29 June 2004
The Tablet PC Nonrevolution
The Tablet PC Nonrevolution: "One of the reasons that the original Palm Pilot was so successful is that its developers weren?t afraid to experiment with new and frequently simpler interaction paradigms. Palm developed on-screen widgets that were easy to use on a small display amidst a lot of visual distractions. It came up with a fast way to switch between applications and an integrated database that freed users from thinking about files and folders. Yes, you can configure the Tablet PC version of Windows XP to let you enter text anywhere, but Microsoft Word still thinks that you are using a keyboard and a mouse. Word doesn?t know about gestures like proofreader?s marks?things that are easy to write with a pen but nearly impossible to input with a mouse."
23 June 2004
User Experience Design
User Experience Design: "For me, user experience design is a big hive: a dynamic, multi-dimensional space where there's still plenty of room to build new boxes and draw new arrows, at least for the next ten years."
16 June 2004
Design
worryfreedigitalTM Sony. Engineered to be effortless.
CompUSA Flyer, June 2004
...Don't be surprised if you look for excuses to do the wash! Great design. Great technology. Great for the way you live...
LG Electronics ad on the back of Architectural Digest, June 2004.
10 June 2004
If you want to make software developers squirm, force them to watch people using their software.
At the Eighth International Python Conference, HCI (human/computer interaction) expert Dr. Randy Pausch talked about doing just that for his educational software project, Alice. Patrick Phalen, a developer who attended Pausch’s talk, recalls: “I vividly remember laughing out loud when Randy described the extreme methods they used to get their users to adopt beginner’s mind. They required developers to sit on their hands in chairs behind newbies to observe them gaining familiarity with Alice. They were not allowed to reach over and commandeer the mouse or keyboard.”
Developers who possess deep but tacit knowledge of complex hardware and software environments are notoriously unable to project themselves into the beginner’s mind. Observation is the only way to bridge the gap....
It’s still hard for developers to watch this stuff. We have had a tendency to spare them the pain -- and to sacrifice the gain -- because connecting developers to users in this way has not often been practical. This new generation of tools aims to close that critical feedback loop, thereby helping developers figure out what ease-of-use really means to users.
How to survive creative burnout
The longer you work at creating things, whether it’s software, websites, essays or paintings, the greater the odds you’ll hit a day of impenetrable dread. Up until then, you may have heard others describe burnout, but you just shrugged it off as superstition, or perhaps believed yourself immune. But the day it hits you, the world seems suddenly grey. What was once fun and challenging feel stupid and annoying. Or perhaps the things that used to motivate or move you don’t resonate at all. You feel nothing for them.
Scott Berkun, "How to survive creative burnout," UIWEB.com, June 2004 via Tomalak's Realm
25 May 2004
Gmail Reviews
Gmail Reviews: "Google Gmail Review: Preliminary Impressions - Bob Matsuoka
VAR Business - April 22, 2004
www.varbusiness.com/sections/news/dailyarchives.asp?ArticleID=49596
'In addition to standard features (spell-checking, personalization, attachments), there are some unexpected touches: the ability to 'pop off' composition window, keyboard shortcuts (type a key while browsing mail to trigger features); 'personal level indicators' (indicate messages sent only to you or to you as opposed to a list); and 'snippets' (displaying a section of text from the body of the message, a-la Google searches). ... That's pretty much it, but this simplicity is deceptive. While any one feature may not rise to the level of revolutionary, as a collection they are. ... My experience with Gmail has been in many ways typical of my experience with all of Google's products: efficient, quick, accessible, easy. I suspect that many other people will feel the same way, too.' "
11 May 2004
Appeal to brains and hearts
If you can design a product that appeals to people's brains and hearts, you can get them to pay a great premium...
Ultimately, what sells the product is the emotional side of design. We aim to create products that intrigue people, invite a question: There's something different about this thing. What does it do? The critical moment is when they smile and say, "A-ha!" If done right, the process makes people feel clever. They think, "How come nobody ever thought of this before?" They get it, and somehow, the belong to this exclusive club of people who get it.
Alex Lee (President OXO International), "Made to Measure," Fast Company, July 2004, p. 57.
07 May 2004
Though the chip maker may be better known for its research and development work in physics and computer science, a small group of approximately 10 anthropologists and psychologists has been steadily accumulating research on how people use computer technology in their work and home lives since 1997.
The purpose of the People and Practices group, which is based in Intel's Hillsboro, Ore., research and development facility, is to help translate this knowledge into better Intel products.
Robert McMillan, "Intel researchers study cultures not circuits," Computerworld, 6 May 2004 via Tomalak's Relm
05 May 2004
What makes a good experience varies from person to person, product to product, and task to task, but a good general definition is to define something as "usable" if it's functional, efficient, and desirable to its intended audience.
Mike Kuniavsky, Oberving the User Experience, San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann, 2003, p. 18.
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