Something for the Weekend - Hans Monderman

I've been researching traffic engineer Hans Monderman, there's an article below which gives an overview of his work and concepts. What's particularly interesting is that his concepts initially seem counter intuitive but have been hugely successful inspiring similar projects the world over. Removing safety barriers, curbs, signs, lights, etc doesn't feel like it would make roads safer but it works.

Click Here

I guess the thing that went through my mind was; what happens if we move some of these concepts from traffic systems to computer systems (or even operational processes)? Do we restrict and clutter our systems with pop ups, control limits, etc to the extent that they actually become more confusing? Do we make our systems so fool-proof that users stop thinking (i.e. if I'm not supposed to do this the system won't let me, and if it does the systems wrong and not me)?

It also made me think about whether faster is really faster? We push to make processes as slick as possible and remove the thinking time but do we introduce errors inherently with that approach?

Something for the Weekend - Don't be Evil

As we know, Google are one of the worlds computing superpowers, constantly delivering world-class user centred tools and services. But did you know that the unofficial company motto is 'Don't be Evil'? One simple rule which underpins their whole proposition. They mean that they want top be transparent, make it just as easy to opt out of services as it is to opt in, top notch UX, building both reputation and credibility. Something which not all of their competitors can say. It’s a recognition that you can only damage a customer relationship by undermining it for a short term gains once.

Three little word of inspiration I think we all aught to adopt with the products and service we're involved with too.


Sources and Credits
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_be_evil

Something for the Weekend - Million Dollar Chair

As promised last week, I really want to spend some time digging into creativity over the next few weeks. The first example is a guy who's work I've admired for a few years now. Marc Newson is an industrial designer who this year was voted UK GQ Magazines 77th most influential person*. He's also in the record books, in 2006 his Lockheed Lounge chair sold at Sotherby's New York for a whopping $968,000 - the highest price ever paid for furniture by a living designer!

Newson designs across a vast spectrum (from door handles to space ships!) - incredibly diverse but much of his work follows certain themes; cellular structures, space age, organic shapes. Whilst watching the film Objectified** there was one aspect that particularly struck me about his creative process, he surrounds himself with objects and materials that he likes and engages with. These are not necessarily things he needs for his current projects but things he'd like to use some day or that act as sources of inspiration for him.

To me it seems like a deep rooted obsession with the materials he needs to work with, and possibly to take it one step further, actually being 'in tune' with them.

It's doubtful we'll find much useful inspiration in materials for what we do (but you never know), the main thing is having an eye to the outside world...

• Actively recognising experiences that you have with other companies that are particularly strong (or just as importantly, are weak) - try to deconstruct them and think about how they might have gone about creating them? For instance, I love that Apple offer to email you receipts when you buy something in store.
• Study User Interfaces (or components) that are world class or that simply do something complex elegantly. As an example, TheTrainline.com do a great job at displaying ticket types, prices and times on a single matrix.
• Keep abreast of technology breakthroughs - especially consumer end tech.

This isn't about copying and doesn't need to be obsession - it's about creating a world class frame of reference to build upon.


Sources & Credits
* GQ Magazine - 2010 GQ UK's list of 100 most influential people
**Objectified
Check out Marc Newson's work here

Something for the Weekend - Frank Lloyd Wright

I've written previously (Emotional Connections, Fail Whale, Anthora Coffee Cup) about the importance of creating deeper connections with our products. So when I spotted this quote by Frank Lloyd Wright I just had to share it;

"Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one. Joined in a spiritual union."

Frank Lloyd Wright, recognised by the American Institute of Architects as the 'greatest American architect of all time', was a master at balancing aesthetics and practicality - making his spaces and objects desirable, aspirational and usable.

I often feel that, as BAs, our natural tendency is to focus on the functional first and the form second. Indeed we even refer to our products as "functionality"! And that's understandable, it makes good business sense to focus on building products that do what they need to do without ceremony but does it feel like we should offer more to our end customers?

In order to achieve this it won't be through just in adopting some of the tools and techniques (shared previously) but in changing our individual mind sets.

• Pursuing User Experience shortcomings with the same passion as functional ones
• Using the whole team to contribute ideas for the best possible UX
• Understanding and deeply empathising with the end customer

Sources and Credits
Quote found via Design Milk
More info on Frank Lloyd Wright

Something for the Weekend - the Fail Whale

Apologies for writing two SFTWs in a row on the topic of failure but this week I wanted to share a story of UX that I love... and hope you will too!

I'll start by explaining what the Fail Whale is... When Twitter gets overloaded and goes out of service, instead of giving a techie failure message you get the friendly picture of the 'Fail Whale' (below), a polite apology and instruction on next steps.

The interesting thing is that it seems to absorb a lot of frustrations and, in fact, the fail whale now actually now has a cult following! Check out the fan club http://failwhale.com/ where you can buy the t-shirt! Or if you're really excited why not go ahead and get the tattoo Click here

Now, I'm not saying we need pictures of whales but here are a few thoughts to tie this back into our roles as BAs:

• It shows the value of spending time on actively designing the User eXperience for when things don't quite go to plan... giving the appropriate consideration to the 'unhappy path' as well as the happy one.
• Its a rare event that error messages make people happy and we can't stop all exceptions but we can be sure to handle them as well as possible.
• When things do go wrong use a style that's meaningful and explains to the user what's going on and, perhaps most importantly, what they need to do.
• Ensure that error messages can be communicated back to IT support teams in a meaningful way when required and that there are unambiguous (e.g. unique numbering) for as many outcomes as possible.
• It's important to consider this with process failure as well as IT failure. Can we automate the feedback of something going wrong in an operational process? (LEAN visual management techniques spring to mind)

Sources and Credits
Check out the designers page http://yiyinglu.com/
http://failwhale.com/
CNN http://edition.cnn.com/
www.twitter.com

Enjoy and have a great weekend-

David

Something for the Weekend - Emotional Connections (iPod)

As promised, I wanted to follow up on the last SFTW with some validation as to why creating an 'emotional connection' in what we deliver is equally as important as creating a functional one… an argument that the iPod can make without too much justification from me!

The iPod is often held aloft as a great design example… It's practical, intuitive, functional but also has the ability to engage with people in a way that's very hard to put your finger on… good physical design, creativity, brand, tactility, universal / consistent navigation, simplicity? - what is that x-factor? I don't know the answer but I know it's important!

Creating an emotional connection is not at all frivolous, it has huge commercial advantages. Apple have sold 260,000,000 iPod units worldwide and hold around a 70% market share of the global portable media player market (I want to say 'iPod market' which is a sign in itself!). Just imagine getting a tube or plane and not seeing the ubiquitous white headphones! To remain streets ahead of your competitors despite a higher unit cost is impressive.

In our world it's equally important to remember the importance of these connections… we need 'our customers' to feel a sense of satisfaction when using a system or process not just acceptance. I'm not sure there's a fixed recipe for creating this (or I'm sure I'd be a lot richer!) but I think a strong starting point is the recognition that 'functional' is not enough... Understand every detail, understand your customer and pursue perfection.

Something for the Weekend - Visual Onomatopoeia

I thought I'd share something related that I spotted on SVN. Keith Lang gave a talk called 'The Science of Aesthetics' at UXAustralia last year and in it he talks about (synaesthesia) what I suppose are deep-rooted, even instinctive, human behaviors and how an understanding of that can benefit application design. The images below give a great example of what he's talking about...

... when the shapes of objects all look the same (worst of all friendly and rounded) it's hard to understand at first glance that they have different consequences. Make the big decisions look significant (in this case, like clicking it too fast might cut your finger!) and it breaks the autopilot behavior. It's almost like a visual version of onomatopoeia, objects can look like what they are. It’s similar to using ‘red’ for cancel buttons or ‘x’ to close windows, just a bit more dramatic!

As the tools we develop increasingly get deployed globally the challenge of understanding a users common 'frame of references' increases dramatically. The considerations we apply today only touch the surface when you consider your user to be just about everyone. Hooking UI into deep-rooted human instinct means we anchor on at least a small part of everyone's frame of reference.

If you'd like to watch the full video here's the link. Also check out the Kiki & Bouba effect if you're not familiar with it.