Re: [IxDA Discuss] Validating personas
I suspect you might need to ask a different question. It is hard for me to grasp what can be meant by validating personas - it could be a concern about the appropriateness or usefulness of the outcome of the research that resulted in the personas created, which I can understand. Other than that I am not sure what validation would mean. If that is the concern, I would try and ask myself first what is really bothering you. Is it lack of detail? Do the personas seem shallow and non-actionable? Are the stories describing the personas in context far-fetched? I think those could be symptoms of personas that may not be expressing the reality of the audience you are designing for and you may have good instincts about what purpose your personas could/should be serving. It could indicate the research effort focused on the wrong (aspect of a broad) audience or the analysis surfaced less important attributes than it should have. If the issue is more abstract such as Is designing with these personas in mind and for the scenarios of use they are presented in, RELEVANT? it might be a hint to some lack of definition about the audience you intend to serve in the first place - something identified before the research even started. That could possibly have derailed the research effort or provided too narrow/broad focus for the research. For example, if your persona study started out trying to profile a general/existing customer base instead of trying to represent possible users of a specific service/product/outcome that fulfills a specific need, maybe that is a hint that the personas you ended up with just represent some audience, not necessarily the audience you need to be designing for. Having said that - and again, sounds like you need to ask different question - if I were to try and validate the relevance or approprietness of my research effort via personas, the last people I would ask would be my end users. Personas are a design tool - asking about the end-user's opinion of persnoas in my mind is akin to asking them if I should run an agile or waterfal development shop. There is no context or reason for the end user to know or care to have an opinion. I am trying to read between the lines here but, if by surveying customers you mean surveying them to try and have them self-select and identify to which persona they match, I think that is even more problematic, because you have personas, not market segments, which could be used to group people according to certain attributes - personas on the other hand are not, in my experience, relevant as a method to categorize groups of existing users - market segmentation is good for that and that is its reason for existing as an approach. The best measure of the usefulness and appropriateness of personas in my mind is in how well they aid designers in doing their job. If your designers can express how helpful they are being and what flaws or gaps they encounter as they use them, that would be, to me, the best actionable feedback you could get. Angela Colter wrote: I'm hoping to find out if anyone else on the list has done this. We're currently in the middle of a persona development project. One of the leaders of the project has expressed a desire to validate the personas. In other words, conduct a survey of our user base to find out whether the characteristics illustrated in the personas match our actual users. The personas were developed based on field research with about two dozen customers. I think the goal is to survey a much larger proportion of our users to make sure the team got it right. Has anyone surveyed your customers to validate personas? Do you have any advice on doing so that you'd be willing to share? 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] Thank you for all of your support
This is so great. I am so happy to see the community coming forth and investing, together, in creating something that will benefit us all. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=43229 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] Reminder: IAS09/IxD09 RedUX in DC this Saturday 5/9 (or watch online)
Tomorrow, Saturday May 9, lots of people from a bunch of places in the US East Coast (DC, New York, Philadelphia, Richmond, Boston, etc) are meeting in DC for an epic combined IA Summit 09 Interactions 09 RedUX (oh yes, they did it, Red-U-X). http://ixdadc.ning.com/events/ia-summit-09ixd-09-redux-dc And if you can't join in person, you'll be able to watch a live video stream thanks to the awesome folks from The UX Workshop (@theuxworkshop) by visiting the link here: http://tr.im/IA_IxDA_redUX09_DC I am sure you'll also be able to follow some live-tweeting action. Not sure what the hashtag is but it will probably be #redUX or #redUXDC or some variation. Whatever @semanticwill decides. Enjoy! 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] Hosting EPIC 2010 Conference
CALL FOR EPIC 2010 HOSTING PROPOSALS Interested in hosting the Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference (EPIC) in 2010? Last year was Copenhagen, this year is Chicago, next year could be your city! For more information on shaping a proposal, please refer to the guidelines on the EPIC website: http://www.epic2009.com/committees/location DEADLINE: July 24, 2009 Contact me if you have questions or ideas, Elizabeth Anderson-Kempe EPIC Steering Committee Location Sub-committee Chair http://www.epic2009.com/committees/location 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] Announcing our new IxDA Board Member
IxDA Board of Directors wrote: Dear IxDA Members, We are very happy to announce that Steve Baty will be joining the IxDA Boardof Directors, effective immediately, filling our Communications vacancy. We look forward to his contributions to IxDA, the Board and our entire community. Please see his bio below: That is fantastic news! Big congrats from me and also on behalf of the IA Institute board. Looking forward to great things. :) 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] Guiding successful product development
Hi all, I am looking for examples of brand/product/company guidelines or principles that are/were truly useful to guide and direct product/service development (not just advertising and marketing messages). I asked this on the IA Institute members list and got a few: * Luke W on Microsoft's use of design principles: http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?796 * Google UX principles http://www.google.com/corporate/ux.html * Sony's design philosophy http://www.sony.net/Fun/design/profile/philosophy.html Do you have any examples or experiences to share? I'm curious about a. how they are conveyed (a document, a website, a mantra) and b. how people use them (checklists, part of project selection criteria, pin them to their cube walls, etc). Note: I am particularly interested in artifacts that associate the overall brand/image to how stuff gets done so I'm not looking for things that generally lead up to successful products like have a good product manager or do usability testing early. Thanks! 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] JJG's IA Summit 09 Plenary transcript
In case you weren't there or haven't had to read it in full, here's Jesse James Garrett's transcript from his plenary session speech: http://jjg.net/ia/memphis/ Thanks Jesse for posting it in full! 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] Announcing IxDA%u2019s 2009 Board of Directors
Great lineup! Very nice to see the IxDA grow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=35953 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] Where that ACD thing fits
-- ACD usefulness grows focus on ACTIVITY focus on USER GOALS UCD usefulness grows -- I don't see that. You can't design with a focus on user goals without thinking about activity. So, in my mind, they are not different ends of the spectrum. ACD ignores goals, needs, and context, whereas UCD does not. It's a superset / subset relationship. Yup, you're right. It doesn't work thinking about it as a spectrum. 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] Where that ACD thing fits
While our work may not be as life and death as a surgical procedure, I think we still want to know what we're doing. We need to have a language that adequately describes our tools, techniques, and processes. That's why I think defining these things are important. Though our risks may not be life threatening, they are certainly real risks and likely financial risks (which can have direct impact on our employment status). Just wanted to point this out in case anyone thinks their job is less important because they don't get to kill someone if they screw up or don't care what their design approach is... In the previous discussion of ACD versus UCD on this list, the focus has been defined simply: Someone practicing ACD focuses on the activities of the design, where someone practicing UCD focuses on the users. First, the name of these two approaches doesn't help much in clarifying their application. Because ADC doesn't have user in the name doesn't mean it doesn't consider the user at all; it just focuses on the activities of a user, rather than their ultimate goals and needs (which is what UCD preaches). But I'm not going to get into that. ACD focuses on the activities of users, UCD focuses on goals and preferences of users. ACD focuses on user activities looking at them (and talking about them) from the system perspective (mostly - there are no absolutes); UCD looks at (and talks about) activities from the user perspective (mostly - there are no absolutes). I had to type and read this 5 times to make sure this made sense, but I think I am conveying the difference as I see it. Dan Saffer differentiates ACS and UCS in his Designing for Interaction book very similarly/succinctly. His best point is that the PURPOSE of an activity is not necessarily a user goal, meaning looking at a design problem with a user goal in mind may be too esoteric and not necessarily helpful (which is the pro argument for ACD). I agree with that. He also says sometimes user goals and purpose of activity can be the same. I also agree with that. To me these are determining factors in terms of choosing a design approach. How far removed from the ultimate user goal/ambition is the step/thing I need to design? The more layers of abstraction between the atomic tasks or set of tasks that represent an activity and the end goal for the user, more helpful a UCD approach. The less abstract/more direct, more helpful ACD. -- ACD usefulness grows focus on ACTIVITY focus on USER GOALS UCD usefulness grows -- If one asserts that UCD is a collection of activities that go beyond ACD, looking at the goals, needs, and context of the user, beyond just that of the underlying activities, then I would say that ACD is... ... just a lazy man's UCD. I think I agree with that statement. 0) Unintended Design: 1) Self Design: 2) Genius Design: 3) Activity-Centered Design (ACD): 4) User-Centered Design (UCD): 0 1 2 3 4 = Time spent learning about user. As you said, I don't think we can/could map success to this progression (even knowing all approaches have successes). I.E: in genius design, past experience may be a key success factor. I do think that the complexity of the system (not sure that's the best way to talk about it but...), meaning the 'distance' between the atomic tasks a user has to perform and the ultimate goal they are trying to accomplish, can help determine which is the best approach (and by best I meant the most likely to be successful). In trying to predict what approach would be most successful for a given situation in order to tell a team how to tackle a project, I'd start by taking a pass at trying to outline user end goals. For example: Trying to design a cappuccino maker. Goal: Drink coffee with x characteristics. It's a good, concrete, an fairly narrow *goal* that is not far removed from the *activity* of making coffee itself. I'd say, ACD would have better odds. For example: Trying to design a way for people to feel confident about their financial choices. It's a good, concrete, and fairly broad *goal* that is possibly very removed from the *activities* involved in making whatever financial choices are available to them. I'd say, UCD would have better odds. (An additional point: defining the problem you are trying to address is so key in determining the design approach, that because many start with fuzzy and unclear projects, they default to UCD because certain UCD methods are really good at clarifying things and help frame the problem you are trying to resolve). My argument was that UCD isn't the goal for teams -- instead, having a rich toolbox filled with techniques and tricks (that the team knows when and how to use) should be the goal. In my head, being able to choose the approach, ACD or UCD, is part of the idea of having a toolbox. If you start out as an ACD or UCD advocate in the
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Representations of Group Calendars/Time Events
say a department schedule in an academic setting. Are there smart ways to represent time and events that are better than what conventions indicate? I assume you are asking about presentation. I like the time tunel model: Etsy Time Machine http://www.etsy.com/time_machine.php Apple Time Machine http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/timemachine.html (click on showcase for video) 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] Components instead of Computers
is there a place for a dedicated component that has a great experience for doing just thing one or two things it needs to do? I live this question daily. I work at Comcast; we used to be just a cable provider, now we provide internet acces, voice services, cable content, web content, mobile content, etc. We are often trying to make one device accomplish too much. Often because we have one device that does one thing successfully and it's easy to expect that adding other things to it will make it as successful (which isn't necessarily true as you have diminishing returns the more you add, features or content). If there is one thing that we are learning more and more through our research across platforms is that there is a paradox between people wanting extreme simplicity (aka limited choice and complexity), and expecting to be able to access everything available immediately and ubiquitously. It's when we try to address that paradox by picking one device or channel to expose everything through that we mess up. I applaud Netflix and Roku's focus -- I haven't even received it yet and I already have preemptive criticism, but I knew I wanted it the second I first heard about it. 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] On the topic of twitter - Why?
I didn't want to send a me too post but my sentiments towards Twitter have been better explained by Bill. Bill DeRouchey wrote: But my main point is, I use Twitter to follow people that I like as people. The web has allowed me to maintain friendships from afar that I probably wouldn't have otherwise - Twitter allows me live those friendships. Livia loves food but is forgetting Portuguese. Yes, damn. http://twitter.com/livlab *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
