UX Coffee idea #1 - Chilli coffee

Try this for a holiday season wake up call with a zing!

Take 1 level teaspoon of chilli powder (a heaped teaspoon if you love hot food) to the coffee grounds (at your normal strength) in a 6 cup plunger of coffee before you pour in the (just off the boil) water.

Stir and steep as normal (or however you make it)

Enjoy* !

*ps . Try at your discretion and exercise caution on the first sip (pause and see how it is). Chilli powder strength may vary from country to country, brand to brand. I'm not liable if it causes you any problems, injury, endorphins, discomfort, allergy, burns, discomfort or desire for more :)

Getting your service or product (almost) Everywhere

Fidelity a banking and financial group have some great ideas in a lab format to explore ways people can access banking and finance information, products and services. They are going everywhere: google and yahoo widgets, I-phone

That takes you many possible places your customers are making it easier to access your product or service.

Link to Fidelity Labs here

I saw this on Read Write Web. .A cool blog site when they talked about the Google gadget. Looking at the labs site there was some other interesting items.

Getting people to try your ideas and discuss them is a great way to get feedback, start a loyal following and generate more dialogue and links to your core business. An informal, frontier like feel often opens up communication too!

Webstock 09 getting closer

http://www.webstock.org.nz/ is coming up. I've been to their conferences each year I've lived in NZ, They have great speakers, atmosphere and put a lot of thought into the program. They give the conference real user experience: making people feel included before they arrive, run a great event, and have lots of post conference events, community and communications. Then before you know it you're anticipating it at the following year. Can't wait for this one...

Fun signage - an every day things post

Rather than just a plain opening hours sign. This one communicates the fun and quirkiness of this new burger store. Murder burger ..

It made me and my friends chuckle, but more importantly we suddenly wanted to go there and check it out. It goes to show how thought even on something as innocuous as a basic piece of 'content' can change a users perception of a place or company website. Neat.

Interaction design tips from 'Goodie Bag TV'

Ever wondered when to use a progress bar over a spinner?


I had to chuckle at this post from Goodie Bag TV
Disclaimer: Some of their other episodes may offend or be NSFW

Oops! I did it again, and again - capture error. An everyday things post

I got a new tube of stuff for the bathroom yesterday. This morning, I blearily opened it and it was one of the caps that had a spike on the end to break the foil seal of the tube.

This should have been a 'no brainer'. I put the cap on and it kept falling off.

Look (see right) , it seems straight forward, am i just having a morning moment pre-coffee?


I stopped and examined the cap in more detail. I got a surprise. That screw cap went against all other tube caps I had ever seen (gasp, quel horreur!). The screw cap 'mechanism' was actually reversed. The narrow end was actually where the thread or 'working bits' screwed on to the tube.

Armed with that realization, I made another attempt, but saw my self putting the wider end on first and turning. What? eh? I consciously knew the that this was a screw cap in reverse, and I had fully intended to turn the cap around. However i kept trying to put the wider end on first and turn it before I 'caught' myself.

I then realized that I had fallen prey to 'capture error'. This is a phenomenon where an habitual behavior is so ingrained, trying to do a slight variation on it, you'll default to the habitual pattern despite consciously intending to do other wise. E.g. You get in the car to drive to tennis only to discover you're on the way to work. Then I finally got the cap, on feeling amused and slightly foolish. I got my coffee and had to chuckle that I was thinking about how such an inconsequential product design change affected the experience and on what rational grounds you would have to do it (if it ain't broke etc etc).

Did some sales meeting have a crisis moving the product? Did product designer wake up one day and think 'I know, change the cap'. Rad!

Everyday things - appealing information architecuture.

I took this photo at a cafe in Rotorua. Looking up idly I saw this on the ceiling. It was paw prints on the ceiling leading from the door to the counter. Following the paws around, I saw that they led to the water dispenser and also the bathrooms. Handy if you are looking around a room for cues for important/key areas.

The fact it was leveraging off your field of vision whilst sitting down was very clever and 'on brand' with the 'Fat dog cafe' moniker.

Fortunately the counter to order is in proximity to the front door, so you don't have to look up as you walk in (Not that you'd know to) .. Paws for thought :)

Everyday things - Real world Information Architecture.

I went to an electronics store to look for a headset. 'Headset', 'Telephony' , 'Telephones', 'PC accessories' were terms on my mind as I looked. The corresponding store section and shelf labels that sounded close to my 'keywords' did not have headsets.

Annoyed I started walk around the store at every shelf for 'content'. Here is where I found headsets.

Store content labeling is as important as website labeling. Why make me look all around the store/website till i found the content/item i wanted. If the label had been close to some of the 'Keywords' in my mind or related to my goal, I would have got there a lot faster.

Store taxonomies are as important as websites. On the bright side of this shopping experience it made me think again of the parallels between store section and shelf labels akin to the first and second level navigation on a website (and the need for good information architecture process and validation).

I wonder if department stores and malls 'taxonomy test' shoppers around a store/mall space...That would be cool to plan, run and observe..does anyone want that done? Or even get me to test a winery trail?

usability issues in real time. Putting controls in proximity to what they affect.

Even on holiday I had a usability moment ...
I stayed at a hotel in Rotorua. I was given a mechanical key and swipe card. My hotel room was opened by the key. So i went to the mineral pool, and headed for the door. My eye zeroed in on the signage, door handle and lock. My key didn't work. Looking around the door frame, zilch cues
.
Stepping back I finally saw this..

see the next pic ...






There was a metal box on the outer wall of the door. out of curiosity I placed the swipe card in front of it. Lo and behold, the door unlocked. Looking in, it was not so appealing so I went to the Polynesian Pools next door instead.

User testing, not just for labs

I watched some other hotel guests do the exact same thing, it was defacto usability testing. I saw enough of a sample of guests zero in on the mechanical lock, eventually notice the key card control (with no labels) and try it or walk to reception for help. Guests were probably conditioned by the same experience checking in and getting into their rooms. The lack of proximity and signposting of the actual access control also did not help.

So, put controls close to the area they effect, label them appropriately or signpost to the user in the area of attention they hit first if its not possible to put controls there. Signpost controls where the user is most likely to 'land'/look first. Physical spaces and work flows need user experience love too.

Everyday things.. lifts/elevators

DO DC - what are these?

well ?

Door open Door Close.... but how would you know. Do you have time to stop and think about it? Surely you could just print words 'Open' and 'Close' or use icons. Engineers of the 60's/70's have a lot to answer for...

Digital tv in New Zealand - playing catch-up

Here I was thinking of scenarios for using a website or widget to log into your PVR (hard disk TV recorder) remotely to set up and record programs away from home.. 'oops i forgot to set it to record Scrubs and at training tonight. I'll miss it'.

Ice TV in Australia already did, and have a Yahoo widget, and even an i-touch app.

Drool.. Want!

Ice TV in Australia have recently won the right to keep their EPG listings despite efforts by one of Australia's commercial TV stations. Its a case of the music industry again, the TV stations fear TIVO and PVRS as they are still stuck in the rut of on air ads that tehy fear people will fast forward or skip over.

Rather than adapt, they are fighting it. One TV station purchased the rights to distribute TIVO in Australia and killing ad skip functions. A veritable TIVO-tatorship is being created.

Hopefully we'll see Freeview introduce these innovations around its upcoming PVR offering..

One day too hopefully we'll see TV stations let people access programmes when they want, how they want to and not in a linear path. e.g. log in, get last weeks episodes of Dr Who you missed.

Broadcaster to content provider.. make the leap.. c'mon

I'm tempted to move back just for this.. almost...

Uncanny valley - an everyday things post

A cola company came up with this bus campaign recently. It features cut out decals of rugby players 'waiting' for the bus as part of the overall campaign. It was quite topical but eerily striking in some situations. It reminded me on the uncanny valley effect: that puts people on edge when confronted with something close to a person but without the normal non verbal cues that we process unconsciously. e.g. "Hey you're not a talking corpse so I won't panic".

There is one on a bus shelter next to my drive way. When I back my car out, especially at night, my peripheral vision and hind brain tells me there was someone at the bus stop. Apparently your brain can't distinguish a picture of a person from a real one and throws the same switches, which seems to be what happens when I'm backing out.

I keep thinking there's a large person just next to the car, flight/fight reaction kicks in before I consciously realise its just a cut out.

Even though I knew it was there, each time i was focused on backing the car out it slipped my mind. Thusly, I kept getting fooled each time. There's a lot to be said for task focus and distraction for getting attention. You can work with these forces and make your websites more effective or work against it.

Users - a mini field guide

Hi there

Here are some examples of recent usability test participants from various projects I've been working on lately– a handy reference ( so close to parody, I wish sometimes it was)

Match to your project and design accordingly!

• (Down to) business user: gimmie content NOW! or I kill you and go somewhere else. Hurry up dammit, I’m eating a small company for lunch .. do it!!! Coffeeeee!!!!! Keep up sweater monkey! I had a coronary and did spreadsheets from ICU!!!! Coffeeee!!!!

• Urbis/Wired reader: I’m webnorati! I gambol happily/glide coolly through your flash goodness and oo and ah at the cleverness and blog about it, I’m the zeitgeist. I could do this.

• Student – Whatever. I used a PC since 3 years old , 'scuse me whilst I weep over my laptop and iphone.. emo

• Mum/Mom and dad – Honey what’s this? how do I buy this satchel over the flying sneakers and rock solo..later can you show me how do I set timer record on this VCR/TIVO thing?

• The personal assistant – I’ve got tennis later, just give me what I want , yeah its pretty but I’m trying to get my banking done and go to lunch. Thanks !

• Tradie/small business person – mate, I may own a business and know my stuff, but I just bank and surf the web for ordering parts. If it’s not a link or button, I can’t see it

dude gets flamed for dissing Information Architecture

A dude on grogkdotcom.com gets flamed/pilloiried by the information architecture (IA) community. IA, a part of website design is far more than a library cataloging exercise this guy finds out.. A case of 'go back to school fool' !

read more | digg story

Interaction design

One participant in recent testing said to me despairingly, ' Why can't designers and developers make things for us and not them selves?. I kid you not and I was humbled as this query was from an everyday, honest person.

Some visual designers want to also define the user experience including interaction but may not have all the learnings from analysis of the work and users traversing the website.

You get an experience that whilst looks great, works against the users expectations or abilities.
Who does 'interaction' design around a web shop can be fraught with politics and a need for by some one to own and control of the experience. The only real loser from this is the end user.

This definition from IXDA is what i think should be held up in web shops and considered earlier in project rather than at visual design stage (duh) or get your visual designers trained in egolessness.

"The success of products in the marketplace depends on the design of high-quality, engaging interactive experiences. Good interaction design:

effectively communicates a system's interactivity and functionality

defines behaviors that communicate a system's responses to user interactions

reveals both simple and complex workflows

informs users about system state changes

prevents user error

While interaction designers often work closely with specialists in visual design, information architecture, industrial design, user research, or usability, and may even provide some of these services themselves, their primary focus is on defining interactivity."

Reading that, I felt better, its not me this time around lol, I have defined interaction in other roles and worked successfully with designers on getting a website user experience up with out cutting into their work or sandbox.

Use cases, wire frames or core interaction all are design agnostic. If you are faced with an on going argument about forms, functions and their design to the nth degree, people are missing the point and you need to clarify roles or get designers better trained.

Sigh i get tired of wearing the 'I told you so' t-shirt time and time again :), but get heartned when I meet with participants like the one I mentioned above . Interaction design can be done agnostically of design, ask me how!

Everyday things - Melbourne

I was in Melbourne for a break. How I miss it. Out shopping i had to snap this signage..

Which door one might ask?

Do I turn left now or outside the glass door...

Ah semantics

Everyday things - signage

Wow this is confusing..

At the air port last weekend I saw this sign as I walked past. I was wondering if you crossed the line whilst smoking, would road spikes or guards appear..

The icon along side smoking permitted could be a cigarette if I stretched my imagination...

And if I was standing up smoking, I'd be stationary. More likely i'd be looking out at the street scape with my back to the call and wouldnt be looking down at these signs at feet level.

Walking I may take it in as I might scanning the pavement as I walked.

Are these signs for overworked sniffer dogs or small children?

What happens if you cross the line?

Sharks with lasers perhaps...

interaction design redux - I told you so

Back in March, I was commenting on a visual design versus interaction design issue.

To recap: There's a website we're designing where you can tag products for comparison later. Whilst the 'add' control its above the fold of the screen in the product page, the list of what you collect and the access to the comparison screen are at the very bottom of content pages. Nothing indicates how to keep track or retrieve what you have tagged.

Well after extensive user testing, people did not find the controls to the application at the bottom of the page below the fold.

This post on the IXDA forum sums its up as if they had known about my project. And I quote... "Several screens had action buttons below the fold, but not above. Customers didn't scroll down and couldn't figure out how to continue to the next screen. " This was back in 2005 and unless we've made a huge leap in user behavior it still stands. Or, the screen design should invite you to scroll (provide a call to action etc etc)

I outlined the problem with it at the concept, schematics and final design points. This is why you need interaction design education in multidisciplinary teams. This one is so close to old school my heads spinning as to why you would break the convention on aesthetic grounds.

Now its coded and tests appallingly with users..

When I let the designer know, they suggested having controls that scrolls the page down to where the actual controls are. on a long content page this would be really disconcerting and raises a whole raft of other issues. (loss of user control has long been a usability no no, see Neilsens pillars er heuristics, particularly on user control).

All people in my testing wanted and expected the controls and notifications above the fold of the page, close to where the first control is.

Arg.. Sigh. Why didn't we do it?

The controls got in the way of the designers 'aesthetic vision' of the page.

Imagine putting an interior designer in charge of creating Three Mile Islands control panels. They would look great, but end up melting down. This is web site design, not 'Project runway'.

Signage and usability - an everyday things post

Air New Zealand recently announced inflight entertainment (link in new window). They had a campaign to announce it to people not in flight, but in transit on buses. Heres a quick critique of its effectiveness:

• The bus campaign advertising you can see on two seats one with a hand hold and one without. The the handle bar blocks the view of the picture in the front instance.
  
• The text, at the bottom of the advertisement is small and hard to read, even from a sitting height.
• At night its even more difficult to read as the lighting the bus is quite dim. Small text illegible in bus light when commuters, working or otherwise at peak hour are traveling.
• Physically it's a very uncomfortable to read. Bring at the extremity of your vision, the text makes you eyes move to their most furthest downwards 'setting'.

People may not even know what the ad is for and so the advert is rendered ineffective.


Solution (one possible):

• Place text in the middle of the advertisement and make larger so its easy to scan from a sitting height.
• Test with end users (use eye-tracking) in the setting and lighting its meant for, not on the screen in a design studio.
  

Designers should have got bus seat dimensions (distance from floor, between seats etc) and tested it for readability and advertisement recall with friends, customers etc.

Everyday things

I love the books 'The design of Everyday things' and 'Emotional Design' by Don Norman. Inspired by that I'm taking photos of things that could do with some user experience love..

I love this sign I saw in Auckland, if I was looking for the train station and was in a hurry, where would I go? (the full size view opens in a new window)

Process across the web to out of the box - a review

Disneyland are one of the masters of user experience. their 'Imagineers' created ride experiences that considered not only the ride, but what happened before and after. Queues and other devices were used to create anticipation before the ride making the experience seem longer and more memorable.

• By examining the before and after segments, they actually lengthened and heightened the 'ride' experience. 'Emotional Priming' - described elegantly by Amy Hoy, contributes to putting a person into a more receptive state for your objectives, be it selling, persuading etc.
• A great experience stands out far more than a 'run of the mill' good experience that consumers would more or less take for granted nowadays
  
• Kathy Sierra talks about giving people a triumphant feeling like they just achieved something as opposed to just a hum drum one.

Recently I had an upgrade my internet and telephony service. I've critiqued the process against the above principles. Both the online and offline parts of the upgrade process are equally important and how they flowed together.

The words that described how I felt to show my progress on the user experience curve are in bold

Pre-sale/pre-conversion

• As a customer* my local internet service provider (ISP), I received a very exotic large envelope with a wax seal in the post. The seal was stamped with the brand of the ISP, I felt: intrigued, impressed by the quality of paper and the seal itself. So that put me in a state of anticipation of what was to come.

• Opening the envelope I found a letter on good quality paper and a tri-fold document. The colours of all the print 'collateral' had been on brand to the company's corporate colours (white and purple).
• Well and good I thought. I was impressed by the paper quality and the trouble they went to.. (Seemingly). The offer was to upgrade to one of three telephony packages. They were easy to understand and included the delivery of a new modem.
  
• The sign up process on-line was surprisingly good, easy to understand and forms well designed. I won't go into it as I am more interested in the off web experience. But I felt good that I had set up the attributes myself. (a sense of achievement)
• At the end I did not get an e-mail confirming the details of the upgrade/sign up I had just completed. (disappointed).
• I felt like once they had 'sealed the deal', I was not important to them any more, dropped like a jilted suitor.

So at this point, all the build up of feeling dropped. Granted they got the sale, but that good feeling towards my ISP should have been sustained. I had no idea what would happen next or when as I could not recall the last screens messages (if any).

Solution: Keep the contact with the client going. For example:

• Send a confirmation email branded in same colour as the paper mail to continue the anticipation and positive feelings generated by the pre-sale process.
  
• Include notification of when I would next hear from them and kept that expectation and positive feeling going.

Fulfilment:

This went a little better. I received an email (albeit unexpectedly) letting me know when and what would be happening to my phone line.

At this point I felt mollified/placated by the return of communication, the ISP went back up a little in my opinion. It was still a let down after the drop from the end of the sign up process.

Considering it costs more to acquire a client than to keep them (arguably), they should have considered the entire process as a whole. I am still a customer with options else where if I want. They should be working hard to make me 'happy' after the upgrade.

Online fulfilment:
I received regular e-mails telling me when the engineers would switch my service over to ADSL2 points for that. They were quite plain in terms of presentation and in an old fashioned looking font and could have used the branding and colours to carry the intial campaign look and feel through.

Off-line fulfilment:
The modem arrived in a big box. It had a small hard to read label addressed to me and I felt a little frisson of anticipation (e.g. how pleasant, I got a package) hearkening back to that pleasure learned since child hood of getting a present. note the reaction was not 'wow' i got a package.

Opening it revealed the modem, and two purple booklets.

I still felt like now I had become a customer, the ball had dropped in terms of attention to detail.



This box looked quite average after the elaborate 'pre-sell' labeling of the print and online materials.

Solution: Use the delivery box to create anticipation and excitement. For example:

• Use the logo of the company, create some continuity with the brand or messaging.
• Larger stickers and labeling make it easy to read and identify
• Create a sense excitement triggered by receiving a gift does or nowadays, an amazon.com delivery or the unwrapping of a carefully put together Apple product package.

Opening the box was a little bit of a non event too. The opportunity to create a connection literally was not going to happen until I plugged the modem in at home.

I did get two booklets, but with no help numbers so I had to call them using the mobile phone directory assist.

Solution: Have a welcome letter or personalised welcome letter on opening the box.

For example:

"We just delivered you the internet 2.0".

Learning: Deliver your product with pride, fanfare, excitement.

A custom sleeve with the company logo was a nice touch around the modem, but they could have made it look like a gift and reap the visceral reaction that we're trained to exhibit when given a present.

A help number would have also been useful as whilst the connection was problematic, I couldn't get online for help.

After calling the help on my mobile via directory assist and them on my mobile at my expense (not impressed), I got the service started and got online.

Overall: I was satisfied, not wowed by the end of the process. This could have been a amazing brand lifting experience had:

• A few little details been thought about more
  
• The process mapped out end to end with both on and offline components considered, (including post sale) and how they work together
  
• Emotional priming (mentioned above) used effectively all the way through.

To sum up:

• Keep the contact with the client going consistently and in the same tone
• Make people feel like they have achieved
• Plan your on and off line processes as one
  
• Map out anticipated reactions on a user experience curve in parallel with the process map
  
• Create and sustain anticipation and expectation
• Deliver your product with pride, fanfare, excitement
• Be consistent in dealing with prospective and existing customers

*All this feedback comes from my experience and perspective as a customer of this ISP only. It does not reflect the opinion of any other party :)


Foot note - weeks after upgrading I got this summary of my account details and common configurations with their contact number for help. This was handy, but would have been useful when I got the modem in the box.

please make it stop - why users should have controls

Meet Daniel, he is an advertisement running down the side of a news article web page. He bounces on that trampoline whilst you try read an article. Well, it got my attention (score 1 ad designer). As I tried to read the article however, the little fellow kept jumping and catching my eye (score 2 ad designer). I got so annoyed with the constant distraction I looked for ways to turn off Daniels jumping. No luck there, not even in the Flash controls.

So I closed the page: (and got on with my life)


Final scores:

• 3 to the ad designer - I kept coming back to the advertisement
• -1 to the client because I am now annoyed with the advertiser ( score 1 bad brand perception)
• -1 to the newspaper and journalist since I'm not reading their content now and associate them with annoying ads (tarred with the same brush)
  
• No win for me (or website visitors) either - I made a conscious decision to say 'enough, I'm walking' to the advertiser, the news paper (which I normally enjoy) and going somewhere else where the ads are less annoying.

Don't get me wrong, I love this newspaper and accept advertising is necessary. It was a very effective ad to get and hold my attention.

Where did it go wrong? It didn't let my attention go!!! Grrrrrrrrr

It was like a (ironically) a small child demanding my attention when I was reading a book in the real world. Like said child, it did not stop when I felt had dealt it a fair share of my attention. It would not let me get back to my business increasing my annoyance.

Ads should not be demanding, they should attract your attention, and politely get out of the consumers face and let them get on with their life. Moral? Behave like an attention seeking child and get sent into the naughty corner.

Solution? Controls for people to stop Daniel bouncing and a time out. I would have looked on him a lot more kindly if he knew his place after I had seen what he wanted.

How User Centered Design processes meets business

User Centered Design (UCD)

UCD is an people-centric design and development approach with its own tools and techniques

It (arguably and non-exclusively) draws on aspects of:

• Business and customer goal elicitation
  
• Human behavior, research, ergonomics, psychology
• Process and task analysis
  
• Market research, branding, satisfaction metrics and activities

It's aimed to create a better user experience ( I like this definition too), as the process and outcome leverages off as much information about people, their goals and needs and behaviors. It also aims to increase traceability regarding how each aspect of a website (IA, page design, graphical treatment, branding etc) or product works towards meeting the need of the client (and in turn supporting the mission of the company behind it).

UCD discovery provides insights into which cues to use when designing a task paths in website or product. that people can detect more easily to carry out that task. We eliminate any barriers towards outcomes, in the design and meets required outcomes e.g. encourage longer not shorter stays. It also allows us create inexpensive prototypes to validate information paths and interface design quickly and easily before investing more money and time in development and design.

What User Centered Design (UCD) does for projects

There is increased competition and demands to deliver 'less with more'. User Centered Design' (UCD) is an approach proven to:

• Cut development time and design iterations,
  
• Save and make money in terms of:
  
  • Mitigating risk
  • Reducing design and development time and iterations
    
  • Increasing site traffic
  • Reducing shopping cart/transaction abandonment
    
  • Increase sales and inquiry conversions

UCD has been successfully integrated into development lifecycles such as Agile and RUP. It is widely used in companies such as Hewlett Packard, ANZ Bank, Google, Apple and even Microsofts X-Box Game Halo.

UCD myths

Contrary to popular or misinformed belief, User Centered Design does not:

• Reduce you to catering for users that may not be able to deal with feature, design and interactive rich websites e.g. designing for an 80 year old on a dial up internet connection (though hopefully they will have an appropriate alternative version to use)
  
• Subordinate designers to the whimsy of business analysts or other team members
• Mean you have to get users in and out of a site with their business done as fast as possible every time
• Increase project costs - whilst there are costs to UCD activities they can be justified in cost savings as discussed above
  

How UCD is profitable, project and business focused

Running a business its about:

• Making money
  
• producing the best possible outcomes for a business and its customers which makes money
• Keeping the company running, staff paid and investors happy

Implementing User Centered Design in your business or enterprise gives you:

• A collaborative, flexible approach to web and solution design. This does not stifle the creative process or creative people
• Design, aesthetic and creative vision informed by strategic and business goals, key tasks and site audience capability throughout the design project
• A participatory and multidisciplinary approach to projects eliminating technical and design 'gotchas' later in a project. e.g. 'I can't/won't do that it will wreck the design vision/aesthetic', 'We cant do that its not possible' during the build. Everyone participants and levereages off each others knowledge and skills
  
• All team members , the overall project and design are firmly aligned with your or your clients business goals
• Requirements communicated through to design
  

We're not designing a 'Monet' for the wall to merely look at. A design should alive, touchable, pleasing, attractive and on brand . It's a website or product for your customer that also has to meet its goals, support tasks and support the company mission.

And there is no reason we can't enjoy the process along the way...