april 2011 archives
“Knowing that the name would be widely displayed and not just used as a login credential would prevent people from being stuck with unfortunate names like SuperStud on a professional site.”
From Workflow Expectations: Presenting Steps at the Right Time, an Alertbox from Jakob Nielsen. Good article on the importance of holistic design and good timing.

posted by ted about an hour ago

Holy Donkey Kong! SurveyMonkey Acquires Wufoo! I hope this doesn’t kill what has been a really great, easy-to-use survey app…

posted by ted one day ago

How can UX professionals work to become indispensable team members and not just another cog in the machine?

Grady Kelly, an interaction designer on our team, ask this question on Jared Spool’s UIE Podcast, Userability Podcast #19 – Be a Linchpin.

posted by emmy 4 days ago · 0 comments

Something that has been on my mind lately as we have been interviewing for interaction designers – there are a lot of designers out there, but not enough thinkers.

This article from Eric Karjaluoto @ smashLab is an exceptional read on what we should be trying to achieve with the title of “designer”.

The point I’m trying to make is that there’s a lot of opportunity for us—as thinkers—to provide great value to our clients. We won’t, however, do this if we continue to hold tightly on to the notion of designers being purely visual practitioners. I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: design is about facilitating outcomes, not selecting colors. Selection from Put Down Your Crayons, April 11th, 2011, Eric Karjaluoto

posted by emmy on Monday, Apr 18, 2011 · 0 comments

“Every project and set of interviews reveals surprises, personal revelations, confessions, and sometimes, even tears. It’s key to wallow in and celebrate these moments, not as exceptions, but as important beacons that empower design teams and strategists to transcend confined objectives.”
Conclusion to a truly eye-opening article by Julie Norvaisas and Steve Portigal on the value of ethnographic, contextual research in product development, and the importance of realizing that those we interview, test, and serve are first and foremost People, and only secondarily “users”.

posted by ted on Thursday, Apr 14, 2011

Sunrise just before work. Riverton, Utah.

posted by ted on Wednesday, Apr 13, 2011

“Walmart didn’t pursue the question of what customers wanted. Instead, Walmart came up with the answer first, then asked customers to agree to it. [They] ignored customers while attempting to fool stakeholders into thinking that the strategy [was] customer-centered.”
From an interesting critique by Mark Hurst of a survey gone awry to the tune of a billion dollar cost of research misapplied.

posted by ted on Wednesday, Apr 13, 2011

FamilySearch.org is hiring Front-End Developers. We need highly skilled front-end developers who have a passion for creating delightful, useful and usable web experiences, a gift for writing clean, web standard front-end code, and a love for the work of the Lord. It that’s you, then ring our bell. Ring Bell

posted by tadd on Tuesday, Apr 12, 2011

“The better search gets, the more dangerous it gets.”
Jakob Nielsen in an interesting article on how people’s lack of research skills hampers their ability to search effectively—despite or maybe even partially because of intelligent search engines. Highly relevant for me, as I’m working on a couple of search-related projects.

posted by ted on Monday, Apr 11, 2011