Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

At the end of January, Apple announced another highly anticipated new device, while its rival in Redmond, Microsoft, has come out with a new version of its mobile UI. Named Windows Phone 7 Series, it's an interesting new take on a mobile UI, and while it's officially planned for release only at the end of this year, it's spurring a lot of conversation already.

Apple iPad

Things were different ahead of the iPad's launch than they were back in 2007, prior to the launch of the first version of the iPhone. While many had thought that Apple may enter the mobile phone market even years before it actually happened, no one managed to quite predict what the device would be like. But with the iPad, predicting what the Apple tablet would look like before the company officially announced it was easier. The surprise element of the iPad was smaller than the wow effect that the iPhone caused.

The feeling after the launch was that the iPad didn't live up to the dreams and hopes of many. People who were waiting for something revolutionary woke up to see the new device as "just a big iPhone". However, the tablet also had its instant supporters: some claim it's the perfect computer for their mom, while others simply say that whatever the iPad lacks in its first incarnation (camera, for example) will make it to the next version.

I question the utility of the iPad, even for my mom, as one of her favorite things to do on a computer is to make Skype video calls. I also think she wouldn't respond too well to the on-screen keyboard. But let's keep in mind that the device hasn't started shipping yet, and very few people have handled it, let alone used it in any real-life scenario. The future of it will lie in the hands of app developers - maybe even more than it lies in the hands of the company's own designers.

For interaction designers, the iPad is an exciting new opportunity. Luke Wroblewski has written a number of terrific articles about the iPad, including a list of new multi-touch interactions and iPad design tools and resources. And Matt Gommel, a renowned iPhone developer, challenges a number of preconceptions about the tablet, including the "just a big iPhone" claim, in his blog. While we're waiting for the actual device (and an iPad version of OmniGraffle), let's get our tools and templates ready. Even if the iPad doesn't instantly appear as big of a game changer as the iPhone, it, together with the HP Slate and other, upcoming tablets, is still the beginning of a new kind of personal computing experience.

Windows Phone 7 Series

Microsoft seems to have done what it hadn't really done before: taken a totally new, fresh approach to something it had already built. The new Phone 7 Series looks and acts totally different than previous versions of Windows Mobile, incl. version 6.5, which will now continue to live on as Windows Phone Classic. The 7 Series promises to be, finally, finger-friendly, complete with multitouch, and it looks significantly different than any of the competing touch-based mobile UIs.

The initial response to 7 Series seems to have been positive, though some point out that the bold new design may not work so well in practice. Luke Wroblewski has been exploring Microsoft's new UI as well, and written an excellent post about its information resolution vs. the iPhone. Edward Tufte responds to it here. While at first I find it quite easy to agree with Tufte's comment that "the WP7S layout and typography have a looseness found in commercial art and marketing, an inappropriate metaphor for a handheld information and communication device", I think it may be premature to call Microsoft's idea "inappropriate", when they're trying to redefine the mobile UI so drastically. Let's see how users react to it.

Karri Ojanen

I happened upon this site and at first glance thought it was a designer's portfolio site. Only after looking at the navigation was I aware that it was a in fact a hotel (and a hip one at that).

So a few reasons as to why I think it's an Exceptional Experience. For one the site is definitely out of the norm and well executed when it comes to visuals, audio, and the little nuances. Two (and here is where it gets debatable) is that its navigation is right for its clientele. I'm figuring the people who would want to stay here are going to be digitally savvy and not get lost without the traditional hotel navigation approach that is the norm for a majority of hotel sites. My parents would NOT stay here... But I sure would (not that I'm hip). The site feels more like an experience and less like a reservation tool. So that leads to the third reason. The site made me start questioning exactly "what is the right navigation" for a site and "what factors determine success and failure?" Well of course that leads down a path  built on a ton of facts, logic, goals, objectives, and the such. I break it down to knowing your audience in the end.

I guess what I'm getting at is that the site successfully takes the approach -- and is not afraid to -- that its tangible existence is carried over to its digital form successfully. Now I just have to find a reason to get to Germany!

Casey Riggleman

Someone [Case-Mate] finally came out with a phone case I would be proud to carry around. They've taken some of the more current designers/artists and given users access to their color and design palette. You can get addicted pretty quick to creating some cool phone cases.

With that said, I do have to admit I like the site experience as well. I dig the animation transitions (slick, organic, and smart). The toolset is pretty user friendly too. Though I wish I could create an object and then grab and move it around on the phone case to get it more exact. Seemed to me this function would be step number one in building out the tools.

Enjoy! And let us know what you make.

Casey Riggleman

Pizza Will Always Be Pizza No Matter How You Toss It
I was talking with my wife this weekend about the whole Domino's rebranding. What strikes me is that even the whole idea that their pizza was not great was THEIR idea.

Here is what I mean. When they first marketed themselves it was about efficiency and value. Which is exactly what they delivered (no pun intended).

Now all of a sudden Domino's is saying that people don't like their pizza when last time I checked, no one expected to get a good tasting pizza for 4.99 from ANY pizza business. Delivery pizza has been and will always be OK tasting pizza... But nothing to tell everyone about.

So now Domino's goes out and finds a few people who don't like their product (which is easy for any company to find), couples that with a story around how heart broken they are about it and guess what folks???? We have us a new marketing campaign!

Now take their "new and improved" pizza to the front door of someone who said they didn't like their old pizza with lights, cameras, and most importantly a HUMAN face and ask their opinion... Of course the person will say it's good...they have to. People don't want to badmouth others to their face but have no problem doing it to a corporation. Most people would crush under the pressure of bad mouthing something in front of someone who has claimed to have made it better just for them. It's the whole human face in place of the corporate business racket (companies have been doing this for ages... Ford, GM, the list goes on).

Now as for the whole UX testing I get it... But I think there are so many other factors that need to be addressed as well as to why any campaign works or fails. It's the parts -- UX, marketing, strategy, research, design, and human UN-ITELLIGENCE, etc. -- that make the whole.

And, yes, their new pizza tastes just as crappy as their old pizza IMO.

Casey Riggleman

image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dilona/

When design criteria were initially established in 2000, Web designers and developers were limited by implementation and technology, modeling web experiences after the print medium. The relative newness of the medium shaped the way web sites were evaluated because consumers were acclimating themselves to a new way of interacting with content. Unfortunately, these standards never evolved, despite consumers' becoming more digital savvy. This is the equivalent of a cave man judging a Lamborghini based on his own design of the wheel.

Here's a look at some of the design criteria whose usefulness may have passed.

The Great Readability and Font Size Debate

Does the difference between 9pt and 10pt represent the difference between success and failure? In 2000 this may have been valid (maybe) but is a non-issue today. Sites are accessible in a wide set of mobile and stationary platforms so resolution, not font size, has a much bigger impact on a site's legibility.

Remember the Fold? 

The problem here is fundamental: we're applying a term from a print medium to a digital one (literally where you folded the broadsheet newspaper). Are we really worried about users not knowing how to scroll down a web page? This condescending view overlooks smart design systems that prompt users beyond the initial page view. Is it better to have one long, scrolling web page with clearly organized content, four navigable pages or keep the user focused on the "viewing frame" and trigger layers of content on their prompt? All of these methods have their contextual advantages and should not be evaluated in a vacuum.

Navigation

Today's user does not need one style of navigation system. Consumers are accustomed to navigating through a variety of mobile and digital mediums including phones, ATM screens and DVRs - all of which have a navigation system defined by the platform. One size no longer fits all. It is unrealistic to think designers are going to create new "navigation metaphors" that confuse consumers. We are creating new metaphors because new mediums and platforms demand it

Evaluation standards need to unchain marketers from the minutiae and focus on delivering ground-breaking online experiences. Here are some important questions brands should consider rather than font size and drop down menus:

• Do we want static content or content in motion?

• Do we want to enable browsing and searching together - determinative navigation?

• Should the site feature on-demand navigation or always-on navigation?

• Are we designing for a single or multi-platform experience? - what is the signature style?

In the early part of this decade, static web sites did not foreshadow the digital world's current endless possibilities. If you create an engaging online experience that is true to your brand's message, your successful metrics will be the ultimate evaluation of your strategy.
 
Conor Brady

Editor's Note: This post also appeared on the MediaPost Blog February 9, 2010.

I'm not much of a User Interface geek (that is, I enjoy a pointless but entertaining way of getting around a site as much as anyone), but as a web designer I'm always interested on how to convey maximum amounts of information/direction to users as simply and cleanly as possible.

So I thought this was a pretty cool blog post sent by colleague Craig Ritchie, about how icons become less effective as they become more "realistic." It's like as humans we have this sweet spot with symbols: too much detail, or too little, and they stop becoming useful to use as clues to their meaning. The challenge for us as visual communicators is finding that sweet spot.

Anyway, I liked that in itself. But then right below on the same blog was this demo (above) of a 3D style computer desktop. Unintentionally, it kind of proves the point of the article above it. Really, do I need a 3D representation of my desktop in order to use my computer better? It has some cool tools, I'll say that, but there's a point in the video where the guy has all these stacks of documents there, and I couldn't help thinking, "I don't need a computer to replicate the stacks of crap everywhere, that's what real life is for!"

Who knows, maybe it's the future and I'll have to adapt. After all, my father still puts up a spirited defense of the superiority of the Command Line Interface over these stupid "icons" all over his iMac screen.

Do you think 3D representations like this go too far?

Elliot Smith

image credit: ninja999

Last Thursday, Organic hosted a panel discussion on how to fit the User Experience practice into an Agile project cycle. For more information on what Agile is, see the Agile Manifesto or check out the Wikipedia entry.

So, Why is This an Interesting Topic for User Experience Professionals?
With a trend to quick iterations it's hard for us to figure out where our discipline fits in. As is the nature of agile, the UX design can change and it becomes difficult to maintain a consistent experience. Add to this an ill-defined agile process (many want to say they're "agile", but in reality they're not), a UXer might feel a loss of control. So, what's the solution?

Advice From the Panel
The biggest takeaway for our team of Experience Architects was not to compromise user testing. Test early and test often. It's a great way to learn if the designs are usable, especially if you have a hunch that there are issues. Don't have a huge budget for testing? No problem ... there are some "guerilla" testing methods that can get you the information you need (see below). Some testing is better than no testing.

Another great piece of advice: your analytics department is your best friend. Chances are, they've analyzed something similar and can provide valuable metrics to support your hypotheses. Seek them out and ask for their help.  

Other Takeaways:
•    If your budgets don't allow for extensive research then find guerilla methods for testing. Round up users in your company or take advantage of services such as fivesecondtest.com.

•    Agile should be ... well ... agile. While there is technically a right and a wrong way to do agile, the process in itself should be adaptable. If it's not working for you, then use the elements that do make sense ... resolve to have more face to face interactions and stand up meetings. Whatever works for your environment.

•    In the spirit of the adaptable process, consider getting a head start on the typical agile development cycle. When incorporating User Experience into Agile, begin with Iteration 0 where the User Experience people lay out some design patterns and architecture. Turn this over to development and stay a week or so ahead. For more information, see Lynn Miller's case study.

Anthony Viviano

Top Five Things I Wish Of My Kindle

When I got my first iPod six years ago, it completely changed the way I purchased and listened to music. So, naturally, I had the same hopes for my recently acquired Kindle reader and how I would soon be consuming books. Unfortunately, the Kindle has fallen short of my expectations. Here's a list of the things I find myself wishing for:

1.  A back light. Seems absurd I have to use an attached itty, bitty book light to read from my "electronic wireless reading device". I probably spend half of my time reading in the dark - on the plane or before dozing off to sleep. Which means, half the time I use my Kindle, I have a book light appendage hanging off it. So much for sleek design.

2.  Color.  I hate the fact that many books I order on Kindle don't show the original hard-copy version of the cover art. And those that do, show it in shades of gray. I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but - well, I do. I miss seeing the cover art of a book and its back cover or inside sleeve reviews. Couldn't Kindle follow iPod's lead? At least they display CD cover art.

3.  A touch screen.  After using an iPhone, it took me weeks to stop myself from touching the screen of my Kindle to order a book or select something new to read. Keying in words on the tiny, tiny keyboard and using the microscopic joy stick feel so 2006.

4.  The ability to do a crossword puzzle.  One of my favorite print-medium past times is doing The New Yorker crossword puzzles. Too bad there wasn't a way to do this on my Kindle. (If there is, please tell me how.) This is another place where that touch screen -- with interfacing keyboard -- would come in handy.

5.  The social part of reading.  Sure, reading probably seems like a solitary hobby. But, when I finish a good book, the first thing I want to do is tell my friends. It would be great if, upon reading the last sentence of a book, Kindle offered the option to write a review and the ability to post it to my Facebook wall. This seems like a lost opportunity for both Kindle and Amazon to create viral advocacy not only for the Kindle -- but the books people are buying on it. I did find a Kindle fan page on Facebook -- but it only had 14 fans! And, at this writing, there are no Kindle apps available on Facebook. However, just yesterday, Amazon announced a SDK (Software Development Kit) which will allow software developers to build and upload applications. Plans are to have an app store up and running by end of year. But could it be too little too late? Until Kindle introduces new social apps, I'll tell my friends about favorite books the old fashioned way: from my iPhone Facebook app.

On the eve of Apple's rumored announcement of their new tablet (iPad? Or islate? They haven't named it yet.) coupled with a possible Barnes & Noble partnership and access to 1 million books (in comparison to Kindle's 400k titles), Kindle's limitations have me worrying about major buyer's remorse. However, the rumored price-point of Apple's tablet at $7-1000 may make me feel a little better.

Are you a satisfied Kindle user? Or are you holding out for Apple's tablet or another e-reader technology?
 
Traci Armstrong
@tannarmstrong

"Turn left at the house with the green shutters then right at CVS..." This is how I find my way around when driving.

Google has integrated human-like directions into Google Maps India. From Google's blog:

"Have you ever been lost? Perhaps you missed a turn because a street sign was poorly labeled, hard to see in the dark, or just not where it should have been? These are problems we've all faced, but they're especially complicated in India, where street names are not commonly known and the typical wayfinding strategy is to ask someone on the street. Without road names, it's difficult to produce a set of directions that makes sense."

The visual landmarks to confirm you're on the right track definitely feel more human than just "go right" and "go left." Most of us are visual by nature and have a hard time remembering names, but not faces, and the landmark approach works in the same manner.

What Else We'd Like To See
• It integrated with your in-car navigation
• The ability to set your iPhone to speak the landmarks to you while showing you a street view pic at the same time
• Applied to sight-seeing landmarks as well. It could be a mash up of navigation and the headsets you get in museums on tours.
• Added crowdsourced directions
• The ability to share your map/landmark view while you are driving or walking so you can get audio confirmation from a friend. This would be especially helpful if you're looking for a tiny detail that would otherwise not show up or be obvious on a map - like a specific area in a park or a section in a department store.

Google Isn't Alone
The New Zealand-based company Navman has been trying to introduce this idea to the masses with their NavPix concept for quite a while, bringing not only the names of landmarks into the directions, but with visuals. Check out the geotagged photos of landmarks from the users.

Also, Garmin, together with Google Panoramio, is trying to do the same.

How soon before Google rolls out the U.S. version? What would you like to see?

Sandy Marsh
Casey Riggleman
Craig Ritchie
Karri Ojanen

With its continued Cluetrain-driven brand strategy, Lego continues to expand its product offering. Potentially its most audacious offering yet, Lego Universe looks like... it looks like... well, just look. They're building something big.

Lego Click is an engaging space that allows inventors, fans, anyone to share ideas -- specifically intended for new products. To facilitate creative LEGO-like thinking, the company also created a free iPhone app called LEGO Photo that turns your photos into LEGO works of art. Fans can also connect via Facebook and Twitter, where a Tweets using #legoclick are displayed on the community site. @legoclick currently only has just under 400 followers, but the hashtag is getting more use with rave reviews of the new site. LEGO might see more fans and followers if it uses its Facebook and Twitter accounts to post the most interesting Lego Click submissions daily as well as give users creative assignments.

Casey Riggleman agrees with LEGO's latest offering. "Once again LEGO is genius! My son (who is 6) and I (who is 36) find great delight in building Lego creations. It has always amazed me that this simple block can inspire people across a wide age group so much. 

LEGO has done really well with it's Star Wars and Indiana Jones games (we own all of them). So it's great to see LEGO actually creating an MMOG. Makes sense to me considering that the majority of the past games under the LEGO umbrella have a World feel to begin with. Plus I have always felt LEGO's are social (look what I built!). They already have LOTS of buckets (Atlantis, City, Power Miners, etc.) to pull from to make it interesting too."

The key will be seeing if and when LEGO actually uses any ideas from the community in future products. But for now, LEGO's already giving fans and creators what they desire -- the tools to build their imagination. Are you inspired?

Craig Ritchie
@craigritchie
Sarah Jo Sautter
@pedalprincess