Happy 2010 :)

Books on Usability

Some great books for Usability Practioners:

• Designing Web Usability : The Practice of Simplicity
  Author: Jakob Nielsen
• Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
  Author: Steve Krug
• Information Architecture for the World Wide Web: Designing Large-Scale Web Sites
  Author: Louis Rosenfeld, Peter Morville
• The Design of Sites: Patterns, Principles, and Processes for Crafting a Customer-Centered Web Experience (2nd Edition)
  Author: Douglas K. vanDuyne, James A. Landay, Jason I. Hong
• The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web
  Author: Jesse James Garrett
• Designing With Web Standards
  Author: Jeffrey Zeldman
• Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web
  Author: Christina Wodtke
• Paper Prototyping: The Fast and Easy Way to Design and Refine User Interfaces
  Author: Carolyn Snyder
• Collaborative Web Development: Strategies and Best Practices for Web Teams
  Author: Jessica Burdman
• The Design of Everyday Things
  Author: Donald A. Norman
• Defensive Design for the Web: How to Improve Error Messages, Help, Forms, and Other Crisis Points (Voices That Matter)
  Author: 37signals, Matthew Linderman, Jason Fried
• Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things
  Author: Donald A. Norman
• Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner\ 's Guide to User Research (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive Technologies)
  Author: Mike Kuniavsky
• The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems
  Author: Jef Raskin
• Design Research: Methods and Perspectives
  Author: Laurel, Brenda Laurel
• GUI Bloopers: Don'ts and Do's for Software Developers and WebDesigners
  Author: Jeff Johnson
• The Persona Lifecycle: Keeping People in Mind Throughout Product Design
  Author: John Pruitt
• Designing Interfaces
  Author: Jenifer Tidwell
• Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design
  Author: Bill Buxton
• Handbook of Usability Testing: How to Plan, Design and Conduct Effective Tests
  Author: Jeffrey Rubin
• Observing the User Experience: A Practitioner 's Guide to User Research
  Author: Mike Kuniavsky
• Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction (2nd Edition)
  Author: Helen Sharp
• Designing the moment: web interface design concepts in action
  Author: Robert Hoekman
• Measuring The User Experience: Collecting, Analyzing, and Presenting Usability Metrics
  Autgor: Tom Tullis and Bill Albert
• About Face 3.0: The Essentials of Interaction Design
  Autgor: Alan Cooper, Robert M. Reimann, David Cronin
• The inmates are running the asylum
  Author: Alan Cooper
• Designing object-oriented user interfaces
  Autgor: Dave Collins
• Designing interactions
  Autgor: Bill Moggridge
• Dont Make Me Think Presentation - Quick Tips Regarding Web Usability And User Testing
• Prioritizing Web Usability
  Author: Jakob Nielsen
• Designing the Obvious- A Common Sense Approach to Web Application Design
  Author: Robert Hoekman

Startups

Yes, we are a budding startup and we are expanding.

Yes, we are doing some big league, admirable work and are fond of all that we are doing.

Yes, we do see debacles sometimes and are aggrieved

Yes, we have the zeal and want to be the best and the biggest

Yes, we have the challenge of being the Janitor and the Operator and the Manager; all at the same time.

Yes, we have the passion to share the stage with celebrities someday.

If your feelings are mutual, please connect. Yes, we are eager to share!!

Design Chef UX Competition

TVD team is jubilant to have won the Design Chef UX Competition. The team, especially - Devesh, Sanket worked hard to make this happen. Felicitations to the team and three cheers.

We hope to keep the good work going!!! For more details on our entry, you can log on to - http://blog.designchef.com/

Usability is drumming

I went for a party the other day (which had CEOs of entrepreneurial websites) and was introduced as a Usability specialist. Awoa!!! Tout de suite, I was greeted like a superstar. I was enveloped by people all of who wanted to talk about Usability since they had heard of it somewhere and thought that USABILITY was the mumbo jumbo that could augment revenues (no, no, not that I am denying it). It was then that I realized that Usability is undoubtedly the Buzzword…fizzing in every organization that has anything to do with technology.

Having brewed velocious, geeky products; technology geeks have realized that they are deprived of ‘the sensitive eye’. They have thus, stopped undervaluing designers. Additionally, they have started taking advice from them.

HR department has started looking for pedigree that calls itself ‘Usability Experts’. What is ludicrous though is the job description, which can ask for anything ranging from HTML / DHTML / XHTML expertise to knowledge about dot net to Photoshop skills. I want to wipe all myths here and make it amply clear that we Usability Experts do not have these skills and are not meant to. We look at technology products with an amiable eye and ensure that non-geeks can use it pleasantly and unremittingly.

There is also the other side of the scoop. We as Usability professionals more often than not get brain sunk in rudiments and theories of Usability and overlook the business spinoffs of our designs. Our designs unquestionably need to be ‘Good to Look at’ BUT not at the expense of revenues.

**Citing an example from a recent discussion with some UI designers - if logged in features of a website are shown forthright (on the home page) to a ‘not logged in’ user, I do not see anything unsatisfactory with the website. Unveiling logged in features upfront makes the intent of the website amply clear to the user. In addition, clicking on these features could show the Registration form. By increasing the number of times user looks at the registration form, there is a rise in the likelihood of his filling it up. (Unless, of course you can make the cardinal change of removing Registration form from the website).**

There is without doubt a rising need of Usability practitioners but there is even a greater need of people who can ruminate, anticipate, speculate. People who can evangelize user’s needs and yet create products, which have a business value. We need Usability practitioners who can read ‘data analytics numbers’ and understand the impact of their design on these numbers. Are we as Usability professionals seasoned enough to take on this onus?

Let the Business guys join hands with Usability Professionals to concoct world class products that can be used efficiently and can have enormous business value.

Social Networking – Indian vs. Global

When I meet an Indian boy, I say hi waving my hands...When I meet a Chinese boy, I shake hands...When I meet an Australian boy, I give a peck on the cheek.

I socialise with people of different cultures in different ways. We tittle - tattle on different subjects and ask different questions...No, I am not being a con artist and I don’t have two faces..Its just the need of different cultures.

In a scenario like this, does ONE global social networking site cater to all the audience across the globe or do we need geographically (culturally) disparate networking sites? Should the content be different..Do we need different applications!!

Orkut which is very popular in India has come up with a lot of applications which the Indian gallery will gladly relate to - Cricket / Bollywood / Politics are the buzzword with the Indian audience.

Big Adda has some Indian magnitude. They have incorporated Bollywood as a big-league (which we all know is cherished by Indian hearts). Amitabh Bacchan regularly and faithfully writes a blog on Big Adda making it even more Indian.

Will a French guy care about Cricket or Bollywood or Indian Politics. Won’t Soccer and Fashion hold his attention more than Cricket? Will an Australian be comfortable with the idea of surfing a matrimonial site for finding a date?

If there are cultural differences in the way we interact, then why are we not getting culturally different Networking sites. Why do they all look the same and behave identical?

Have the Social networking sites felt the pulse of their audience or are they insisting on a change in human behaviour.

As an example, I despise people poking me on facebook. I’ve never had men poke me in the real world, why would I then let them touch and poke me online. On myspace, some of the videos uploaded are beyond my comprehension and understanding. Do people really want to share such private stuff with the world?

Is it time for the world to behave alike or should we hold dignity in our culture and interaction style and reserve it for our future generations!!!

Tactile Interaction - 'Microsoft Surface'

I have loved the physical world where - ‘A table is a table’ and if I want to move the table, I will hold it and move it on any axis in space. Similarly, if I have to read a book – I will hold it (maybe lie on a rocking chair), read the page (and perhaps lick my finger) and riffle the pages - and that’s what I call ‘Reading Experience’.

Now, lets see the virtual world where if I have to move the table, I will first look for a mouse and then carefully target the cursor on the table on my computer screen and finally move the device (mouse) on horizontal plane to move the table on vertical plane. And if I have to read a book...i don’t even want to construe the set of actions I will have to take from selection of book to final reading.

I always wondered why the physical world experience could not translate into virtual world until I recently saw the Microsoft Surface at IIT Techfest 2009. The interaction device has come to India for the first time and was displayed in a premier technology institute during its annual festival.

What is Microsoft Surface?

Microsoft Surface formerly known as ‘Milan’ is something that provides a palpable experience for users and is a paradigm shift when it comes to dealing with software.

Technology in my opinion is creating a world of aliens where masses sit nibbling on their technological devices. People sit back to back in an office so that they can gaze at their monitors. Children sit facing their gaming consoles rather than facing each other. However, in this era of turning back at each other, Microsoft Surface has introduced’ Surface’ which allows 40 people to sit facing each other and they can work on it concurrently. This means that 40 people can actually look at each other when working on any application..Thank God (Microsoft), we have just been salvaged from the crisis of being introverted and isolated in our own world.

What more...You want to share photos, print them or delete them from your camera. You no more have to deal with USB ports, Bluetooth, small camera screens...You can do it directly on Microsoft Surface in an exceptionally uncomplicated way.

You want to book seats in a hotel for the evening..You no longer need to type in the computer screen. Use tactile interactions on the MS Surface and it will be done. You want to split bills in a hotel and pay up. Do it using Microsoft Surface.

Watch all this Live in action on this video that Microsoft is broadcasting on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP5y7yp06n0&eurl=http://the56group.typepad.com/pgreenblog/2007/05/microsoft_surfa.html

How does it Work?

The customer DLP cameras sense objects, hand gestures and touch. This becomes the "user input" that is processed by the computer and software that sits under the table and on top of a Vista operating system. The results of the processing are displayed on the 30" screen using rear projection.

The system can also recognize tagged objects so that if you have a tagged wine bottle for example, you can place the wine on the surface and up will pop all the info on the wine, the vineyard, the drinkability of the wine, suggested food pairings and you can even order the foods right from the suggested pairings by dragging the food name to an order area on the surface.

Is it being used anywhere?

AT&T Wireless (T) Stores use this device to elucidate the features of cell phones to its sales people.

Harrah’s Entertainment casino uses this to assist patrons in ordering drinks. Users can also download photos from a wireless-equipped digital camera placed on top of Surface.

What does all this mean?

Limitless opportunities and fantasies lie in this product.

The world of interactions will change from ticktocking on a keyboard and mobile phone keypad to literally holding it and feeling it on the ‘Surface’.

Your kid could digitally paint on the Surface. Your wife could choose her dress for the evening by keeping her picture on the ‘Surface’ and draping it in her favourite saree. You could pay your bills by the tap of a Surface.

Going for a vacation would mean seeing the place on the ‘Surface’, finding routes (by actually moving your finger on the Surface like you would drive on the road) and sharing pictures of your vacation in the most unobtrusive ways.

Architects could create models of landscape on sand and shape their buildings in stone and see it actually converted to digitised format in MS Surface.

Conclusion

All this will usher us to the next level of Human Computer Interaction with a new set of challenges and solutions. We may not be ready for this future generation product yet, but the coming generations will see a more friendly and tactile way of interacting with each other. They will not be busy chatting, emailing, blogging the way we have done. They would be busy converting the physical world to virtual world, LITERALLY!!

Retake 4 – ‘Lights, Camera, Action’....Design Iterations

Even as I write this, Sakku in TVD office is working on 10^th design option for our internal company profile (and thats just one page that he is designing). I sometimes wonder ‘Where do Design iterations end’. When are we utterly gratified by our design. Do we ever see a culmination to our design?

Iterative Design Methodology

Design methodology is often an iterative process – cyclic process of prototyping, testing, analysing – perpetual work in progress. In iterative design, interaction with the designed system is used as a form of research and analysis for evolving the design of the product. However, what’s critical is the designer’s grip on Design Methodology. Design should be envisaged and implemented in phases. Each phase should elevate design further.

Does all this mean that the product will never be launched in its absoluteness? Will there be constant shaping required to create that utopian Monalisa? How do architects carry through? They can’t design and build buildings in an iterative modus operandi.

The answer to this is perhaps the nature around us. God almighty has created the world in a beta stage. Living beings are getting archaic and new ones are originating. Human design is forever modifying and evolving. From the apes to nomads and now the super tech humans we have seen it all.

Designing in the Real World

I have repeatedly witnessed debates between the Product team and the Design team – Product team being always at a bullet speed to launch the nouveau and Design team always agog to make it a design beyond compare and hence requiring more time. How do we draw the curtain? Where do we call the ceasefire? I have finally adopted the following methodology:

· Understand the user requirements and separate them into categories of ‘Must Haves’, ‘Good to Have’ and ‘Bells and Frills’.
· In the given time frame ensure that the ‘Must Haves’ have been taken care of. If you have included design solutions to the other two categories in the given time frame then you can pat your back.
· Give the product team the other two categories along with your design solution. This would help them in planning the next variant. (This is also done to ensure that the product team does not raise fingers at your design and say that everything has not been taken care of J)

Designing with peers

In the iterative design process, the most copious thinking that you need at any moment is the one which will get you to your next prototype. Isolated thinking may not help and therefore take help from peers and users of your product to get to the next level. I do any of the following and it really helps:

· Bounce off initial design ideas and prototype to your peers and take their comments.
· Gather a group of potential users and show your design to them to take their feedback.
· Involve stakeholders in discussion of ideas and solutions.
· When towards finalisation, rope in friends and take their views.

Like Oscar Wilde had once said – ‘A fashion is merely a form of ugliness so unbearable that we are compelled to alter it every six months’. I would say that Design gets archaic and ugly so soon that we need to relook at it every six months. So all you designers, keep iterating and hold dignity in creating versions. The more the number of iterations, the better you get. Final design is anyways the other end of the rainbow.

Whats in a name

Well!! I have just delivered a baby and have been wondering what to ‘label’ my baby. I call it ‘label’ because I think its mankind’s most extensive ‘Branding Exercise’. This ‘label’ is going to determine the child’s personality here - after. The child will be called by that ‘label’ from the day of its genesis until a span of a lifetime and even beyond that!! It’s a frightful thought since I want to give the best to my baby.

To top it all, I have also started my own consultancy. I sure enough am facing onerous Branding challenges. My consultancy helps people design pleasant user experiences for their software products. The name should thus savour the taste of ‘user friendliness’, ‘user appeal’, ‘usable’ etc etc

After going through rounds of brainstorming with self, I froze on a few ‘labels’ akin ‘names’ but none of them were as charismatic as my image of my company or baby. Until yesterday, when I woke up with the thought that what if my name was ‘Annie’ or ‘Mary’ or ‘Xia’. Would I converse or behave any different? Would my skill set differ? Most importantly, would my character be any different?

Names are in my opinion often used to assess and classify a person. There are incredible number of names in this cosmos. Thanks to these names, people fall in diversified categories. The obvious primary category formed when one hears a name is Gender. This is succeeded by categories of race, nationality, caste, creed, religion etc. Further, there are notions associated with these categories which are then added to the character of these names. Mental models are thus established only by listening to one’s name. Are names really important then? To begin with, I did not even select my name. If was given an option, I would have called myself a number rather than being evaluated because of my name.

‘What’s in a name, anyways’...The most successful businesses in the world have mostly not had painfully investigated names (or logos). Brand name is no guarantee or pathway to success. All the branding, differentiation, brand identity etc are just the cherry on the top. If you have it, splendid. Even if you don’t, the cake still tastes the same.

There were a couple of geeks who got some venture capital funding for their internet start-up. Unfortunately, the guy who wrote the cheque misspelt the name of their company on the cheque, and by the time these geeks found out, the funder had boarded his flight. So what did they do? They surfed and found that the "wrong" name of the company written on the cheque was available as a domain name for registration and instead of amending the cheque they immediately booked the new domain name. That name was ‘Google’.

Does anyone know how the name and swoosh of Nike was got? The logo expenditure was merely a handful of dollars. I suppose it’s today the most recognised in the world after the red cross? And all this in a country considered being the Mecca of marketing and branding?

Jerry Yang and David Filo were Engineering students at Stanford University. They started a list of web pages to keep a track of their personal interests on the internet and published these lists under a website named ‘Jerry’s guide to the World Wide Web’. These lists grew substantially large and were categorised and sub categorised in hierarchy. They then renamed the website to ‘Yahoo’. Filo and Yang said that they chose this name because they took fancy to the word’s definition, which comes from Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift: “rude, unsophisticated, uncouth”!!! I doubt if branding consultants would ever recommend a name which has such a negative denotation.

An automobile dealer and racing zealot, Jellinek had been racing DMG automobiles on which he had the name—Mércédès—painted for good luck after his daughter, Mércédès Jellinek. Later he contracted with DMG for a small series of dedicated sports cars containing an engine that officially bore his daughter's name. He raced them very successfully, achieving recognition that rose inquisitiveness of customers and Jellinek was placed on the board of directors of DMG. This model was a considerable progress in the history of automobiles. The model was released for sale in 1901 under the name of Mercedes 35 hp and, because of the success of the model, DMG used this name for a series of other models such as, Mercedes 8/11 hp and Mercedes 40 hp Simplex. Mercedes today has become a name synonymous to luxury and high frill cars. All this commenced with the name of a car enthusiast’s daughter!!

How many people would have agreed four years ago that Orkut is a perfect name for a social networking site? I still don’t think it is. It’s a bizarre name, makes no sense. But then, does it matter anymore?

All businesses are about customer satisfaction. It’s better if the entrepreneur channelizes energy on what will give the customer more satisfaction. Nice brand names are superb, but they don’t do much, barring perhaps getting occasional cognizance of people. And yes, aggrandize expectation sometimes.

I think we have gotten into the drift of complicating facile matters be it business or relationships. Glenn McGrath said the same thing about cricket. Warren Buffett said the same thing about investing. We consider getting a consultant for everything and think that they'll do a superior job since they are specialists in this field.

It’s not what I call my baby or my consultancy that’s of as much a consequential value as how I foster and build them. It’s how I make my business successful. How much probity will my business or baby have. Can they provide unsurpassed quality and work for the amelioration of social community. Me alone, as the owner of the business can give my business a peerless culture.... Then, ’Whats in a name, anyways’!!!