Userfaction Blog

Cure for Tech Frustrations

2009-08-27T19:13:48Z

Someone should probably sell these. (via Swiss Miss)

Tuesday Tab Sweep

2009-08-18T02:36:54Z

Nine Essential Characteristics of Good UX Designers - Passion should be a the top of the list.

Book review: Wrench in the System by Harold Hambrose – Might be a good read for the executive in your life who hasn’t yet seen the light.

Refreshing Three HCI Laws: If you’ve never heard of Fitts' Law, Hick's Law, and the Power Law of Practice, here’s a quick recap.

Front End Concerns When Implementing Faceted Search - Part 1 - Daniel Tunkelang, Chief Scientist at Endeca, walks you through implementing a Faceted Search.

Managing UI complexity – An interaction designer discusses the various techniques he’s used to reduced the visual complexity of the application he’s designing.

Restarting the New Zealand Calendar of UX Events

2009-07-19T22:23:42Z

I’ve been talking to a few Auckland-based User Experience (UX) folk recently - discussing how we can better connect, network, learn and be inspired.

In my talks, I’ve noticed that not everyone is necessarily aware of all the various UX-related events already happening in Auckland, so I thought it would be a good idea to restart my UX Calendar of Events.

The UX Calendar lists each event individually, but here’s a brief overview of what’s already happening in Auckland:

Auckland Web Meetup - John Ballinger & friends organise a great event, typically with 3 speakers each time, so there's usually at least one topic of interest. And there's free beer and pizza, and drinks afterwards - good opportunity for networking.
Auckland UX Book Club – Two books successfully discussed so far, and the group is growing. Thanks to Peter Grierson for kicking this off this year!
Auckland Pecha Kucha – Initially started by the Architecture crowd in Auckland, but topics vary and provide a great insight into how other creatives work and think. I love the format: 6 minute presentation means you never get bored.
Girl Geek Dinners – Monthly dinners for the more geeky women amongst us, but I’m sure they’re welcoming to everyone...
DINZ run occasional events, such as Designers Speak Plurals. The next one is in Auckland on 29th July. Looks like a great line-up of speakers.
YMedia are currently running the YMediaChallenge.
Design Assembly put together an evening of talks and discussion for Graphic Designers four times a year. The next one is on 30th September.
There are even rumours of an upcoming TEDx event in Auckland (Oct 1?). More info shortly.

Let me know if I’ve missed any…

Stalking Your Users: How to Conduct User Research in the Real World

2009-07-09T21:35:12Z

As part of the Webstock Master Class series of workshops, Alex Wright will be presenting a workshop on 'Stalking Your Users: How to Conduct User Research in the Real World' on Wednesday 19 August.

Some links of interest…

2009-07-07T04:40:00Z

Articles in NZ press advocating user-centred design = GOOD: Introducing user-centred web design – Computerworld
Free online book on search interface design by the doyenne of (faceted) search: Search User Interfaces - Marti Hearst
Stephen Few reviews Connie Malamed's Visual Language for Designers: Visual Business Intelligence - At Last, a Scientific Approach to Infographics
"One of the most interesting and exciting phases of the AppLab work was the rapid prototyping”: Grameen’s AppLab comes of age - Build it Kenny, and they will come...

Bibliography of multi-touch interaction research

2007-01-22T22:07:11Z

Given the recent interest in multi-touch interaction following the announcement of the iPhone, I thought I would point to Bill Buxton's brief history of multi-touch interaction research. There's also some background in the Fastcompany interview of Jeff Han.

By the way, I much prefer this latest video of Jeff Han's work than his TED presentation.

Apparently you can make your own multi-touch screen (by following Jeff's original paper) but it would appear the real wizardry is in the software...

Best Interaction Design Blogs 2006

2006-12-04T21:22:09Z

Dan Saffer of Adaptive Path has posted his 2006 list of best interaction design blogs.

I'd add two more to the list: Christopher Fahey's Graphpaper and Humanized.

Building web apps: don't start with the home page

2006-11-27T20:32:41Z

Great advice from Cameron Moll over at Authentic Boredom - When building web apps, don't start with the home page ....

Interaction Design in Europe

2006-11-27T20:26:54Z

Convivio - the European Network for the Human-Centered Design of Interactive Technologies - has kicked off a series of interviews with leading voices in the field of human-centred design. Interviews will feature people from all over the world, but with an emphasis on European voices (and I'm biased, but it's wonderfully refreshing to have a European perspective on all things HCI).

The first interview is with Jan Chipchase, Principal Researcher at Nokia, who maintains a photo-blog at Future Perfect.

The second interview is with Adam Greenfield, author of Everyware: The dawning age of ubiquitous computing.

Adam finishes with some great advice for designers who are interested in getting involved with 'ubiquitous computing':

"[...] I’d imagine that getting comfortable with user observation and ethnography, contextual inquiry, and other techniques for the qualitative understanding of the experience of use will stand you in good stead. And if neither of these two suggestions appeal, about all I can say is sit just where you are - because it seems fairly likely to me that some kind of Everyware will come to you."

In a related vein, and also from Europe, Nat Torkington blogs about his conversation with Matt Webb, who works for creative design consultancy Schulze & Webb.

The perfect wall for information architects

2006-11-24T03:18:59Z

Ooh - this post-it notes wall works for me. Can I get it in orange?

Duncan Wilson and Sirkka Hammer's Pixelnotes (via Swissmiss)

Usability Man sighting in London

2006-11-13T19:33:38Z

Reported sightings of a previously little know superhero, Usability Man, in the streets of London....

Usability Posters

2006-11-08T20:40:51Z

A few usability posters to brighten up your cubicle and celebrate World Usability Day next week:

The original UPA poster, Designing the User Experience

Experience Dynamics' The Importance of User Experience (the image is also on flickr)

Netlife Research's Bad Usability Calendar

and a few World Usability Day posters

Designing Web Applications - Structure and Flows

2006-11-07T19:06:50Z

User Interface Engineering (UIE) have released a 54 page report called The Designer's Guide to Web Applications, Part I - Structure and Flows . It's US$35 - but there's a free chapter available for download.

I've read the free chapter, and it's very good. It helps conceptualise how most web applications should be structured - useful if you're struggling to envisage how screens should 'flow' from one to the other.

In a similar vein, there is Bob Baxley's Task Flow for Web Applications, part 1 - Views & Forms and Task Flow for Web Applications, part 2 - Wizards & Guides.

Two great events in Auckland for World Usability Day

2006-11-07T01:43:59Z

There will two events in Auckland for World Usability Day on Tuesday 14th November.

At lunchtime, we will be making some (visual) noise with some red balloons in the streets of Auckland, highlighting good and bad examples of user experience.

In the evening, Shona Bishop, GM of Marketing & Business Development at the Bank of New Zealand, and Natasha Hall from Trade Me will be talking about how they've introduced usability into their organisations.

Find out how you can get take part in the events calendar.

I'm hoping for lots of people at lunchtime (and in the evening too, of course). We've ordered 100 balloons so there should be enough to go around....! Don't be shy - come along!

World Usability Day 2006 and Making Life Easy

2006-10-27T01:37:47Z

World Usability Day 2006 is only 20-odd days away on Tuesday 14th November.

UPA Auckland is putting the finishing touches to what promises to be an evening of great speakers and activities - more details anon.

In the meantime, here's another great opportunity for you to get involved in World Usability Day.

Leisa over at Disambiguity and the guys at Flow Interactive have put together a great a little project called MakingLifeEasy.org.

The aim is to get people to make some noise about the things that make their life needlessly difficult.

Confusing cash machines, unclear signs, frustrating websites - poor usability is everywhere and it gets in the way of life. Sometimes it is just annoying. At other times it stops us doing what we need to do.

World Usability Day and MakingLifeEasy is about promoting the value of user-centered design, and every user's right to ask for things that work better.

I'm thrilled about both initiatves and have contributed a few of my Auckland pet-peeves to the project. Here's how you can get involved too:

1. Help get more people involved! If you have a blog, give us a shout out and send people to www.MakingLifeEasy.org to participate. If you have a Flickr account, join the Making Life Easy group and invite all your friends!

2. Share your examples of the best and the worst of usability where you live (or visit or holiday!). Add photos to the group and your submission will be added to the website and potentially to the Hall of Fame or Shame.

3. Cast your vote! Take a look at the website and have your say in what *really* drives you crazy and what you really love.