Re: [IxDA Discuss] Funology in Interaction Design
Hi Kunal - I would start with Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence (Bloomsbury, 1995) Funology: From Usability to Enjoyment (edited by Blyth, Overbeek, Monk, and Wright, 2004) Gitte Lindgaard, Gaty Fernandess, Cathy Dudek, Attention Web Designers: you have 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression! Behavior and Information Technology 25, 2 (March-April 2006): 115-126 See Chapter 2 in Designing Web Navigation, by James Kalback - pages 45-50 deal with designing for emotions in information seeking/navigation (and a very good introduction to this), The Information Search Process (ISP) models searching for information, but takes emotions into account, by Carol Kuhltau. See: Carol C. Kuhltau, The Tole of Experience in the Information Search Process of an Early Career Information Worker: Perceptions of Uncertainty, Complexity, Construction, and Sources. Journal of the American Society for Information Science 50, 5 (1991):399-412 This is should help in your research :-) -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | User Experience Architect tel +1.617.281.1281 || [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 8:16 AM, Kunal Kapoor [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I am trying to gather references, study material, examples in interaction design on the theme - 'Funology in Interaction Design'. [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Language metaphor for UE disciplines
Interesting - to add my 2 cents (and Chauncey or Saffer will kick my butt) Content Strategists are nouns, IAs is the grammar, IxD is the verbs, Visual is the adjectives, Experience Architects are the poets I know there is a Haiku in here somewhere Anyone want to play more with this? -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | User Experience Architect tel +1.617.281.1281 || [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 2:51 PM, Oleh Kovalchuke [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This metaphor came up at our last IxDA Colorado meetup (which was quite lively, by the way). IA deals with nouns, IxD -- verbs, Visual Design -- adjectives. This is rough division, of course. -- Oleh Kovalchuke 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] Language metaphor for UE disciplines
On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 2:55 PM, W Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Interesting - to add my 2 cents (and Chauncey or Saffer will kick my butt) Content Strategists are nouns, IAs is the grammar, IxD is the verbs, Visual is the adjectives, Experience Architects are the poets Jacob Nielson is the times Lit Critic... I know there is a Haiku in here somewhere Anyone want to play more with this? -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | User Experience Architect tel +1.617.281.1281 || [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 2:51 PM, Oleh Kovalchuke [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: This metaphor came up at our last IxDA Colorado meetup (which was quite lively, by the way). IA deals with nouns, IxD -- verbs, Visual Design -- adjectives. This is rough division, of course. -- Oleh Kovalchuke -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | User Experience Architect tel +1.617.281.1281 || [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Language metaphor for UE disciplines
I would love to see the presentation - can he put it on slideshare? I am wondering whether the metaphor is really scalable like the more classic metaphors such as: time is money human life is a plant human life is a day death is a person, driver, escort etc... If it was more abstract - designing information spaces is creating a movie, who is the script writer? the cinematographer? key grid? producer? editor? On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 3:11 PM, Oleh Kovalchuke [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Another interesting metaphor, and the topic of the presentation at the IxDA Colorado meetup by Josh Zapin (Texturemedia), was Interaction Designer is occupies the role of Director in film industry: privides vision and guides other contributors to fulfill the vision. Inspired by book What a Producer Does by Buck Houghton. -- Oleh Kovalchuke Interaction Design is design of time http://www.tangospring.com/IxDtopicWhatIsInteractionDesign.htm 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | User Experience Architect tel +1.617.281.1281 || [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Language metaphor for UE disciplines
Grip would be analogous to IT support for the team, I guess. On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 3:55 PM, Oleh Kovalchuke [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: We didn't have slides. Instead the presentation served as a seed for audience discussion (we try to encourage audience participation, hence all the interesting metaphors). As far as I understand, Project Manager analogous to Producer. Key Grip? I wonder myself... Another good book on film, which is relevant to user experience design, is Jon Boorstin's The Hollywood Eye. What makes movies work. Do come to our next meetup on May 14th :) -- it will be as exciting. Simon Hill of SpireMedia will cover user experience research and how it translates into online experience. -- Oleh Kovalchuke Interaction Design is design of time http://www.tangospring.com/IxDtopicWhatIsInteractionDesign.htm On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 1:24 PM, W Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I would love to see the presentation - can he put it on slideshare? I am wondering whether the metaphor is really scalable like the more classic metaphors such as: time is money human life is a plant human life is a day death is a person, driver, escort etc... If it was more abstract - designing information spaces is creating a movie, who is the script writer? the cinematographer? key grid? producer? editor? On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 3:11 PM, Oleh Kovalchuke [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Another interesting metaphor, and the topic of the presentation at the IxDA Colorado meetup by Josh Zapin (Texturemedia), was Interaction Designer is occupies the role of Director in film industry: privides vision and guides other contributors to fulfill the vision. Inspired by book What a Producer Does by Buck Houghton. -- Oleh Kovalchuke Interaction Design is design of time http://www.tangospring.com/IxDtopicWhatIsInteractionDesign.htm 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | User Experience Architect tel +1.617.281.1281 || [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | User Experience Architect tel +1.617.281.1281 || [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Language metaphor for UE disciplines
On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 4:44 PM, Dave Katten [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Out of curiosity, has anyone out there read Lakoff Johnson's Metaphors we live by? I believe we all have! I believe we all *should* have read that - as well as Dan's masters thesis. Another great one is Lakoff's Women, Fire and Dangerous Things, although that is better utilized by IAs and has less meat for IxD practitioners. Best, dave katten -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | User Experience Architect tel +1.617.281.1281 || [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] The American People / Politicians = The Users / Developers (?)
To Oleh's point -- the best article to read on language and politics by Orwell is his article in 1946 - Politics and the English Language, which is even more true today then in 46 - since at that point, most politicians, at least in theory - understood good rhetoric, a strong argument, and reason. Today that is not the case. The link to it is here: http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm As to the The American People This/That : to Politicians as The user is to Developers - this is problematic - at best. Developers, at the end of the day, really want to build great products to solve real needs - and their very job description is to 'build something.,' else they get fired and end up becoming product managers or recruiters. Politicians are not paid to solve real problems, and they are not fired if they fail to solve problems, and the only reason they use those words is to increase the likelihood of maximizing their own benefit - which is to get elected. They may spend a lot of money on user (electorate) research, develop complicated and complete personas - but the goal of the research is to gain a complete understanding of consumer pain points, and their product is a speech, the success of the product is getting elected/re-elected, not actually solving the needs of the electorate. In a quasi/semi/pseudo capitalistic society (like the US) - the goal of for-profit companies may be to maximize profits by creating products the consumer wants which is perceived as being in cost equal to the marginal benefit the consumer derives (Drucker refutes this by saying the purpose is not to maximize profits, but to create customers). In this same system, the politicians goal is not to maximize profits by serving the electorate - it's to maximize power and influence. -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | User Experience Architect tel +1.617.281.1281 || [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Sat, Apr 12, 2008 at 9:22 PM, Oleh Kovalchuke [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: There is a wealth of literature on Orwellian newspeak. For well-reasoned opinion look up books by Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn. Here, for example, Chomsky discusses two ideas of democracy (similar to the notion of American people): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doDKkiQejC0. Twain's, Orwell's and Huxley's classic books are also educational (look up Orwell's essay on English language). Oleh 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] Recruiters
As Dick Chaney showed us all last year - the shotgun approach, isn't always the most effective, is it? Thanks for your comment :-) ~w On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 7:27 AM, Ron Vutpakdi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: W Evans wrote: Why can't recruiters read? I know I have had a resume posted on Monster since about 2003, and I do update it every 6 months or so even though I have never gotten a job from monster - but what really burns my goat is that I very clearly say: 1. I have done IA and IxD work for a really long time 2. I have no interest in relocating for short term contracts 3. how much I cost I think that a fair number of recruiters take the shotgun approach: if you throw enough shot into the air, eventually, something will hit. Or, they just blindly call/email whatever their automated tools hand them. I get the same sort of emails and calls from a local recruiting agency. They are using a 9 year old resume, and when I send them an updated resume and indicate that I now do IxD work, I'll still occasionally get calls about C++ and Cognos BI tools (which I used 9 years ago). Ron PS: On the flip side, at the end of 2006, when we were trying to fill a design/usability position, we had this one fellow apply. His main qualification, as far as I could tell, was that he completed a month of an automotive mechanics course. He also applied for every other position that the company had open, from sales to support to those requiring highly technical domain expertise. Again, shotgun approach. 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] [Announcement] Lou Rosenfeld - Site Search Analytics For Better UX Workshop
[Workshop] Lou Rosenfeld, co-author of the Polar Bear book, is doing some new workshops and I wanted to get the word out. He has also been nice enough to post his presentation online for people to see the value before signing up for one of the workshops. Presentation (via SlideShare) here: http://tinyurl.com/2xw7j3 118 slides that try to make the case for site search analytics as a critical (if under-appreciated) user experience research and design method. The workshop schedule is April 4 (Boston), April 22 (Sunnyvale), and May 15 (Chicago); details here: http://louisrosenfeld.com/ssa - Site Search Analytics For Better User Experience http://tinyurl.com/32q3m7 Does your site have a search engine? If so, you're sitting on an often under-utilized pot of gold: search query data that describes what your customers really want from your site—in their own words. Site search analytics helps you understand and benefit from that data, enabling you to better diagnose and solve a multitude of user experience problems. The result: better content, better navigation, better search, better interface design, and a better user experience. In this day-long workshop, Lou Rosenfeld—co-author of Information Architecture for the World Wide Web and the forthcoming Search Analytics for your Site: Conversations with your customers—will combine lecture, discussion, and extensive hands-on exercises to cover the basics of site search analytics. And he'll show you how spending even an hour a week analyzing your search queries can help tune and improve your site and expose new opportunities for improving your business strategy. *Dates* *April 4, 2008 Boston, MA* $895 per workshop $795 if you register by March 7 *April 22, 2008 Sunnyvale, CA* Special course offered through Involution Master Academyhttp://involutionstudios.com/?cat=8 $699; limited to *nine* attendees *May 15, 2008 Chicago, IL* $895 per workshop $795 if you register by April 18 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Don't listen to your customers.
Wasn't it mentioned here or somewhere else that the first use of Focus Groups was for the Edsel?? If that doesn't about say it all - There is the story about the 12 people (?) brought in to focus group on a new personal stereo (boombox they were called at the time), and people were asked what colours they would like - and a large majority responded very favorably to the canary yellow boombox. At the end - as they were walking out the door - they were offered boomboxes as thank you's for doing the focus group. Yellow was offered. Everyone took black. Users lie. Ouch! What did Will just say? They lie. Sometimes they don't even know it. In user testing - they could have completed a task 10 minutes ago - and they will lie about what they did - well - they will not remember correctly what they did -- which is why you observe what they do - not what they said they did. Let the flames begin - I am pulling out my umbrella now - just incase anyone throws veggies. On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 12:13 PM, Chris Bernard [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Microsoft uses a lot of focus groups. Take that for what's it worth. From an ideation and concepting perspective I think they have minimal value and can in fact be disruptive, in that they can force you down a prescribed path far too soon. Far better to follow Andrei's advice or even better augment it by watching people. Even one person with a camera and notebook making quite observations can be a great augmentation to structured interviews. The canonical example of focus groups is New Coke. They focus grouped the heck out of that before they launched. Chris Bernard Microsoft User Experience Evangelist [EMAIL PROTECTED] 630.530.4208 Office 312.925.4095 Mobile 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] SEO Rapper
Don't be disrespectin' Nerdcore! CodeMonkey http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2006/04/14/thing-a-week-29-code-monkey/is a great song! On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 5:18 PM, Alexander Baxevanis [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Appartently there's an entire genre called Nerdcore Hip Hop, rapping about all sorts of geeky stuff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerdcore See also this funny song about encryption: http://frontalot.com/index.php/?page=lyricslyricid=41 -- Alex 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] Fighting trolls
About the search - and just everything else on IxDA.org site. There are a lot of place for improvement - but the entire thing has been built through individual volunteer initiative. If you have improvements, or would love to take on the task of wire-framing, designing, and implementing a new discussion list search functionality, I bet the powers that be would love the help. Send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and describe your ideas, skillz, and anything else. - W On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 4:40 AM, Alexander Livingstone [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: For #3... How do we force new users to search for answers before creating a duplicate thread on issues that has been addressed already? Making things hard seems a little mean! ;) What springs to mind for me is a (erk) tag cloud. In general I find them an annoying waste of space, however I could see it being useful for this 'initial search' purpose. I'd envisage a pane that can be sorted alphabetically, by date, frequency, etc. and hidden by regulars if not required. That way its two or three clicks to the information that you'd want, rather than going to the hassle of writing a post. It'll give you an excuse to buy Jeffrey Friedl's 'Mastering Regular Expressions' if nothing else! (The only programming-y book I've touched that is actually quite fun to read as well as being good at conveying its subject matter). Alex. 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] What project management tool do you use?
Please define Enterprise? My only experience with the word is that it's usually used by marketing dweebs to justify 6-figure implementation and licensing costs. On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 10:22 AM, Vishal Iyer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm specifically looking for enterprise level, cross functional usage- feel free to chime in even if thats not the case. I was surprised to find out that many companies don't use one (in conversations with people, nothing formal...any data would be appreciated) My experience with them is limited to using Basecamp (does it scale well for enterprise use?) for the Interactions 08 conference- which I thought worked really well. We currently use a mishmash of email, a document storage tool and a wiki, there is a lot of waste, redundancies and inconsistencies in the process. What's the deal with using a wiki as a project management tool anyways? It makes sense as a documentation tool, but fails miserably (because its not intended) as a PM tool. Please call out ones that can't even be used by the consultants who need to 'train' a team in order to use it. -- -Vishal http://www.vishaliyer.com 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Recruiters
Hi, is this Will Evans, the unknown voice asked. Yes, it is, who is this? This is Sarah X from CTR, Clueless Technical Resources, and we had an opportunity that we think might be a great fit for you. Really - do tell? We have a great opportunity for a 3 month contract as a J2EE Architect for a Fortune 500 company in Des Moines, Iowa. Excellent - you do realize that I have never coded java before, I am moving to DC on Saturday...and don't travel for short term contract work... Can I ask you what your rate is Um... a three month contract 1000 miles from where I live doing something I have never done for a big evil multinational that destroys labor unions while not offering health care benefits to it's employeescan I get back to you on that? -- Why can't recruiters read? I know I have had a resume posted on Monster since about 2003, and I do update it every 6 months or so even though I have never gotten a job from monster - but what really burns my goat is that I very clearly say: 1. I have done IA and IxD work for a really long time 2. I have no interest in relocating for short term contracts 3. how much I cost Yet they never read that. I want to put together a list of all the Good not evil recruiting firms that actually know the difference between an interaction designer, information architect, and UI engineer - at least knows enough to know we aren't Java or .Net engineers. Post back to me recruiters that are great -on either side of the hiring equation. It might be nice to have a list of places to go that get us -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems 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] Fighting trolls
3. n00bs who won't search for answers first As a member of a community of practice, the last thing I would want to do is denigrate a person new to our profession or list by using an elitist pejorative best reserved [EMAIL PROTECTED] dorks on linux kernal lists. We should embrace new people to the list and point them to previous discussion threads on the topic. I have seen so many topics come up over and over again, and perhaps the best thing is to take a cue from old-timers here which is to engage them, point out old threads, and encourage participation. I've never seen DaveM shut down an ernest new poster to the list. There are some serious heavy weights here - and they have set the tone that we want to embrace and encourage new people to join into the discussions. Granted - this means every once in a while someone wants to spark the ol' Let's define IxD/Design/UIE again, and that can be annoying - but often times the discussion does yield positive fruit. Also - I will be the first to admit that I haven't always chosen the right path, and come across as snippy - and that was wrong... My 2 cents and a tequila shot. or 2. Hell, make it 3. On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 6:33 PM, Calvin Park 박상빈 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Whenever there's a forum, there are three kinds of trolls: 1. automated spambots selling viagra 2. abusers(page wideners, goatse, etc) 3. n00bs who won't search for answers first #1 is solved by captchas #2 is solved by not allowing html tags and breaking down long words For #3... How do we force new users to search for answers before creating a duplicate thread on issues that has been addressed already? In many forums, new members are not allowed to post for x amount of days. However, this may hinder a potentially useful input. A method I thought of was letting new users post whatever they want, but requiring them to come back in a few hours to comfirm the post. This will deter lots of impulsive posts, but this too may hinder a potentially useful input although it's less restrictive. The general idea behind the methods for reducing #3 is _making the process of posting more complicated for new users_. This is operating under the assumption that new users who will be useful to the community will have the patience to deal with the extra steps, and those who are impatient are useless to the community. It also assumes that the old users will never turn into trolls, since we aren't putting any checks on old users. Has anyone ever dealt with designing a forum that effectivly reduced trolling? I'm designing one for a growing community, and it's important that we enhance signal-to-noise ratio while welcoming all new users. So far, my favorite discussion system is Slashdot, but I'm afraid that Slashdot is too complicated for new users, and also useless for a small community that's unwilling to bother with moderation. I'd be happy to see good examples. Thanks. 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] can you please discuss the effect of the US recession
Exactly. Technically - a recession is six consecutive months of decline in economic activity measured by such things as a decline in GDP. This has not happened in the US. So far - there has only been a decrease in the rate of growth of the economy, but there has been no net decrease in GDP. Not even for one month. On Tue, 25 Mar 2008 07:22:54, Benjamin Ho [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: As far as I know and read, there is no recession. It's actually called, stagflation stemming straight from the sub-prime mortgage market. How this would affect usability contracts, I would think depends entirely on the industry and the company. As for what's critical to whether or not to involve a company depends much on their clientele, how they work and whether it aligns with company strategy. If you're a contracting company, it would be in your best interest to NOT lower your pricing for your services - unless of course you think your company isn't worth the money. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=27558 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] can you please discuss the effect of the US recession
Chris, As always you bring up an interesting point. I wonder if there have been any others studies are the number of consultancies that have diversified their service offerings to even out their revenue streams. The easiest to come to mind is Adapative Path - which took a stable of high quality UX consultants and diversified into education/training. Recently I have come to wonder what percentage of their revenue still comes from UX consulting at all. Many UX/IA consultants pad their income streams with speaking engagements - and in fact some give up the practice of ux altogether when the speaking/guru lucre becomes to enticing to ignore. On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 1:53 PM, Chris Bernard [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: For what it's worth, I work with a number of design agencies and partners right now (large and small) in the US and around the world. I've yet to see a sign of slowdown in the current pace of work or the pipeline that many partners have. I think many design and technology firms are not as vulnerable as they were the last time around due to more thoughtful staffing and management of growth. We also need to remember that the fixed costs of running a business are much more flexible now then they even were 8 years ago. If I were running a studio right now though and I realized I had extra cycles I'd consider started a lab or that tries to productize some of my services or ideas into some type of annuity. Think 37 Signals or firms like Thirteen23.com and Cynergy Systems that have built labs for their ideas. Or even Adaptive Path, which has done a brilliant job of monetizing their intellectual capital. Chris Bernard Microsoft User Experience Evangelist [EMAIL PROTECTED] 630.530.4208 Office 312.925.4095 Mobile Blog: www.designthinkingdigest.com Design: www.microsoft.com/design Tools: www.microsoft.com/expression Community: http://www.visitmix.com The future is already here. It's just not evenly distributed. William Gibson -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ari Feldman Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008 12:33 PM To: Tim Lynch Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] can you please discuss the effect of the US recession staffing in tech in general was going great in 2000 too and many of us know what happened there. the credit issue is a big problem. it means startups will have problems finding funding to keep operating and existing businesses will have harder times finding the money they need to expand their businesses. credit fuels the economy. things are now getting aggravated by the prospect of inflation as the fed is now printing money like water. while i don't see signs of hyper-inflation ala Wiemar Republic Germany c. 1930, it's not looking pretty. what's more, many internet businesses are directly involved in or heavily reliant on advertising and related services for revenue. ad spending tends to dry up in slower economic times, which ultimately leads to fewer projects or cut backs altogether. i've been through 2001 and 2002 - very lean years. there are quite a few differences in the marketplace between now and then (a lot of the chaff is now gone) but i fear that the stench of those days is starting to waft again. On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 11:17 AM, Tim Lynch [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 11:04 AM, Raminder Oberoi [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Report: Despite Economy, Web Will Grow in '08 http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003727162 I can't speak directly to the impact the current economic situation is having on the contractors, but in the Boston area reports are that the general IT industry is doing ok (in terms of jobs and hiring): What Recession? Region's IT Economy is Booming (3/13/08) http://www.xconomy.com/2008/03/13/what-recession-regions-it-economy-is-booming/ Talent Wars: How Boston-Area IT Companies Are Dealing With A Severe Staffing Crunch (12/5/07) http://www.xconomy.com/2007/12/05/talent-wars-how-boston-area-it-companies-are-dealing-with-a-severe-staffing-crunch/ - Tim -- http://www.clampants.com http://clampants.tumblr.com/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/clampants/ 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 -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe
Re: [IxDA Discuss] can you please discuss the effect of the US recession
I have heard through the grapevine that your events are great - but why are you guys such snobs when it comes to geography. Most of your things are in SF. You know there is an entire world of IxD/UX people on the East Coast. On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 3:48 PM, Dan Saffer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Mar 25, 2008, at 11:13 AM, W Evans wrote: The easiest to come to mind is Adapative Path - which took a stable of high quality UX consultants and diversified into education/training. Recently I have come to wonder what percentage of their revenue still comes from UX consulting at all. A considerable majority. If we did no consulting, we'd soon have very little of substance to talk about. Conferences are an extension of our consulting work, not a replacement by any means. (Join us at MX, UX Intensive, and UX Week! Use my code FODS and get 15% off! March 31 is the date for some early ird specials! http://www.adaptivepath.com/events/ ) I couldn't resist. :) Dan Dan Saffer Experience Design Director, Adaptive Path http://www.adaptivepath.com 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] can you please discuss the effect of the US recession
Maybe Minneapolis is going to overtake SF as the UX center of the universe. On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 6:40 PM, Robert Hoekman Jr [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: UX Intensive in June is in Minneapolis... Strangely, this is the second conference I've heard about in two days that will be in Minneapolis. It's also only the second conference I've heard about in my life that will be held in Minneapolis. -r- -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] can you please discuss the effect of the US recession
Actually - I do consider Target a design patron. I don't know their numbers, but its evident they spent a lot of time and money on their e-commerce site and while it may not win any design awards - I think its very effective. I would say that the entire IxD experience there is no better or worse than Amazon - and that says something. On Tue, Mar 25, 2008 at 8:28 PM, mark schraad [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Actually a very cool town. Lots if industry headquarters by midwest standards and the headquarters of Target (if you consider them a design patron). On Mar 25, 2008, at 6:40 PM, Robert Hoekman Jr wrote: UX Intensive in June is in Minneapolis... Strangely, this is the second conference I've heard about in two days that will be in Minneapolis. It's also only the second conference I've heard about in my life that will be held in Minneapolis. -r- 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 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Flex? (was: What's exciting in Adobe Thermo?)
If you all don't mind - I would love to take a step back from the implement/not discussion and point out a thread I hear being repeated in this discussion which is management starting with the tech selection/solution first which is a bad idea all around. I know at least in my b-school strategy class - they taught that problem-space definition always comes first - and this seems to be where stakeholders/management are falling down. Wouldn't it be nice if stakeholders got together with their teams and started with problem definition and goals first - worked those out completely - and then explored possible solutions/technology selection, etc after strategy? If the conversation starts with We need to build an RIA in Foo the project has already been draped with a great big nasty rotting albatross around it's neck. My humble 2 cents and a tequila shot. trim On Sun, Mar 23, 2008 at 10:19 PM, Ryan Stewart [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hey All, great discussion. I'm an evangelist at Adobe so I'm not unbiased but I wanted to chime in on a couple of things. Especially with Flex we've really tried to make SWF in general more web-like. So some of the issues below, like back button and custom URLs are fully possible in Flex. It's a bit more work but I don't think it's a lot of extra work over an Ajax application. I saw another question about accessibility and all of the Flex components are accessible out of the box. Currently they work with JAWS on Windows and we're working on Mac support as well. So instead of having to create your own accessible components as you would with Flash, you can use the Flex Framework components and get some of those tasks for free. I'd love to answer any other questions. I'm about to dive into the rest of the thread about Thermo so I may have more responses. =Ryan Stewart [EMAIL PROTECTED] RIA Evangelist Adobe Systems 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] Flex? (was: What's exciting in Adobe Thermo?)
While a good start - I fear your post suffered from an unbearable lightness of being. Why Flex? I could go on for ages on this topic. So why Flex? Could you list out some reasons? You need to answer that relative to other platforms. It is, however, the perfect tool when you've got a group of developers who are working on an enterprise-level application. How is it perfect when these java/rails/jango/foobar developers need to learn yap (yet another platform). Given the transition/learning time - what are the net benefits that make it better than sticking with the tried and true? trim a long-a-ding-dong On Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 12:19 PM, Dave Meeker [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: A... Flex 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] Flex? (was: What's exciting in Adobe Thermo?)
Wow. Honestly this is fantastic Dave. I wasn't trying to be a pain in the ass - if you refer back to my post about stakeholders and wishing more would start at the problem-space definition and goals first - things would be alot better. With the things you set down - it means that a team can get through those, and then start exploring solutions in a more effective manner. The biggest advantages of using the Flash player as a runtime for your RIA as opposed to using AJAX: 1) Write once, deploy cross platform Okay. 2) You can turn your Flex application into a desktop application without much code refactoring (using AIR). OSX/Vista/Linux ? 3) With the evolution of browsers, you can be less concerned about how to migrate your code to keep up with changes in the Document Object Model in AJAX, as the Flash player is backwards compatible. Your right - this is a pretty big issue that always costs development time when you have to support IE/FF/Safari on Linux/OSX/MS and you end up going to the lowest common denominator - but still developers have to hack to get the right outcome for all flavors - especially when they work for/with me. 4) The Flash player now has hardware acceleration... so you can build UI's that look and feel the way YOU want the to, and not be limited by your development technology 5) 3-d integration (using papervision or another framework) 6) Handles LOTS of data much, much, much better (data grids with tons of rows, etc) No argument here - for dynamic visualization of large datasets - I can see that this is far superior - actually - the types of visualization I am imagining are only possible in Flex/Flash or in WPF. Thanks for the extensive answer. ~ Will 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] Godin Interaction Design
Every once in a while the great bald one posts to his blog about an interaction design issue - this one is good and illustrates that there are always places to improve the user experience: The world's worst toaster *http://tinyurl.com/2t9p4a* We recently acquired what might be the worst toaster in the history of the world. It's pretty fancy and shiny and microprocessor controlled. And it makes toast. But here's what I have to do to use it: 1. Choose the number of slices, and bagel or bread. 2. Remember whether it counts the slices from the left or the right (the left). 3. Insert the bread. 4. Push down the handle. 5. Choose toast or defrost. 6. Make sure the darkness level is right. (This doesn't count, because it usually is). 7. Press on. 8. Wait till it beeps. 9. Lift the handle I pressed in #4. 10. Turn it off. Most toasters, of course, consist of steps 3 and 4 only. I thought about this when I got a note from eBay asking me to pay my bill for an item I sold last month. It says: To view your invoice and make a payment: 1. Go to http://www.ebay.com and click My eBay at the top of most eBay pages. You will need to sign in. 2. Click the Seller Account link (beneath My Account on the left side of the page). 3. Click the View invoices link, and then select the invoice you want to view from the pull-down menu. 4. To make a payment, click the make a one-time payment link in the eBay Seller Fees section. It took me more than 11 clicks to send them $6. The opportunity online is to fix your toaster. When you want to make toast, the site should get out of the way and let you make toast. -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems 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] fireworks
...and in this context: what will be the difference between Fireworks and Thermo? Thermo is not for sale :-0 On Sat, Mar 22, 2008 at 12:58 PM, frank d [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: So, I've heard a lot about using Fireworks for working through a design from wireframe to prototype, even to finish visual design.. For the people who use/love Fireworks I have a few questions: (ps, i know there have been a ton of software/tool threads lately, so if you're overwhelmed by them feel free to reply off list) ...and in this context: what will be the difference between Fireworks and Thermo? frank 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Flex? (was: What's exciting in Adobe Thermo?)
1. orginal kayak.com was in flex with flash front end. we changed to html/ajax cause aol gave us money with strings attached - those strings included no plugins (flash), and work with IE 5.5 on 36K dial-up connection. those constraints meant rebuilding the front end. 2. http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/ using it. click through new cars and the faceted navigation with dynamic hide/show is all flash/flex. Check out : http://flex.org/showcase/ a to see a bunch of examples Cheers! trimmed for the nannybot On Sat, Mar 22, 2008 at 6:14 PM, Matthew Nish-Lapidus [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: So, all this talk about Thermo and how it integrates into Flex... but do people use Flex for real projects? I have yet to see any web app/site that really uses Flex for an RIA.. most apps still use (and will use IMHO) web standard technologies like html, css, javascript, etc... What are people suing Flex for? intranet apps? industrial? anything? and in that light, is the Flex integration with Thermo really that big a selling point? 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] The best way to start new threads in IXDA Discussion?
Your supposed to use email to start new threads. There is a reason for this. Something about security, spam, etc. Forget exactly what. On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 11:54 AM, Matthew Nish-Lapidus [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I use the whole list through email.. so when I want to start a thread i go to gmail and send a new message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 11:19 AM, Oleg Krupnov [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi, It's rather strange to ask this question after having started a number of threads already :), however I am puzzled with the fact that there is no Start new thread button on the Discussion page at ixda.org (http://ixda.org/discuss.php). At least I'm unable to find it. Is this on purpose, and why? 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] Why Import/Export - A broken metaphor. More Semantic thoughts from the underground.
Your right to the extent that many aren't right - or at least aren't right anymore - and most metaphors we use in interaction/interface design are partially broken. The other thing is that I wonder if the good academic work of HCI was actually happening after people already had come up with for instance the signifiers (as icons), and the basic first order metaphors, and HCI as discipline came along later to sweep up the mess and try to put it in context. What spurned my thought was just reading some parts of Eco's Semiotics and thinking about the cognitive processes behind the use of labels/metaphors/icons to point to the signified (usually an action - not noun), and how import/export just didn't make any sense to me - although I have completely accepted it as the way things are. On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 7:56 PM, Uday Gajendar [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: which you save it with a different name, and extension. So why use words whose meaning refers to space (import is moving to here, export is moving to there) - to mean translation? Aren't all metaphors inherently broken? :-) In the sense that no metaphor is 100% verisimilitude, but a language device to achieve a necessary, yet sufficient level of understanding to basically grok a concept, make it just *meaningful* enough to act on it given a certain context and situation. (and overcome difficulties in interpretation, as a sense-making device). I can't move real office windows around, i normally don't duplicate physical files and folders with a finger stroke, and animal mice don't have buttons. But i know through learned behavior, observation and cultural convention the computer equivalents work in specific ways (and evolve over time, like spring loaded folders and wheel mice) and mean certain things. And, who knows what the inventors of import/export were thinking (I doubt East India Tea and tariffs)... Probably just wanted a quick one word for bring data in and send data out to use as a short command, twisted it to be about directionality, and it stuck for better or worse. Now it's simply accepted cultural convention in the computer world. Just deal with it :-) Uday Gajendar Sr. Interaction Designer Voice Technology Group Cisco | San Jose -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] +1 408 902 2137 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Why Import/Export - A broken metaphor. More Semantic thoughts from the underground.
First - regarding upload and download - the use of these terms within this community is so self-evident as to be tautological. Upload and downlode make use of the spatial metaphors that here is down and there is up. Why there is up is up for debate - but thats the way it is. For more on metaphor - see Saffer's master's thesis and Lakoff/Johnson's Metaphors We Live By. More interesting is import/export. Before file formats, different OSes, and networked computers - import/export had a commonly understood meaning. Import was to bring goods into a country from somewhere outside. Export was to ship goods to a foreign country. There was no transfiguration of the goods in question. The East India company did not take nutmeg from Ceylon and change it into tea which was imported by the American colonies. Tea was tea - and simply moved location, and at the same time crossed a legal barrier and became American after a tax stamp was affixed to the goods. Again - essentially spatial. So why is it that in CS we choose to use import/export not to signify a change in location and jurisdiction - but simply a transfiguration and translation from one thing into another. Exporting a file does not move it, it simply changes it's encoding, after which you save it with a different name, and extension. So why use words whose meaning refers to space (import is moving to here, export is moving to there) - to mean translation? -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Coming Soon Pages
The simplest is the admonishment that you should not mislead or lie to the user -- in the navigation - if you have links to pages - that go to Under Construction or Coming soon - you are misleading the user - implying that they will go somewhere to get useful information - when the links go to a holding page. That erodes trust. Every link is an opportunity to build or destroy trust. Just like using misleading link labels. On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 10:35 AM, Andrew Jaswa [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Greetings, I have a client that wants to put several coming soon pages on their site. As in a link that points to a page called About us but the only thing on that page is the text Coming Soon. Essentially links to empty pages. My initial gut feeling is that this looks un-professional (thinking back to the this page under construction days). It also could present some SEO issues, but I'm not too worried about those at this point. From a interaction perspective what would be a good argument for or against having these kinds of pages? Any links to research would also be helpful. Thanks, Andrew Jaswa 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Coming Soon Pages
If it's a link to a feature - there is a very strong business reason to not do it - it telegraphs to the competition what your future feature sets are. They can than me-2 you perhaps faster than you. If it's content and it's simply because marketing or pm or the copywriter has not gotten around to writing content - *do not* put a link to a page with no content. I would say that is bordering on a Law. The link grabbed the users attention - peeked their interest - and then let them down - letting a potential customer down destroys brand value. It's just bad bad bad karma. On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 11:37 AM, Kristof Versluys [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: If it's actually a coming soon used before launching the whole website I'd say okay - but then again - you'd better put in some kind (even the littlest) of content that describes how a user could get some more info about your company, contact-address, etc. -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] OT: Webhost
I have nothing but great things to say about Media Temple. They rock. They are nice - have a problem and customer service answers on the third ring. They have an amazing up-rate - and the prices for shared servers is really good - like $20/month On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 3:10 PM, Joe Lanman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've had a pretty bad time with 11 in the uk - don't know if the American version is different. Their control panel is very hard to use, and billing is very confusing (they use contract numbers all the time rather than useful references like domain names). It's also hard to cancel and move away - you have to log into an entirely separate site to do so. I've found Dreamhost to be great - they have a good control panel, give you a lot of space and allow you to host unlimited domains, databases, email addresses, etc. Lots of great extras like shell access, and easy access to rolling database backups. All the best, Joe On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:50:25, Rick Barnes [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've been very happy with 1and1.com. They seem to have the best small business plans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=27330 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 -- http://formd.net 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Examples of web-based drag and drop functionality
jQuery has a very nice drag and drop ajax/js dom library for drag and drop - think about iGoogle - home page - set it up - any widgets can be picked up and moved to other places (pre-determined). On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 12:04 PM, Fine, David [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Greetings I'm looking for public internet based websites (not fat client) that feature drag and drop functionality. Anybody have any favorite examples to share? Several email portals have one (like AOL) but I'm looking for some in the public domain. Thanks, David David B. Fine email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information in this Internet email is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorized. 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] OT: Webhost
No doubt - another thing (I get nothing for this endorsement) - great playground/dev platform - that scales. You can add rails, mysql, json, solr - lot's of stuff - and when you get big - they can scale right up with you. Some really big name design firms/ux people/e-commerce places use it too - I think AIGA is on MT. On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 3:30 PM, Matthew Nish-Lapidus [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'll second MT. I've been with them for a couples years now and it's great. A little more expensive than Dreamhost, but you get what you pay for On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 3:23 PM, W Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I have nothing but great things to say about Media Temple. They rock. They are nice - have a problem and customer service answers on the third ring. They have an amazing up-rate - and the prices for shared servers is really good - like $20/month On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 3:10 PM, Joe Lanman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've had a pretty bad time with 11 in the uk - don't know if the American version is different. Their control panel is very hard to use, and billing is very confusing (they use contract numbers all the time rather than useful references like domain names). It's also hard to cancel and move away - you have to log into an entirely separate site to do so. I've found Dreamhost to be great - they have a good control panel, give you a lot of space and allow you to host unlimited domains, databases, email addresses, etc. Lots of great extras like shell access, and easy access to rolling database backups. All the best, Joe On Wed, 19 Mar 2008 09:50:25, Rick Barnes [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I've been very happy with 1and1.com. They seem to have the best small business plans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=27330 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 -- http://formd.net 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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 -- Matt Nish-Lapidus work: [EMAIL PROTECTED] / www.bibliocommons.com -- personal: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Coming Soon Pages
Brilliant. Good call Paul. On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 3:59 PM, Paul Eisen [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: One of the designs-to-avoid postcards in the IxDA handouts from Cooper Interaction Design is a very simple and compelling picture of an open door leading to a brick wall. A page consisting solely of the text Coming soon is a brick wall. A more acceptable alternative is to put the coming soon text beside the label that will eventually be a live link leading to a page with real content. Paul Eisen Principal User Experience Architect tandemseven ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] IxD: Mac Resources
Okay - No IA or IxDA work can get done without Adobe CS3. If you can't get the whole master suite - then the following: InDesign Photoshop Dreamweaver Fireworks. Those are absolute must-haves. On Tue, Mar 18, 2008 at 10:11 AM, Scott McDaniel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Actually, if it doesn't become too much of a nuisance, please do keep this public. I'm changing jobs (my first time with no development, just IA! Huzzah!), and we're working on MacBook Pros as well. Thanks! Scott 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] IxD: Mac Resources
BTW: Congrats on planning on getting a Mac. Apple products tell the world you are creative and unique. When I was at Interactions08, I noticed that majny of the speakers had Mac Book Pros, and many attendees - Todd W, Dan B., Christian C all were sporting them. This got me to thinking that there must be a connection. Pauric has a completely tricked out MacBook. It looks like a Nascar sports car with all the stickers. Pauric must design really fast. I can only say that getting a Mac Book will make you a better designer - and a better person :-) PS: Dave M does not have a Mac Book Pro. Neither do I - yet. On Tue, Mar 18, 2008 at 6:29 AM, John Gibbard [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi people, I have decided to get myself a new laptop (economic crisis? what economic crisis) which, happily, will be a MacBook Pro. So, having taken the plunge and switched to Team Cupertino what Mac-based stuff do I need? In order to keep the list traffic to a minimum please respond direct unless you think it's of community importance (hope that's not too Nanny Bot-ish). At the very least I'll be adding: a) iWork 08, for all the Keynote goodness. b) OmniGraffle I'm thinking people will be suggesting Illustrator too. What I'm really after are the kind of Mac-only applications/hardware that those of us who are converts won't know about but seasoned Mac-users find helpful in their IxD day-jobs. Thanks guys, -- John Gibbard (User Experience Architect) t. +44 (0)7957 102577 skype. johngibbard 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] virtual vs. physical social behavior
This was an absolutely fascinating post. I twitter, email, text, quite a bit. But - I think their are boundaries, and etiquette. I can't forget the time that my grandmother took me to see Peter Gomes, a good friend of hers and the minister of Harvard memorial church. We were there because he was going to write me a recommendation to get into school there. While sitting in his office, waiting for his secretary to bring coffee in, the phone rang. He reached over to the phone and turned the ringer off, and then explained that deviding his attention or answering the phone would be rude to both of us and lamented the ringer on the phone as intrusive and that it should never get in the way of 1-2-1 meatspace conversations. There is a hierarchy of value - and those people in front of you are frankly more important than those that are not. Certainly more important than a web page, blog, online conversation. Ask yourself this - if you were out to dinner, and your dinner companion picked up a book, mid conversation, and began reading - what would that tell you about how your companion viewed your value. That is exactly how I feel when a person picks up their phone and surfs the web or checks email when we are having a conversation. It says that something or someone is of greater value and interest. That may not be their intention - but it is the effect. On Tue, Mar 18, 2008 at 10:16 AM, christine chastain [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Being an anthropologist and designer, my observations have taught me that there is little difference between physical and virtual social behavior from a cognitive behavioral and anthropological perspective. People have the same needs they always did - to feel part of a social structure and network, to feel validated and loved, to wield power, to seek and present identity, etc. I would argue that while technology itself provides differences in virtual and physical interaction, the structure remains traditional. It is just more visible more quickly now. What I've been thinking about is whether the etiquettte arising from the use of virtual technology in a more traditional setting and people's reaction to that might be anti-social punishment. Consider this - as long as everyone (particularly in a collectivist setting) has access and benefits from the same technology, the use of such becomes the accepted norm. An example of this would be texting in Finland - because almost everyone has a cell phone and the benefits to society as a whole are understood. no one would dream of asking another to stop texting someone during a conversation. In fact, the person being texted is often drawn into the physical conversation as though they were a part of it. So there is no opportunity, really, to get something someone else has or to punish someone else for doing something that everyone is doing. In the United States, we use shame to get people not to do things or decide for themselves to adhere to the normative. If most of the room has decided that cell phone conversations or twittering is off limits in a particular setting, stronger-minded individuals will police the group making sure everyone adheres to a certain code of conduct.And this works most of the time as those being policed don't want to stand out and don't want to cause trouble among peers who might act as valuable connections. In a place like Greece, there is no reason to feel shame from someone who is a stranger. Because family and close friends are the only connections that truly matter, what a stranger says to you can be completely disregarded. And because rule of law is perceived as unreliable, no one will be following up either. So there will always be multiple people speaking loudly on cell phones during a concert, etc. Interestingly, those who try and police this behavior are punished by the policed as they are often seen as do-gooders and maternal/paternalistic in behavior. Individuals seem not to mind that the collective suffers as a whole. These are extreme examples however it makes me think that there are, as much as cross-cultural differences, individual differences within cultures. Perhaps those unwilling to conform at the lecture to lecture-like behavior did not see the benefit of doing so for the group as a whole and some could have become irritated with being told what to do and as such, anti-social punishment may be part of the reason they persisted. On Tue, Mar 18, 2008 at 4:30 AM, David Malouf [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: thus is a tangent from Andrei's thread on Twitter @ SxSWi. why us the person in front if you more important than the person a million miles away? the assumption coming from a pre-digital culture is that the people with you ate more important than those away from you. I would like to suggest that in the digital cultural world that this distinction is blurted at beat or just outright arbitrary dependent on specific contextual
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Proper Etiquette
The internet is a fad. That is why :-) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=27177 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Proper Etiquette
I already don't like Nanny Bot. -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Proper Etiquette
snark *Shaping*: A technique used to teach a desired behavior by reinforcing increasingly accurate approximations of the behavior. Complex behaviors, such as trimming one's post, can be difficult to teach (stubborn people like designers). Shaping is a strategy whereby complex behaviors (being a good member of the IxDA list), are broken down into smaller, simpler sub-behaviors (trimming), and then taught one by one. The behaviors are reinforced (e.g. feeding), and ultimately chained together to achieve the desired result (Godwin's law on the list - for instance). See also Classical Conditioning and Operant Conditioning. /snark On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 8:11 AM, Annie Rex [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think she's cute. - A. -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Book: Mental Models - Aligning Design Strategy with User Behavior
I haven't bought it yet - but I would love an objective review of this book. Chauncey - you said you had started it - have you finished iet yet - and is it worth it? On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 10:16 PM, Howie C. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi, Have anyone read this yet? Any thoughts or comments? There is no single methodology for creating the perfect product—but you can increase your odds. One of the best ways is to understand users' reasons for doing things. Mental Models gives you the tools to help you grasp, and design for, those reasons. Adaptive Path http://adaptivepath.com/co-founder Indi Young http://www.rosenfeldmedia.com/books/mental-models/author/biography/has written a roll-up-your-sleeves book for designers, managers, and anyone else interested in making design strategic, and successful. -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] The Mobile Twitter Effect
If there was a quiz at the end of the interview - what percentage of Twits would have utterly failed because only 50% of their attention (if that) was on the interview. This reminds me completely of an article a while back about people's mediated experience of reality - for instance the dad that goes to Disney world - and observes the entire experience through his camcorders viewfinder. Yoda would not be please at all. If you are twittering - chances are you are not listening. By mediating your experience of reality - you only get to actually percieve (qualia), a significantly smaller about of what is happening. I realize Andre you were speaking more to the Mob mentality of the twittering going on during the interview - which of course runs counter to the wisdom of crowds, but i still think back to even Interactions08 - and the number of people sitting in the audience listening to a speaker - when in fact they were writing blogs (unrelated to the speaker) and reading blogs (again - unrelated to the speaker) - which is why I don't bring my laptop to conference speeches and seminars. 1. I learn less; 2. it's F*%ing rude to the speaker. My humber 2 cents. On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 5:44 PM, Andrei Herasimchuk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: So, not sure how many of you tracked the Zuckerberg keynote last week at SXSW, but while I was there in Austin, an odd thing happened. It seemed to me to be the first time I saw Twitter used in a way that had a negative impact. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but the anger of the crowd at Zuckerberg's keynote interview seemed to be fueled further by the fact people were venting in Twitter at the same time. In this instance, Twitter seemed to be like pouring gasoline on a fire, making the reaction to a poor interview far worse than it was in reality. (IMHO of course.) Further, I have to say... the whole use of Twitter and mobile devices at the conference really depressed me. It seemed like every ten seconds no matter who you were with, they all kept looking down at their iPhones and basically taking themselves out of whatever was going on. I know I'm becoming a Luddite and all, but honestly... put down the damn iPhone, Blackberry or whatever it is you use already! It's really becoming beyond annoying. Getting too old before my time I guess. -- Andrei Herasimchuk Principal, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] c. +1 408 306 6422 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] IQ captcha?
Just copy the captcha type system that Yahoo has designed to sign up for Flickr. I always thought I was relatively average - but that system is so darn convoluted that you must have to be a genius to figure it out. I tried to sign up for Flickr after it was purchased by Yahoo -- after 30 minutes and 3 failures - i gave up. Imagine having to get a yahoo email address that I will never ever ever use - just to post my pictures that system is either for geniuses - or totally wack. On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 6:08 PM, Ari Feldman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: i realize that it's part of our job to help people figure out how to use things but in my years on this planet, it never ceases to amaze me how some people still defy common logic or sense. so i was wondering if there was such thing as an IQ test in the form of a simple captcha that could exclude those who fall below the median IQ from say, signing up for a website? -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] IQ captcha?
Specifically - the sign-in seal. What is that??? Seal? It must be a synonym for One Less User. On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 6:21 PM, W Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Just copy the captcha type system that Yahoo has designed to sign up for Flickr. I always thought I was relatively average - but that system is so darn convoluted that you must have to be a genius to figure it out. I tried to sign up for Flickr after it was purchased by Yahoo -- after 30 minutes and 3 failures - i gave up. Imagine having to get a yahoo email address that I will never ever ever use - just to post my pictures that system is either for geniuses - or totally wack. On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 6:08 PM, Ari Feldman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: i realize that it's part of our job to help people figure out how to use things but in my years on this planet, it never ceases to amaze me how some people still defy common logic or sense. so i was wondering if there was such thing as an IQ test in the form of a simple captcha that could exclude those who fall below the median IQ from say, signing up for a website? -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] IQ captcha?
Okay - actually - instead of a standard Captcha - use one of the visual pattern fluid tests - reload could give a difference pattern question - remember to include the timer. Go here: http://similarminds.com/intdoor.html Now - the test would have to be slightly tweaked - instead of clicking on a radio button - 1,2,3, or 4 The user would have to type in the answer - and each potential answer would have a different letter associated with it - not just A, B, C, D - but something random - so that a bot could never just guess right 25% of the time. - Will On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 6:34 PM, Ari Feldman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: true but i want one that then displays a message that says sorry, if you couldn't figure this out, you're probably not smart enough to use our product sigh, that would be cool. sadly, i suspect the humor would be lost on them. i guess that would lead to scads of law suits for discriminating against intellectually challenged people. On 3/17/08, W Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Just copy the captcha type system that Yahoo has designed to sign up for Flickr. I always thought I was relatively average - but that system is so darn convoluted that you must have to be a genius to figure it out. I tried to sign up for Flickr after it was purchased by Yahoo -- after 30 minutes and 3 failures - i gave up. Imagine having to get a yahoo email address that I will never ever ever use - just to post my pictures that system is either for geniuses - or totally wack. On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 6:08 PM, Ari Feldman [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: i realize that it's part of our job to help people figure out how to use things but in my years on this planet, it never ceases to amaze me how some people still defy common logic or sense. so i was wondering if there was such thing as an IQ test in the form of a simple captcha that could exclude those who fall below the median IQ from say, signing up for a website? -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- -- www.flyingyogi.com -- -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] what helped most in your career?
Hire - that is - my spelling has gone to the birds this afternoon. On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 6:48 PM, W Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Higher and listen to people that are darn good at something - for instance - a long time ago, I hired a friend with a degree in graphic design. We were doing Shockwave for CD interact(ive) work for Toyota. He taught me more about typography than any book ever could - and I listened everytime he spoke about Why he choose to use What he choose. I have learned an amazing amount from people who worked for me. 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] What tools do you use for prototyping?
We just had this discussion 6 weeks ago about how to define prototypes - what kind of prototypes people use, to what end, and how. Is there honestly any value in revisiting this for the 3rd time in 6 months? On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 11:40 AM, Kevin Doyle [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Everyone, before we get into an endless loop of arguing, I think that Robert hit it on the head about terminology -- let's define what we mean by prototype. I'll start a new thread. On Mon, Nov 12, 2007 at 8:24 PM, Robert Hoekman, Jr. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I sooo... wish I had asked those questions last week. We have different views of what constitutes a prototype. Simple as that. I know. That has been the basis of the entire debate. But I'll say it again, from my very first message in this thread: Anyone ever taken a Logic class? I've never forgotten the idea I learned there that most seemingly unsolvable arguments have stem from a lack of clear definitions of key terms. For us to explain what tools we use for prototyping, we must first define prototype. Then, I suppose, we should define tool. Of course, after doing all that, we'll just have to do it again in another thread next week because new people will show up and no one will remember what was said. ;) -r- *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 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Yo gender-neutral singular pronoun has arrived at last!
Funny - i would use it - but I like getting paid for my work :-) On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 4:31 AM, Morten Hjerde [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I do a lot of writing in english, and when discussing IxD I need to refer to the person using the product. But there is no good way top refer to that person because English language lacks of a gender-neutral singular pronoun. Writingthe user and he is easy and works well grammatically, but it is a big no-no (and for good reasons). I've seen a number of alternative solutions and all has their issues: - Using He or She is considered sexist - Always referring to the full he or she is a bit long-winded and stifled - One is archaic - Writing s/he or alternating he and she in every other sentence seems awkward and strange - Rewriting the sentence in plural, i.e referring to they often works but not always. - Referring to people or even you instead of the users is ok, (but can be a bit of a minefield for non-english writers) But check this out: Dr. Elaine Stotko, from the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University, and her student, Margaret Troyer, have discovered that school children in Baltimore are *using the slang word yo as a gender-neutral singular pronoun*. Dr. Stotko was teaching a master's class at Johns Hopkins, and it came out during a discussion that several of the high school and middle school English teachers had noticed their students using *yo* as a pronoun. Often the students would be talking to another student, would point at the third person they were referring to, and would say something like Yo threw a thumbtack at me. This made teachers think they were using *yo* to mean he or she instead of *yo* as you would normally hear in phrases like Yo momma. [...] The researchers found that it was most common for the kids to use *yo* in the subject position; for example, Yo wearin' a new coat, (to point out someone wearing a new coat). But they also used *yo* in the object position, as in I saw yo at school, and Look at yo. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-yo-pronoun.aspx * Yo can accomplish tasks quickly, because well-designed applications don't get in yo way.* What do you think? :-) -- Morten Hjerde http://sender11.typepad.com 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 -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems - Will Evans | CrowdSprout tel +1.617.281.1281 | fax +1.617.507.6016 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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] Who would you like to see in a Debate?
Me versus Dan Saffer on why Silicone Valley is the last place a good IXD would want to move to and work. On Wed, 12 Mar 2008 06:50:15, David Malouf [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Jason Fried vs. Me! I think 37Signals' notions of designing for self are wrong despite. Starting with yourself has led to what I would call the disaster of design known as basecamp. We use it for IxDA ... why? b/c there is nothing as good as cheap. That doesn't mean it IS good. it isn't. it is horribly designed. Ok, more on the community front: Andrei H. vs. anyone. ;) Seriously though Andrei and I could go at it on a few topics, particularly around the place for code in design practice. I believe he takes technology as a design requirement way too far. Jared vs. others on the topic of is Usability more than evaluation. I haven't seen it in practice and be usability. of course this could just be a semantic debate which is no fun, but I think he is trying to say something that I just haven't understood yet. Generalists vs. specialists What is IxD? Why is it important to have a speciality vs. a generalist vision of IxD? I'm sure there are a ton more. Oh! another for Andrei and possibly Jeff Howard: Does IxD have to have a digital component? -- dave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=26981 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] Design at Apple
Similarly - colleague and I once had a client that loved pickle flavored ice cream - similar to your pony. His reasoning was: I like pickles, I like ice cream. Pickle-flavored ice cream is a great idea. We actually became close with the client and could joke with him after a while when he was asking for contradictory features or requirements by offering him some pickle ice cream. He took it with good spirit - but we spent alot of time building trust. On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 2:07 PM, Angel Anderson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: It's funny that others think of ponies too. We have made the mistake of actually responding to some feature demands, with the phrase, I want a pony delivered with deadpan sincerity. As you may imagine, the check writers didn't appreciate our sarcasm ;-) I shared this article with our engineering leads. I'd love to separate our regular weekly meetings into 2 sessions like that: one for dreaming and one for getting real. What a lovely way to work. In the case of Apple, the proof is certainly in the pudding. -Angel On Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:55:46, David Malouf [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: YES!!! YES!!! YES! I love it Anyone attend this at SxSW. it's so interesting that an engineer is lauding this process. Gotta love that. -- dave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=26995 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 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] Good examples of airlines websites
Anyone else notice that Cleartrip is almost a complete ripoff of my Kayak design which was done in 2004? Look here: http://www.cleartrip.com/, then hhttp://www.kayak.com/ Is it me - or is complete copying of a UI the better part of flattery? - Will On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 2:31 PM, Todd Zaki Warfel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I really like the booking engine for Orbitz. In fact, I use that for booking US Air over usair.com every time. On Mar 11, 2008, at 11:32 AM, Rony Philip wrote: Hi Darek, Try this one - www.cleartrip.com I found it very efficient and task focused. Cheers Rony Cheers! Todd Zaki Warfel President, Design Researcher Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully. -- Contact Info Voice: (215) 825-7423 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] AIM:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Blog: http://toddwarfel.com -- In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not. 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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: Web Interface/Interaction Designer, Cambridge MA, HiveFire, Part-time/Contract
*Company Overview* HiveFire is an early stage funded start up located in Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA. HiveFire is in the online news and blog space specializing in technology involving machine learning, natural language processing, information retrieval and human computer interaction. Current team consists of MIT alumni with engineering and research experience at Google, Microsoft, Lycos and several start-ups. *Responsibilities* - Capable of understanding user needs, preferences and behaviors. - Keep us at the forefront of easy, elegant web interfaces. - Ability to critique and improve existing interface designs. - Streamline and continuously improve user experience. - Help the organization learn great UI and HCI principles. *Requirements* - A portfolio of usable, clean, user-centered web applications. - Expert, hands-on experience with XHTML, CSS. JavaScript skills a plus. - Designed and run usability tests to improve user experience. - An easy-going, collaborative personality. - Creative vision and enthusiastic drive. - Experience working with close-knit, collaborative team. - Rapid prototyping and participatory design chops. - Broad knowledge of interaction design, information architecture and similar fields. - Good understanding of web 2.0 programming technologies. *Location* MIT/Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA. *Position Type * Freelance/Contract or Part-Time. *Compensation * We offer competitive pay and/or equity as well as other benefits for employees. *Contact* Please send resume and portfolio to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] Most usable doesn't always mean best solution
Elizabeth, there are a lot of people out in the field, especially marketing agencies, performing usability studies who haven't got a clue that there's an ISO 9241 standard for it. You might be surprised by this, but it's true. .. To the point: In the dusty institutions where usability standards gather to party with each other, ISO 9241 is a bit of a celebrity. It is widely cited by people who would be hard pushed to name any other standard, and* **parts of it are virtually enshrined in law in some European countries. *But as is the fate of many celebrities , *all most usability professionals know about the standard is its name*. - http://www.userfocus.co.uk/articles/ISO9241.html 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] iPhones on Campus
My biggest fear of de-skilling comes from what I consider the wide scale if not complete functional illiteracy of children that have graduated [sic] from high school in the last 20 years. This trend is accelerating at an exponential rate such that almost every child born today will be functionally illiterate by the time they graduate from high school in 18 years. So - yes, but Will - how do you define functional illiteracy? Simple. The ability for any child in the US to read any work from the canon [unabridged] understand it, and write a coherent, well formed paper from that reading. I don't think the iPhone will lead to a dilapidation of the human brain as part of evolution since it would require heavy, consistent use over a minimum of a few hundred thousand years for natural selection to actually change things. I believe illiteracy is already having significant effects on society in America today, and the functional illiteracy of most of the population will definitely have effects over the next millennium. On Fri, Feb 29, 2008 at 1:17 PM, Geoff Barnes [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Surely so. More frightening to me than the specific notion of de-skilling is the dilapidation of the human mind that will be a part of human evolution. On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:26:21, Jeff Howard [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Geoff wrote: Am I just old and paranoid? I don't think so. Left unstimulated, neural pathways go dark. I think this is a real concern for design. There's a lot to find on the topic by searching google for the keyword de-skilling // jeff -- Geoff Barnes Fortune favors the bold. -Virgil Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive. -Sir Walter Scott Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it. -G.B. Shaw 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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 are all the designers?
Now, you might hand that off to someone else to spit and polish, but in reality, you can't do one w/o impacting the other. As much as I try to limit the definitions of the practice, I can't limit the practitioner. Depending on what I am working on - I may do nothing more than interview people, do user research and write personas. I might do just wirerframes based on functional specs and requirements. I might do Wireframes and interaction design. Right now I am doing wireframes, interaction design, visual design (yep!), and coding the front end html and css -- because in a room with 3 other people, thats it - and they are all hard core SE, I am the only one that can. So huge overlap. And I wouldn't want it any other way. On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 10:13 AM, Todd Zaki Warfel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Feb 22, 2008, at 9:44 AM, Matthew Nish-Lapidus wrote: at what point do you stop being an interface designer that does some interaction design and become an interaction designer that does some interface design? You don't. There's overlap. It's nearly impossible to do interaction design without doing some interface design—the reverse is also true. They're co-dependent on each other. If you're designing the interface, then you're going to start getting into the weeds of interaction. Likewise, if you're designing the interaction, you're going to start getting into the weeds of the interface. Now, you might hand that off to someone else to spit and polish, but in reality, you can't do one w/o impacting the other. Cheers! Todd Zaki Warfel President, Design Researcher Messagefirst | Designing Information. Beautifully. -- Contact Info Voice: (215) 825-7423 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] AIM:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Blog: http://toddwarfel.com -- In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not. 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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 are all the designers?
Yet, how do you get those 3-5 years without year 1! Yes, I have 3-5 years experience, but I think we all are doing ourselves a disservice by not hiring junior folks. If you're out there hiring, try to consider a junior position, even as a contractor position if necessary. I knwo businesses are out to make a profit - obviously - but I concur and think we have an obligation, just like the old craft/guilds - since this is a practice and craft - to bring on and train up junior and entry level designers. We have a moral responsibility also to speak, give workshops, and help each other grow the profession. I am not calling for anything formal like a code of conduct, or codified practice-community volunteers - but if we can - not only should we - we must. On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 10:58 AM, Mary Austin-Keller [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think this is a serious problem with both our area and the general software industry. There are so few junior job postings. Most are for 3-5 years or more. Yet, how do you get those 3-5 years without year 1! Yes, I have 3-5 years experience, but I think we all are doing ourselves a disservice by not hiring junior folks. If you're out there hiring, try to consider a junior position, even as a contractor position if necessary. It'll make your senior folks happier, as they can grow in their management skills plus ensure that when you really do need someone with experience, they're out there to find. Not to mention that in a few years, you'll have that senior person who you KNOW can do the job. Unfortunately I'm not the one who hires in my company, so I can only send out this e-mail and hope others can. :) Cheers, ~Mary -- Mary Austin-Keller [EMAIL PROTECTED] On 2/21/08 6:59 PM, Loren Baxter [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'd like to reiterate Dave's earlier point of a distinct lack in career path. Fresh out of college, the only two companies in California I found that were willing to hire junior IxD's were Google and Intuit. Most other job postings had steep requirements in terms of experience and degrees. It's a shame that so few are willing to train younger designers from the start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=26170 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 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] Creative Navigation
It was attractive, but the orange arrow definitely some Fitt's issues. The arrow is decent size - but if you didn't tell me - I would have had no idea that that launched navigation. It's not that the site content on the main page is so busy with imagery and content that there is even a need to hide the navigation. It's just sitting on top a static image - so it's not like it's distracting from a fantastic animated experience of Linsey Lohan nude, or Britney doing the perp walk - so why hide the nav bar? On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 12:48 PM, Charles B. Kreitzberg [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I thought it was a really nice site and I like the design. I can see that there might be come confusions about the fact that the orange arrow leads to the menu. Perhaps it should have a word like menu on it or something to make it clear that it is clickable. The visual design is really nice (as is the visual design of your blog) and it is nice that the menu goes away and does not clutter the screen when it is not needed. I think the reader who gave the design a solid C is being rather harsh. Best, Charlie (snowed-in in Princeton, NJ) 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] Creative Navigation
Scott's right - if it's intended audience is younger (than me), entertainment site, and they added some beefed up flash on the home - like concert footage or something - plus Britney doing a perp walk - it's pretty cool :-) On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 1:06 PM, Jeff White [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: That specific implementation aside, I like the idea of 'collapsed navigation' in certain situations. As Will implies - there are certain times when navigation could be less important than other content on the screen. For public websites, it seems a little risky. But for complex apps that serve a niche user base and are used frequently, I like the concept of get stuff out of my way and let me do my job. They'd quickly learn how the navigation works. Jeff On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 12:56 PM, W Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: It was attractive, but the orange arrow definitely some Fitt's issues. The arrow is decent size - but if you didn't tell me - I would have had no idea that that launched navigation. It's not that the site content on the main page is so busy with imagery and content that there is even a need to hide the navigation. It's just sitting on top a static image - so it's not like it's distracting from a fantastic animated experience of Linsey Lohan nude, or Britney doing the perp walk - so why hide the nav bar? On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 12:48 PM, Charles B. Kreitzberg [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I thought it was a really nice site and I like the design. I can see that there might be come confusions about the fact that the orange arrow leads to the menu. Perhaps it should have a word like menu on it or something to make it clear that it is clickable. The visual design is really nice (as is the visual design of your blog) and it is nice that the menu goes away and does not clutter the screen when it is not needed. I think the reader who gave the design a solid C is being rather harsh. Best, Charlie (snowed-in in Princeton, NJ) 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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 are all the designers?
1. BA is THE place for people like us to hang, so it would be fan-fricken-tastic if the job board also allowed anon or not so anon postings of resumes just for people in our field - then charge through the nose for recruiters etc to come in and take a peak knowing it was a closed community. Hell - I would pay a premium to list my resume etc on BA knowing that only recruiters actually looking for me and not a java engineer were likely to contact me. I *Hate* their spam! On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 10:21 AM, Christina Wodtke [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: What I worry about is what we saw in boom 1.0, which was a ton of unqualified people taking on the title, creating a bad reputation, then returning to cab driving when the crash comes. OTOH, I was one of those under qualified people in the first wave, so maybe I should be more generous. hee. [Shameless plug] The job postings on jobs.boxesandarrows.com are extremely accurate. Less of them, but they are all aimed at the right demographic and thus have high relevancy. W Evans wrote: And I would love to blame the quality of the job posting sites. There search engines are terrible. Just now, I search in Washington DC Information Architect (86 results - only 3 were for IA) Interaction Designer (41 results, only 1 for IxD) Interface Designer (10 results, only one for ID) Some of the things that come back in results are amazing. Search for IA and get senior java architect as a high ranked result? On Feb 20, 2008 2:26 PM, David Shaw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Andrei, I think you are looking at a number of different factors that are causing this. From my point of view, I would love to move not only to the Bay area, but NY or Boston where there are tons of openings. However, the cost of living there is so outrageously expensive, it doesn't pay for me to relocate (I've got a house with a reasonable mortgage, as well as a family to consider). It might be that many of the more experienced designers (like myself) see the same issues. I would take a huge loss of quality of life if I went. Just my 2 cents. David On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 11:06 AM, Andrei Herasimchuk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Just a quick question: Where are all the interface and software designers in Silicon Valley? Has everyone just packed up and left or what? I see more job listings, postings and calls for resumes and yet there seem to be even fewer people to fill the jobs than ever before. I used to have trouble hiring at Adobe back in the late 1990s mostly due to the high experience and training requirements needed to work on software at that level, but that was before there was an influx of people and talent into software related products, especially from the web. And yet, now it seems that there's an even bigger gap in the designer to available job ratio than every before. Everyone I know is having trouble filling hiring requirements. Is it that the job requirements needed to get hired are too high? Not enough trained designers? Or is it something only happening in Silicon Valley? Browse the job listings and postings everywhere from companies in Silicon Valley and it seems we have a distinct lack of designers ready to fill all the openings. Opinions? -- Andrei Herasimchuk Principal, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] c. +1 408 306 6422 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 -- Art provokes thinking, design solves problems w: http://www.davidshaw.info 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 -- Christina Wodtke Principal Instigator 415-577-2550 Business :: http://www.cucinamedia.com Magazine :: http://www.boxesandarrows.com Product :: http://www.publicsquarehq.com Personal :: http://www.eleganthack.com Book :: http://www.blueprintsfortheweb.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Where are all the designers?
Wow. I want to work where you work! Most interaction designers I know in the Bay Area don't make anywhere close to this amount. I'd say about half of this ($75-100k) is about average. Therein lies the problem in the Bay Area Dan. How much is proximity to all those great places/people/companies worth? Assume you live in a city with a base cost of living index of 100, pay 1800 per month for rent or mortgage, and make $100K -- and the same job in SV/SF pays $100K, but the cost of living index is 132, you can naturally see why it would cause huge shortages. Of course - in good times like these - SF grows in our sector faster than most other regions b/c of all the access to capital to fund new ideas. I would seriously consider moving someday, but not for an effective pay cut. On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 10:26 AM, Dan Saffer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Feb 20, 2008, at 12:05 PM, dave malouf wrote: 2) Like what David Shaw said. You've gotta be nutz, coocoo, and just insane to leave anyplace including NYC and move to SF unless you were guaranteed something between $150k-$200k, and HUGE relocation package upwards of $20-$30k. Having done relocates to both coasts I'm pretty familiar with what it takes at this point. Wow. I want to work where you work! Most interaction designers I know in the Bay Area don't make anywhere close to this amount. I'd say about half of this ($75-100k) is about average. I moved to SF in my mid-30s (with a family I should add) and yes, I won't be buying a house anytime soon, but if what's important to you is doing really interesting work surrounded by a high calibre interaction design community, the Bay Area is hard to beat. The access you get to some amazing people and companies (startups and giants alike) is almost unreal. In a few block radius from my office there is frog, Twitter, Yahoo labs, Cooper, Hot, IDEO, Six Apart, Technorati, Adobe, Nokia...the list goes on and on. Location still matters. Dan 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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 are all the designers?
Dan, when I read this: Geographic concentration encourages innovation because ideas flow more freely, are honed more sharply, and can be put into practice more quickly when innovators, implementers, and financial backers are in constant contact. Creative people cluster not simply because they like to be around one another or prefer cosmopolitan centers with lots of amenities (though both things tend to be true). They cluster because density brings such powerful productivity advantages, economies of scale, and knowledge spillovers. I couldn't help think how many IxDers found Espresso Gallery in Savannah last week (2 weeks ago? Sad!)... On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 10:49 AM, Dan Saffer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Feb 21, 2008, at 7:26 AM, Dan Saffer wrote: Location still matters. Just to follow up on my own comment (hee), here's an excerpt from Richard Creative Class Florida's new book, Who's Your City? How the Creative Economy Is Making Where You Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/123/in-praise-of-spikes.html It's a mantra of the age of globalization that place doesn't matter. Technology has leveled the global playing field--the world is flat. When the world is flat, says New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, you can innovate without having to emigrate. It's a compelling notion--but it's wrong. Today's global economy is spiky. What's more, the tallest spikes, the cities and regions that drive the world economy, are growing ever higher while the valleys, with little economic activity, recede still further. ... Geographic concentration encourages innovation because ideas flow more freely, are honed more sharply, and can be put into practice more quickly when innovators, implementers, and financial backers are in constant contact. Creative people cluster not simply because they like to be around one another or prefer cosmopolitan centers with lots of amenities (though both things tend to be true). They cluster because density brings such powerful productivity advantages, economies of scale, and knowledge spillovers. ... The main difference between now and a couple of decades ago is that the economic and social distance between the peaks has gotten smaller. People in spiky places are often more connected to one another, even from half a world away, than they are to people in their own backyards. This peak-to-peak connectivity is accelerated by the highly mobile, global creative class, about 150 million people, who migrate freely among the world's leading cities--places such as London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Meanwhile, second-tier cities from Detroit to Nagoya to Bangalore are locked in potentially devastating competition for jobs, people, and investment. And in the so-called developing world, millions upon millions of people whose culture and traditions are being ripped apart by globalization lack the education, skills, or mobility to connect to the world economy. They are stuck in places that are falling further and further behind. 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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 are all the designers?
To that point - those of us who *have* been hiring managers in the past - if we want things to change - we have to take responsibility for partnering with HR/Recruiter people. I have spent many an hour on the phone just talking about the issues, skills, mindset, background of people that might be a match - and educating about IxD and IA along the way. BTW: Has anyone noticed the BIG shift in the last 7 years of a whole crop of new recruiters following a new business model. In essence - they have taken the call center business model, extended it to recruiting and outsourced it to India. All the initial job board search/keyword matching and initial screening is done there (with US phone#, business address), and once the initial screening is done - candidates are passed along to client facing recruiters in based in the US. I have no idea if this is a long term trend, but with growth in real wages in call center places like Bangalore - I can't see this as sustainable, and it may move again to the Philippines. Just find it interesting - no point to this I guess. On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:16:09, dave malouf [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Andrei, To get back to your question, if you are still listening. 1) The market is just harshin' right now. 2) Your specific criteria of combining (I'm not arguing the merits) code design skills in a single person/role is even harder to find. The bulk of this generation of designers is just not trained as such. If I were you I would recruit heavily from the interactive design programs at art/design/technical schools and build the specifics of IxD talent you need through mentorship. There is no program concentrating on IxD or even a segment of IxD that will create the type of designer you are looking for. Basically, you're going to have to breed your own. I know you are connected with SJState, and I'm sure that you can try to hook into Art Institute and CCA as well to find the junior talent. There are more visual aestheticists technologists than there are behavioral aestheticists technologists out there. And finding all 3 in 1 person I haven't seen in a resume in a long time and I would love to have it! Oh! and if I found it, I wouldn't tell you b/c I'm hiring 3) I don't think there is anything going on in SV that isn't going on in the other hubs around the world. It might feel worse, but everyone is struggling. Join the pity party! 4) People have keyed in on some good issues about the way we talk about ourselves and the issues around HR/IxD relationships that as an org and as a community of practice we have to do a better job with. BTW, I have been trying to settle on a definition and create firm labels for half a decade now and well, you and I just disagree. ;) -- dave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=26170 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] GMails New Contact Manager
Amnon - At least you can try to use it -- * I can't! * None of my contacts show up in the list. I can mouse over what I guess might be the rows where the names exist - but the names don't appear. When you can't even read the names of your contacts because they don't exist, there is a real problem with the UI. Can't tell who did the UI, but it must have been someone at Google. I doubt they outsource any of their UI designs. On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 4:35 PM, Amnon Dekel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I am a long time fan of GMAIL and Google's keep it simple and clean UI philosophy. Unfortunately the new contact manager seems to have not been designed by Google. I have had a really frustrating experience in creating a contact group with 20 emails of my students, none of which are existing contacts. With the old UI I just create a new group and past all the addresses into the entry field and voila- new group created. With the new UI I have the choice of creating a contact for each of the 20 emails (no way!) and then add them to the group, or I can create a CVS file and import it. I tried the second option but the contact manager would not eat it and gave me an error on it each time. Even if it had accepted it- it wouldn't have mattered since gmail needs to cater to normal users, not users who can create CVS files by hand. So my solution was simple but annoying: I switched back to the OLD UI, created the contact group and then switched back to the NEW UI, praying that all the new features that I love (i.e. label coloring etc) would not get ruined in the process- luckilly the process succeeded. So- the point- the new Gmail contact manager suffers from a badly executed UI design- apart from the problem I described it has additional UI problems which I will not add to this already too long post. I hope the GMAIL team which has done such a wonderful job in creating the best web based email today (in my opinion) gets back to basics and fixes this as soon as possible. If anyone here knows anyone from the team I would appreciate it if they could forward this email to them. Looking through the Gmail forum I see that I am not the first one frustrated with this and hope they fix it. -- :::...::..:::...::: Amnon Dekel Cell: +972 54 813-8160 :::...::..:::...::: 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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 are all the designers?
As I said earlier about BA to Christina, we need something where designers can anon post resumes -- either BA, or maybe here on IxDA someday. I know we have gatekeepers on our list - but all the recruiters that actually post here have positions that are completely relevant to the community -- I would say over 95% relavant. We may not all like the job descriptions, but they are a lot more relevant than a junior systems analyst posting - or a life insurance posting. On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 4:32 PM, mark schraad [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: And... the word seems to have gotten out that this position is ill defined and pays rather well. Like Andrei, I am getting resumes that are all over the mat and hardly qualified. Lots of people with a tech background and absolutely no design foundation. Mark On Thu, Feb 21, 2008 at 3:52 PM, W Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: BTW: Has anyone noticed the BIG shift in the last 7 years of a whole crop of new recruiters following a new business model. In essence - they have taken the call center business model, extended it to recruiting and outsourced it to India. -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] The Most Frequently Used Features in Microsoft Office
My biggest - one of them at least, axes to grind - is the use of in-language, jargon, bad metaphors and cliches. The most annoying one, however, is the use of sports metaphors in diction. I have seen politicians speeches and marketing websites where a reader is subjected to paragraphs of nothing more than bad-metaphors and cliches strong together, one after another, signifying (in the Lacanian sense) nothing whatsoever. I don't want to touch-base to enhance synergies while mitigating against potentialities, knock it out of the park, hit a home run, score a touchdown while standing shoulder to shoulder with my team mates, or create any win-win situations that leverage my core competencies. For those so inclined - or those incapable of expressing themselves without the use of pretentious diction, false analogies, verbal false limbs, or glittering generalities - definitely read the classic Orwell - Politics amd the English Language, http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm And that is my axe to grind today :-) On Feb 19, 2008 11:02 PM, Anthony Hempell [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In my experience you can choose to describe your idea/concept/business case to the VP of Marketing using the jargon that gets you props on the IxDA list, or you can use the marketese vocabulary they are used to and makes them feel warm and fuzzy. Whatever gets the ball into the end zone, so to speak. On 19-Feb-08, at 7:34 PM, Christine Boese wrote: Is it really true traditional media can't deal with this radical idea of active creators talking back to the big media bosses, so we gotta diminish it by calling it by the old names, by defining it completely in terms of what we want these people to be, not what they are? 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] Technology Review puts Offline Web Apps in their top 10 emerging technologies
And another reason to thank you for the link was there special report on advances in Search: *Special Reports Next-Generation Search* http://www.technologyreview.com/specialreports/specialreport.aspx?id=2 -- ~ will 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] Technology Review puts Offline Web Apps in their top 10 emerging technologies
Thanks for the link Dave - and some very interesting things in the list - but one thing I was thinking is that we have been, as software/web/interface/interaction designers - stuck in the exact same (for the most part), paradigm for GUIs since 1968. Wow. It was exactly 40 years ago that Engelbart ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Engelbart) first introduced the WIMP (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pointer) GUI and we are still using it today. When is the next interaction gestalt going to sweep over us. Gesture interfaces like the very rudimentary one on the iPhone is a step - but it's still essentially a WIMP interface. Where is the next true revolution in computer-human interaction? On Feb 20, 2008 8:57 AM, David Malouf [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I realize we aren't all webbies, or even software designers, but I found the inclusion of Offline Web Applications in Technology Reviews list of 10 emerging technologies intriguing. While I agree in the importance of this step for web technologies, I didn't quite see it as the sliced-bread quality of say Wireless Power that was in the same list. So, I got thinking. Read the list (even the back lists are available) and let's brainstorm a bit on what we think the emerging technologies of interface design/technology are and why it is important. Hit me w/ your best shot! Here's the link to the TechnologyReview.com article: http://www.technologyreview.com/specialreports/specialreport.aspx?id=25 -- dave -- David Malouf http://synapticburn.com/ http://ixda.org/ http://motorola.com/ 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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 are all the designers?
And I would love to blame the quality of the job posting sites. There search engines are terrible. Just now, I search in Washington DC Information Architect (86 results - only 3 were for IA) Interaction Designer (41 results, only 1 for IxD) Interface Designer (10 results, only one for ID) Some of the things that come back in results are amazing. Search for IA and get senior java architect as a high ranked result? On Feb 20, 2008 2:26 PM, David Shaw [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Andrei, I think you are looking at a number of different factors that are causing this. From my point of view, I would love to move not only to the Bay area, but NY or Boston where there are tons of openings. However, the cost of living there is so outrageously expensive, it doesn't pay for me to relocate (I've got a house with a reasonable mortgage, as well as a family to consider). It might be that many of the more experienced designers (like myself) see the same issues. I would take a huge loss of quality of life if I went. Just my 2 cents. David On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 11:06 AM, Andrei Herasimchuk [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Just a quick question: Where are all the interface and software designers in Silicon Valley? Has everyone just packed up and left or what? I see more job listings, postings and calls for resumes and yet there seem to be even fewer people to fill the jobs than ever before. I used to have trouble hiring at Adobe back in the late 1990s mostly due to the high experience and training requirements needed to work on software at that level, but that was before there was an influx of people and talent into software related products, especially from the web. And yet, now it seems that there's an even bigger gap in the designer to available job ratio than every before. Everyone I know is having trouble filling hiring requirements. Is it that the job requirements needed to get hired are too high? Not enough trained designers? Or is it something only happening in Silicon Valley? Browse the job listings and postings everywhere from companies in Silicon Valley and it seems we have a distinct lack of designers ready to fill all the openings. Opinions? -- Andrei Herasimchuk Principal, Involution Studios innovating the digital world e. [EMAIL PROTECTED] c. +1 408 306 6422 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 -- Art provokes thinking, design solves problems w: http://www.davidshaw.info 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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 are all the designers?
so they work from a skills and background checklist and if a resume doesn't use the same set of magic words that their list does, you lose someone who might actually be a perfect candidate Then it seems they are no better than a machine. -- 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] HCI Blog Aggregate
What is a planet besides of course the celestial variety? On Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 9:17 AM, Celeste 'seele' Paul [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: PlanetHCI.org has been dead for a while, but I don't know of any other good HCI/usability/ia/design blog planets. Does anyone have any suggestions (or knows who owns PlanetHCI.org to get it back up and running)? -- Celeste 'seele' Paul www.obso1337.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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] friday fun: what's the coolest thing you've designed?
Hands down your best work to date! On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:34:34, dave malouf [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: the interaction design association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=25992 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] Thoughts on Alan Cooper's Keynote
Manifestos are beautiful - and I can't argue with these - but it's the practice and process of any methodology carried out by real people that is all that matters. The communist manifesto was a work of literary art. Stalin killed 50 million people. Manifestos don't always lead to good outcomes in reality. On Feb 13, 2008 5:38 AM, Jeff White [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I realize I'm the wrong Jeff, but here are the values: Manifesto for Agile Software Development We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more. http://agilemanifesto.org/ On Feb 12, 2008 11:34 PM, David Malouf [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Jeff, can you please lay out these values you speak of? The reason I ask is that every agile method I have been acquainted with (and quite a few) have real processes and methods to them, not values. I do realize there are differences among them at a granular level but there are many repeat processes. 1. small iterations 2. don't document Those 2 seem to jump to mind. Almost all have a point where they consider users. But then again, I know many design processes that don't do that much. But this is doing design. If you are going to quote Bill, to try to support agile, that is really a leap, don't ya think. Since his talk was fully grounded to talk about design up front to the point of getting a green light, considered with collaboration throughout both pre and post-greenlight. Doesn't seem very agile to me? In the end, my problem has always been, one of forced assimilation. Tell me a designer centered agile process and I will rescind what I've been saying. But the values associated with agile all derive from engineering concerns, and in themselves are a protectionist reaction to businesses deep upset with time to market (a concept that Alan tried to tell us was flawed). Maybe there is a way to do design centric agile product lifecycles, or better to Jared's point, just holistic agile processes. I have not seen them yet. To be honest, I'm not in a rush. BTW, the end result of both software and hardware is the same. A product. The difference is that one is done with a factory of machines and the other is done with a factory of human beings. A single product is made in either case. I also think that my comment about the fungeability of software has not been addressed. That is to say that software no matter the platform is not really as cheap and quick as we think and this basic flaw is why we need more up front (a whole lot). -- dave On Feb 12, 2008 5:02 PM, Jeff Patton [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: All, please excuse the quick message pecked out with my thumbs. I'm struggling with the broad generalizations about designers and agile. Projects and products vary wildly in their goals, users, number of user goals, and breadth of scope. Teams and companies vary wildly as well. I'm a proponent of good design and allowing design thinking to cross into the development process with the ultimate goal of getting something valuable into the hands of people. Agile development isn't a process, it's a value system. That value system motivates people to construct specific processes - but the agile manifesto only describes the values. At the ixda conference I saw a presentation from the dopplr guy. The process he described himself following any agile person would identify as agile. He's working directly with developers, collaborating, and releasing software regularly. It seems a nice rewarding worklife to strive for. Finally, it's difficult to compare the process used to design a manufactured product like a phone, car, or vacuum cleaner with a product like software where we make only one. Without knowing much about the design process of these sorts of products, my guess is they end with at least one full working product (the prototype) + a manufacturing process for it. Software just needs to end up with the full working product. Didn't Alan say everything's a prototype until it ships? Finally, I love Bill's comment on prototype fidelity. there's only right and wrong fidelity the moment you stop learning from paper, powerpoint, or photoshop, it's time to go to code. Some leap to code sooner than they should, some designers leap for photoshop when they should be leaping for a pencil. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. If you're suspicios of hammers, then when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Education and Skill Sets
Start by looking at our archives - under the topic education: http://www.ixda.org/topics.php?topic=education Off the top of my head - Carnegie Mellon, Bentley College, Kent State, NYU, Pratt, SCAD I would write to the other, but I have a train to catch! On Feb 13, 2008 2:42 AM, Cheryll-Bellsouth [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: What schools in the USA have graduate programs in Interactive Design which are considered to be the best? What skill sets are necessary to successfully work in the interaction design business? Thank you 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] Thoughts on Alan Cooper's Keynote
I made no reference to the nazis! On Feb 13, 2008 6:49 AM, Jeff White [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Ha! On Feb 13, 2008 6:10 AM, Scott McDaniel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Is this close enough to Godwin's Law to call it? On Feb 13, 2008 5:49 AM, W Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Manifestos are beautiful - and I can't argue with these - but it's the practice and process of any methodology carried out by real people that is all that matters. The communist manifesto was a work of literary art. Stalin killed 50 million people. Manifestos don't always lead to good outcomes in reality. -- 'Life' plus 'significance' = magic. ~ Grant Morrison 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 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] Keeping content relevant in 2015
Jerome - I really like the article and a lot of the ideas that you put down. I would wonder if you wanted to extend the article to cover more than just the time dimension as is relates to relevance Specifically significant changes in natural language processing and semantic analysis of large bodies of content/information - which - if correctly implemented - would allow for much greater accuracy in determining relevance in search results. In some cases time is the most relevant factor - but often times not. Another is that we are still in the early stages of designing interactions that really aid in the creation of rich experiences re: findability, information foraging etc (see Ambiant Findability: Morville, Patricia Bates, Perolli, etc - regarding various ideas about information seeking behavior) - particularly as it relates to designing interfaces. Oft times - we have powerful algorythms and relevancy engines - but on the front end users are stuck with the old advanced search - aka let's all learn boolean logical operators - which we all know is a complete, dismal failure - most (insert very large %), or users have no idea the difference between And, Or, and XOR - and if we could find a great way to represent those in a UI - we would rock and deserve many rewards in heaven. ~ will PS Thanks for the interesting read this morning. On Feb 13, 2008 7:09 AM, Jerome Ribot [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hey guys, I've just written some ideas about how we might need to manage and keep our content relevant in the future. It revolves around the idea of a 'forgetful interface'. See what you think. http://ribot.co.uk/blog/ any feedback / thoughts would be most appreciated cheers Jerome Ribot Creative director - ribot +44(0)7734 821522 http://ribot.co.uk 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] Evil Datagrids! ( was RE: Fwd: Thoughts on AlanCooper's Keynote )
Another thing - start by not thinking about rows of data filled with records. Instead start with the fundamental unit - A person in a HR system A book in a library A car in used car lot. Imagine them all as nodes on a graph. Now - instead of being simple circles representing - say - honda accord - think of the shape as a dodecahedron. Every place on the shape where vertices meet is called a faced - which maps to an attribute - say - color, price, mpg, horsepower - now imagine all the more powerful ways of dynamically visualizing things/sorting things (nodes - cars) based on those facets, grouping them in sets of thinks - like playing with math blocks as a kid - if you start to think about discreet database records as objects like this thought experiement - you might come up with whole new ways to display the data. On Feb 13, 2008 4:41 PM, W Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Tufte is a good place to start - Envisioning Information, Visual Display of Quantitative Data, Beautiful evidence. His examples are old, but the ideas about how to think about the problem are par none! 2008/2/13 Pierre Roberge [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Greg said: Not being funny, just looking to learn something from folks with way more experience than myself! My Response: Sparklines come to mind or anything à la Tufte. http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0001OR Pierre Roberge User Experience Designer - Business Analyst etfs (819)-566-2901 #2193 1-800-465-8602 #2193 http://www.etfsinc.com/ -- etfs inc. The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient, is prohibited. If you have received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. Unless otherwise stated, opinions expressed in this e-mail are those of the author and are not endorsed by the author's employer. etfs inc. L'information transmise ne s'adresse qu'au particulier ou à l'organisme à qui il est dirigé. Il peut contenir des renseignements de nature privilégiée et/ou confidentielle . Si le lecteur de ce message n'est pas le destinataire visé, ni l'employé ou le mandataire chargé de la livraison au destinataire visé, il est par la présente avisé que toute dissémination, distribution ou transcription de cette communication est strictement interdite. Si vous avez reçu la présente communication par erreur, veuillez nous en aviser immédiatement par courriel et détruire le document de tout ordinateur le contenant. À moins d'avis contraire, toute opinion exprimée dans le présent courriel est celle de son auteur et n'est pas endossée par l'employeur de la personne qui l'exprime. 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] Evil Datagrids! ( was RE: Fwd: Thoughts on AlanCooper's Keynote )
Tufte is a good place to start - Envisioning Information, Visual Display of Quantitative Data, Beautiful evidence. His examples are old, but the ideas about how to think about the problem are par none! 2008/2/13 Pierre Roberge [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Greg said: Not being funny, just looking to learn something from folks with way more experience than myself! My Response: Sparklines come to mind or anything à la Tufte. http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0001OR Pierre Roberge User Experience Designer - Business Analyst etfs (819)-566-2901 #2193 1-800-465-8602 #2193 http://www.etfsinc.com/ -- etfs inc. The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient, is prohibited. If you have received this in error, please contact the sender and delete the material from any computer. Unless otherwise stated, opinions expressed in this e-mail are those of the author and are not endorsed by the author's employer. etfs inc. L'information transmise ne s'adresse qu'au particulier ou à l'organisme à qui il est dirigé. Il peut contenir des renseignements de nature privilégiée et/ou confidentielle . Si le lecteur de ce message n'est pas le destinataire visé, ni l'employé ou le mandataire chargé de la livraison au destinataire visé, il est par la présente avisé que toute dissémination, distribution ou transcription de cette communication est strictement interdite. Si vous avez reçu la présente communication par erreur, veuillez nous en aviser immédiatement par courriel et détruire le document de tout ordinateur le contenant. À moins d'avis contraire, toute opinion exprimée dans le présent courriel est celle de son auteur et n'est pas endossée par l'employeur de la personne qui l'exprime. 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] Thoughts on Alan Cooper's Keynote
I suggest you take a look at Scott Ambler's Agile Modeling site; this is a good intro http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/initialArchitectureModeling.htm to how initial modeling fits in. (Ambler is about the most authoritative you can get with agile, so if you want to gain an understanding of what agile should be, he's a good source.) You'll note that he includes UI design in this up front modeling (calls it UI flow models). That's where it seems interaction designers would do well to plug in to do their up front modeling. Where does User Research, Abductive brainstorming (from Design Thinking); conceptual modeling and prototyping fit into his model? Does his methodology call for requirements up front? How can this method possibly create new innovations if it is essentially the same old requirementsdesigndevelope test process? My take is simple - and I do have baggage. I worked for a few years at a company and was afforded almost a year to do user research, personas, wireframes, flows - for a thick client application. Then I spent another 3 months prototyping ideas from brainstorming in MS Expressions Blend -- after all this was over - all of it was handed over to a development team that was adopting Agile. Sounds good? Kind of, I guess - we'll see what they produce since I left to work in the most truly agile of all environments - 3 guys working in a garage. My baggage? I have gone to 2 conferences and have has 3 all day workshops on Agile + UCD. My money would have been better spent on Beer. All were either conducted by either Agile centric software architects with little or no understanding or experience with real UCD - another was from a UCD guru who lectured for a day on the process - but had never actually been the UX Architect on an Agile project. If UCD is allowed upfront - then handed off to an Agile development team - it could work - I just have not seen/heard of one successful case study of the two integrated. ~ w. (the baggage guy) On Feb 12, 2008 3:16 PM, J. Ambrose Little [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi folks, Wow, quite the little hornet's nest this has stirred up. Here's my (further) take on this question of agile w/ UX. First off, it seems to me that a lot of folks (devs included) have baggage and multifarious connotations with the term agile. I don't see a lot of value in debating those. Nor do I think much more anecdotal evidence will help--software projects (with good UX) can succeed or fail with any process, as has been noted. The evidencehttp://www.ambysoft.com/surveys/agileMarch2007.htmlin business software, at least, is that agile lends itself to greater success. What I see here in terms of what is disliked about agile is this perceived concept that agile means lack of coherent design. I shudder to think of anyone (engineer or designer) jumping headfirst into a project without any sort of coherent vision that has at least been fleshed out at a high level. I hope we can all agree that this is bad. I suggest you take a look at Scott Ambler's Agile Modeling site; this is a good intro http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/initialArchitectureModeling.htm to how initial modeling fits in. (Ambler is about the most authoritative you can get with agile, so if you want to gain an understanding of what agile should be, he's a good source.) You'll note that he includes UI design in this up front modeling (calls it UI flow models). That's where it seems interaction designers would do well to plug in to do their up front modeling. Then as you go through the iterations, you flesh out and refactor your designs along with the engineers. For my part, I think a huge part of the success of a project depends upon the actual usefulness of the thing being designed and built. You can make a product as usable, desirable, interactive, and rich as you want, but if in the end it doesn't actually do what needs to be done, it doesn't matter. The goal of agile is to tackle this important facet of UX--usefulness--in a more successful manner than waterfall has. Based on my experience and knowledge of the ways devs think, making the case for UX is already an uphill battle with a lot of dev shops. If you, as the UX advocate, try to force a particular methodology down their throats, you're only going to make your job harder. Instead of calcifying and arguing about methodologies, as UX pros, I'd suggest you simply ensure that you make your needs clear to the biz and devs you'll be working with. Try to figure out how to work your needs into the process they have in place and be flexible (adapt). --Ambrose J. Ambrose Little UXG Lead Codemunicator infragistics.com Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Fwd: Thoughts on Alan Cooper's Keynote
True Scott - which is why brainstorming and prototyping by IxD people should be done first! If everything was thrown in a data table - we would never have the 3-d flip-book carousel to page through our CDs on our iPhones. Lotus 1-2-3 came out 25 years ago - we might think about innovating once in a while :-) On Feb 12, 2008 1:37 PM, Scott McDaniel [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In a strict display sense, this is the single most common phrase I've heard from engineers/programmers about design: Why not just throw it in a data table and be done with it? Scott On Feb 12, 2008 11:40 AM, Christopher Fahey [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On the subject of Alan Cooper's keynote, did he provide any clarity on his assertion a few months ago that it is the norm for engineers to start coding without having done even one second of thinking about design? Not just neglecting to do any interaction or UX design, but not doing any code planning/design or any design of any sort whatsoever. I was really confused by that, and I think the thread on this list about that topic kind of fizzled out. Cheers, -Cf -- If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all. Noam Chomsky 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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] How to transition from technical writer to interaction designer?
I would strongly encourage all designers, and particularly young designers to begin putting in that extra time to document your work, processes, iterations, and outcomes. Yes! To quote Dan B again - IxD should not just spring forth like Athena from Zeus's forehead. Show iterations, mock-ups - whiteboard to paper to visio to photoshop to html -- if you can - the complete lifecycle where great ideas have to be left on the floor because of contraints, or because a stakeholder didn't like fuchsia (and explain that the stakeholder didn't like fuchsia - and that you showed research that said the target persona's were 75% more likely to do some actionable item if the design was fuchsia but you lost that battle and describe how bitter you felt afterward). This is what I would do going forward - since you are just starting to gather a strategy to move into this pain and angst-filled craft. Good Luck. Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] How to transition from technical writer to interaction designer?
Do you see IA as a necessary intermediate step? Or is it starting out on a parallel (and to me, less interesting-sounding) path? No. I don't think there is a yellow brick road to IxD that requires IA as an intermediate step - but I do know that a rather large portion of the people on this list have at times been IAs - or been required to produce IA type deliverables like basic user research and personas, site maps, wireframes, prototypes, task flows, design specifications, and visual design comps. At the end of the day, we are practitioners, and many times the product or our efforts are deliverables that have a lot of overlap with what might be considered large portions of IA type work (for instance - we may not actually do a content inventory, or develop a taxonomy - but if those artifacts don't exist - we will have a very hard time indeed - so someone must do them). We also may not create personas - but someone is going to need to do them if we want to even think we are designing something based on real users (fundamental to UCD), and not just making stuff up (designer centered design? stakeholder centered design, anyone?). So back to the point - we are all about the practice of the craft of IxD - and that means, naturally - practice - and a craft is nothing if you aren't creating deliverable [plug - check out Dan Brown's book Communication Design for a great exegesis, background, and damn well written volume about all the types of deliberables that can go into meaningful and well done user centered design], then what are we doing? If a silver smith is simply reading about silver theory and lecturing on silver aesthetics - then he isn't pounding out stuff made from silver - is he! So anyway - reading about what we do is good - but secondary to the act, process, work of producing stuff - like flows, wireframes, designs, interactive prototypes, paper prototypes - whatever it is. On Feb 12, 2008 8:11 AM, Martin Polley [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi Will, snip I think there is actually a gentle path from Technical Writer » Information Architect » IxD because I see it as a journey from structured content to structuring content (organization, flow), to flow and behavior (creating the dialogue between people and system, people and people, people and environment). /snip Do you see IA as a necessary intermediate step? Or is it starting out on a parallel (and to me, less interesting-sounding) path? snip I agree that you don't need a fancy degree - but taking a few HCI and interaction design classes would certainly help in the Why and How but if you do it on your own - start with the What. Decide on something you want to design for yourself, a blog, personal site, whatever - spend alot of time on well designed sites (web might be the easiest medium to start with), and COPY. That's right - just find some well designed sites - like Boxes and Arrows - and plagiarize (for yourself - don't actually post someone else's design as your own) - the more you design like that - it will be like muscle memory - and eventually you will be creating your own things. /snip That makes a lot of sense. Learning by doing. But this is more relevant for developing IA and visual/aesthetic skills, right? (Which brings me back to my previous question about whether IA is a necessary step.) And it also leads into another question -- which are the most important skills that I should be trying to develop? And out of these, which are the most important; what should I start with? Thanks very much, -- Martin Polley Technical Communicator +972 52 3864280 http://capcloud.com/ -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- 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] How to transition from technical writer to interaction designer?
I think there is actually a gentle path from Technical Writer » Information Architect » IxD because I see it as a journey from structured content to structuring content (organization, flow), to flow and behavior (creating the dialogue between people and system, people and people, people and environment). I agree that you don't need a fancy degree - but taking a few HCI and interaction design classes would certainly help in the Why and How but if you do it on your own - start with the What. Decide on something you want to design for yourself, a blog, personal site, whatever - spend alot of time on well designed sites (web might be the easiest medium to start with), and COPY. That's right - just find some well designed sites - like Boxes and Arrows - and plagiarize (for yourself - don't actually post someone else's design as your own) - the more you design like that - it will be like muscle memory - and eventually you will be creating your own things. On Feb 11, 2008 11:55 AM, Robert Hoekman, Jr. [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I am a technical writer, and I want to be an interaction designer. How do I get there from here? At my last in-house position, the Documentation team and the UX team shared a suite. And there was one guy who would have made an excellent IxD. Making him part of my team would have been as simple as moving his desk to the other side of the room. Of course, if you do it on a consulting basis, it's a simple matter of putting interaction designer on your business card. ;) But seriously. It's all about the portfolio. Prove you know what you're talking about, and it doesn't matter where you went to school (or if you went to school at all, for that matter). -r- *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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- *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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] look and feel
From the post: Brands are about ideas not just logos, 'look and feel' refers to the brand's supporting graphic elements, typography, colour palette, material palette, photographic style etc, these are elements that can help communicate the brand message or story. Yeah - I disagree. I don't think the term look and feel signifies all those complex concepts. I don't think clueless clients think about the term look and feel, and think about all the various intertwingled elements of a complete brand/identity strategy. Voice, palette, logotype, style guide, story, emotives, comprehensive experiences from call centers to physical spaces is much much bigger than just look and feel. Also - people never user the term to refer to the look and feel of packaging, print, tradeshow booths - it seems to be a website/web application -only term. On Feb 11, 2008 2:25 PM, mark schraad [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: There is an interesting editorial and follow up discussion regarding the term 'look and feel' - at the design observer (mostly a graph design blog). I have used the term many times when speaking to clients. To me it is everything about the site that is visual, except for the interactions. http://www.designobserver.com/archives/032084.html#comments *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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Monday. Ugh!
Ditto! I arrived back in Boston last night (quite a few IxDers on the leg from Savannah to Charlotte) - 15 degrees, windy, really cold- *NOT *as nice as the amazing weather, camaraderie, passion, excitement and energy I got from meeting so many great people. Special thanks to Dave and all the organizers - it really was a great conference. On Feb 11, 2008 9:42 AM, Kim Bieler [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Am I the only one who's finding this Monday particularly painful? Not to mention it was 16 degrees this morning. B! I feel like I need to spend a week on a mountaintop meditating on all the things I learned over the weekend. And following up with all the great people I met. And reading all the books I need to read. Despite my extreme exhaustion on the (delayed) flight last night, I got inspired to redesign the interface for my crap-ass HP printer. It's a sickness! But at least I finally know what I want to be when I grow up. Anyway, thanks to everyone who organized the conference so seamlessly. And to SCAD for putting up with us and seeming glad to do so. And to Bill Buxton, who missed his boarding call because of his great powers of concentration, proceeded to regale the rest of us airport strandees with tales of his past life exploits over dinner, and then actually said he was glad he'd missed his flight. Go figure. -- Kim + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Kim Bieler Graphic Design www.kbgd.com + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + *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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- *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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Working with Product Analysts/Manager
Karen - I would recommend reading the article in Jon Kolko's book Thoughts On Interaction Design, by an interaction designer named Ellen Beldner called Getting Design Done, in which she deals with just that issue of how to work effectively with PMs - especially when they want to own everything in front of requirements gathering - and sometimes wireframes as well. She includes some pretty funny anecdotes about working with some nightmare PMs - Choice quote: I quit that job because the PM was a micromanager who didn't know what he was doing. He took no pride in designing the best software possible; he was unwilling to listen to or consider my expertise; and he told me to do things that I thought were professionally unethical [like essentially copying the UI worflows and designs of a direct competitor]. The article is well worth the price of admission - and the rest of the book is very good as well. - Will On Feb 10, 2008 11:30 PM, mark schraad [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi Karen, Over the last couple of months I have been thinking a lot lately about just this issue. Stemming back a few months when the discussion was 'who is a designer' in reference to who gets to make design decisions. I believe that we as designers are painfully cognizent of where we think design starts, and where our expertise and influence should be primary. We as designers just do not understand when product managers and other business managers hire us for our expertise, pay us a lot of money, and then don't follow our precise recommendations (or in some cases override our decision). I would pose that much of that work... from the business development staff to the product managers are design decisions. They are also charged with working to create and develop great product/service... they just don't call it design. The decision to include a specific feature, or to meet a certain spec, well - those ARE design decisions. Try and look at those as the criteria to which you will design. And, if a spec or a requirement is not the best approach, it seems to me perfectly acceptable to challenge that, particularly when acting in the best interest of results and armed with persuasive logic, experience and convincing evidence. No one is going to say they do not want a better user experience. I hear product talk about it as if it was 'their' mantra almost daily. But when push comes to shove, they are tasked with hard short term metrics that they believe need to be met first and foremost. The user experience is, it seems, nearly always for sale in a rigidly structured, metric driven, corporate environment. This is short term thinking. Mark On Feb 10, 2008, at 10:14 AM, karen wrote: I was responding to the Cooper thread but thought this might be a different topic. I agree that spending time on the IxD of a product before requirements are written in theory should result in a stronger, more innovative product. The problem I've run into in my last two positions (ecommerce and now, media) is that the product analysts/managers view any pre-requirements work as their role. They want to do the research, then they write requirements which state how the product should be designed and they are the decision makers during design. Ultimately, they drive the design. And not one of the product folks I've worked with come from the IxD, IA or usability arenas. This is a conflict for me as the product analysts/managers are ultimately concerned with driving revenue not UE. Explaining that a higher quality UE will increase revenue gets lip service but hasn't changed anything. Have any of you had similar experiences? How do you handle it? Thanks for any suggestions, Karen *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 *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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where
[IxDA Discuss] [Design Patterns] Save and Cancel
Some input and thoughts would be appreciated. For modal (and modeless) windows, pop-ups, and lightbox ajaxed pop-ups, after a person has performed certain tasks, there are two options - commit those changes or cancel the dialog window. What order is best? Mac OS X orders them as Cancel | Save, whereas many windows and web applications have them as Save | Cancel. Is there published research on this out there? What are your heuristics? Why? How has that worked for you? I would prefer real research, but anecdotal is fine too :-) -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- *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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] [Design Patterns] Save and Cancel
Good points - but mouse-centric - remember that a heavy keyboard user will loath to use the mouse - and will use the Tab key to move from one form element to the next - so they will arrive at the left action button first. The locative aspect of Fitt's law doesn't apply because the model window is in the center of the screen - not the bottom right-hand corner of the view port. - w On Feb 6, 2008 7:52 AM, Maral Haar [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I would assume that whatever is the default (and preselected) choice should be on the right as this is what the user will click quicker and more intuitively. Based on the application, this might differ. In most cases my assumption would be, that if the user opened the dialoge in the first place, he wants to change something and proceed with saving the changes. But in case of a security or safty relevant application, changing something might be related with dangers, and in this case you might want to avoid too fast user actions. Therefore you would preselect cancel (so if accidently enter is hit nothing happens) and you might also want to place the save button where a little more attention is needed to click it. This is all just based on my experience and thoughts, no research included. (Apart from the fact that it is easier to hit a target in the lower right than the lower left corner, but even for that I don't have a reference at hand). Maral On Feb 6, 2008 1:42 PM, W Evans [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Some input and thoughts would be appreciated. For modal (and modeless) windows, pop-ups, and lightbox ajaxed pop-ups, after a person has performed certain tasks, there are two options - commit those changes or cancel the dialog window. What order is best? Mac OS X orders them as Cancel | Save, whereas many windows and web applications have them as Save | Cancel. Is there published research on this out there? What are your heuristics? Why? How has that worked for you? I would prefer real research, but anecdotal is fine too :-) -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- *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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- *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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] [Design Patterns] Save and Cancel
Some more considerations: what's most important? tab order or exit point? tab order argues for the OK button being first (good for keyboard primary cases - although you do make a good point saying that it can be programatically changed) -- mouse primary scenarios might argue for Save or OK to be to the right, as that's the place people are looking for an exit/termination point. Now -- to add once more twist to this pattern martini - align bottom left or bottom right? Scan line dictates OK | Cancel bottom right - although again - people look for terminus on bottom right - so why then do some IxDers place them bottom left? On Feb 6, 2008 8:30 AM, Julie Palmer [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Ah...someone remembers us rodent-resistant keyboard users! Thank you so much for your consideration. :-) But I think you can eliminate the functionality concerns from this conversation. If desired, tab stops can be programmatically controlled to set focus on the default button following the last text field in the form. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of W Evans Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 8:00 AM To: Maral Haar Cc: IxDA Discuss Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] [Design Patterns] Save and Cancel Good points - but mouse-centric - remember that a heavy keyboard user will loath to use the mouse - and will use the Tab key to move from one form element to the next - so they will arrive at the left action button first. The locative aspect of Fitt's law doesn't apply because the model window is in the center of the screen - not the bottom right-hand corner of the view port. - w -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- *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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] [Design Patterns] Save and Cancel
Thanks Jack - that helped alot - and although I was doing the right thing - sometimes I forget why I was doing something the way I was doing it. I know there is some XXX that backs this up - but jeez I can't remember what it was -- anyone see my glasses? Yeah - I am getting old. On Feb 6, 2008 9:33 AM, Jack Moffett [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Check out these threads from the archives: http://gamma.ixda.org/discuss.php?post=15561 http://gamma.ixda.org/discuss.php?post=16084 Jack L. Moffett Interaction Designer inmedius 412.459.0310 x219 http://www.inmedius.com It's not about the world of design; it's about the design of the world. - Bruce Mau *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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- *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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] The ONE Book!
The toughest thing about Pankaj's question is that he forces me to choose just one per group - managers and line engineers. As many of you know - my UX/IxD/IA library darn near competely fills my home office - and it's kinda of sad in a geeky way. For engineers - a fun, funny book that at least argues for UCD to the engineer who doesn't know what it is - David Platt's Why Software Sucks. Because I am re-reading it right now - I think the most eloquent - to the point of poetic - articulation of interaction design (IxD) is Jon Kolko's book Thoughts on Interaction Design, -- just the first chapter is worth the price of admission. I was almost brought to tears reading it - I kid you not - this is the Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet, manifesto for interaction designers. If you haven't bought and read this gem - go now, young lads and order it. - Will On Feb 5, 2008 10:07 AM, subimage interactive [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Looks like an interesting book...Wishlisted (did I just invent a new verb?) on my Amazon page... On Feb 5, 2008 6:45 AM, Peter Merholz [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: self-promotion Why, _SUBJECT TO CHANGE: Creating Great Products Services for an Uncertain World_, by me and a few colleagues at Adaptive Path. It's written for executives and technologists to help them understand the contribution that user research, design, and systems thinking offers. http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0596516835/adaptivepat07-20/ref=nosim/ /self-promotion If not our book, my One Book is probably still THE DESIGN OF EVERYDAY THINGS. --peter On Feb 4, 2008, at 10:48 PM, Pankaj Chawla wrote: Hi Which is that one book on Design/UX/IxD/Usability/etc etc that you will like to gift to your engineering folks in management as a new year gift that will make them understand its need and value. On similar lines which is that one book that you will like to gift the hands-on engineering folks to make them understand that thinking about user needs is equally important as thinking about the algorithms. Mind you only one book for each that will create the maximum impact on their thought process :-) Cheers Pankaj *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 *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 -- seth at subimage interactive - http://sublog.subimage.com - Cashboard - Estimates, invoices, and time tracking software - for free! http://www.getcashboard.com - Substruct - Open source RoR e-commerce software. http://dev.subimage.com/projects/substruct *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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- *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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] home links
There is never a reason to not make the logo also a home link - there is no cost, and many people actually do understand that it is a pseudo-standard. But an explicitly labeled home link in the global (not local) navigation is equally - if not more important. Unless --- your site info arch lends itself well to breadcrumbs - and those are easily findable/readable (i.e. not size 5 font in light grey next to a silly flash movie) - then home in the breadcrumbs is a good thing too. As Nielson (who is a weenie and his site is still ugly and has terrible IA) - argues - there is no cost to breadcrumbs either. -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- On Feb 4, 2008 2:35 PM, David Talbot [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I think that whether to put a home link on the menu or on the logo or both should depends, as it was previously said, on the kind of public that your site is designed for. I personnaly got an issue with the Home button of one of my sites. I used to put it in the logo because I thought it was standard and would be found by everyone (I also read somthing about this idea in Krug's book). Unfortunately I was wrong and I got complaints from some users that they could not go back home unless by hittin the browser's back button. So I added a home link, but I also let the link on the home button too. In my case, this is a site for eco-tourism and people who will surf on it might not know web standard. I guess should have considered this in the beginning. David *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 *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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] International Journal of Design - CFP on Cultural Aspects of Interaction Design
Good find Dave - for those who are unfamiliar - I have recommended before (and it's included in my list of top 101 books for IxD community) - and heartily recommend Jonas Lowgren's book with Erik Stolterman - Thoughtful Interaction Design:* http://tinyurl.com/3yjug6 *What I like about the book is that it talks about issues, processes, methods of IxD not from the perspective of IA, or HCI, or even usability - but from the perspective of design - which is unique for a book in our field. - Will On Feb 2, 2008 11:09 AM, David Malouf [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I'm not involved with this, but saw it and thought that as the IxD community that people here would be interested. It does seem slightly academic in its approach, but it is IxD. :) The CFP is here: http://tinyurl.com/3ysukp and is a PDF. This issue's journal has a relevant article by Jonas Löwgren and can be found with other articles here: http://www.ijdesign.org/ojs/index.php/IJDesign/ enjoy! -- dave -- David Malouf http://synapticburn.com/ http://ixda.org/ http://motorola.com/ *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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- *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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Manifesto of the UI - A UI Developer's POV
It just highlights to me this notion of people are doing interaction design without knowing they are doing it. Absolutely. When I just read that - I was reminded of something Dan S. wrote in the first chapter of Designing for Interfaces that argued that exact same point. People who don't even know what interaction design is - are thinking about and doing interaction design - some very competently. And from a previous conversation about IxD versus ID, I want to ecco Mark Schraad's comment that a lot of that discussion/definitions is also handed pretty eloquently by Mssr. Saffer. If any of you haven't read it - shame on you! Seriously - it's worth the $$ to pick it up - because he delves into all these things that we discuss everyday. Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices, Dan Saffer.http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Interaction-Creating-Applications-Devices/dp/0321432061/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-5955180-9985634?ie=UTF8s=booksqid=1187801868sr=1-1 *http://tinyurl.com/2mk3cg - *On an unrelated note - I do like what he has to say about CSS/WPF*: ***I am confident that CSS is an excellent technology for typography, however after using Flex and WPF I am not convinced that it will ever translate into a full-on styling engine. Using real-time vectors, gradients, and animations is something that a styling engine needs to support: and it's something that CSS simply is not made to handle. -- ~ will Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- On Feb 1, 2008 8:57 AM, David Malouf [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: http://tinyurl.com/ysxtyg Hi guys, the above link is to a blog post by a UI Developer blogger. Lots of what he is talking about is the stuff that we talk about. It just highlights to me this notion of people are doing interaction design without knowing they are doing it. Just great! And a much bigger community than we are. Anyway, it is good to see how others view UI/IxD and how they talk about it from their perspective. I think some of his insights are pretty relevant. -- dave -- David Malouf http://synapticburn.com/ http://ixda.org/ http://motorola.com/ *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] More Design Thinking Strategic Design
*Another Blog Posting on Design Thinking Management from Fast Company. * Is the Design Revolution Here? Can Designers get to the top of a publicly traded company? In the past months I've read several articles and blogs about the possibility that Jonathan Ive, SVP of Industrial Design at Apple, could succeed Steve Jobs as CEO. As far as I can tell this is only a rumor, but it prompts the questions: Is corporate America ready for the design revolution? Can designers be CEOs? I can only imagine how much fun that would be, not only for the people working in these companies but for the consumers, finally getting products and services that go beyond their expectations. And imagine what that would do to the stock price. More: http://tinyurl.com/3dw2be Other Articles: Strategy By Design http://tinyurl.com/bcy95 Design thinking... what is that? http://tinyurl.com/ywy27x -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. *Alan Cooper* --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- *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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Social app popularity begins to decline
I agree with you to the extent that most (All?) social networking sites are designed without the aid/help/input from social psychologists.. I only got interested in the social psych/cog psych of SNAs after I started designing an SNA. But first a comment - I know of only one SNA that was designed by college students - Facebook. And it is all about socializing and entertainment. People can connect - but other than twittering - their is no formalized publishing or blogging. There is no incentive system built in. Connections on Facebook and many other SNAs mean absolutely nothing. It offers no other value to the user. The other thing is that there may be a saturation point for some SNAs - a poiunt at which every person inclined to join an SNA has already done so. I know for a fact that Gather.com continues to gather momentum as an SNA since we launched it in August '05 - but it's value proposition and market positioning could not be more different from the likes of Facebook, which might account for it's continued growth. On Gather, at least - connections have meaning - you need to cultivate relationships through commenting, messaging, author-author collaboration. There are incentives built in to encourage people to connect, comment, publish - as well as contests for writers. That said - I agree that SNAs - to continue to grow - better grasp an understanding of basic socpsych if they wish to grow the networks and increased their value to users. -W 2008/1/31 Murli Nagasundaram [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Social apps are far more complex than single-user apps. I wonder to what extent a lack of social psych research input into the design of these apps -- the most popular ones having been designed by college undergrads -- is causing their popularity to plateau? To me, this suggests a discontinuity similar to the one that occurred when command line interfaces were displaced by GUIs. Every GUI out there can trace its origins to the the multi-disclipinary, thoroughly grounded research conducted at Xerox PARC. I think it's possible to go only so far by the seat of one's pants. Without GUIs or at least the bastardized compromises that were delivered on the DOS platform in the mid-1980's, PC use would have plateaued in much the way the social apps are slowing down now. The next phase of Social App development might require Sproull, Kiesler, Turoff, Hiltz and others to re-emerge from the shadows. -murli http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/31/myspace_fb_comscore_drop/ 'Facebook fatigue' kicks in as people tire of social networksSeven Two year itch pokeBy Chris Williams http://forms.theregister.co.uk/mail_author/?story_url=/2008/01/31/myspace_fb_comscore_drop/ → More by this author http://search.theregister.co.uk/?author=Chris%20Williams Published Thursday 31st January 2008 15:19 GMT Find out how your peers are dealing with Virtualization http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/341/reg2?td=toptextlink *Shhh!* Can you hear a hiss? That's the sound of naughty facts deflating the social networking balloon a tad. Whisper it, but numbers from web analytics outfit comScore have confirmed what the chatter in bars and cafes has been saying for months - people are, just, well, *bored* of social networks. The average length of time users spend on all of the top three sites is on the slide. Bebo, MySpace and Facebook all took double-digit percentage hits in the last months of 2007. December could perhaps be forgiven as a seasonal blip when people see their real friends and family, but the trend was already south. The story year-on-year is even uglier for social networking advocates. Bebo and MySpace were both well down on the same period in 2006 - Murdoch's site by 24 per cent. Facebook meanwhile chalked up a rise, although way off its mid-2007 hype peak when you couldn't move for zeitgeist-chasing where's the Facebook angle? stories in the press and on TV. You can survey the full numerical horror for youself here http://creativecapital.wordpress.com/2008/01/29/its-official-us-social-networking-sites-see-slow-down/ at Creative Capital. That user engagement is dropping off (page impression growth is merely slowing) should be of particular concern for the sales people struggling to turn these free services into profit-making businesses. In the age of tabbed browsing, how long people stick around is particularly key for interactive sites, where people aren't attracted by useful information, but by time-wasting opportunities. And as we've noted here before, if the cash isn't raining down on you you need a phenomenal growth line to sell credulous reporters and investors. Expansion into non-English speaking countries is viewed as such a panacea for the increasingly obvious slowdown US social networks are suffering (see Facebook's trawl for translation bitcheshttp://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/24/fb_translation/ ). The fact is that web
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Social app popularity begins to decline
Another anecdote (note- I no longer have stock in Gather) - Gather takes it's advertising revenue and revenue from allowing companies to set up groups around their products - and turns around and pays people for their contributions to the SN - you earn points by connecting, publishing, and commenting - which can be redeemed for gift cards to borders/home depot, etc if you generate a min number of points/month - you can earn cash. My mom (blogging about 3 hours a day), gets about $150-$250/month in gift cards. So different SNAs need to really find out what value they are offering to users/members. MySpace obviously allows you to stalk children, Facebook allows you to watch your connections Twitter (and stalk your ex-bf/gf), LinkedIn allows you to keep track of all your business connections, but my real questions is for the 300+ other me-2 SNAs that don't offer anything unique, or anything at all - and expect to generate income from eyeballs and stickiness without offering a compelling reason to be sticky On Jan 31, 2008 11:52 AM, Todd Roberts [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I wonder about the extent to which the major social network sites realize they are in the entertainment business. As such, their stickiness is based on novelty, and has an inherent ceiling effect since there is only so much time to devote to entertainment. As the novelty wears off, and there is no answer to the now what question, people will start spending their time elsewhere. It's interesting that the sites seem to have hitched their continued novelty to the 3rd party app bandwagon. Contrast that with another major entertainment platform - game consoles - where the platform providers are also major contributors of novelty (i.e. new games) to help ensure that people stick around. There is also another alternative which Will pointed out - get out of the entertainment business and provide a different kind of value. There is a lot of power locked up in social networks, it's just not being captured right now. Facebook at least seems to realize this and thus is moving in the platform direction, it's just a matter of whether the platform is structured in a way that allows for value extraction. *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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- *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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Social app popularity begins to decline
Christine's comment is prescient given the blog posting by Seth Godin: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/01/tribal-manageme.html Tribe Management Brand management is so 1999. Brand management was top down, internally focused, political and money based. It involved an MBA managing the brand, the ads, the shelf space, etc. The MBA argued with product development and manufacturing to get decent stuff, and with the CFO to get more cash to spend on ads. Tribe management is a whole different way of looking at the world. It starts with permission, the understanding that the real asset most organizations can build isn't an amorphous brand but is in fact the privilege of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who want to get them. It adds to that the fact that what people really want is the ability to connect to each other, not to companies. So the permission is used to build a tribe, to build people who want to hear from the company because it helps them connect, it helps them find each other, it gives them a story to tell and something to talk about. And of course, since this is so important, product development and manufacturing and the CFO *work* for the tribal manager. Everything the organization does is to feed and grow and satisfy the tribe. Instead of looking for customers for your products, you seek out products (and services) for the tribe. Jerry Garcia understood this. Do you? Who does this work for? Try record companies and bloggers, real estate agents and recruiters, book publishers and insurance companies. It works for Andrew Weil and for Rickie Lee Jones and for Rupert at the WSJ... But it also works for a small web development firm or a venture capitalist. People form tribes with or without us. The challenge is to work for the tribe and make it something even better. 2008/1/31 Christine Boese [EMAIL PROTECTED]: I dunno. It appears to me that the biggest sector for manufactured outrage over social media numbers going up or down comes from VC or others (tech media) with such a vested interest in people slathering all over something with mass media-scale obsession numbers that they appear to lose all perspective. No massive numbers, and VC are bored, perhaps because they are offended when people don't behave like utter sheep and move around en masse when their buttons are pushed. Thank god for interactivity, heterogeneity, long tails, diversity, and other things that vex these people so horribly. Anybody who participates in social media, and has over long periods of time (The Well? Remember listservs? Usenet?) understands very well that there are lifecyles for all gathering places. When was the last time you wept over a dead shopping mall with grass growing in the cracks in the parking lot? How long can an active church go on without some doctrine dispute that leads a chunk of the parishoners to split off into a rival congregation? I suspect that the people with the deep pockets are primarily gold prospectors, looking to mine rich veins, and when they discover faster money or better gushers (to mix the metaphors thoroughly), they will move on, and the social networks will remain to give them the finger. Which type of folks would you rather side with? Social networks and the virtual landscapes they have authored preceded the flow of money online, and they persisted through the last crash (imagine that!), and they will persist again, regardless of how crowds migrate and social groups change and morph, who splits off from which church, or which discussion group has the greatest center of SOCIAL gravity (which bears little correspondence to MONEY gravity). Chris 2008/1/31 Jeff Axup [EMAIL PROTECTED]: I really like this quote - people are, just, well, *bored* of social networks. As if humanity will *ever* be bored of social networks, considering that we have been happily using them for thousands of years. It certainly wouldn't be surprising that there would be an upper bound on how much socialization an individual can maintain, and that the need for different types of socialization change throughout the phases of one's life. My guess is that the SNAs that offer more mature services such as finding employment may appeal to a larger audience and see longer-term usage, while those focusing on posting college party photos probably only appeal for a shorter period and see a high-turnover in their user base. I would also expect that there are high-value niche opportunities for SNAs that haven't properly been explored yet. -Jeff Jeff Axup, Ph.D. Principal Consultant, Mobile Community Design Consulting, San Diego Research:Mobile Group Research Methods, Social Networks, Group Usability E-mail:axup at userdesign.com Blog: http://mobilecommunitydesign.com
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Social app popularity begins to decline
Merli - Wouldn't you agree that from a pure social psychology perspective - at least theoretically - pleasing or not - SNAs do allow for three key group/social dynamic needs, Stalking, imitation, and gossip - a recent book actually has come out talking about the huge importance of gossip in maintaining social networks... you might find the following interesting: *Stalking, imitation and gossip* What would a good social system be without some means of stalking, imitation and gossip? (Speaking of which - I was recently reading something about evolutionary psychobiology and the importance of Gossip in developing language and semantic maps in early humans, but can't for the life of me remember where -- need to come back to this - anyway, I will look into this and come back with some references). Part of social life is all the things we pretend we don't do when in polite company. Most of us, at some point or the other stalked someone (remember when you could fingerhttp://www.cs.indiana.edu:800/finger people). Some reporthttp://laughingmeme.org/articles/2005/12/26/tag-stalking *learning about others' personal lives* using their *me* and *craigslist*tags. And of course, we can *imitate people* we watch (copy their items and tags). Recently, I have started noticing the watercooler type post-event conversations around photographs on Flickr (facilitated by specific event tags). Luckily, tagging systems do not promote popularity lists the way blogs do. If they did, then this rich social tapestry might degenerate to popularity contests, and otherwise sane people would start behaving as in high school (specifically American high school. For a fascinating article on Why Nerds Are Unpopular - the importance of Gossip, pecking order, arbitrary hierarchies in social organizations and group flock behavior in american high schools - read this article by Paul Grahamhttp://paulgraham.com/nerds.html ). ~ will - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- *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
Re: [IxDA Discuss] Social app popularity begins to decline
Jeff - going all Magritte on us now! To wit: This is not a pipe Not all social networks mediated by technology are the same. Friends on MySpace, Connections on LinkedIn, friends on Facebook -- may not be friends - but they are not precluded from being friends by the nature of the mediation. Some friends on Facebook may in fact be real friends. What may start out as 'fake' friends - may end up becoming friends in meatspace. No? On Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:49:35, Jeff Seager [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Greenfield makes some great points, Jeff. Thanks for that link to his Antisocial Networking rant. Looking at this from the standpoint of anthropology, I think there's something inevitable about how we're wrestling with some of these details just a few years after we've functionally connected ourselves in real time to the entire world (or those relatively few inhabitants of the world who can afford the time and technology to play along). When we superimpose new technology on a pre-existing convention, it becomes a sort of metaphor for that convention. But a web page is not in fact a page at all. Our friends on MySpace are not really friends, and the word apple is not an apple. The metaphor is profoundly useful for our understanding of any new thing -- if we don't forget it's a metaphor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=25387 *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 -- ~ will No matter how beautiful, no matter how cool your interface, it would be better if there were less of it. Alan Cooper - Where you innovate, how you innovate, and what you innovate are design problems --- will evans user experience architect [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- *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
