http://metia.com/seattle/cassandra-st-louis Thu, 11 Oct 2012 19:05:00 +0100 Thu, 11 Oct 2012 19:05:00 +0100 Cassandra St. Louis /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2012/10/being-human-in-ux/#number-of-comments Over the last few years the term “User Experience” has been a buzz word in the design community. Not only has it been integrated as part of user interface and interaction as well as a step of process in technology, but it has also infiltrated the business end—better UX investments equal higher productivity, reduced costs, and increased sales. Additionally, if we search online for “UX design processes or principles,” what we get is a plethora of diagrams, processes, and principles. Although great in providing useful information on its principles, sometimes, diagrams and processes  can sometimes strip out the human side of user experience. UX designers and designers alike (particularly to beginners) should understand and utilize basic UX design principles as their guide in design choices. Using UX design principles has many rewards – from return on investment, efficiency to customer satisfaction, However, it’s also important not take these physical principles as your bible for all design choices without understanding the human side of things—the psychological principles. Just because the UX principles doesn’t tick all the boxes means that the whole user experience is wrong. It shouldn’t be considered “the” rule book in design. Designers should consider the psychological side to understand the bigger picture of how we respond to information and content, and how we make choices. Essentially, if we don’t know what makes us tick as human beings, our designs run the risk of merely decorating rather than solving problems. Understanding human nature can have a major impact on the effectiveness of your designs. Recently, I’ve been reading about the psychological side of human emotion and user experience. Don Norman and Aaron Walter have written books on this subject. Human emotion and experience can sometimes have direct the choices we make.  I recently read a post by John Schneider, an information architect, in which he asked several interesting questions as well as made great points on the subject of what makes a good user experience. “What else should we be thinking about when designing user experiences? How should we think about the pages we’re creating? Having a good navigation strategy and making links between information intuitive are important, no doubt. Creating a solid visual hierarchy within pages is key, as well. But how often are we consciously focusing on the subtleties of a user’s emotions, and how the user perceives and responds to the information we present? “I don’t think anyone would disagree that part of design is about understanding and acknowledging the emotional and psychological quirks of human nature. I don’t think that we focus on it enough. Many of the decisions made about a project are the result of a verbal or written exchange between parties. By its very nature, it’s a rational, logical engagement. The part that is underemphasized (or not acknowledged at all) is the emotional aspect. And when you get down to it, using a website isn’t a purely transactional exchange. It’s an experience, a mix of rational and emotional factors.” Schnieder goes on to say: “Our emotional selves don’t ask questions, but instead filter actions through an emotional lens. Our emotions provide the impetus for our action or inaction. We first react, then act, formulating ad hoc rationales for either engaging in or avoiding something. It’s our job to anticipate and help guide the emotional engines of our users and direct them accordingly to either things they need or things we would like them to do or at least consider.” I believe, being human is about making connections with people, learning, and loving. These are all things that make us alive, whether we're at home, or at work. When we integrate the human emotional touchpoints in our products, we are providing people with moments in which they can feel alive, connected, and reminded of the beauty in their own lives and those closest to them. Although there are many great sites, one good example is the Mini Cooper website. Whether you want to purchase one or not, you can’t help but engage with the simple site. The content is clean and fresh. The navigation is easy to use with quick whimsical sounds and quick loads, all evoking the fun, simplicity, and perkiness of the car itself. Not all sites need to have a “fun” side, but understanding your audience and adding some level of emotional connection is important. They may not even realize why they feel the way they do about your product, but they will remember it. So what does that mean to designers? What should we take away from this? Well, know that UX design principles are definitely a great tool and not about task completion or a UX design principle checklist. Yes, tasks can be quantifiable and quite easy to measure, but does the completion of that task yield a good design? I don’t think so. Good design makes people happy, which is an emotion. Bad design frustrates people, which is also an emotion. Good visual design can make us overlook flaws in the way attractive things behave, much as we do with people. If the ultimate goal is to create great user experiences, then we need to focus more on the emotional, psychological layers of our work. Here are some useful resources: Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everday Things by Don NormanDesigning for Emotion by Aaron Walter Emotional Interface Design: The Gateway to Passionate Users /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2012/10/being-human-in-ux/ /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2012/10/being-human-in-ux/ Thu, 11 Oct 2012 19:05:00 +0100 Cassandra St. Louis /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2012/07/responsive-web-is-your-design-ready/#number-of-comments There has been a plethora of information on responsive web. From mobile browsers to netbooks and tablets, users are visiting your sites from an increasing array of devices and browsers. The question is, are your designs ready? There are many things to consider beyond the desktop and visible beautiful designs. Designers need to anticipate and respond to your users’ needs. Although responsive web design and mobile design pose some challenges, it’s important to consider these five factors when preparing or approaching your next design project. Be design ready, think beyond the desktop. For many websites, creating a version for each resolution and new device would be impossible or at least impractical. As we move to multiple devices, companies need to avoid restricting themselves and their clients to one device. Instead they must think of how their clients get information about their business. Fluid grids (the flexible grid). Fluid layouts are an underestimated commodity in web design. Daunting at the onset, it’s only now that people are realizing their true potential. Overall, they put control of our designs firmly in the hands of our usersand their browsing habits. When designing for responsive web, designers shouldn’t consider the previous “minimum screen resolution” but rather think of fluid grids in terms of liquid design. Instead of working with fixed pixels wireframes, we should have no hard code pixel configurations, but rather have configurations relative to the content and form factor. Not to get to technical here, but if you’ve ever worked with relative units such as the em, you know that it’s all about context. In other words, the actual size of an element’s em is computed relative to the font size of its parent element.   Flexible images. Setting max-width 100% means an image will never exceed the size of its containing element. You can also apply this rule to other forms of embedded media like videos. Ethan Marcotte best explains fluid images in this A List Apart article. Media queries. Fluid layouts can appear confined and many times unreadable on small mobile devices and much too large and heavy on large widescreen displays. Media queries enable us to adapt typography to the size and resolution of the user’s device, making it quite a powerful tool for constructing the perfect reading experience. Media queries set breakpoints that adjust content appropriately for various viewports. Media query consists of a media type and one or more expressions to limit the scope of style sheets. Within the media library, you can establish media queries such as "width," "height," and "color." By using media queries, you can tailor presentations to a specific range of output devices without changing the content itself. UX design principles. Despite the various form factors in which you’re building, don’t abandon or compromise your basic design principles. This means your design should carry strong elements of structure, simplicity, visibility, feedback, tolerance, and reusability. /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2012/07/responsive-web-is-your-design-ready/ /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2012/07/responsive-web-is-your-design-ready/ Mon, 16 Jul 2012 22:34:00 +0100 Cassandra St. Louis /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2012/04/science-how-creativity-works/#number-of-comments I had the amazing opportunity to hear Jonah Lehrer speak last night at Seattle’s Town Hall. It was entitled Science: How Creativity Works. Don't know much about Jonah Lehrer? Well in a nutshell, he's an American author and journalist who writes on the topics of psychology, neuroscience, and the relationship between science and the humanities The first time I heard Jonah talk was on NPR where he was promoting his latest book Imagine: How Creativity Works. In it he examines the new science of creativity explains how it involves distinct thought processes that can be tapped by anyone, revealing the practices of successful companies and creative individuals while considering how to use scientific principles to increase creativity.  Two things that I was left with Give yourself time to be creative. We live in an age that worships focus—we are always forcing ourselves to concentrate, chugging caffeine—this approach can inhibit the imagination. We might be focused, but we're probably focused on the wrong answer. And this is why relaxation helps: It isn't until we're soothed in the shower or distracted by the stand-up comic that we're able to turn the spotlight of attention inward, eavesdropping on all those random associations unfolding in the far reaches of the brain's right hemisphere. When we need an insight, those associations are often the source of the answer. As Einstein once declared, "Creativity is the residue of time wasted." Not every challenge we have requires an epiphany or a relaxing shower to solve a problem, but knowing when faced with complex situations and we continue to drill at it may not be productive. Taking a short "time out" walking away from the problem and doing something that is relaxed allows us to be more productive. So, daydreaming IS healthy, just when to capture is important.Second is… Creativity is connecting things and people Jonah further mentions in his talk that many of the most innovative companies encourage their employees to develop these sorts of diverse networks, interacting with colleagues in totally unrelated fields. I’m fortunate enough to work for a company like Metia that's always looking to connect things and people. I believe that the best inventors seek out "diverse experiences," collecting lots of dots that they later link together. When you connect those dots, something "magical" happens. Like science, the explosion of collective minds can be something quite beautiful and long lasting. Want to know more about Jonah Lehrer, you can hear him on NPR's Fresh Air or watch his Imagine: How Creativity Works video. /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2012/04/science-how-creativity-works/ /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2012/04/science-how-creativity-works/ Tue, 10 Apr 2012 16:21:00 +0100 Cassandra St. Louis /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2012/02/design-risks-identify,-plan-and-solve/#number-of-comments As designers we know that all projects involve some element of risk. This is nothing new, but all too often we find ourselves heads down on a project pushing for that deadline and not seeing possible dangers that lie ahead. Although the type of risk may vary, most risk can be defined as something that could happen, resulting in negative effects on any given project, product or strategy. They key to a successful project is not only reducing the risk, but to identify what the risks are, develop a plan for tracking risk and work efficiently in find the right solution with the right people and service. First, let’s consider the risk… All too often designers simply jump into doing the task at hand without thoroughly thinking about what types of risks are at hand. The way I see it, avoiding risk can be looked in 3 aspects: business, design and technology. They all play apart, but business and technology, I believe they have the most tangible results because for the most part there are a lot of resources and methods in dealing with risk. What I want to focus on is design risk. So what is design risk? Basically it encompasses design quality or usability issues that might occur and negatively impact a process or project. Design risk mostly occurs when we fail to implement user-centric design process – the way in which we pay extensive attention to the end users wants, needs and limitations at different stages of a design process. The ultimate goal is really to mediate, manage and otherwise reduce the impact or chance of risk. So how do you avoid them? Well, every project is unique so each design process should be different for every project or problem. Here are the points: Identify the risk: This may seem simple to do from the onset, but all too often I’ve seen designers identify only a small few or the obvious ones. But consider the different components and design elements that make up the project or product. For example: IA (information architecture) –  Do all the features of the information architecture fully support how the end user engages or experiences with the product? Whether it’s a website or mobile content, navigation, think about how the information is ordered. Macro and Macro levels – We also need to consider the IA as it relates to across the entire product. This includes interactions points and screens. What are the access or decision points, expected behavior, navigationsystems, or even UI orientation? Interface design – Focus on screen layout, input graphics, placement of information or other visual interaction. Is the UI flexible on various screen sizes (mobile vs desktop)? Content – what types of content is it? Dynamic, in multiple languages? Ensure that the content is clear, correct and constructed well to be understood. Plan for action: Once you’ve identified those risks, the next step is to prioritize which of these elements can, will or might be addressed. They may vary from low vs high in cost or implementation. This is where the design risk links closely with the business and technology risks. Designers, such as myself, must always ask the questions such as: What are the consequences of not fixing or managing those specific risks? Will those results cost customer loyalty and business? Will brand identity be compromised? Once those risks are prioritized, planning is vital. Employing the right people to determine where, when and how those risks are addressed is equally important when it comes to cost and overall business objectives. Work together with other teams to weight out the priorities, monitor, view and document for a successful end and impact. This gives designers the opportunity to minimize damage if a risk that suddenly ends up having unexpected consequences. Solve for a solution: With the risk identified and planned out, now it’s time to roll up the sleeves and actually fix the risk. Simply put, your customer has a problem; this is your opportunity to find a solution that is designed to work. I have the pleasure of working with many extremely talented and experienced people across multiple disciplines. Their experience not only creates great experiences but it gives us the opportunity to presents even better solutions. Solving those risks as a team makes us creative experts; an adventurous, open-minded, and responsive company, not just to our clients, but their customers. What are your thoughts? Share a story or some perspective you found helpful in avoiding or solving design risks. /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2012/02/design-risks-identify,-plan-and-solve/ /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2012/02/design-risks-identify,-plan-and-solve/ Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:39:00 +0100 Cassandra St. Louis /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2012/01/one-site,-multiple-devices/#number-of-comments I recently read an article on UXmag.com,  Framework for Designing for Multiple Devices by Sachendra Yadav on designing for multiple devices which got me to thinking. A website used to be just a website, content consumed from a user’s computer. Today, users interact with multiple kinds of devices throughout the course of a single day. Regardless of the device, users have the same expectations, an engaging experience that delivers the content they’re looking for, when they’re looking for it, which raises the question, should content be delivered the same across the board, and should that content be the same across the board? Simply resizing the same design to fit the screens of the different devices isn’t cutting it any more. How many times have you gone to the web browser on your smartphone and had to zoom in and pan around to find what you were looking for, to then have to zoom in again just to tap a link, then repeat. Redesigning a site for multiple devices is not just about visual design; it needs to go deeper than that, the content you deliver needs to be reevaluated based on the device used to view it. "Providing the right content, on the right device, at the right time" To do this we need to understand device categories; PCs, Phones, Tablets, TVs, and what users are typically doing as well as what they will be looking for while operating each. This will vary project by project, but you can assume the obvious: Phone users will most likely want quick access to information while they’re on the go PC users are more likely to do a deeper dive into content TV user will look for more entertaining content with minimal navigation Tablet users are often what I refer to as jumpers. They hop around a bit browsing in-between conversations, busses, and during commercials. The design for each of these categories should take the above into consideration. Shifting and reprioritizing content to better serve the user. One site which is doing a really nice job at this is ESPN.com. (See attached images iPhone browser, iPad browser and desktop browser). Their site visually displays differently on each browser, content is organized differently, and some content is even removed between the devices. The biggest takeaway is that what gets designed should not be simply be  resized to fit the device being used. Rather, the content and functionality need to be customized for individual devices. Beyond designing for multiple devices, Sachendra also talks about the pros and cons of Mobile Web vs. Native Apps. Read the full article on UXmag here. Blog written by Rich Blackwell, Lead Designer at Metia /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2012/01/one-site,-multiple-devices/ /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2012/01/one-site,-multiple-devices/ Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:21:00 +0100 Cassandra St. Louis /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/03/earthquake-shows-the-strength-of-social-networking/#number-of-comments There's been discussions that social media enables social isolation. To some level I agree, but in times like these, I see its amazing benefits. The record-setting 8.9 magnitude earthquake that rocked Japan today sent millions around the globe to social media websites to spread news, share videos and donate to help victims of the quake and the tsunami in the Pacific. John Vinson from WebProNews writes: "In the US, we can only imagine the devastation which occurred in Japan, and continues to occur as reports roll in concerning higher death tolls and more people missing. One of the scariest factors many don’t consider when an event like this occurs is how the avenues of communication shut down. Telephone lines are reported to be down for most of Japan, and getting a hold of loved ones is a difficult task to undertake. As reports surface, messages from Facebook and Twitter provide the latest news. Doing a bit of research shows how the human spirit can be found within the social media platforms.... read more." Google launched the Person Finder in efforts to help reconnect people with lost or missing friends and family during the Egyptian revolution. In response to the tsunami in Japan, Google has launched the Google Crisis Center. Aid organizations are taking great use of social media to raise money, awareness for disaster victims. This is becoming increasingly popular over the past recent years with Haiti, New Zealand, Chile, Indonesia and China earthquakes where Twitter paired up with a mobile service provider and raised about millions of dollars in about one month via $10 donations. Unlike the news and television stations who ask for donations, social media connects these charitable donations with hundreds of millions of people simultaneously and is as easy as texting a code or number. The simplicity of texting "REDCROSS" to a number gives a great sense of compassion and community to reach out and assist victims around the world. /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/03/earthquake-shows-the-strength-of-social-networking/ /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/03/earthquake-shows-the-strength-of-social-networking/ Sat, 12 Mar 2011 17:09:00 +0100 Cassandra St. Louis /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/03/planning-a-ux-strategy/#number-of-comments As UX (User eXperience) designers we understand and apply core principles, theories, and approaches to various different projects. We're not only passionate about the end user, but the ability to create meaningful experiences. We take every opportunity to evangelize the value of UX in our work place as well as those around us. That great, but how do we effectively plan a UX strategy. Recently, I read an article on ways to effectively plan a UX strategy, particularly for those companies that have little to some UX within their company and are looking to incorporate into their own business model. At first glance, it sounded like a recipe to success, but not all size fits all, rather it provided useful fundamental guides and core principles of how UX Strategy can help assess your current situation. It may be known and fundamental, yes, but very practical and useful. Take a look on how to plan and coordinate actions: Where are you today? - This means taking a look a look at what's happening both internally and externally within the organization. i.e. Externally: Define your audiences, where do you stand in marketplace, benchmark products and services, compare them against competition and analyze industry trends, personas. Internally, assess your organization capabilities and competencies - using UX Maturity Scale (UXMM), map out business process and channels (Journey Map).  Where do you want to go? - Work out where you want to be in the future – Make predictions on where you want to be, not wishful thinking on where you might want to be. Choose and prioritize actions - Depending on where you are on the UXMM ladder, carefully plan and time actions in phase to achieve it. Create outcomes such as strategic vision, mission statement, key UX principles, and key objectives of the areas you want to improve. Map out the journey – Set goals…Collect your targets or goals that are easily achievable and don’t take a lot of effort. Note when you’ve reached them. Use metrics to help you here. Get the job done – Collectively work with teams or individuals from different departments in getting the job done. Monitor along the way to assess what works and doesn’t and adjust accordingly. Another article, older but worth reading is “Managing the Total Customer Experience”. We need to understand that UX strategy is about the larger picture, not just the product level, but on the organizational level. /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/03/planning-a-ux-strategy/ /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/03/planning-a-ux-strategy/ Sun, 06 Mar 2011 19:10:00 +0100 Cassandra St. Louis /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/03/why-design-now-the-national-design-triennial-exhibition/#number-of-comments I've been a member of the Smithsonian for a while now (they even have Smithsonian HD) and I'm still awed at the annual exhibitions, particularly with Cooper-Hewitt, National Museum.  In their fourth exhibition, the National Design Triennial explored the work of designers addressing human and environmental problems across many fields of the design practice, from architecture and products to fashion, graphics, new media, and landscapes. Cooper-Hewitt curators Ellen Lupton, Cara McCarty, Matilda McQuaid, and Cynthia Smith presented the experimental projects and emerging ideas for the period between 2006 and 2009. Take a look http://exhibitions.cooperhewitt.org/Why-Design-Now/  /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/03/why-design-now-the-national-design-triennial-exhibition/ /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/03/why-design-now-the-national-design-triennial-exhibition/ Sun, 06 Mar 2011 02:04:00 +0100 Cassandra St. Louis /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/02/designing-for-positive-social-change/#number-of-comments I've always been interested and involved in creating design for social change, particularly using technology in not traditional environments so I constantly use my expertise to seek out opportunities to give back. After having 2 Masters I wanted to pursue a PhD in user experience, making better experiences for people with learning and physical disabilities and different cultures.  A tall order I know, but I believe it's attainable. At UEL (University of East London) I had the opportunity to be a part of SMARTLabs which works across sectors and disciplines to investigate and support positive cultural change. From traveling to Morocco where we build SMART shell toolkits that  empowered women by offering cybercafés, to help better education and communities to working with eye scans for quadriplegics to use computer software. As I seek out new opportunities here in Seattle I've been inspired by several people. Here's one...Emily Pilloton. Emily Pilloton is truly remarkable and her work in Bertie County is a bold experiment that gave new meaning on how we can use design for positive change.  Her organisation called Project H uses the power of the design process to catalyze communities and public education from within. Watch her video, check out her website and be inspired to make a positive change. /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/02/designing-for-positive-social-change/ /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/02/designing-for-positive-social-change/ Mon, 07 Feb 2011 03:49:18 +0100 Cassandra St. Louis /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/02/designing-meaningful-experiences/#number-of-comments A few weeks ago I attended a talk at the University of Washington about Designing Meaningful Experiences by Nathan Shedroff. Nathan is known as a pioneer in the field of experience design and a thought leader in cross-disciplinary design. In his talk he discussed the dimensions to both digital and traditional experiences, which together offer a wide-ranging palette of possibilities for creating effective and meaningful experiences. What I found particularly interesting was how he identified the 6 dimensions to experiences, all together creating an enormous palette of possibilities for creating effective, meaningful, and successful experiences: Time/Duration Interactivity Intensity, Breadth/Consistency Sensorial and Cognitive Triggers Significance/Meaning Overall, the most important concept to grasp is that all experiences are important and that we can learn from them whether they are traditional, physical, offline experiences or whether they are digital, online, or other technological experiences. In fact, we know a great deal about experiences and their creation through these other established disciplines that can-and must-be used to develop new solutions. Most technological experiences-including digital and, especially, online experiences-have paled in comparison to real-world experiences and have been relatively unsuccessful as a result. What these solutions require is for their developers to understand what makes a good experience first, and then to translate these principles, as well as possible, into the desired media without the technology dictating the form of the experience. Check out his latest book -  Experience Design.         /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/02/designing-meaningful-experiences/ /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/02/designing-meaningful-experiences/ Mon, 07 Feb 2011 03:03:00 +0100 Cassandra St. Louis /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/02/iconference-week/#number-of-comments I've always been interested in user experience, specifically now various people interpolate information whether on web, mobile or other devices. This week I'll be attending iConference in Seattle. The iConference is an annual gathering of researchers and professionals from around the world who share the common goal of making a difference through the study of people, information, and technology. There will be more than 85 peer-reviewed papers on such topics as health, security, design, social media, and more.  This sixth annual event will emphasize the focal elements of people, information, and technology. One of the workshops I'll be attending is called Cultivating Creative Information Practices.  Take a look at the abstract. "Trying to be creative in today’s accelerated and overloaded world is fraught with challenges, not least because the fast access to information we take for granted often comes at the expense of the time needed for creative thinking and reflection. Recent research suggests that if we are to support human thought through the provision of information, we will need to provide people with more opportunities to experience and work with “imperfect” information, to engage with ambiguities in their information practices, and to create the spaces and times for deeper reflection. As a research community and as individuals striving to improve our own research practice, there is a need for us to examine these challenges. This workshop aims to carve out a space for ongoing conversations and research collaborations around them. It will provide an opportunity for participants to share stories, techniques, practices, and research about how to find and create the space and time for creative engagement and reflection, as well as to plan future, collaborative research on the subject." I’ll follow up on the outcome….. /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/02/iconference-week/ /seattle/cassandra-st-louis/2011/02/iconference-week/ Mon, 07 Feb 2011 02:31:00 +0100