How guys will use Google Glasses (Project Glass)
Posted: March 19, 2013 Filed under: Fun, UX (User Experience) | Tags: google glass, google glasses, Usability, user experience, ux 1 Comment »I just had to share with you this video on how guys might use Google Glass (or should that be glasses?) in the future. Pretty funny! Maybe we shouldn’t laugh too soon though as it may well become the future! People are distracted enough as it is, it’s just that the glasses may make the distraction harder to detect. At least right now you can see if someone’s using their mobile whilst they’re supposed to be listening to you.
I find it amazing the number of people who walk down the street looking down, eyes glued to their handset, using only their peripheral vision to navigate their way through the world. At least with Google Glasses they’ll at least start looking up once more, even if they are still not paying attention to the world around them.
Interview with Whirlpool’s UX Manager
Posted: February 7, 2013 Filed under: Design, Research, UI, Usability, UX (User Experience) | Tags: behavioural insights, contextual enquiry, contextual inquiry, ethnographic, in-context research, interviews, products, sam gosling, snoop, Usability, ux, whirlpool ux Leave a comment »
In my spare time I love baking (I love eating cakes), I run a local baking club and I absolutely love KitchenAid products. I love the industrial user-centred design and the attention to ease of use. So, for the Keep It Usable blog this month, I decided to interview my friend Brandon Satanek who is the UX manager at Whirlpool.
Not only is Brandon a great guy, but his knowledge and passion for UX is something you should learn from. If you’re unsure how UX can benefit your business, Brandon will reassure you with some fantastic examples. I especially like his example of how Whirlpool created innovative product concepts simply by sending their researchers into people’s homes to observe them doing their laundry and interviewing them.
After seeing people adopt rather uncomfortable postures, an idea was developed to create a platform to raise the products to a more convenient height…it shows how contextual user research can lead to user-centered innovations that directly impact the bottom line.
There are several names for this type of research; ethnographic, contextual inquiry, in-context. It’s my personal favourite style of research as you gain true insights into the user and their behaviour. Have you ever stepped into a strangers home and been able to make instant judgements on their personality, hobbies, interests, activity levels, family life that turned out to be accurate? Research has suggested that these judgements we make, which are based on our experience of life and people so far, are often accurate. If you’re interested to know more, I recommend reading Sam Gosling’s book Snoop: What your stuff says about you.
Many UXers shy away from contextual research as it is true research that requires a certain level of skill, and a lot of people who conduct usability testing aren’t specialist researchers.
Research conducted in the context of use is imho the best you can get. You will find out rich information and behavioural insights giving you those ‘why didn’t we think of that!’ moments that just can’t be gained through lab testing.
Read my interview with Brandon, it may just change your business…
The Disciplines of User Experience Design
Posted: January 31, 2013 Filed under: UX (User Experience) | Tags: ergonomics, human factors, psychology, Usability, user experience design, ux areas, ux disciplines, ux infograph, ux infographic, what is ux 2 Comments »
Science of Persuasion
Posted: January 31, 2013 Filed under: Psychology, UX (User Experience) | Tags: Interface, nudge, persuade, persuasive design, psychology, Robert Cialdini, science of persuasion, Usability, user experience, ux, video Leave a comment »Featured in The Guardian
Posted: January 11, 2013 Filed under: Usability, UX (User Experience) | Tags: guardian, keepitusable, the guardian, Usability, usability agency, ux, ux agency Leave a comment »
What better way to start the year than a guest appearance in The Guardian!
They seem to have cut the photo in a way that looks like my head’s been chopped off, so erm, just ignore that and read what I say instead 
Read the article and check out my chopped off head on the guardian.co.uk >>>
Motorola announces the HC1, Headset computing.
Posted: November 15, 2012 Filed under: Accessibility, Design, Usability, UX (User Experience) | Tags: ergonomic, hands free, hc1, head gesture, head set computer, headset computing, kopin, mobile computing, motorola, Usability, user experience, ux, voice control Leave a comment »Information Architecture (IA)
Posted: October 26, 2012 Filed under: Design, Research, UI, Usability, UX (User Experience), Web | Tags: card sort, card sorting, content structure, IA, Information Architecture, site map, software, Usability, user experience, user research, user testing, ux, website 3 Comments »Have you ever been to a website specifically to look for something and no matter how hard you look you just can’t find it? Most people will give up within a few seconds, hit the back button and go to a competitor. This is why your Information architecture is incredibly important – get it right and you will keep more people within your site, lowering your bounce rate and improving your conversion.
What is information architecture?
In simple terms, it’s about structuring your content to feel intuitive and logical to the end user.
An example of how not to do it
Tesco Direct have placed Halloween items within the heading ‘Christmas’ on the navigation bar. Users will struggle to find this as it makes no logical sense – halloween and christmas are completely separate occasions.
If a visitor to your website has the intention of browsing halloween things, they will already have expectations of where halloween things will be. Your aim is to try to understand their expectations of where they’ll find halloween related products. Only when you understand this, can you position it in the optimal place.
Card Sorting to create intuitive IA
One of the methods I employ to help create intuitive Information Architecture is Card Sorting. It’s an activity carried out with users (i.e. your target audience) using labelled cards to group and organise pages of content. Users categorise the pages in the way that makes sense to them and they can use existing grouping or create their own. What this enables us to do is to see the structure of your site or software from the user’s point of view – we can see and understand their mental model.
Card sorting exercise in action:
If you’d like to understand more about how reviewing your IA can help your business or if you’re curious about card sorting please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Intelligent UX: Washing Machines
Posted: August 20, 2012 Filed under: UX (User Experience) | Tags: intelligent ux, products, technology, Usability, user experience, ux, washing machine, washing machines Leave a comment »New Next Gen Macbook Pro
Posted: June 12, 2012 Filed under: Design, Mobile, UI, Usability, UX (User Experience) | Tags: Apple, interaction, Interface, ios 6, ios6, laptop, Mobile, next gen macbook pro, next generation macbook pro, retina display macbook pro, Usability, user experience 3 Comments »
“It’s without doubt the best computer we’ve ever built!”
If you’re an Apple fan then you’re probably feeling pretty excited right now. WWDC was held yesterday (you can watch it here) and Apple have finally launched the next generation of Macbook Pros. Thankfully they’ve met and exceeded most people’s expectations, with the new Macbook Pro showing off an incredibly slim casing, superb retina display, high performance and attention to little details such as the lowering the noise of the fan (yes seriously!). I don’t know of any company that would value the user experience to such detail.
New Macbook Pro Overview:
It’s very impressive and I’m already reaching for my purse. The question is whether to wait until July which is when Mountain Lion is released. There’s a free upgrade for anyone purchasing the Pro if you buy now, or like my other half plans to do, you could wait until next month which also gives Apple some time to solve any issues there may be with the new hardware design.
I’m not as impressed with iOS 6. It may surprise you to know that I’ve never owned an Apple mobile, despite my love of all things Apple (well, except iTunes which needs a complete redesign). For most people, their mobile is an extension of themselves, of their own personality. I find the iPhone form factor to be quite masculine. It feels expensive and high quality but I just can’t connect with it. There is one thing that keeps pulling me to Android and that is Widgets. As far as user experience is concerned they enable a shorter, more efficient and effective interaction. I can simply turn on my backlight and I instantly know the weather, the latest news, read a note to myself (usefulness), and I can see a photo of my other half with the cats (emotional attachment, love). It all adds up to a nice experience. iOS may have better usability and apps than Android, but I personally believe they need to add more fun, emotion, usefulness and wow factors into their mobile desktop to have increased emotional appeal.
Getting back to the new Macbook Pro, here are a few quotes from WWDC relating to User Experience that I wholeheartedly agree with.
“To create something that’s genuinely new, you have to start again and I think with great intent you disconnect from the past.”
“If you never change anything then what you can engineer is kind of incremental. But when you’re willing to change things then you kind of open up a whole new world of design.”
Free ‘Getting Real’ book by 37signals
Posted: May 29, 2012 Filed under: Books, Web | Tags: 37 signals, 37signals, business, Design, digital, free book, Getting Real, Rework, Usability, ux Leave a comment »
37signals are most well known as the creators of Basecamp. I love their approach to business and highly recommend you buy their book Rework. It’s packed full of really useful business advice that’s incredibly down to earth and makes much more practical sense than any other business book I’ve read.
They’re now giving away free copies of their book, Getting Real: The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application.
On Amazon this book currently retails at £15.89 for the paperback and £6.99 for the Kindle version, so I recommend you download your copy whilst it’s free!
