IA Summit ‘09+IxD ‘09 = RedUX DC (part 2)

Cindy Chastain – @cchastain – Experience Themes: An Element of Story Applied to Design

1st activity is to prototype a device that gets folks from point A to point B

2nd activity is to prototype a device that gets folks from point A to point B in the manner which is most comfortable for them.

As designers we too often neglect to define a coordinating force behind the scope of what we are designing, making or building.

Tangible elements of a web expericnet – visual design (creative), copy (marketing), information content (content stragegist), UI/System response (IA, IX designers), error message (engineering), music (outside source) — these are all created independently but experienced holistically by our users. To unify our design process, use themes. The themes of filmmakers. Subject matter, topic, or idea on which a work of art or literature is based.

For a storyteller, theme is used as a compass. Examine every element in terms of the theme. The theme coordinates the elements of the story

Theme can inform strategy. Strategy is very much dependent upon themes. Theme defines functional and content requirements.

Themes get us one step closer to deisgning for pleasure, emotion and meaning.

Theme Defined: Theme is an overarching statement or phrase that encapsulates the value and focus of the experience that we intend to deliver.

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Donna Spencer – @maadonna – Design Games

Games are fun. We work better when we’re having fun.

Design the home page — design a page that would work best for them (don’t worry about stakeholders or any other users).

Divide the dollars – this is good for feature prioritization. Allocate and defend allocations.

Free Listing – list out as many of X as you can.

Reversal – look at your problem and instead of looking at it head on, reverse it. At the summit we brainstormed how to make airport security worse

To make your games more effective, make very clear instructions and keep your goals in mind.

Web site for Design Games: designgames.com.au

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David Malouf – @daveixd – Foundation

What is Foundation? Creates a solid base of core theories and crafts – transcends all design disciplines (includes art history, color, 2D design, 3D design)

Pratt Institute – Brooklyn, NY – Rowena Reed Kostellow (The elements of design) – Founded the Industrial Design School at Design.

Breaks down as sketch (and sketch and sketch….!). Building an endurance for creativity.

components of foundation: line, plane, volume, texture and color.

It has a language and therefore can be critiqued.

Does IxD have foundations? Not in any course, I have taken or seen… but still…. do we build anything? Is there something that we shape and mold even if that something is invisible?

Element Foundations of IxD — Time, Abstraction, Metaphor.

Everything in design has some aspect of negativity (white space),

Behavior is our Medium. What does that mean?

Time – attention or posture (read: Cooper’s concepts around posture).

Frequency – how many times in X period

Rhythm – predictability or syncopation

Delay – in our responses, in the system (negativity?)

Abstraction – level of directness or interaction. Includes command line > Finger tap click (most abstract to least abstract continuum).

Everything in computers is a metaphor – Dan Saffer IA Summit 2005

Movement has an aesthetic. There is a direct correlation between how good a motion feels and how effective the motion is.

It isn’t the power of our tools that matter, but it is knowing what to do with them.

Beauty is not about “liking.”

Okay, okay… this went waaaay fast for me to get down. Go to his web site:

http://davemalouf.com

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Dave Cooksey – @saturdave – Taxonomy Validation

I actually went to (and blogged) this presentation in Memphis. Check it out, so I don’t repeat myself

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Dante Murphy – @dantemurphy – State Mapping

Understanding the elements and their attributes is not the same as understanding the system.

The whole must be greater than the sum of its parts. Mapping a single journey, or single use, is not effective. We need to look at multiple journeys to understand the system. In order to understand the multiple journeys even more effectively, introduce time. Better than a use-case, we need to identify who they are, and how their conditions change and thus their behaviors change.

Behavior, Activity and Structure must be combined with state.

I’ve got a PC, I use Visio: I’m a fucking caveman.

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Dan Willis – @uxcrank – Time to Spit on the Table

We don’t know who discovered water, but we know it wasn’t a fish. -Marshall McLuhan

Culture is like water. We don’t know who made it.

Eric Reiss on Inappropriate Deliverables: had to present a flow chart for how to tackle cold calls. Addressed the manager by his first name and used sticky notes (out of normal for their culture). Made the manager understand that the problem was a work in progress. They got actively involved.

Existing culture expects something, give them something that they don’t expect (Inappropriate tactics) and get desired results.

Example: fining people when they break the ground rules of the meetings. Using messy prototype to explain functionality.

Things to keep in mind:

Inappropriate doesn’t (always) mean rude.

Understand the existing culture and gauge the ROI

Get tactile, Get personal

Use humor, but constantly track the discomfort in the room.

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Jared Spool – @jmspool – Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon

Product that Amazon used to sell – Tuscan Whole Milk. Reviews ran away with themselves…

I like the way Amazon does it. Why don’t we do it just like Amazon?

How do we deal with this question?

Engage through content.

Quality of reviews – shipping info? not so great. Really verbose review getting into details… really valuable. Problem is that there are 3,947 reviews for that product. Chronological presentation of reviews failed; the good reviews got buried. So they added the helpfulness question and it was worth about 2.7 billion dollars to Amazon in 2008. There was no launch, there was no press release. They just put it up and people started using it.

Lesson learned: More people look at negative reviews than at positive reviews. Sorted them into most helpful favorable review and most helpful critical review.

Caution: be careful when emulating features.

Target uses the same software as Amazon (the exact same software). People use the reviews completely differently on target than they do on Amazon. A lot more negative reviews, every alarm clock review was negative.

There is a dynamic about writing reviews – when you write them, why you write them. Ratio of reviewers to purchasers 1 in 1,300. Purchases required for 20 reviews: 26,000. Would require 1.3 million product views.

Amazon also has visitors, we should get those, too!

Amazon uses all sorts of user-generated content, we should, too. Caution: Not every experiment pans out.

Example: tag cloud on Amazon. #notinterested #wasteofmoney

It’s worth experimenting for Amazon. (every 5 bux they add to every purchase on their site is an addition 875 million dollars).

Nobody ever remembers/notices an Amazon redesign. They are changing all the time.

Amazon turns its inventory every 20 days. Best Buy turns its inventory every 74 days. Standard retail payment terms are 45 days. Essentially, Best Buy is in debt. Amazon is not. This how they are able to give us free shipping and discounted prices.

Great presentation! Get the slides on slideshare (upcoming).