Although it is a really easy trap to fall into, if you simply ask users about what would make life better, you will rarely get meaningful answers. They are just not good at envisioning revolutionary solutions, and basing your designs on those responses won’t get to a breakthrough in your design. In this presentation, Amy Cueva and Megan Grocki discuss how research inspires design and how reality inspires creativity. They focus on activities such as Laddering, Game play, Storytelling and Tr

Is there any theoretical framework information architects can use to inform their design decisions? Perhaps our field is too young to have a mature theory, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a set of immutable principles that give us a sense of quality in IA. Daniel Brown talks about eight principles that influence the rules and frameworks that govern the experience, why each is important, and why they are immutable. After sharing examples of each principle, he concludes with a r

You don’t get a second chance to make a great first impression—and that includes kickoff meetings. After one too many unproductive kickoffs, Happy Cog reinvented its project definition process around full-day, interactive activities and collaborative design exercises. Kevin Hoffman, Experience Director at Happy Cog East, explores approaches for identifying business strategy, company culture, and project risks before you even shake your client’s hand for the first time. He then

At Mad*Pow, they leverage the disciplines of Human Factors, Psychology, and Visual Design to create engaging experience that maximize customer acquisition, increase attention, and reduce costs. The American Society of Information Science & Technology: Since 1937, ASIS&T has been THE society for information professionals leading the search for new and better theories, techniques, and technologies to improve access to information.The IA Summit: the premier gathering place for information architect

At Mad*Pow, they leverage the disciplines of Human Factors, Psychology, and Visual Design to create engaging experience that maximize customer acquisition, increase attention, and reduce costs. The American Society of Information Science & Technology: Since 1937, ASIS&T has been THE society for information professionals leading the search for new and better theories, techniques, and technologies to improve access to information.The IA Summit: the premier gathering place for information architect

At Mad*Pow, they leverage the disciplines of Human Factors, Psychology, and Visual Design to create engaging experience that maximize customer acquisition, increase attention, and reduce costs. The American Society of Information Science & Technology: Since 1937, ASIS&T has been THE society for information professionals leading the search for new and better theories, techniques, and technologies to improve access to information.The IA Summit: the premier gathering place for information architect

It took both the telephone and the mobile phone 15 years to amass 100 million users, but Facebook did it in 9 months. We see more and more people becoming connected on online social networks, and it seems our networks are growing exponentially. But the reality is, social networks rarely add to our number of connections. We’ve already met almost all the people we’re connected to on social networks. We’re already connected to these people offline. Social networks simply make the

How do we determine the hierarchy of Attributes? My research led me to believe that most people find it intuitive when the Attribute-Location breadcrumb simply replicates the order in which un-selected facets are presented (most typically in the left nav bar). Replicating the order in which un-selected facets appear also provides an effective way to integrate search and browse by treating the Category as just another Attribute in the breadcrumb. In vast majority of finding interfaces, Category a

They are more than a project manager because the user— and not the project—is at the heart of their concerns. He is responsible for delivering and continually developing a quality product. He is not just monitoring the features on a checklist. The user is at the center of all decisions on the design and development of the site. This is the only way you can ensure the user will be heard throughout product development – to employ somebody who listens to user voices and never forg

* Get rid of the gradient background; it’s distracting and confuses the emphasis on different parts of the site, since it runs behind multiple different elements. * Get rid of the green coloring, which is tertiary to the blue and yellow. Instead, use several shades of blue as the primary color and a little light beige or light grey as a secondary trim. Blue signifies authority, calmness, trustworthiness, etc., which are of course appropriate here. Notice how almost every major government a

Some assert that there are plenty of examples of best-practice interfaces to copy out there. So, why reinvent the wheel? Surely we can save time that way? Sometimes they’re right, but how will we know which best-practice interface works best in context with the user’s goals, with no time to test with the user? How can we innovate by copying what already exists? Before Google reinvented internet search, other search engines assumed a status quo which behooved the user to learn how to

Wikimedia allows collaborative editing of content on sites built with the software.Start simple, with light features, and gradually add more complexity if it is really needed. Keep the structure flexible enough for your users to mold and adapt to their needs. In the book, we discuss several principles related to this including “Deliberately Leave Things Incomplete”:http://www.designingsocialinterfaces.com/patterns.wiki/index.php?title=Deliberately_Leave_Things_Incomplete, which remin

For sessions at an office or lab, some participants will arrive 10-20 minutes early, at which time they will need to use the restroom, sign NDAs and consent forms, and generally get comfortable. Comfortable participants give useful feedback, while uncomfortable participants tend to clam up and provide short, unemotional responses. The researcher needs to set up and get ready. For usability or experience testing, the test will need to be reset, notes and documents need to be filed and new ones pr

While it’s true that this technique does not measure everything that determines a site’s ease of browsing, that can also be a strength. By isolating the site structure – by removing other variables at this early stage of design – we can more clearly see how the tree itself performs, and revise until we have a solid structure. We can then move on in the design process with confidence. It’s like unit-testing a site’s organisation and labeling. Or as my colleague

Ability to Draw New Sketchy Shapes - These days, many components of user interfaces are standardized into stencils that can be dropped onto wireframes to build them out quickly. While this can be a real time saver, not all UI problems can be solved with prepackaged stencils. In fact, one could argue that the best use of wireframes is to illustrate new concepts that have not become standardized. Many tools use pre-built, sketchy-looking stencils to allow designers to create sketchy wireframes.