Re: [IxDA Discuss] Berkeley\'s MIMS vs Carnegie Mellon\'s MDes in IxD

2009-03-21 Thread Evan Meagher
How does SVA's interaction design program compare to Berkeley's or Carnegie Mellon's? I've heard more about it than either of these two, to be honest. http://interactiondesign.sva.edu/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread Dan Saffer
On Mar 20, 2009, at 3:21 PM, Andrei Herasimchuk wrote: On Mar 20, 2009, at 3:07 PM, Dan Saffer wrote: Seems like reason enough for me. So you think that testing 41 shades of blue or arguing about borders being 2 to 4 pixels to the point of being asked to prove 2 is better than 4 is a

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread Harry
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,

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Idea Generation Activities

2009-03-21 Thread Cone
I think De Bono's 'Six Thinking Hats' technique works great, whether in a group or alone. The six different colored 'hats' represent a different ways of thinking. The six thinking hats cover positive, negative, neutral, creative emotional and organizationally inclined ways of thinking. It's like

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Designers, meet the Drupal community!

2009-03-21 Thread AJKock
This is critique in general about people who prefers to choose the complex path, in fearing of being devalued. I actually didn't want to get involve in this discussion, because it is almost like Apple vs PC, but if I don't ask or discuss clarity will never be reached, and some people actually

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread AJKock
The problem with pure data-driven design (testing for 4 vs 2 pixels) is that they might be missing the point that the result is only valid for that moment. Humans are not happy with things staying the same (it might be part of the our survival mechanism to keep changing), because one year we might

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Designers, meet the Drupal community!

2009-03-21 Thread AJ Kock
Please, I would seriously be enlightened if you could tell me what those features are that you can find in Drupal but not WordPress. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Idea Generation Activities

2009-03-21 Thread Chauncey Wilson
Some other ideas you can try are: 1. metaphor brainstorming 2. brainwriting 3. braindrawing 4. future workshops 5. Persona/perspective based brainstorming (similar in concept to six thinking hats technique) 6. Unfocus groups 7. the crawford slip method 8. Freelisting 9. The card exchange

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The true focus of interaction design

2009-03-21 Thread James Haliburton
William, I think there might be a good reason why interaction design has not been described as the science of art before. Where design and art often share the same dimension and often overlap (Dunn Raby are a good example), they most certainly are not same thing. And the science of interaction

Re: [IxDA Discuss] New Features for Clinical Research Website

2009-03-21 Thread Aalap Doshi
Thanks Matthew.. That was pretty much what I was thinking about doing too. Good to know someone who has done something similar at some point. Thanks, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40170

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Designers, meet the Drupal community!

2009-03-21 Thread Peter Van Dijck
Does Wordpress have groups and flexible roles? I'm not sure, just asking :) Peter On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 11:29 AM, AJ Kock ajk...@gmail.com wrote: Please, I would seriously be enlightened if you could tell me what those features are that you can find in Drupal but not WordPress. -- me:

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread Peter Van Dijck
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. So if the data tells you something and you ignore it, is that design? Peter Harry --

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Tools for animating the user experience

2009-03-21 Thread Peter Van Dijck
I'm doing screencasts of wireframes these days. http://poorbuthappy.com/ease/archives/2009/03/21/4499/screencasts-of-clickable-wireframes I'll post an example soon. Peter On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 4:28 PM, Auke van Scheltinga auk...@gmail.comwrote: Ah my extra 2 gigs memory module was broken.

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread Peter Van Dijck
If the 2 versus 4 pixels thing is on a crucial page like the Google search results or list of adsense ads, surely it's a MUST to test it and let the data speak? No? or would you redesign the ads, see revenue go down and not change your mind? Peter On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 7:57 AM, Dan Saffer

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Designers, meet the Drupal community!

2009-03-21 Thread Peter Van Dijck
So your point is that Wordpress has a better user experience, so we should use it, even though the other products have more features? Sounds fair enough, if WP actually does what we want it to do. Peter On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 10:59 AM, AJKock ajk...@gmail.com wrote: This is critique in

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread Peter Van Dijck
I think that's wrong. Why can't I continue to measure and change stuff? In any case, data driven design doesn't mean there's no place for the designer. Who else will come up with stuff that we can then measure? Peter On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 11:12 AM, AJKock ajk...@gmail.com wrote: The problem

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Designers, meet the Drupal community!

2009-03-21 Thread Brian Henkel
James, I agree with your points on WordPress. WordPress, as you say, is much easier on many fronts. But, it is not nearly as powerful as Drupal. I think that's a notion most will agree with. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The Save Icon rut

2009-03-21 Thread Todd Diemer
Jeff G. and Jerome R. have a good point here about a continuous save, snapshot save, or checkpoints. Could we remove the save button completely if these checkpoints were constantly saved ala Gmail or other apps that save drafts on a regular basis. The user would then only be required to set a

[IxDA Discuss] Strucktable Multitouch

2009-03-21 Thread Pauric
A nice demo of various multitouch interaction concepts Video: http://vimeo.com/3601352 /pauric Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Designers, meet the Drupal community!

2009-03-21 Thread AJKock
@ Peter Wordpress 2.7 Roles: http://agapetry.net/news/introducing-role-scoper/ http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/adminimize/ http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/user-access-manager/ http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/connections/ WordPress 2.6

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread AJKock
@ Peter Can data-driven design predict future design? No, it can only measure today. Design is more than just testing for today; it also envisions tomorrow. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread Katie Albers
Let's back up a step here...why does stuff have to be measurable? Is it no longer possible to assess without numbers? On the whole (and yes, I acknowledge that there are significant exceptions) the SMART methodology did design no service. There are things we know or notice that are simply

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread Andy Edmonds
Web search in particular is one of the most utilitarian instances of software these days. Having spent 2.5 years doing search quality / UX assessment at MSFT, I'm a firm believer that every change in search should be tested vigorously and that a design team that isn't enthusiastic about testing

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread Peter Van Dijck
We agree then. My point is not that we don't need design. My point is that design should be humble and listen to data. Peter On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 6:18 PM, AJKock ajk...@gmail.com wrote: @ Peter Can data-driven design predict future design? No, it can only measure today. Design is more than

Re: [IxDA Discuss] The true focus of interaction design

2009-03-21 Thread William Brall
Since what I was saying was, in fact, intended to be silly. I had hoped that was obvious... I'll only defend The Science of Art Think of that phrase to mean the science behind how art does what art does. Art has always been something magical. I mean magical in the old sense. There are practices

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread dave malouf
Hi Peter, My answer about listening to data is it depends. If the data is, your revenue has fallen X% and the data can SHOW that a design decision led to that fall (as opposed to other contexts such as economy, politics, quality of goods being sold, etc.) then of course I'll listen to it. If the

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread William Brall
I think ALL of you are really arguing the same side. Collecting Data is a big part of IxD, and like any field with a science background, that data need not be collected a second time for the same problem. Do biologists retest basic chemistry in order to make a biological experiment? Certainly

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread mark schraad
Data driven business decisions (and the offshoot being discussed here - design decisions) is a significant movement… much of it being fostered from engineers and statisticians. The notion that we, the humans, do not need to know the why, but only what he data tells us to do is at the core

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Designers, meet the Drupal community!

2009-03-21 Thread Angel Marquez
Drupal being more complex and technical is a fallacy. I've used drupal, joomla, mambo, crown peak, trinidad, proprietary systems a slew of others and when I finally got around to checking out wordpress I was pleasantly surprised. Even if wordpress doesn't do exactly what you want it to do out of

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread Peter Van Dijck
The reason the 41 blue test is bad, is any one of us would have told google the right choice for FREE! That's a false argument, because you're saying that designers should then be trusted to know what they know and know what they don't know. Peter

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread Peter Van Dijck
A wise professor once told me that having research is much better than not, but in the end… once you have absorbed and evaluated all of the data, you still have to make a decision. Of course, I don't think anyone would argue that you place the decision-making with the machines? We've all

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread mark schraad
I find some issue with this argument. Re-applying solutions to new problems is not ideal. It goes to one of my pet peeves... applying solutions from books, that may or may not have a similar context or problem. I see MBA's and business owners reading books like 'Good to Great' and then

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Berkeley\'s MIMS vs Carnegie Mellon\'s MDes in IxD

2009-03-21 Thread george . hayes
Januus, I was actually looking at the HCII program as well. It looks great, but the time period of one year for the degree seemed pretty intense, especially after not being in school for a couple of years. What did you think of this, and how did you feel the IxD program interacted with HCII. I was

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread Andrei Herasimchuk
On Mar 21, 2009, at 12:15 PM, William Brall wrote: Collecting Data is a big part of IxD, and like any field with a science background, that data need not be collected a second time for the same problem. Science background? -- Andrei Herasimchuk Chief Design Officer, Involution Studios

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Designers, meet the Drupal community!

2009-03-21 Thread Brian Henkel
Just so I understand, who is the %u2018user%u2019 when you say WordPress provides a better user experience? If you%u2019re talking about the end-user who doesn%u2019t know (or care) what CMS was used to build the site, then I%u2019d like to learn more about how exactly WordPress provides a better

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Designers, meet the Drupal community!

2009-03-21 Thread Angel Marquez
You can put your drupal T-shirt on and jump off a cliff and I won't try and stop you. Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... disc...@ixda.org Unsubscribe

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Berkeley\'s MIMS vs Carnegie Mellon\'s MDes in IxD

2009-03-21 Thread Jaanus Kase
George %u2014 yes, the HCII program is intense, running for 12 months in a row. I had also been out of school for many years, but the HCII is very project-based, and having a professional background helps. This is a professional, not an academic program, so you don't need to walk in with a lot of

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Designers, meet the Drupal community!

2009-03-21 Thread Philipp Schroeder
I actually didn't want to get involve in this discussion, because it is almost like Apple vs PC, but if I don't ask or discuss clarity will never be reached, and some people actually think that WordPress is just a blog and can't be a CMS. I hope this thread doesn't derail into a discussion

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Berkeley\'s MIMS vs Carnegie Mellon\'s MDes in IxD

2009-03-21 Thread j. eric townsend
The first question is, What do you want to do after you graduate?. If you have a good idea as to the answer, compare what people from these programs end up doing. I have a lot of respect for the students in the IxD program at CMU and have learned a *lot* taking classes with them. However, I

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread Jarod Tang
One side question, what do you think about google's new icon compare to old one? Cheers, -- Jarod On Sat, Mar 21, 2009 at 5:15 AM, Andrei Herasimchuk aherasimc...@involutionstudios.com wrote: Posted without comment, even though I very much feel Google just lost an amazing talent for no good

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread Larry Tesler
Yes, over-reliance on data-driven incremental design (DDID) is ill- advised. - Customers who use more than one of a company's products tend to be the most valuable customers in the long run. DDID usually optimizes one product at a time. The resulting inconsistencies may make each product

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread David Malouf
Jarod, I don't like it. I find it to be .. 1) reminiscent of MS 2) too brash and distracting More importantly it has in no way shape or form improved my relationship with Google (or diminished it). I think people have missed my point. I think design is not for or against data, but design should

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread Jarod Tang
Hi Dave, On Sun, Mar 22, 2009 at 2:38 AM, David Malouf d...@ixda.org wrote: Jarod, I don't like it. I find it to be .. 1) reminiscent of MS 2) too brash and distracting Yes, I found few likes the current Google icon near around. But many people like the one one, that would be the interesting

Re: [IxDA Discuss] Bowman leaves Google

2009-03-21 Thread Daniel Szuc
Hi: Re-reading Doug Bowman's post you can really feel his frustration. Reading between the lines I hear: * A culture that was born in Engineering (and still very much i that space - which is what makes Google great) * A culture that is looking at ways to embrace Design and User Research (and