@ techved design

Fashion and Facebook...eeh

2011-11-24T22:04:00.001-08:00

Watching Ftv is always amusing. They dish out the hip and avant garde in fashion. Its doubly interesting to see same patters and styles being donned by people in parties and later in the neighbourhood. Its an anticipated progression of fashion into society. It starts from the designers who present their designs on ramps to be copied by tailors in masses.
I sometimes wonder why this trend has not taken off on web portals. Web portals like Facebook which claims to have 800 million active users does not seem to be accomplishing any trend in fashion of web portals. Facebook is a web portal that has features added every fortnight with no design for the chic and swanky. It would be fun to see facebook giving out fashionable templates which I can don on my page and brag - A 'Versace Page' perhaps and I may pay facebook for the template and for increasing my onlne social status and more importantly for letting the Punjabi in me feel blissful with social accolade.

Sue your Clients!!

2011-02-20T04:09:00.000-08:00

There are two kinds of clients –

- Clients who pay

- Clients who do not pay

We have through myriad experiences learnt to deal with both. In my opinion, clients who pay are irksome when compared to clients who do not pay. Surprised, are you!! Well, this is how it goes.

When you approach a client (or a client approaches you), he expects that you would create everything for him – Web strategy to graphics to development. However, when you get talking and enumerate price for doing everything, he suddenly flinches and wants to trim the scope of work on paper (subconsciously, he still knows that he has to get all of it accomplished from YOU).

Then it comes to collecting advance which he happily gives away. You slog and slog till the deliverable date. Now, the client who is serious about paying will ignore your slogging and gesture to say that he is not satisfied. Well, he is paying and you better sharpen your skills and improve your work. You slog again to satisfy him. You keep slogging till he is satisfied and pays you!!

Now lets peek into the scenario where the client does not pay. He has no intention of paying and would say that I do not like your work and will not pay for it. Easy, he is out of door and you are back in office. No more slogging for him. You know he would not pay and that is the termination of the story. Well, you can sue him if you want to but you are still a jubilant man since work with this client is over and you can spend your time transacting with another client.

Workshop - Conducting Successful Usability Test

2010-12-16T01:52:00.000-08:00

Would you like to have lifetime access to the most groundbreaking thinking in the world of Experience Design?

Workshop Description:

Usability testing is a powerful tool. It guides the design of products. It informs us on the behaviors and expectations of users. And, it gives teams a way to measure how close they are to achieving their goals.

Most companies, universities, and government agencies are regularly conducting usability tests. But many clients tell us they need help. Every week we hear questions like these: Are we getting the most out of every test? Are we as prepared as we should be? Is our design team receiving the information they need from the test results? How many users should we test?

To get the most out of every usability test and make the biggest impact on your designs, here’s your opportunity to learn the essential fundamentals of usability testing. Techved Design's Neha Modgil has put together a fabulous Workshop designed explicitly to share the basics of usability testing. As one of the premier usability experts in the field, Neha Modgil has helped dozens of companies and agencies bring usability testing into their processes. If you're just starting out with usability tests, you'll learn insightful tips and effective techniques from her years of experience.

In this session, you'll learn:

§ How to set up your usability testing lab, including an overview of User Interface Engineering's typical test set-up

§ How to recruit the right users to get the most accurate test results

§ How many users are really necessary for a usability test

§ The basics of task design, including the different types of tasks: verb-based tasks, scavenger hunt tasks, and interview-based tasks

§ How to become a better facilitator including how to communicate with the users and the test observers

§ How to collect the test results and evaluate what makes an effective report

§ The fundamentals of remote usability testing

Who Should Attend

This is a wonderful usability testing refresher. It's perfect for product managers, designers, engineers, and technical writers who are just starting out with usability tests. Or, if you have already conducted some tests but want to share this information with your team, this Work Shop is a great way to get your colleagues onboard.

Date and Time:

8 January

10:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Venue :- The Mirador,
131 B New Link Road,
Opp. Solitare Corporate Park,
Chakala, Andheri (E)
Mumabai 400 099

Workshop fees**: Rs. 5000 for corporate registrations.

** Bulk Registration: Registrations will get discount on Registration fees.

Workshop Registration
For workshop registration, you can call at:

Hand phone: 9768885552

Landline: 022 40163004

You can also write to us at:

Email:- info@techved.com / saurabh@techved.com

User Engagement Design

2010-08-14T01:50:00.000-07:00

‘User Engagement Design’ is the ability in Design to engage and occupy users on your website. The users should be able to discover and grasp the website and its

features as he browses along. Every time he stops by your website, he should

find something significant and should want to come back and explore more.

As the Business owner of your website, you undoubtedly want to augment ‘Unique Visits’ to your website (and thanks to SEO, SEM and other marketing efforts, users do end up reaching your website). The key now is in retaining them and engaging them so that they go back delighted and return awaiting.

The aim of a designer should be to progress users of the website in the following order (Ref – ‘Designing for the Social Web – Josh Porter’)

Some tips that can help in better User Experience Design of your Website:

List down User’s ‘Intent and Primary action’ on any landing page. Also create a list of tasks aligned with his Primary action on that page. Present access points into these related tasks.
Eg. When user is browsing through ‘Services’ section of your website, pictures of the work that you have done and client feedback on those services may appeal to him. Provide access points to these.

Understand features / functionalities that your user would require for the ‘Primary task’ completion on any page and provide Action buttons for that task. (highlighted, if you can).
Eg. I have come across a few job portals that do not have ‘Apply’ button on the ‘Job Search Results Page’. Website forces the user to read job details and then Apply!!

User may have abandoned your website while he was in middle of a task (eg Creating Profile). Remember the task where your users left your website. Prompt him on Emails that he has an incomplete task. Also, when he returns on your website, display the incomplete task first.

Keep innovating and providing something new for your Returning users and give them the ‘cheese’ to keep coming back. Remember to notify them on Email about the au courant features that you have introduced.

No points for this – Provide a graphically amiable page for your target audience. (Does not mean a razzle-dazzle page!!)

Provide an experience to the user that delights him and he wants to delve deeper.

How does good ‘User Engagement Design’ help:

Good ‘User Engagement Design’ results in higher number of page visits and extension in time spent on your online product. (which also means higher Alexa rating J)

It increases the ‘Repeat User’ visits to your website.

It also increases loyalty, integrity (adherence) to your brand and website.

Users complete more tasks than they would have otherwise completed.

Users talk about it and help in viral-ity of the product. There is hence, ‘Social Marketing’ of your website.

Lets look at a good example of ‘User Engagement Design’ on Linkedin -

I run my own company and barely have time to browse through websites. I would at no time anticipate and go to Linkedin to check the number of people waiting to associate (connect) with me. Hence, when Linkedin sent me the ‘Connection Request’ in my mailbox, it helped.

I may not recognize the invitee by his name OR I may not even know him. Linkedin realized this and on opening the mail message, LinkedIn told me how I could be associated to him (of course

based on what he chose when sending the invitation to me).

They now prompt me with an action button of ‘Accept’ which is a smart hook to get traffic to the website.

They also understand that I may want to read if there is any personalized message for me and thus the action of ‘View Invitation from..’ has been provided.

When I accept the invitation, Linkedin shows me other pending invitations. I may have seen these in my mailbox but may not have had the time to accept them then. Later, I may have forgotten about them. Hence, great idea to show them here. Also, since I have accepted one invitation, I may have time to spare and accept more. Hence, super idea to show them now.

On the same page, Linkedin also shows me (based on some back end algo logic) people I may know. Now Linked has pulled me into some action and enticed me to discover and browse further. Notice how they keep the page simple and do not show me anything more

When I get awed by the fact that I know someone in the suggested list and send him an invitation, it throws a list of more people that I may know. Well, now they have got me completely immersed in finding old / new contacts.

Wow, I enjoyed the Experience since all the actions I was meant to do on that page were clearly defined and I was not distracted with any other information.

What benefits did Linkedin derive from this Task Flow:

It helped in increase my Network on Linkedin and hence assured that I go back to Linkedin whenever I need any assistance from anyone in my Network.

They increased their metrics of ‘Average people in each Network’.

They also increased their metrics of ‘Invitations Sent’ by every individual and ‘Invitations Sent’ that month

On a subtle level, they increased the invitee’s motivation to send more invites.

Job Posting - Flash Programmer

2010-07-16T00:38:00.000-07:00

Job Posting for flash Programmer

Location: Mumbai

Employment Type: Full TIme / Freelance

Work Experience: at least 2 years

Position Requirement:
- Should be proficient in flash, actionscript, as2, as3, javascript, css, animation and Object-orient code practices.
- Strong background of Flash animation techniques using both timeline and programmatic animation
- Ability to take/provide creative direction and work independently and proactively

What you will be doing:
- Develop engaging, interactive rich-media ad units for world-class brand campaigns
- Write clean, reusable, and scalable ActionScript code
- Work closely with a creative director to collaboratively come up with concepts and execute those concepts using Flash
- Adhere to time-sensitive deadlines and remain responsive and reactive from concept to launch.

Interested? Please leave a comment here with your contact details or give me a buzz at 9967621912.

Office - Hangout party

2010-06-26T00:46:00.000-07:00

Who - TVDians in Mumbai

When - Last month when we were all tired of working and just wanted to break free

Occasion - One of the many to celebrate. I guess we were out to celebrate the heat wave in Mumbai

Where - Phoenix Mall, Mumbai

Posting some pics. Many more such occasions and pics to come. Cheers Techved Design!!!

haha!! thats me.

Before drinks!!

After drinks!!

The talented ones

Me and Shiv (my son)

Looking for a satiating Italian dish

Devesh in action

The delightful Nachos in creame'

Cocktails and Mocktails!

Usability - Sewing

2010-04-30T22:58:00.000-07:00

Usability and Sewing!!! What has Usability got to do with dressmaking, tacking and sewing..
I would have never speculated on this until last week when I had to tailor something that had been lying around unstitched for a long time. Here are some thoughts -

I picked up the needle to sew and painstakingly tried to pass the thread through the eye of the needle. I then wet the thread and tried again. It took me minutes to only get the thread through. It then occured to me, 'We've gone to the moon, for goodness sake, why can't we have better needles'.

Now lets look at how a Usability expert apprehends this stumper and construes a solution -

This design is innovative and now a needle can be threaded even by my grandma.

Next, I sat down to start the stitching activity. Oh, there was not enough light. I had to take the stitching machine closer to where there was light in the room. Did it help? Not much!! Infact light was behind and my shadow came in between me and the cloth.

Now again look at this subservient design which handles this problem amply well

You no more need to move the machine to where light is!!

And now one of my favourite video that talks about contented sewing experience!!

Yes, usability is an important component of Sewing.
Happy sewing to all Sewing aficionados!!

Redesigning

2010-04-24T03:29:00.000-07:00

When overhauling a User Interface, what do you think are the most critical bits of information!!

Listed down are some things that I consider as the list of 'you should know'. These may not necessarily be in an order of priority -
- Know what your users are fond of - Have you checked with the users what they like. If you haven't, you are likely to get into trouble (and complaints!!). Ash has got so used to seeing her 'best friend' list on top right and you as a Designer think that this is the most blindspottish area and hence the friend list should not be there...You go forth and remove it from there. What do you think Ash will experience when she logs in again??
- Know what the user hates - Johny can never remember how to edit his profile. Everytime, he wants to do it, its a hit and trial. Its imperative for you as a designer to know this.
- Know what users can never figure out - Users can love or hate only things they know. There may be (many) things they have not even figured out. Its important to know these as well. A feature not being used may not essentially mean that users don't like it. It could also mean that users would have esteemed it only if they knew that it was there!!
- Know the less visited areas - Some areas are less visited than others. These are like murky nooks in a park where you do not venture out. Its an incognito turf that you do not want to explore. Know what users do not find visceral and hence never visit.
- Expose the most visited areas - If there are posts / articles / tweets that are very popular, show them to the world. Its no point hiding George Clooney behind a closet.

Listed above are some things that I have always kept in mind when redesigning. Feel free to add to this list. Would love to hear from others.

Writing for the web - how to attract and retain users

2010-02-03T00:14:00.000-08:00

Writing for the Web - How to attract and retain users

Aim of the Workshop:
Get guidelines from Industry Expert on
Writing to increase sales and conversions on your website.
How can you write to engage user and compel him to take an action.
How can you interact to emotionally connect with your users.

Highlights of the Workshop:
Participants will receive a certificate from TechVed Design
The last one hour of the workshop is dedicated for discussion on participants’ online products. Plan to bring your web content to the workshop and you will have an opportunity to compare it to Workshop samples, get expert feedback and revise it with workshop participant’s inputs.

Who should attend this workshop:
Content writers who are beginning to dabble in the art of online writing
Advanced web writers looking to polish their skills
Technical Writers
Instructional designers
Product Managers
Usability professionals
Anyone who has online presence

Venue for this workshop: Golden Chariot , Roof top , V Mall business center, Off W.E. Highway, Thakur Complex , Kandivali (East) , Mumbai – 400 101

Date : 6th March 2010 ( Saturday)
Time : 3 PM to 6PM followed by one hour of discussion on participants’ online products.
Workshop Fee – Rs. 1000 per participant
About the Workshop instructor:
Neha Modgil – Neha is an expert on User Centered Design and Web Usability. She has taken various workshops for Web Usability and Trends in Web Design for Technology and Product teams of leading portals in India and overseas, Technical & Management teams of Internet startups and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) member companies. She has been a speaker at various national and international conferences including CHI – Canada, UPA – China and CUE – Pune. Neha has also taught Interaction Design courses at MIT, Pune.
Neha is also the Co-founder of a leading Usability Consulting & Research firm – Techved Design. The firm has offered Usability consultancy to clients like GE, Paypal, shaadi.com, naukri.com, Dell etc. She has experience in strategizing and conceptualizing designs for various domains like E-commerce, Social Networking sites, Intranets, Banking and Finance applications etc. She has also helped internet businesses look at their web logs and usage data to interpret user behaviour.

For any further queries,
You can speak with Sampada at : +91. 22. 40163004 / +91. 9819790931
You can also drop in a mail at: workshops@techved.com

Note : TVD reserves the right to cancel the workshop. Registrants will be promptly notified and will receive a full refund. TVD is not responsible for travel expenses or any costs that may be incurred as a result of cancellations.

visual designers

2010-01-15T23:20:00.001-08:00

Are you a creative visual deisgner who can conceptualise thoughts into actions. Then , we are looking for you.
Get in touch!!

Job openings for designers

2010-01-12T23:35:00.000-08:00

Job Location : Mumbai
Exp: 0-5 yrs
Salary: As per industry standards / experience
Role And Responsibilities of Web Designer :
· Proficient in using tools like Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, CSS, HTML, XHTML, Ajax & JavaScript.
· Should be sincere, dedicated & hardworking.
· Should be able to work in a team
· Should be able to meet aggressive deadlines.
· Should be able to work independently on a project.
Role and Responsibility of Graphic Designer / Visual Designer :
· Developing prototypes and writing design specifications.
· Communicating conceptual ideas and design rationale
· Working closely with a cross-functional team to develop stellar user experiences that elegantly achieve product and business requirements.
· Should be proficient using Photoshop and coral draw
Please send me your updated resume along with the below details ASAP.Full Name:Location:
Contact number: Overall Experience:Relevant Experience:Current CTC:
* If you are not interested you can give reference of your friends who match with the profile.

Happy 2010 :)

2009-12-27T22:57:00.000-08:00

Books on Usability

2009-09-12T05:28:00.000-07:00

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

2009-09-04T01:36:00.000-07:00

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

2009-08-12T00:33:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-24T22:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-03-25T22:04:00.000-07:00

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'

2009-02-16T22:05:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-28T21:59:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-21T02:06:00.000-08:00

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’!!!