember reading articles a while back on how asking for personal info when someone just wants to try out your app is a huge turn off to users (for obvious reasons) and you really want to reduce all barriers to entry. Have you written or read something like this recently? I want to share some references with a client. Julie _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 x706 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] Mobile (iPhone) Statistics
I think that the issues that the study pointed out with the ophone were very relevant. For example, they showed how + is used to mean different things in different areas, some controls are too close together, etc... I thought the study was very interesting and I don't think that Apple has thought through everything and is some kind of flawless entity incapable of making errors. I think they do great design work but like everyone has some flaws that will improve and it is nice to know what they are in the meantime. -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of gavin burke|FAW Sent: Monday, April 06, 2009 4:00 PM To: disc...@ixda.org Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Mobile (iPhone) Statistics This reminds me of the study where in the early days of computing they asked someone use a mouse, upon which the person picks up the mouse in their hand and started waving it about in the air. Or the tech support call where the person complained about the coffee cup holder closing every time they shut down the computer. I think the problems outlined in the study are part of the figuring out process that goes hand in hand with learning how to use a system you are unfamiliar with. The key is to aid the user during this time and make the process of learning as painless and short as possible. Help during this time, such as fixed text underneath the controls, becomes redundant and clutters up the interface as the user learns how to use the system better. In the case of Safari's icons being obtuse, one method would be to have contextual pop up help windows, but then again there is no hover over on the iPhone. Adding fixed text would soon clog up the interface. I am sure Apple have thought through these things and weighted up the pro and cons and decided that some learning would be a necessary evil. Gavin. On 6 Apr 2009, at 14:28, Alina wrote: Here's a study on how people really use the iPhone: http://user-experience.iterating.net/2009/01/how-people-really-use-the-iphon e/ 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] text changing on buttons
I wanted to solicit people's advice/examples on a small but interesting interaction we're working on. Here's the scenario: User launches a dialog that has a list of people who they need to handwrite checks to (it's a payroll application; don't worry about why they are handwriting and not printing checks). The dialog has a table of the people and the amounts. For each line in the table, the user can do up to two things: - Add/Edit a check number for that person's check - Print a paystub for that check They can do any or all of these things, it is up to them. To support this, we have two buttons on the dialog -- Save and Cancel -- however if someone selects to Print a stub, the Save button changes to Save and Print'. Here's what it looks like in ASCII (the actual is obviously not in ASCII): In the example below: [] = checkbox field = text field Print Stub Name AmountCheck number [ ] John Doe $500 __ [ ] Mary Smith $200 __ [ ] Billy Bob$300 __ [Save] [Cancel] As soon as someone selects to print a stub (by checking of a box in that column) the Save button changes to be Save and Print. Questions: - What do people think about this interaction? - Another option would be to have three buttons to start - Save, Save and Print, Cancel and just disable Save and Print till you've checked something. I think that is just more cluttered and annoying. What do other people think? - Do you have examples of other UIs where the button name changes based on your selection? Julie _ Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 x706 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 Designers: What is your elevator pitch?
That's exactly what I say! Sometimes I follow up with You know that person who figures out what goes where on the screen on sites like Amazon so that you can figure out what to do? That would be me. Julie Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 / 800-969-0434 x706 -Original Message- From: discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Dan Saffer Sent: Thursday, December 18, 2008 4:28 PM To: IxDA Discuss Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Interaction Designers: What is your elevator pitch? I make technology easy and fun to use. (via Matt Blackbelt Jones, explaining what he does to a taxi driver) 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] Jobs, Events and Plug
I disagree with Andrei. I like having the announcements on this list even though many don't pertain to me. It makes me feel in touch with the IX community which is what I like about this list. From Andrei: Seems like it's high time to get the Jobs, Events and Plugs postings their own email list and make sure people know how to set their subjects lines so they got filtered properly. Having these things constantly pop into one's a mail client is getting really tedious. Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 / 800-969-0434 x706 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] Differnce between user interface and interactiondesign?
I'm with Jared. This is a ridiculous semantic distinction. Like there's some mythical confused poor UI designer sitting in a cave who doesn't even know to think about the whole interaction or like there's some interaction designer who never gets into the details of buttons. Let's move on. :-) On Jan 25, 2008, at 5:02 PM, dave malouf wrote: the UI Designer, says, the button is left aligned, bevelled, has this rollover, and that action state, and this disabled state. The IxDer says how did the user even get to the page with the button, why is the button necessary and what comes after the button is pressed. For real? Why must there be a difference? Isn't this just a Yam/Sweet Potato thing? Jared *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] JOB: Sr. Interaction Designer OR Sr. Visual Designer, Mountain View, CA, Sliced Bread Design
Two full-time design opportunities at Sliced Bread! Sliced Bread Design is looking for two full time employees: . Senior Interaction Designer . Senior Visual Designer More info below on the company and both positions... About Sliced Bread Design Talk to everyone who works for Sliced Bread Design and they will universally say that they enjoy working there. That's something not many companies can do. - Laura Klein, Sliced Bread Design User Researcher We are a boutique interaction design agency that works on web, desktop, mobile, voice, and touch screen interfaces. Our clients range from large companies to innovative Silicon Valley startups. We offer a relaxed and fun workplace with smart, down to earth folks who have a passion for thoughtful, high quality interaction and visual design. We are working parent friendly. We asked our employees why they enjoy working at Sliced Bread Design and here are a few things they had to say: - Exposure to diverse project work - Intelligent, enthusiastic, fun design team with ample collaboration - Great mentoring from experienced designers and the opportunity to learn about all parts of the business - Flexibilty, including the ability to work in pajamas and bunny slippers Interested in working for Sliced Bread Design? Here's more about the positions. To apply for either position, please send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with your resume in the text of the message (not as an attachment) and a link to your portfolio. Senior Interaction Designer Sliced Bread Design (www.slicedbreaddesign.com) is looking for a talented senior interaction designer who enjoys working on complex applications and helping clients understand the beauty of user-centered design. Responsibilities of the position include: - Interacting with clients to build a relationship and communicate about design - Creating a design strategy based on understanding user, business, and functional needs through methods such as contextual inquiry, stakeholder interviews, workflow analysis, and competitive/heuristic review - Designing the experience, including the overall information architecture such as site maps and task flows, and detailed interaction designs such as wireframes - Evaluating usability through informal and formal user testing This position requires: - Minimum of 1 year experience working directly with clients in consulting relationships - Minimum of 3 years experience designing complex web-based or desktop applications - Ability to work from home and in our office in Mountain View - Expert with Dreamweaver, Photoshop or Fireworks, Illustrator or Visio - Basic understanding of technologies that influence UI design including .net, JSP, ASP, and XML - Excellent interpersonal, time management, and communication skills Senior Visual Designer Sliced Bread Design (www.slicedbreaddesign.com) is looking for a talented senior visual designer, with either interaction design experience or client management skills, who enjoys working on interactive applications. Responsibilities of this position include: - Designing the visual experience of a product, including creating the look and feel based on product goals and taking screens from wireframes to final visuals - And, depending on your skills and interests. - Interacting with clients to build a relationship and communicate about design OR - Creating the interaction design including the overall information architecture such as site maps and task flows, and detailed interaction designs such as wireframes This position requires: - Minimum of 3 years experience designing the visuals for web-based or desktop applications - Either a minimum of 1 year experience working directly with clients in consulting relationships, OR 1 year experience with interaction design - Ability to work from home and in our office in Mountain View - Expert with Photoshop or Fireworks, Illustrator or Visio, and Dreamweaver - Excellent interpersonal, time management, and communication skills To apply for either position, please send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with your resume in the text of the message (not as an attachment) and a link to your portfolio. Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 / 800-969-0434 x706 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
[IxDA Discuss] Progress bar best practices
Hello, I was wondering if people had thoughts on the best practices for a progress bar for file upload. I'm having a discussion with a client and don't have a strong position on this issue as yet. I think the most important question to answer is How much time is remaining? (i.e. should I hang out and wait or go get a coffee?) After that, I am wondering which of the following should be displayed -- here's a list of options on the table and there could be more: Visual info: - Animation showing things being copied - Progress bar showing visually how much is done Text info: - X min remaining - X of Y KB - X% complete - X of Y min complete - Other stuff I missed? What do you think should be shown? Julie Julie Stanford Principal, Sliced Bread Design 650-969-0400 / 800-969-0434 x706 *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .. http://www.ixda.org/help
