cyBLOG!

Plugging In

2006-07-13T00:03:00.000+05:30

What a concept! Chul Min Kang and Sung Hun Lim designed what they call the E-ROPE.

E-rope is a modular power strip that enables users to add or subtract sockets as needed. In addition, to better accommodate large, bulky cords each socket can also be rotated 180 degrees, so adjacent sockets are not blocked. When electrical devices are not in use, simply twist the socket section 90 degrees to disconnect the flow of electricity.

Now if all design problems could be solved so innovatively.

Technorati tags: E-rope, power+supply, electricity, novel+design, design, power+strip

Download Usability

2006-06-06T15:13:00.000+05:30

We have heard of Universal usability, and then somebody talked of Link Usability as well.

Let's talk a little about Download (Actually content on the download page) Usability.

Picture this: You are at a website to download something. You have absolutely no idea around how heavy is the download going to be. When you were planning to fit the application on a floppy, it turns out to be a heavy 65+ MB download.

How can we fix this? Additional auxilliary content (this counts for content usability) needs to be added which declares the size and type of the file coming down to the user's system. That'll definitely help in deciding the portability of the file and what kind of media would the user require, if he plans to move it elsewhere.

Now, Does that look tough?

Technorati tags: usability, download, download+usability, User+Experience, design, patterns, content+design

Google Web Toolkit Unleashed

2006-05-17T11:02:00.000+05:30

Google recently released an unexpected Web Toolkit. From what's up at Google Code, it looks pretty promising(read: slick!).

Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is a Java software development framework that makes writing AJAX applications like Google Maps and Gmail easy for developers who don't speak browser quirks as a second language. Writing dynamic web applications today is a tedious and error-prone process; you spend 90% of your time working around subtle incompatabilities between web browsers and platforms, and JavaScript's lack of modularity makes sharing, testing, and reusing AJAX components difficult and fragile.

GWT lets you avoid many of these headaches while offering your users the same dynamic, standards-compliant experience. You write your front end in the Java programming language, and the GWT compiler converts your Java classes to browser-compliant JavaScript and HTML.

Check it out.

Defying UI Patterns

2006-04-22T11:14:00.000+05:30

"I spent a while to figure out where I log out from this system!" a perplexed colleague called out.

A banking company has been doing a lot of interesting stuff without knowing if it works.

As soon as the User gets used to your antics (the way you want them to do things!) you make things tougher for them.

Now, look at the above picture. This signout looks like a badge or an award image, or almost parallel to a digital signature authority banner.

Why can it not be just a simple 'hyperlink'?

Technorati tags: UI+Patterns, Interface, Banking, User+Experience, design, patters

IE can do that too

2006-04-03T15:32:00.000+05:30

As a kid, some of us were used to saying "I can do that too!" and wanted to beat the others at every game. Including the games the others were better at.

That's what is supposedly happening with the guys at Microsoft. If I were in a parallel challenging role, I'd not want to kid around trying to do everything under the sun. I'd rather try to focus on something that I am good at.

But No—Some guys never change their ways. Chris did a slick job at the WebDeveloper Extension for Firefox, and somebody said "IE can do that too!"

Go ahead, get one for IE too!! But please!—Don't try doing everything everyone can do!

Gmail talks to the User

2006-03-16T14:36:00.000+05:30

Gmail is winning hearts across the web. Not only because it is pushing out one service after another, but also because it is making the Web a better place.

Coming to Interaction Design and Error Handling (if somebody would like to put it that way), Google is innovating new ways to communicate with the User.

They are adding the more human touch to interfaces. The user does not feel stupid when something goes wrong.

Instead, we see the Gmail system itself literally 'talking' to the user here.

Technorati tags: design, user experience, new-look, Interaction Design, ease-of-use, innovation

The Importance of User Experience

2006-03-08T17:31:00.000+05:30

The Importance of User Experience
Originally uploaded by soldierant.

Bryce has created a wonderful diagram for Experience Dynamics.

This one makes it very easy to comprehend for the ones coming from the business perspective.

"Why is UX required?" is a persistent question, and this diagram makes things clearer.

Importance of User Profiles

2006-03-01T20:03:00.001+05:30

User profiles have played an important role in shaping products and deciding about features, navigation and how interaction occurs in the system.

Now, What are User Profiles?

Okay, a User Profile (also called a Persona) is a fictional user for your product. They can be created by identifying and categorizing your user audience. You will have to create a realistic user profile for each of them (make them real, with names, headshot snaps and characteristics).

Why do we need User Profiles?

Answering a simple question should put you on the right track:

“Do you know what your users need?”

If the answer is yes, you already know who your users are – at least you have a fuzzy idea who they are. Is your user present in the average middle-class family? Is there an age-group that he fits in?

Well, if you still thought you knew your user well, try asking yourself if he is computer illiterate or tech-savvy. What is it that he likes about your product? Is it ease-of-use, or the feature-richness?

Creating User Profiles helps understand how your average user or customer thinks like. It helps peep into user motivations, needs and goals. So the next time, if you made the finance management product simpler to use, you know that Mr. Roberts (the CEO who wants 48 hours in a day, and always on the run) is going to love you for it.

More is merrier – Get in more profilers

Creating a User profile is a more-than-one-man job. The reason is that when one sets out to create a User Profile it tends to be more or less a replica of his own. When a team works on creating a User Profile, the User Profile will align lesser and lesser to any one individual in the team.

There’s also another reason to this. We need more people who are working on the product to be involved so that they agree (either by compromise or in acceptance) to the defined User Profiles. When creating user profiles two types of groups will come together – those who know about the user and those who don’t. Sales guys, the marketing teams, business strategists and support people are the people who can think like the average user. Then engineering folks, Information architects, Interaction Designers, Usability team, Color psychologists, Visual and Interface designers constitute the group that needs to know about the user.

The idea is simple. The interaction designer would want the user to use the feature X with ease, minimum dialogue and reduced ambiguity. He may miss out to understand if the feature X is really important to the user or not. The Interface designer believes that the user will like the drop-down menu’s cool effects (huh?), but may fail to see that it is actually a hindrance for a user who wants things to be done faster.

When everybody comes together to create a User profile, it turns out to be a richly defined profile, and also eliminates any preconceptions that a particular production segment may have.

Steps to create a User Profile

Now when you know the importance of User profiles, you definitely would want to know how to create them. The following steps will tell you just that.

1. Take samples of your user population. Pick up samples or representatives of cross-sections from your user community.

2. Narrow the range of Profiles. Zero in on 3-4 users which are averages from the respective selected samples.

3. Define them more accurately. Add names, find stock photographs, describe the User Profile – define physical, mental and emotional attributes. Add some life to the personas – their lifestyle, their age, family situation, home life, income, pets, job, hobbies and interests. Get into their shoes and think. What are their favorite things (products) and what do they hate? Be creative but realistic.

4. Define the Profile Goals. The most important element of the persona or User profile - the motivating goals and the goals for using the product. Think about the different types of goals:

• Experience goals - how does the User feel when he uses the product – not stupid, confident, excited, happy, “I-am-an-expert”
• End goals – the achievement factor - productivity, economy, benefits over conventional systems, efficiency, better quality, happiness, solutions
• Business goals – how does it affect business goals - profitability, market share, competitive edge, security, growth
• Practical goals – outcome as seen as a regular pattern - Avoided problems, met clients’ requirements, found a solution

Hope that helps you understand John, Judy and Mr. Roberts better!

Related:
Notes on Design Practice, Stories and Prototypes
Perfecting your Personas

Technorati tags: personas, usability, user, design, user experience, architecture

404 Revisited

2006-02-01T18:40:00.000+05:30

There was a time when we talked about 404 Pages last March.

Slowly a lot has become smarter, like homokaasu's 404. It's Amazing!

PropellerHeads Play Boy

2006-01-27T10:58:00.000+05:30

Persuasive imagery does not always work. And the way the guys at PropellerHeads are propelling their flash splash, may not be liked by people who want to get to the information straight.

And to top it all, they have options like "Yes, OK, SURE!".
You are not even SURE, whether it is OK to click YES!

Dream Error

2006-01-17T19:39:00.000+05:30

Ah well! What a wonderful way of telling the user that the software is behaving as it should! Hmm, that's innovation in Interaction Design.

Can anyone explain this?

Google Minimalism

2005-08-24T11:52:00.000+05:30

Google is doing to Web applications, what Apple did to the Operating system.

Clocky! No more snooze!

2005-05-25T10:44:00.000+05:30

This is the best thing that happened since the invention of the alarm clock! There has been a huge inclination for products being task-centric, and purpose-centric and user-centric.
The purpose here is to get people wake up. And there are some of us, who have a really tough time waking up in the mornings.

Getting it directly from the horses mouth:

Clocky is, quite simply, for people who have trouble waking up.
When the alarm clock goes off and the snooze button is pressed, Clocky will fall off of the bedside table and wheel away, bumping mindlessly into objects on the floor until he eventually finds a spot to rest. Minutes later, when the alarm sounds again, the over-sleeper must get up out of bed and search for Clocky. Because you employ multiple senses to find the clock, you are sure to awake before disabling the alarm. Small wheels enable Clocky to move and reposition himself, and an internal computer helps him find a new hiding spot every day.

I've been known to hit the snooze bar for up to two hours or even accidentally turn it off. I've known people who put the alarm clock in the living room, but then forget to set it before going to bed. Others say they are trying to wean themselves off of snoozing, as if it was a bad habit like smoking or drinking. In the foggy logic of our drowsiness, we disable the very device that is meant to wake us up. Having the alarm clock hide from me was just the most obvious way I could think of to get out of bed.
Current alarm clocks are obnoxious, stressful devices that don't do their intended job very well. Clocky is less of an annoying device and more like a troublesome pet that you love anyway. He is playful. He likes games like hide-and-seek and catch me if you can. And he is a bit ugly. But his unconventional looks keep the user calm and incite laughter in one of the most hated times of the day.

Clocky is not trying to solve all of the problems with alarm clocksfor example how they disrupt other people in the roombut I think maybe someday he can. I think the answer rests in the usage of multiple Clockies. Let's say there are two people with different sleep schedules sharing a room. Maybe one person's Clocky can tell the other to hush up if he has sounded off one too many times. Or, maybe they can form an alliance and simultaneously target the offending over-sleeper. I have adopted the philosophy that when two devices communicate, they can solve more problemsthat is, two Clockies are better than one.

The Author (Nanda?) says:

I like to explore how bad designs become adopted and then, through my work, show how they can be different. There is a perception that technology has to be complicated. My work typically focuses on industrial design projects that add some intelligence into the mix in a way that is simple. So objects do their jobs better without additional complexity. I don't want to have to use things that require me to know or learn something beforehand. So those are the kind of designs I try to create.
Clocky uses inexpensive chips and sensors. He is currently being prototyped in several soft, durable designs, and with multiple personalities.

The site says it is not available commercially as yet, but www.clocky.net shows some promise.

Blog Experience!

2005-04-18T11:00:00.000+05:30

Talk of color psychology, and a wonderfully immersive environment that is created by
http://glish.com/css/blogger/blogger.html comes to our notice.

It is a wonderful experience. You are reading a post about something that could make you angry, with a red background and theme. Sometime later the matter remains, but the raging red tones, change to a mellow soothing blue. You keep switching through posts to find a soothing continuity of color theme blends, which leaves you with mixed emotions and fluctuating perceptions.

All in all, a wonderful Loungeish effect, where you see things in more than one way it was meant.

The Citi never types?

2005-04-13T10:54:00.000+05:30

This is a wonderful attempt by the Citibank Guys, and it also stirring mixed feelings about itself.
Let's call it the CitiKeyPad!

Well, there are some things that are Good! And other things that are bad! Just like every other thing around...and soon things will be refined and evolve towards perfection.

What's Good about CitiKeyPad?

1. With the rise of Spyware programs and other trojans and keyloggers, you are saved of the threat of your keystrokes being trapped.

2. The KeyPad has a way of refreshing itself into several permutations over time, and so is as unpredictable for an onlooker.

3. The low contrast in the background and foreground color makes it tough to identify from a distance what was being clicked.

What's bad (like almost everything else, nobody's perfect) about CitiKeyPad?

1. The low contrast is tough for the user to figure out the letters.

2. The proximity of the letter tiles is a tremendous usability problem. You don't know if you clicked S or D.

3. Midway through, your phone rings and you lose track of where you were. Can I undo? Start from scratch?

It definitely is a precocious and thoughtful attempt towards security, but pondering certain design and User Experience issues should bring about a wonderful progress.

OverLapped!

2005-04-04T12:47:00.000+05:30

Hopped on to Target and was bowled over by the branding, and the Look and Feel.

Slick! And you have a crisp and young feel throughout the site.

This site has something you can call a Website Blooper!

The Flash in the centre-right just cruelly overlaps the DHTML menus. And the user keeps wondering what's under the wraps...

Ah well, but kudos to the guys who did the identity system and Emotional(Doggie, wag, wag) Design!

The warm and earthy colours definitely make you want to feel cozy, with a cup of Coffee...

There's more to it

2005-03-24T13:39:00.000+05:30

...than what meets the eye!

Check out for yourself, how the black-cladded guys, make it so digestible, so cinematographic, so bullet-timed and surprisingly matrixed!

Indian Rick Drivers are learning to play Psychologist!

Image Source: Wikipedia

What you see in this picture to the left, is the 'old' tariff meter that was a part of Ricks (colloquial usage) and decides the tariff Users need to pay when they get down. And there were ways in which the Rick Drivers would tweak these devices to extract more from unsuspecting passengers.

Then with the advent of Electronic Rickshaw Meters (with LCD Displays and all), slick, accurate and All-Chrome finish, things changed.

From a distance, one could make out an Electonic Meter (He can see the Chrome!) and wave for the driver to know he'd be hired!

But the knowledge that the Chrome Electronic meters are preferred in comparison to the old black mechanical meters, has helped the Drivers play on the User's Cognitive Abilities.

They are simply painting the old meters to CHROME! Would you call it Brand Riding?
By the time you realise the Just Noticable Difference, you are already on your way somewhere in the Rickshaw!

You will even see the driver grinning at you in the rear-view mirror!

What's your Type?

2005-03-23T17:39:00.000+05:30

Come 2006, and the Microsoft stable releases two serif, three sans serif, and a monospaced face for use in programming environments. They are intended to be text typefaces as opposed to display faces that are used in larger sizes for headlines. Some of the new fonts are suitable for print as well as on-screen applications.

Is it a Six-shot Gun for Mac Users?

Yahoo! Massages Flickr

2005-03-23T17:21:00.000+05:30

It's Flickrin' all over the place!

With Yahoo! putting it's money in Flickr, there a possibility for a tug for Hello(?), and other players. Ludicorp has made itself Lucrative, anyway.

Another Flickrin' thing I came across was havin' a massage!*

*you will nevr find a starkr page!

Brand Riding

2005-03-22T12:55:00.000+05:30

No idea if something like Brand Riding exists.

If it does not exist, I think I have coined a term called "Brand Riding".

Brand Riding means 'using, exploiting, or in a way, riding a brand and it's image created by the original brand creators for propelling auxiliary products which are in no way associated to the original brand.'

This is the exploitation of User's affinity towards the product and the authentic perception of the original brand itself.

This cannot be called Fake, or duplicate, but simply a Brand Rider.

GoogleCommunity rides on Google!

See the typographical similarity, and addition of the Google Search Engine, almost makes it look like Google's own baby!

Flickr Spells!

2005-03-22T10:45:00.000+05:30

Spell with Flickr
This guy, Kastner has created this wonderful script that does this amazing thing!
Do your own Thing!

How do ya Spell Flickr?

Innovation in Navigation

2005-03-18T13:48:00.000+05:30

Flash and other plugged-in technologies are taking the web by storm. Not only because of the functional excellence that can be implemented here, but also the creative flexibility to execute anything that one can imagine.

Check the NID gallery and some innovative photogallery concept by Matthewmohan!

Just a brief glimpse of the shape of things to come...

Brand Value and Emotional Design

2005-03-17T13:39:00.000+05:30

Emotional Attachment
Formalities
Santa Lovers

The different people Coke has reached, via different avenues. Can you escape?

Check All the Coke ads!

404!

2005-03-10T10:27:00.000+05:30

Brian has a great expression about 404 error messages , that is very important when it comes to guiding the 'User' (the most important person) to figure out why he is here, and where he wants to go, and how to get there.

Car Brand Power

2005-02-08T17:15:00.000+05:30

The Lexus air hangs on, and connecting this to 'cars', from different parts of the world, and their logos and how they came into existence.

How these logos of today have come to stand as where they are today, and how strong a brand they have become, is really a ponderable thought.

To talk of Branding and brand positioning, here is a quick insight into the logos:

http://gawlowski.com/matt/cars/car_logos.html