tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707Sun, 01 Sep 2024 17:54:32 +0000Process DesignCity livingGovernmentCustomer ExperienceTransportationRoad SafetyUser Experience DesignAirportsDesign ThinkingService DesignTrainsWhat Works AbroadCorruptionEducationFashion DesignGraphic DesignIndustrial DesignSecurity DesignSignsTechnologyWeb LinksA blog about design thinking and human-centered design, from the Filipino perspective.http://indiosign.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)Blogger46125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-7534069238694490051Wed, 27 Jun 2012 16:44:00 +00002012-06-28T00:47:17.284+08:00 Above are screenshots of two government weather websites. The left one is our own Pagasa website http://www.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/. The right is Australia's Bureau of Meteorology http://www.bom.gov.au/. The Pagasa website is cluttered and crammed -- no visible handles to find information. The climate information is written in technical language, unfriendly to the average reader, whom Pagasahttp://indiosign.blogspot.com/2012/06/above-are-screenshots-of-two-government.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-8221409773305470605Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:43:00 +00002011-12-19T00:02:33.888+08:00 After calamities like Ondoy and Sendong, we could now make out a pattern in the way we respond to disasters, particularly our online response through social media like Facebook and Twitter. It is not a good pattern.  It is characterized by chaos and disorganization. Ironically, we've used online tools to coordinate other tasks both mundane (eg, organizing reunions through Facebook or http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2011/12/organizing-post-calamity-chaos.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-5907664141645910495Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:42:00 +00002011-03-08T00:46:50.961+08:00Process DesignI had to deposit at UnionBank in Shaw, Pasig City today. I took my number (62 in the queue) and discovered that the teller was currently processing #52. Good I thought. Just 10 people before me. It was 12:00 pm. There was only one teller serving us. My number said "Single Transactions," meaning, this was their express lane. By 12:20, I still wasn't served. The lone teller was only processing #53http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2011/03/discombobulated-unionbank.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-3016255083220257780Mon, 13 Sep 2010 10:47:00 +00002011-12-20T01:44:42.733+08:00City livingRoad SafetyI've been on a personal campaign to decrease bus accidents ever since a reckless driver crashed his bus into my car. Unfortunately, it's tough to get reforms because these bus companies can pay off the authorities or use their clout (some of these are owned by police and military officers). It had to take the death of a celebrity to wake us up. That's good enough for me. If government is http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2010/09/ideas-for-decreasing-bus-accidents.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-7698567230927419095Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:34:00 +00002010-07-19T22:34:31.870+08:00Dear Filipinos, Like you, I want less stress when I go to work. I want clean streets. I want streets without danger of getting crashed by motorcycles, tricycles, jeepneys or buses, even if I'm driving defensively. I would like better streets. No more arrogant police escorts banging their hands on the side of my car to let them squeeze in and make way for an egotistic Congressman or Mayor. Ihttp://indiosign.blogspot.com/2010/07/streets-are-city-sort-of-manifesto.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-252215808598987072Thu, 13 May 2010 04:25:00 +00002010-05-13T12:25:07.099+08:00What is the most important vote in the 2010 elections? It's the vote for the President and Vice President, of course. But examine the ballot for the elections and you don't see this reflected on the ballot real estate. (See picture, below). I've added colored shading to dramatize the problem. The yellow shading is about 10% of ballot space used for the President and VP lists. In contrast, the http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2010/05/ballot-design-2010-elections.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-5963407119850462431Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:26:00 +00002010-02-17T02:53:08.887+08:00Customer ExperienceDesign ThinkingUser Experience DesignMy wife and I are going through one of the most harrowing experiences in Manila -- getting a DSL internet connection. As I write this, my wife just finished queueing up for more than one hour at the PLDT office in Megamall. She was 10th in line when she started. There were only two people serving the long line and since each customer took an average of 20 minutes to process, I estimated she http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2010/02/improving-customer-experience-of-tech.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-6748860358899006146Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:12:00 +00002010-02-17T02:53:46.411+08:00Design ThinkingI just downloaded a PDF file containing scanned documents -- needed to copy some information off it. The page I was reading was rotated 90 degrees to the left. I was about to start the usual series of menu clicks to rotate the page when I realized I could do a multi-touch gesture on my touchpad. So I put two fingers and twisted to the right, and the image rotated. Being able to do that gave me http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2010/01/its-about-little-things.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-7548690060836584491Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:06:00 +00002010-01-25T17:21:11.611+08:00Customer ExperienceI'm at Blenz Cafe, second floor of SM Megamall. This cafe is thoughtfully designed to encourage nomadic (aka "mobile") workers and entrepreneurs. Since it's in Megamall, wifi is free. But Blenz also offers its own free wifi service, whose password is printed on the receipt.Blenz has plenty of electric outlets located near the tables, so no jostling for tables like in Starbucks. The sockets are http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2010/01/blenz-cafe-customer-experience.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-6540236093196654546Sat, 17 Oct 2009 08:14:00 +00002009-10-17T16:15:06.632+08:00In 2007, our company was asked to develop an instructional CD-ROM to help the Anti-Money Laundering Council train the staff of pawnshop and money changers. We developed the CD-ROM using Flash, HTML and video, but we also threw in this low-budget comicbook.To create the comicbook, I used screen grabs from videos shot by the crew and wrote my script around it. I used ComicLife in the Mac to do the http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2009/10/anti-money-laundering-comicbook.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-8763438170406374462Sat, 20 Dec 2008 14:18:00 +00002010-02-17T02:55:22.250+08:00Customer ExperienceUser Experience DesignWhen we were planning our wedding, my wife and I agreed that we had seen too many ceremonies ruined by technological attempts to immortalize the memory. We also wanted our wedding to be intimate and fun. So we specifically instructed the photographers and videographers to stay out of the way. We didn't want them obstructing the view of the guests. We didn't want their assistants moving around http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2008/12/humanizing-technology.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-4633764377450031393Mon, 15 Dec 2008 04:16:00 +00002008-12-16T00:00:14.088+08:00The problem: as gadgets get smarter, they also become more difficult to use. Just look at your remote control and try to figure out your television menu.In analog devices, we used to have buttons and dials that you can touch and feel. If you wanted to change contrast, you just had to rotate the dial. Feedback was tactile and instantaneous. Today, to do the same thing on our LG television set, we http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2008/12/problem-with-digital.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-761263364410316346Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:07:00 +00002010-02-17T02:56:09.879+08:00Industrial DesignTechnologyFor four months, we teamed up with electronic engineers, industrial designers and software developers to build the prototype of an LCD interactive television (iTV). We dubbed the iTV "Ilumina" and our codename was "Project Faith".We wanted to show that Filipinos have the creativity and the smarts to build an innovative product through "inovention" -- the fusion of innovation and invention. Hence http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2008/12/building-first-lcd-itv.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-7138207847193765159Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:50:00 +00002008-11-24T07:03:48.109+08:00Road SafetyTransportationOn our way to UP Village yesterday, we saw a large dump truck rammed into the frontage of Bo's Cafe at Katipunan. From what we could see at that time, the truck had crashed into several cars parked in front of the cafe. Data also saw a motorcycle pinned by the truck. A couple of people were hysterical and a crowd composed of curious and/or angry people had gathered around the scene. It looked http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2008/11/another-accident-involving-dump-truck.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-560365345839529259Wed, 12 Nov 2008 17:48:00 +00002008-11-13T02:04:12.414+08:00Fashion DesignJust came from Solar's special viewing-slash-party for the Project Runway Philippines (PRP) Finale. By now, you'll know who won. But before anything else, let me suspend you a little bit by discussing more detail. I previously wrote that Veejay's collection was a disappointment. I've since had a chance to take a closer look and I saw that his collection turned out to be elegant and well-made. Thehttp://indiosign.blogspot.com/2008/11/project-runway-philippines-finale-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-6759891171646263382Sun, 02 Nov 2008 03:16:00 +00002008-11-02T11:33:32.530+08:00Road SafetyPhilippine buses are notorious for causing numerous accidents. Just yesterday, a Fermina Express (FermEx) bus trying to overtake at NLEX (North Luzon Express Way) smashed into a Toyota Revo. The impact was so great that it split the Revo in half and shrivelled the front of the bus to bits. (Inquirer story here)I am not surprised. I have seen many FermEx buses driven by reckless drivers. But it's http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2008/11/road-safety-tighter-penalties-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-700401751221235929Fri, 10 Oct 2008 12:01:00 +00002008-10-10T20:36:53.511+08:00Customer ExperienceProcess DesignThe Government of Bohol is intent on improving its services and it has sought the help of many experts in various fields. I'm helping them through process management: customer focus, process focus and continuous quality/process improvement (which involves process redesign). Let me jot down what I've been working with them in terms of process design.My part on this is just a small one. There is a http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2008/10/process-management-to-assist-government.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-3248745725320603070Wed, 24 Sep 2008 09:08:00 +00002008-09-24T17:19:24.712+08:00AirportsProcess DesignIt was my first time to visit Bohol. I am working with the heads of the provincial capitol to help them improve their business processes and align them with their strategy. Here's what I noticed on the airport (see photos, below). As you can see from the pictures, the airport badly needs expanding. It was packed with passengers of PAL and Cebu Pacific.Interestingly, when I checked in, the PAL http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2008/09/bohol-needs-new-airport.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-3936207379233704265Tue, 05 Aug 2008 00:26:00 +00002008-08-05T08:51:21.363+08:00City livingGovernmentTransportationOn the brighter side of the perpetually rising cost of gas, Metro Manila's streets have become decongested. My proof is more anecdotal. I used to tear my hair out because of the craziness of the clogged and noisy streets. But now, even during rush hour, the streets are less noisy and there is less traffic when I drive out.Of course, some of the decongestion can be attributed to the efforts of http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-expensive-fuel-means-less-traffic.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-7774082069680700782Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:04:00 +00002008-07-19T11:07:15.069+08:00CorruptionGovernmentProcess DesignHere are pictures of my recent work. This time, it's with the Department of Justice. I'm helping them standardize and improve their basic procedures for filing cases and complaints.It turns out that in all these years, among all the prosecutor's offices, there was really no standard way to file cases and complaints.I can validate this because several years back, a bus rammed into my car and I hadhttp://indiosign.blogspot.com/2008/07/standardizing-prosecution-system.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-4054200238957413580Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:56:00 +00002008-04-01T22:14:38.682+08:00User Experience DesignAround 2 months ago, SM Supercenter required its fast food customers to pay through a Cash Card. Here is how the procedure was intended to be:Pay P200 to a central cashier. This will load P200 worth of cash in your cash card.Get the Cash Card.Order in the various restaurants in the fast food center.The fast food center issued warnings and posters saying that all customers must use the Cash Card http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2008/04/bad-implementation-sm-cash-card.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-1914943757536377316Wed, 13 Feb 2008 15:54:00 +00002008-02-14T01:48:17.544+08:00TrainsTransportationI am writing a piece on Metro Manila for an online travel guide. It's pretty interesting, because I learned more about the broken services in our city.For instance, yesterday I discovered that we do not have a website for our international airport (which our friend Urbano dela Cruz found out a year ago).Today, I discovered how lousy our government websites really are.But before we launch into http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2008/02/bad-transport-websites-missing-train.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-6676489936560499956Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:07:00 +00002008-02-11T22:37:07.359+08:00TransportationSometimes the state of government service may be gleaned from unexpected places. Take a website, for example. There are solid reasons why a government should keep a well-maintained and well-designed website, or websites, for its various agencies and functions.Our country wants to boost its tourism and participation in the global trade, for example, and creating a website on this would be highly http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2008/02/wheres-our-airport-on-web.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-5184492036228571408Tue, 29 Jan 2008 14:36:00 +00002008-02-05T11:33:14.284+08:00Graphic DesignWeb LinksI was amazed at this online tool. It lets you create 3-D boxes via Flash programming. It asks you to upload a cover, a side design and a top design. Using 3-D boxes to sell software makes the software look more professional (of course, whether the software is good or not is a different matter).Tip: If you'd like to make a book, you can simply create a graphic that looks like pages of a book and http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2008/01/3-d-box-maker-online.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1028761662422028707.post-8939639367974027496Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:13:00 +00002008-02-01T09:52:52.331+08:00Sometimes, a system or ethics (which we define here as a proper way of doing something) is not obvious to a culture until it intersects with another culture.As a result of our contact with the West, we Filipinos have also inherited some of these Western memes. There's good manners in the dining table and right conduct in a cinema. There's even phonethics for using mobile phones.What I was amazed http://indiosign.blogspot.com/2008/01/escalator-ethics.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Anonymous)4