I have already covered content, visual design and behaviour as part of the UX design framework but now for the important topic of interaction…

A major element of UX, it has been described as

“the design of behavior, positioned as dialogue between a person and an artifact. A person commonly doesn’t talk to an object; they use it, touch it, manipulate it, and control it. Usage, touching, manipulation and control are all dialogical acts, unspoken but conversational.” – Jon Kolko

and also…

“a design discipline dedicated to defining the behavior of artifacts, environments, and systems (i.e., products)”. – Robert Reimann

Undoubtedly interaction design is a design discipline that has become a defining element of UX. Though the preceding two quotes assert the alignment with a user’s behaviour they do so here in relation to their interaction (the person and the artifact).

In other words it is the behaviour of the object in relation to the user. The following principles reassert this notion that many interaction design issues are born out of preconceptions of what a user expects to be able to do with the interface they are presented with.

Progressive disclosure
Good interfaces display this all the time. By only revealing necessary information at a specific point on the user journey, or within a specific context, the tasks presented are relevant. This is a type of layering , but in the case of the interface, the layers are interactions. In the physical world we see this exhibited on road signs as we reach a destination. In sign up forms, revealing necessary steps in stages to allow an easier route to completing a form.

Affordance

In design, affordance is defined as the properties an object or environment has that defines its usage. The hammer is a very basic example, for hitting nails it is the best tool for the job, a handle to pick it up and a heavy end to hit a nail with.

In website design affordance is perceived and describes how interactive elements give clues about how an element is interacted with. The input field, the carousel, the scroll bar all have a way of describing their interactive qualities. But it is important to remember they are perceived, in other words prior knowledge has been gleaned somewhere before a user fully understands how these elements act within a web browser.

This is important to consider when using new interactive paradigms – there may be no prior experience that a user can take from, which will result in initial poor usability. However the experience of the product may eventually be better once the interaction has been learnt.  

An example of perceived affordance and the glitch with usability can be seen in Google Wave’s scrollbar. Though it works a little like a normal scrollbar, it grows with the length of a list and has an elasticity to its behaviour. The purpose is to save space but see what one user thinks; ‘I’d be content with an option to use normal scrollbars. For me, the issue is that scrollbars are easy and don’t need to be reinvented; at the risk of sounding Luddite somehow (though how Luddite can I be, being a Wave early adopter?) there was nothing wrong with the standard widgets, and Google didn’t need to make changes.  Second, they break the rule of "don’t move the controls around." I don’t want to have to go find the scroll arrows again. As it is, I avoid using them whenever possible.’

Confirmation, Errors and Forgiveness

The avoidance of errors online is a major consideration especially when one considers the increasingly important role websites have to play in tasks that are important. The online vote for a general election may not be too far away but the system for the voting paper would need to be designed to minimize user errors and allow a user to navigate and be clear in their actions.

These three qualities are all closely linked and are in fact related to a user’s mistake. It is widely accepted that errors will be made, and the system must forgive these faults. One way is to ensure a confirmation stage is instilled before a deletion or a payment. Past this point of confirmation it is easy to see how the user’s experience of a service can be rated in terms of forgiveness. If you have mistakenly paid for an item how easy is it to regain your money? If you have deleted a record can you undo? 

An optimal pattern of interaction maybe that the user decides on an action, the system asks the user to confirm it. The user does but realises their error and the system ‘forgives’ the mistake by allowing them to rectify the issue. How many systems do not allow this to happen? Many online banks, for example, will not reverse a confirmed payment without a call to customer services.

Fitts law

Size and location of interactive items (eg buttons) can denote an ease and speed of use. The smaller and more distant the area of interaction, the longer it takes to move from a resting position to the target and accuracy is also affected if speed and distance is a factor. However in touch screen technology the extra dimension, of what you are pointing with, (in this case the finger) plays a part in this principle. Moving objects with the finger can become tiresome if repetitive, and Fitts Law again plays a role by the ensuring the least amount of effort is required when interacting with an interface.

Constraints

In the interface a physical constrain can be seen in the slider to select appropriate parameters (price available for flights for example) or in form input fields with the radio button (select one) or the check box (select one or many of several options). The screen is also a physical constraint and leads to the inevitable frame effect on the design of a page. However Windows 7 for mobile and the iPad see the screen more as a window to look through at the content than a frame to be bound by.  Used well constraints will simplify and reduce errors by improving usability.

Control

The principle of allowing a user control over a system regardless of their proficiency or experience. ‘Expert’ modes allow advanced features to be made use of but should never inhibit the minimum requirements of operating the interface and getting expected responses from it. The advanced user is considered the secondary audience where popular interfaces (such as on a web browser) are seen.

Facebook (with a user base of 500 million) has in recent months been struggling with confusion over it’s public and private settings, the line between shared and private information is undefined and as a result disconcerting to users. In an effort to address this the security settings have undergone a redesign – to give control back in a way that is clearer to the user.

Many feel that by using a service they should not feel violated by their interaction with it but unfortunately as a design exercise the failings are still evident and have led to many giving up their profiles. The design still fails to communicate effectively which privacy settings apply to areas of a profile and at the time of writing this post, basic information design rules have still not been observed.

Cost benefit

Activity (and interactivity) will be pursued by a user only if the benefits are greater than the costs. The costs in this case are typically time and attention spent by the user. Advertising is a typical annoyance but only when deemed irrelevant. In the proper context the cost benefit is increased and will likely lead to increased results.

Sometimes, as in the case of Flickr, the tools developed end up being of more value than the product itself. Flickr was actually a component of Game Neverending, an online multiplayer game produced by the Canadian company Ludicorp. The image sharing component of the game became Flickr as it was deemed a more feasible project. The cost invested in producing an element of the interface resulted in a massive benefit for the company who sold to Yahoo!

However this good fortune is a rarity in design, often features that have little cost benefit are only expensive and drain resources of a development group. One must be mindful of the impact of spending energy on elements with little discernible value to the user – they run the risk of being expensive distractions and potentially harmful to the user experience.

Interaction design

Such is the established nature of the discipline of interaction design it is very easy to forget that the design principles at its foundation have been in existence as a core of product design for decades. Interaction as a component of UX is extremely important but it is important to view all the elements as part of the cohesive whole. Designing with user’s experiences in mind effectively means that all areas of the UX design framework need to be taken into account to give the best results. UX is a part of good design practice and should not be treated as a separate entity.

In the next part of the series, I’ll be covering persuasion, perhaps the newest element in the UX mix.

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The audience represented those who really are empowered to change the user experience daily – the product and web development managers. In the presentation I highlight several ways to create change and use approaches to help give a different perspective to their task in hand.

So much of what they deal with, the political and organisational challenges as well as resource issues and technological constraints, we only observe as UX people. The real-life of producing and implementing what we draft is something that as UX people we need to be more mindful of. After the implementation of the ideas, these people are the ones who must ensure business runs as usual and goals are met.

The presentation is an introduction and also a practical approach to get UX integrated with 5 tips to help UX become a reality in the team and the business.

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Image courtesy of  Stewf

Though I work in UX, a core interest of mine is not so much the practical application of tools but the importance of the organisation of the teams behind creating the best products and being aware of the cultural makeup of those teams. Getting this right allows us to concentrate on the production of the best ideas and solutions and generates momentum and further inspiration.

Notable by its absence 
Behind all great work lies a great team. Though this is not new, the agile philosophy rightly states it is achievable with a core group of developers, technical PMs mixed with the appropriate business people. An important issue that agile does not account for, or really attempt to address, are the effects of cultural influences to ensure that work is produced in a way that is empathetic to users and good for the business. It does well in reaching an outcome, but is it the outcome that is optimal for a user? Not responding to it will mean projects inevitably fail even if deadlines are met which eventually will harm the business. To be truly aware of a client’s needs, requires the ability to listen and structure a plan around those needs.

Internal vs external – the different cultural challenges
If you have an internal team, agile may be easier because you can adapt and control elements within that culture, the team are aware of it and they live in it daily. However you may need to deal with comfort zones, politics, inertia and lethargy. In working with external clients and their teams, you need to work with other people with different approaches and another business culture alongside your own. Being completely aware of this and empathetic to their needs, helps for a smoother journey to the destination. This ‘destination’ is the one sold to them in the pitch – the reason you got the job in the first place. You certainly don’t want to sell a lie, therefore back it up with a commitment to build with consideration. Consideration to be aware of their cultural difficulties, nuances and hurdles that are present in every company, no matter what size.

Some things to look out for:-

• Power struggles – can result in partial collaboration between teams, departments or even offices. Becomes a bigger issue with bigger companies.
• HiPPO mentality – the guy with the plate on his door may overrule everybody because he can. Find out if this is habitual before a project kick off.
• Alliances and allegiances – preferential treatment can be detrimental when decisions are taken on previous work or even favours. Friendships can cloud judgment and is a risk to getting the team in the proper professional frame of mind
• Deferring responsibility – if you get the feeling that somebody is covering their back, and avoiding making the tough decisions, you need to flag this early and make it known to the project owners.
• Ego – when you hear something like ‘that’s just his way’ be prepared to roll your sleeves up and tackle the problem by gauging the personality and tailoring your approach accordingly
• The committee – having numerous stakeholders, all with a say, will result in a project that goes on too long or may never reach a solution

Image courtesy of  Stewf

Mixing it up and being the guide Spanning boundaries of job function and role, and not being reliant on a core discipline, will enable you to generate a diverse culture within the team.  Ensure you have marketing and sales involved. You need somebody representing business interests, aims and objectives. If possible this should be the client or a representative and they need to be a core part of the process. In my experience the best and most enjoyable projects have the clients very much as an integral part of developing and designing the solution.

Iteration irritation
Have you briefed the client on the journey into the unknown that they are about to take? Do they really know what a chaotic and confusing place iteration is? Iterative design is the key in reaching the best solutions and that includes iterative development – but there is a price – to a client it can feel dangerously out of control. This is where project managers earn their crust and where a client is thankful (or regretting) that they have hired a particular group (agency or internal department).  It is so important at this stage to not only consider the users and your project team but those paying your invoice. As a project of any scale develops they need to be constantly communicated with – weekly at least. The reason is because agile is built for speed and incremental changes. They need to be aware of those decisions that are being made on a daily basis.

This month I had an article published in Boxes and Arrows about an agile project with UCD underpinnings. It was within an internal department – before I went agency side. But the interesting thing is, nothing changes in respect to how those wanting the work done expect to be briefed and updated. Nothing changes in how you explain the design and development processes and the testing of what is produced.

Three considerations
Awareness of business culture, understanding the client situation and their expected outcomes are key:

1. Be honest. Tell the client that during the design phase things will be subject to change as a parallel tracks begin whilst prototyping starts. It is important to let them know that at times the process of design seems chaotic, and actually in the initial stages it is. But the objectives of UX are to keep the goals tied down and keep it based on the users, whilst ensuring the corporate goals are also met. Gain a real appreciation of the culture they operate in, ask questions get the inside angle on difficult characters or political alliances. Gain their trust by delivering transparent quotes and invoices and be absolutely honest when there are problems.

2. Be understanding. You know situations will arise where items need to be removed and changes must be made. Be aware that the client may have worked before with others and have a particular approach to how they want their work carried out. Accommodate their needs but don’t sacrifice your own methods and skills that gave them the reason to choose you in the first place. Don’t be held to ransom, just remember you are their guide and counsel for getting the job done optimally.

3. Manage expectations. From the very start decide on key landmarks within the project that they sign off on. They will be the points of lock down to control budget and scope creep. It is also key that they understand that building a  solution has many stages, iterations and refinements. My main message is always that a website or online product is never finished and more importantly it never should be. The solution that is built if successful should grow and develop. Make sure they know this. If they don’t want a living digital organism ask them why.

So there it is. Like social media, the success of web development is dependent on the culture that it is operating in. Being aware of it and gaining an appreciation for it upfront will make sure your team and the product reaches the best outcome.

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After 10 years of job title changes we come back to being designers, albeit ‘user experience’ designers for users and for people. In 1999 it seemed to be so very new and we were on the same page, but now we see the different disciplines needing to embrace and unify before they fragment completely. It needs to change soon, to move on with an admission of guilt for the turf wars, the inflated egos and finally gain some appreciation for each other’s craft.

Two points of view can be represented by Jesse James Garrett and his closing plenary last year at the IA Summit (memorable by his ‘we are all just UX designers’ statement) to the recent competition of defining IA ran by The Information Architecture Institute and promoted by Peter Morville. Garrett wants a return to us all being generalists whilst Morville sees a definite case for specialization. Their two books (both essential reads) should have given us the clue on their stand points years ago, in reality they have stayed true to their own beliefs. 

Are we all just expert generalists?
I think the term information architect although clumsy and a little grandiose is still the most accurate when placed alongside those who create the concepts of digital products. I may be different as I have been designing and drawing all my life, I have 13 years experience as an interaction designer, 10 as a web designer, 5 as a design manager and now 3 as an information architect. I have become an expert generalist but I would never have arrived at the last job role if I hadn’t had the other elements in my work experience. So I view the title of IA as something I have had to earn, and that can only come with experience, lots of mistakes and learning the hard way.

Looking at the effort we still spend on defining what we should or should not call ourselves seems unusual unless it is for the benefit of those new to the field. Though it does help clarify in the mind of the individual what IA is, we should be aware that clients do not share this fascination with titles but only the standard of the work we produce.

Take responsibility

For me this is what defines IA – it’s a commitment to delivering the best appropriate solution, without compromises that may affect the users. Bad design work in a visual sense is easy to fix but bad information or technical architecture is irreversible in a client’s timeline.

Having collaborative multiple-disciplinary teams is a way that a project can be delivered effectively on time and budget. Talking to each other regularly and being totally honest keeps this on track. Transparency will avert any disasters here but the conversations must occur at the right time. Whatever the process you use, all projects have time as their master. That is why timely intervention needs to happen regularly to steer and correct a project path. Those who have good time management skills tend to enjoy greater project success and certainly have happier clients. Meeting deadlines has to be the main priority when in the business of delivering solutions.

Document more

Documenting your creative process is important and rewarding because writing makes us aware of our mistakes. Our mistakes are to be encouraged in design, failure is an option if it occurs at the right point in the process. So iterate, stop only to test, discuss and verify. Share, contribute, collaborate and communicate more but admit any failings. 

We know our process and we have our tools but do we employ our minds to think differently before we even start to reach for a pen or boot up the machine? When you think about good technology it is enabling human beings to become better at being human. We should aim to enable that to happen through our work but do it in a way that is shared and publicly available. Only then through transparent practices will we grow as a collective of professionals.

The next ten years?  

The iPad and other touch devices represent the changing face of digital design. Not only in how it is a different interactive paradigm (the phones have given us a good foundation course on what not to do) but in how it will change the way we work together. The  Internet changed how we communicated and has moved from the broadcast medium to an interactive social experience. However companies have been able to operate in much the same way. The web as an add-on to their normal business.

But when the medium is defined in the device, and the device is ubiquitous then those providing it’s content will organise themselves differently and will have to redefine their offering. UX people will be in increasing demand as will the development teams to put it all together. The iPad will change us culturally. It will reshape our workplace skillsets and our mindsets regarding digital and traditional media. It may even make using the Internet a physically social activity. If it does that then it really could be the saviour of published media and even help society.

The future is the designers shaping our interfaces, interactions and experiences. Those same designers will take the iPad and produce something that will justify Steve Job’s claims of it being a game changing device.  My hope is we produce interfaces that make our children understand the world better and quicker than we ever did. Finally create objects that use technology to help us live longer and happier and improve our world. Hopes aside, I believe it will be the start of a golden age for what we are now calling User Experience design.

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Photo courtesy of Daniel Y. Go

My bank here in Denmark, though not Danish, is courteous and helpful in the physical world but digitally they are atrocious. Their online banking system is a world apart from HSBC and I can only think its because of an overtly paranoid view of security.

I cannot name the bank, as I would fear some sort of American Airlines sacking, but somebody has made a technical decision which just makes it such an arduous task accessing an account.

To gain access you need to download a Java application, install it within your browser and then download an access key which is unique to the machine. It makes your home pc become something like a bank terminal. Even the interface makes you feel like you are in the mainframe.

One click away from rage It is proof, if any were needed, that some banks have such a long way to go to actually deliver a service that their customers want and deserve. This is our money after all. Now the thing is I don’t think that it’s only this bank, I know its probably the majority of them. Do a search on Twitter for online banking and you will see some lively comments instantly about a variety of well known names. The unusual part of this is that vitriol is never far away when you are talking about people trying to access their  money. Passions flair up very quickly unlike many other online interactions. The apparent ease that a customer can interact with their bank and conduct their business through a web browser is actually a situation with many issues. The online bank is a complex place of interaction that is subject to frequent fails – that’s why people are easily annoyed when there is a lapse in customer service, when the basic usability of a system is inadequate and when it appears that the interface is some sort of back office admin panel. User experience and customer experience are entwined here. That causes real problems because the system needs real staff to support it – it is not stand alone (though it purports to be – by acting like a website).

What needs to happen is to bring trust at the interface, the screen where the bank’s customer interacts with the bank. it is no different from the teller window and yet rather than seeing the human face of a smiling cashier we are faced with rows of numbers, that are bland and confusing.

A different approach

The interface need not, and should not, reflect the banks own internal processes and culture. The place for that is in the headquarters and offices, not in front of the customer. Mint and Wesabe both have capitalized on this gap in the market. The gap in which banks have turned their backs on the customer’s experience and preferred to adopt an IT approach to delivering a system that a customer is expected to work within.

Meanwhile these sites have realized that people need to see their numbers differently to how their bank manager sees them. Not on a spreadsheet but a chart with meaning, a saving scheme with a human name and relevance to them. This is what makes me want to return and use a bank. Show me how my money can work harder, where I can save or invest and do it in a way that is educational and even fun.

My online banking experience at the moment is dull, because I don’t want to use the interface. All I can do is either find a better bank or use Wesabe or Mint to download my transactions and render them in a way that is understandable and useful to me.

Tenets for online banking

There are four areas we can take as tenets for what an online bank should deliver for the customers.

Clarity
Ensure that from the visual design down to the language used, to the terms and illustrations, every single entity on the page is as clear as possible. This is how it looks , how the user would interact and use the system to ensuring the user understands exactly what is going on in every page. Iconography, help text, customer service contacts, all need explanation and immediacy for the user. The online bank must provide a service and the customer needs to grasp this instantly. Any marketing or jargon that gets in the way is a huge problem to its usefulness.

Comprehensive
Whatever the customer wants to do in their accounts enable them to do it – if it is a product being offered. If they want something new make sure it is just a click away. Also show them the holistic view of their money and enable them to drill down into specifics whilst giving them a way to navigate around. Visualizing data that is easy to understand is so important to those people who are turned off by numbers, it allows a deeper comprehension and a better understanding of their financial situation.

Convenient
Never make a customer download a piece of software to unlock the gate to let them into the bank. A barrier to entry on a system that holds their money is maddening for a user. It must be accessed through a browser and by mobile devices, even the TV. Online banking should be easy and stress free. Downtime may be unavoidable but warnings to customers and active support needs to be employed during these times.

Control
Finally, allow the customers to take control by offering them the tools to manage and create accounts easily. Flexibility in the way they can manage their money will just give them a much more enjoyable banking experience. Akin to being listened to when they have a request and a feeling that something is being done. Showing their figures in real time and allowing the movement and creation of savings all go some way in giving them the feeling that this is their money, their accounts and importantly a bank they want to belong to.

Competitive threat will enforce change

I hope banking will be different soon. One bank will lead the way in defining an experience the others will follow. It hasn’t happened yet because of constraints, politics, the credit crunch, institutionalization and corporate lethargy. But it will change, and with products like Wesabe’s Springboard around, it will be sooner rather than later. 

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Saul Bass, the legendary graphic designer and film maker, described design as ‘thinking made visual’. In many ways visual design should communicate the more complex considerations of a solution in an immediately accessible way.Aesthetic usability Think about a website that you like and there will probably be a good deal of visual design that helps you in understanding its content better, what it offers and how easy it is for you to use. Aesthetic usability is a quality that arguably Apple have made very much part of their product offering. Consider their most successful devices, (iMac,iPod and iPhone) and there is an immediate attraction to getting to know the product, even before you really know what it can do. As there is an emotive connection (one of delight or intrigue) it affords the product a level of forgiveness within the user when the product or system fails.

We can also see this in many websites today, the Whale fail of Twitter being a notable one. As the website about the image says:

This image brings a human touch to a moment of frustration…

An attractive design is initially perceived as being easier to use and tends to garner a loyalty and forgiveness in a user group that promotes positive relations between people.

Alignment
An ingredient of aesthetic usability, particularly in web pages or screen based interfaces, alignment is a design principle that is often either overlooked or considered a standard aspect of good design. However it does warrant special consideration especially as its importance is the reason why the grid is such a defacto standard in page design, for both the offline and online worlds. As alignment is the norm, where elements on a page break out it causes visual tension – the exception creates a focus on an element on the page.

This is a good example of a site that uses a grid but, with the use of graphics and juxtaposition, breaks it with visual trickery.Even using a small colour palette it effectively does its job of engaging the user and encourages interaction. The visual design gives dynamism. The content of the site is for the Digital Research Centre in Dublin but the site goes some way in getting you interested way before you start to read the content.

Colour
Despite so many people being colour blind it still has a key role in giving meaning to elements on a screen or in the physical world. Colour, and importantly hue and saturation, have effects on the way interfaces are used and perceived by users. Contrast gives users a guide – the more saturated the hue of a colour – the more important the priority. Similar contrast types are seen as part of the same group or importance. The use of contrast is one of the ingredients of visual design that is not immediately the most noticeable but is certainly one of the most notable to attract attention and produce focus in a user.

The designers of Barack Obama’s website agonized for days over the correct shade of blue that would come to be synonymous with the campaign and eventually the Obama brand.Throughout the site, the use of key colours, for calls to action, are used strategically to either prompt or persuade (the red here used sparingly) or to educate and inform (the muted blue grey in the right hand column). The actual colour palette is limited and correct colour usage should always be used in this way. Too much colour variation produces visual noise and confusion.

Consistency
The site mentioned above also exhibits consistency on a huge and intricate scale. The elements within the design are part of a larger code that communicates a meaning that is consistent across all touch-points. In this case the font was used throughout the campaign from signs to captions to all types of visual communication. It is a great way of maintaining a focus to the message, unmistakably it is from Obama. This way of maintaining the message is used throughout the physical world and is a subtle stamp of quality that underpins many good user experiences.

Golden ratio To enhance the aesthetic quality of an object or interface design the golden ratio is a good principle to explore largely because of its prevalence in nature, art and architecture.Areas where visual appeal have been long established and unquestioned can provide a good basis to explore in designs where other factors are not compromised. There is something simplistic, natural and appealing about design that exhibits the ratio of 0.618 within its form. It is only a little over half way but it is enough to give some balance to the eye, making the design inexplicably interesting.

Highlighting and Legibility
Effective use of typography,font size and style can guide a user when used well or lead to confusion when it doesn’t follow consistency. Presenting a message in a particular way can reinforce the impact of the message. Ensuring it is easy to read, uses the appropriate size and clarity and can only help in getting the message across. In many cases the artful use of typography often does this job brilliantly as it implicitly considers legibility and accessible text as part of its remit. That is obviously when it’s purpose is to convey a message and not make a statement.

Image courtesy of theBudman84

You may not agree with this statement from the Information Architects but you can not deny the power of typography to not only deliver the message with clarity but also with meaning.These are just words but the strength of type, colour, style and size give the statement more depth and authority. When a website or interface has legibility problems it is often reviled instantly. People deserve a basic level of accessibility  and this area is one to pay attention to first when thinking about visual design for improved user experiences.

Modularity The real strength of modular design is an ever-present in web pages and web applications. Smaller services or applications that form a larger, more complex system, have really found their niche in the iPhone and contribute to the success of the product.Highly bespoke and tailored user experiences are achievable by offering the platform that can be adjusted to individual user needs. Personalisation is achievable giving much more engaging experiences and the visual design should accommodate this need.

Occam’s razor
This principle states that the unnecessary abundance of features decrease the effectiveness of the designed solution. When considering feature creep in many mobile phones the lack of this principle can be seen very easily. If two solutions are placed side by side, and both are equal in terms of what they can deliver but one is simple and the other is complex, then the design that exhibits simplicity wins because it is practical.

The Flip video camera is one of the best sellers on Amazon and part of its success is its no frills point-and-shoot capability. All non-essential features have been removed and stripped down to the power button, record, play, delete, zoom, lens, microphone and speaker. The only other feature is a 2 inch screen and USB arm.It is an exercise in concentrating on the absolute necessity of the object to create a product that is relevant to the user and suitable for their context of use. Screen interfaces need to reveal the interface in a manner that is contextually relevant to the user. Intelligently giving the user what they need, when they need it. Tailor-made digital experiences will define future UX work.

Proximity and Similarity
Parts of the Gestalt principles of perception -  proximity is based on the premise that when elements are grouped or clustered together they are considered related to one another and those which are spaced apart are considered unrelated. When this is used well, it has the power to convey meaning in a way that is instant and may override other principles that are present on a page. For this reason the grouping of elements needs to be considered carefully and will often need to work alongside other principles. The Fritz Hansen website groups furniture by type and encourages an interaction with the elements.

This site also uses similarity – the visual look of objects resembling each other which produces a feeling of belonging to one another (even though the furniture has been designed by different designers). Strongest grouping effects are seen with elements that use similar colours and shapes. In this instance the same perspective and use of neutral colours give a feeling of cohesiveness.

Symmetry Simon Page’s illustration captures the attractive qualities of symmetrical forms that are often seen in nature. Symmetrical elements arranged to make a pattern of reflection, transition or rotation is an instantly recognizable way to achieve a great aesthetic quality, and often beauty.Simon Page is a visual designer who manages to have that innate ability to produce stunning visual designs. So much so, I wonder what his work would look like if he designed an interface for a client. Would it be usable? Would it be organized correctly, or communicate in the user’s language? Would it give a great experience? I have a feeling that it would, because of his ability as a visual designer. Visual design is so important because we are easily stimulated and manipulated by visual cues. An awareness of this important theme to a UX framework is essential and if we are calling ourselves UX designers we need to consider this as a part of our toolbox. Next up: behaviour

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KForum – a Danish site serving all those involved in communication, gave me an opportunity and asked for a write up. You can read it here (in English). Hopefully the article goes some way in describing how as a UX community we need to start collaborating more and moving away from formulaic thinking. Creativity is back in a big way, fuelled by context and relevance…

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On Wednesday (17 June), I attended the SIGCHI Interaction Design Day at Copenhagen’s ITU. It’s an impressive building and apt to host an event about technology and our interaction with it.      I also did a talk about Usability and user centred design and how user experience is always key in what we make.      You can see the presentation on SlideShare here and I will be writing an article about it published next week. I have placed the notes here

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Bradley Horowitz at The Next Web 09 courtesy of DailyM

After Jeff Jarvis had his take on Google we had somebody from the inside – Bradley Horowitz.Horowitz was the man who advised Yahoo to buy Flickr and after redefining his role there he made them acquire Delicious. Previously he had formed Virage (video categorization engine) and sold it to Autonomy after dropping out of his degree at MIT Medialab where he worked on image categorisation technologies.

It was no wonder with his background that metadata, context and categorisation formed an underlying theme to this talk. It was good to see these foundational elements of online user experience given the focus they deserve.

Moore’s law and the aim of Google
He stated that Google’s main perspective on technology was thinking big as a means of innovation. With this philosophy they have changed the world as we know it and their impact is massive. As silicon valley realised Moore’s law to be true, Google imagined a world where bandwidth, size and storage was not a problem. In doing so they created  applications such as GMail.

Google’s aim is to provide excellent search to enable users to store and find everything. It is to solve one of the world’s biggest problems -that of information overload, its loss and its retrieval.

Ubicomp is here
He told of everyday devices that have achieved ubiquity – that can now record your entire life digitally. Ubiquity is here.  The mobile phone is everywhere.

The problem as he saw it was that you can record everything but you don’t get another life to review it all. The challenge is harvesting metadata and defining context to give meaning to what we do.

So how do you use the information to a useful end? Horowitz (and Google) knows that the big problem is that we are dying from the start. Moments evaporate from the start. This fact drives Google to be fast. Latency is a key focus because time is of the essence. By being fast they give back the time to the world by speed of its services.

Be aware of our human condition
He told of, meditation, sleep, walking the dog that gives him perspective. A very pertinent point was that technology needs to adapt and enhance the human life. He asked how do we solve attention management? The moments of life that need revisiting amongst the morass of spam and junk we all wade through.

A key observation was that metadata is as important as the data itself. Even from biosignals. He stated that Wetware (using people’s minds and bodies as systems) will be as important as software or hardware.

Audience at The Next Web 09 courtesy of DailyM

Image understanding is an amazingly complex process if you expect to use machines to do this. Using humans enables it to be easy to create understanding around cognition of imagery. People can do this easily to give meaning to images and Flickr shows that by a simple means to ensure that the people can tag easily.

Though I appreciate his statement I feel we have along way to go before the wisdom of crowds can be used effectively here.

He stressed that a few dedicated curators can create value for the majority. Indeed, the collective intelligence and interestingness creates a relevance metric that goes beyond just page rank algorythmns.  We see this in blogs, twitter streams and facebook communities but the curators still control the quality. That is  an important point I feel, and one that Google obviously realises.

Then he briefly showed a mental model that reflected the Google approach to data, starting at signal and working upwards.

• enlightenment
• wisdom
• knowledge
• information
• data
• signal

From a signal you may reach the pathway to enlightenment I guess, but it certainly has a clarity to it that is admirable.

The web is broken
What we did get from this talk was a refreshing personal perspective on the world of technology and how it affects us. He iterated that the conference had talked a lot about the current web, Twitter and real time search but he urged us to think about the real future.

In closing Horowitz stated how the browser is a bad model. It is not the optimal system to deliver the next web, the model is terribly broken, latency, code storage and caching are all frailties that have consumed countless lifetimes of development time.

He asked us to think about the ‘what if’ scenarios, take the long view and where the world is trending. Solving the problems that we expect to have tomorrow.

Create space in life
In many ways when somebody talks from Google you know they will not divulge what they do exactly, or certainly not their next step. They, like other successful companies, keep their products shrouded in mystery (ironic in this culture of open source and collaborative working don’t you think?).

With a slight nod to those who were wanting to know the next move he stated  it will be Google Voice. A way of leveraging voicemail into the digital life and Gmail.

Closing the circle completely, he asked ‘how much do you want to invite tech into your life?’. He reminded us to create space in our lives.

That coming from Google was a surprise – or was it really? Their aim after all, is to make our lives easier to manage in the information age. Surely that can only be a good thing.

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Photo by Nicholas Nova

The second of a seven part post about optimising a site to create a more engaged audience. Here we look at user behaviour and how methods used help ensure you address user needs. Previously: Success metrics

I have written before about personas to design experiences around user wants and needs. The problem with personas is that to be truly valuable they require a fair amount  of data. For evidence based design decisions they have a real use and they fall into two types…

Simple Personas

These include decision making styles, content preferences and some segmentation.

Robust Personas

Includes Myers-Briggs-type indicator (seen below), psychographic profiles, market research, competitive analysis and detailed segmentation. Making the simple personas robust involves overlaying extra research in the form of market information, and business intelligence. Acknowledging the types of use behaviour here really helps when analysing the types of user behaviour online.

Applying the concept on a homepage

What would our four types of user behaviour want from Amazon?

• Spontaneous seek top sellers & new releases, making the purchasse on a whim. Images lead choice here.

• Humanistics care more about reviews or specific items for personal relations (birthdays, gifts to loved ones)

• Methodicals find by genre & categorization, they will be likely to find their product through a specific personal criteria. Navigating and browsing through the list of items.

• Competitives search by what they want or the best deal. Price is a key influence as well as perceived quality.

Relevance creates conversion

Not planning different content for different user types will inevitably leave some people out in the cold. This naturally results in abandonment and high bounce rates.

Of course it is difficult to cater for all types, all of the time, but be aware of trends. Be that in news needs, fashion, public opinion or group feeling. The nature of human behaviour is diverse, if you serve one experience you can not expect to be successful in converting all users. Be aware of the context of their use and their profile.

Photo by psd

Revisit the profiles

It’s important to get a good understanding of the advantages that can be gained by identifying personas, then also going back and analysing the segments of these personas and find new ways to appeal to them.

The best way, as described in the previous post, is to keep the ear to the ground, listening to ‘noise’ around blogs, forums, social networks and bookmarking sites. Using search engines as your listening device is a key trick here, as is the ability to sniff out the genuine revelation about your product.

Frequency

Look at how frequently your visitors visit. Try to persuade them to visit more frequently.  Frequent visitors are more engaged with the site – they are more likely to help you generate content

Look at how long it has been since visitors last visited – there will become a point where they become passive and won’t be persuaded to come back easily.

Brand search term strength

Users who are engaged with your brand will search for it to find you.
Measure how many visits you get from your brand terms that can include marketing slogans, misspellings, even advertisements.

Gauge their emotional responses. Conduct surveys to find out what people think of the site, be that online exit surveys, email surveys, or user interviews. Try and ask real people who know and have an opinion about you site, product or brand.

Ask people who don’t have anything to do with the brand normally – they may be users in the future, and will certainly give you so unbiased feedback.

Photo by boltron

Getting behaviours defined

People’s behaviour is impossible to predict, we are only really  able to take educated guesses. Even best practice will not always give you the best result and so it is again a case of making iterative changes to your site to accommodate (and get in tune with) your users. Open up as many modes of communication that you can deal with and adjust what you deliver accordingly.

When you have cracked it, make a note of it somewhere and then be prepared to rip up the script as your audience moves on once again. As long as you can keep up and strive to stay ahead, then your audience should be retained. But be aware the job is never finished. Keep iterating, keep testing and keep the site alive.

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