Three Minds On Digital Marketing @ Organic

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

Last Friday I had the pleasure of catwalking through the Avedon Fashion Photographs at the DIA. Instead of the clunky handheld audio guides the museum usually supplies, it encouraged you to use your mobile phone (ringer off, of course) at specific pieces in the exhibit.

I saw this on the DIA site before I visited, so I came prepared with my headphones and an expectation to be guided through many extraordinary pieces.

Yet I left wanting more. Not by the photographs -- those alone were gorgeous -- but by the mobile guide.

Okay, so I know in my post on evolving audio guides last October I stated how I'd like to see more mobile guides. And maybe I would if they project more compelling content. Museum Director Graham Beal commentates on eight pieces in the collection. He did tell me some interesting things about the pieces, but I wanted to hear more about the models, the locations, the celebrities through interviews with the people Avedon worked with.

At "stop number five" (as the mobile guide references the featured pieces), Beal poses questions about what Avedon is trying to convey with his shot. "Is this a straightforward comparison?...Does it poke fun at the fashion industry? The interpretation is left to you [the viewer]." I really like how Beal encouraged me to draw my own conclusion about the photographers vision. But do I really need an an audioguide to prompt me?

I'm not saying that this mobile guide was bad. I admire that museums -- the DIA included -- are experimenting with educating visitors in interactive, familiar (to younger audiences) ways.

Museums, keep it up. You may not get it right every time, but I like that you're trying to keep up with technology while preserving amazing history.

Sarah Jo Sautter

(drawing via designofsites.com)

Here's a discussion of page folds in Web design and user experience. And we're presenting it as it happened because we are cutting edge. Feel free to pipe in, take issue, make a point, agree, disagree or even compliment anywhere you feel like it.

--Ed.

----Original Message-----
 From: Craig Ritchie
 Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2009 10:55 AM
 Subject: [ee] There Is No Page Fold. http://www.thereisnopagefold.com/

 -----

Since the OS 3.0 release for iPhone last September, the number of available mobile augmented reality (AR) apps has grown quite a bit.
 
We've talked about a few of them on threeminds throughout the year:
• Yelp's app 
• Nokia's Point and Find 
• Virtual Tennis 

AR is a new type of UI (and user experience), so bugs and features are changing rapidly -- similar to web browsing back in 1994. Remember that?

One cool piece is that Layar's AR app now supports third party 3-D objects. That means that technologists can now build in overlays. And users get new controls that allow them to select multiple layers and control the radius better -- all in a new, less-cluttered interface.
 
It will be interesting to see how these types of interfaces (Yelp, UrbanSpoon, Twitter 360, etc.) are refined and expanded in the future.

Still, there are a few things that might make these interfaces really take off.

1. An aggregator.  A service that aggregates (and filters) content from multiple providers would allow AR to take off - as a publishing platform (similar to the ease of access and standards for Google Maps).

2. Standards.  APIs that make it easy to create AR content, as well as standards for AR interfaces will make AR more of a must have app versus a novelty. A good example is the horizontal gridline seen when using the UrbanSpoon app's AR feature. Instead of AR content moving up and down in the frame as you change the angle of your mobile device (being handheld, sensitive mobile devices will translate all movement into the UI), all content snaps to that horizontal line. 

3. Accessiblity.  AR doesn't necessarily require a visual interface - applications like HearMe are audio-based A' and could work very well for visually-impaired users, as long as the menu systems to get to the AR feature are very easy to use or voice-based.  Conversely, AR content rendered visually could be very empowering to hearing-impaired users looking for information about their immediate surroundings.

What would you like to see?

Jay Bain

The Digital Campaign of the Decade isn't an ad campaign - it's a self-sustaining platform - and that's what's so great about it. As a runner, and a former Nike Plus user myself, I must say, however, that there is so much more they could do with it.

1. Use it to fuel offline campaigns. Contests, more events... Bring the people, the real Nike+ users, from the online service to the print and TV: pose them as the real Nike Just Do Its in select campaigns, and show total stats (total miles run, total calories burned, total energy saved, etc) in the ads. It's authentic content that's coming in from the users, for free, without Nike having to write it. Now use it!

2. Connect to social. They were incredibly slow in adding social connectivity to Nike+, even just in the form of simple sharing to Twitter and Facebook. It's been up there now for a little while, but services like dailymile.com beat them to it.
  
3. Implement SMS notifications. many bigger running events across NA offer participants the chance to sign up for an SMS service that sends messages to up to five friends' phones when ever the runner passes an official timing spot, e.g. time for 10k, 20k, etc at marathon events. Now that Nike+ works with the iPhone, it shouldn't be hard to add this same functionality to the Nike+ app, allowing people to send running stats to their friends not just from official events but when they're jogging around the park. Friends could also reply to the messages.

4. Besides running stats, track photos, video along the course. The Nokia Sportstracker allows people to also take photos and video on the run and put them on the map (it's GPS-based). I don't see a reason why similar functionality couldn't be added to Nike+ on the iPhone, allowing runners to share photos from their runs, even though it's not GPS-based and thus the photos couldn't be automatically placed on the map.
  
5. Host offline events. The Human Race is great, but again, like with social connections, I wonder why they didn't start it sooner. Connect the online to the offline more, not just with big coordinated events, but local groups, local "activists"/ambassadors, etc.

6. Offer better hardware. One of the greatest things about the Nike+ for the average runner is its simplicity: its based on RFID and a small accelerometer. That makes it cheap to buy. But the flipside of that is that it's unreliable. The battery runs out eventually, and it can't be easily replaced by the consumer, and the stats aren't accurate. Because of the inaccuracy, I switched my Nike+ to a way more accurate GPS-based system a while ago. Nike could solve this by beginning to offer different versions of the hardware for different types of runners: the current, simple and affordable solution for more casual runners, and a more accurate, robust GPS-based solution for the more serious.

If you've used NIke+, what did you think of it? How would you like to see Nike extend this platform?

Karri Ojanen

The last century has seen a rapid urbanization of the world's population. In 1900 only 13%, but now more than half of all people live in urban areas. Cities are facing dramatic changes in how they adapt to their rising populations and effectively provide services for the people and businesses that they need to feed their economic growth. Cities are also hubs for much of today's innovation, and the future success of cities is in the hands of those who plan, design and manage the public spaces and functions of the city.

The World Design Capital is a biennial city promotion project by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID) to highlight the accomplishments of cities that leverage design as a tool to improve the social, cultural and economic life in the city. In 2008, Turin, Italy was chosen to be the first ever World Design Capital, and next year it's Seoul, South Korea, who get to throw a yearlong program of design-related events.

And at the end of last month in its meeting in Singapore, ICSID announced that the next Design Capital, in 2012, is Helsinki, Finland. In total, there were 46 cities from 27 countries that applied for the designation. With a long history and culture of elegant design and strong public funding for high-tech infrastructure, Helsinki has for decades been using design as "a pivotal enabler to building an open city", according to the ICSID press release. Despite the country's small population, Finland and Helsinki as its capital have established an impressive line of well-known global brands, such as Nokia, Kone and Marimekko, architects and designers such as Eliel Saarinen and Alvar Aalto, and highly acclaimed education and research institutions. The city says its main goal for 2012 is to embed good design in the life of every resident by inviting all citizens, enterprises and organizations in Helsinki, as well as visiting design professionals and enthusiasts, to participate in the preparations and the events.

VIDEO: Open Helsinki - Embedding Design in Life

What would be your own Design Capital of the World, and why? Do you have examples of cities around the world that have successfully enhanced the lives of their residents through effective urban planning and everyday design?

Karri Ojanen