by Jared Spool | Apr 24, 2014 | Resources
Here’s an excerpt from the article: We can measure a design on a scale from frustration to delight. The middle of this scale is a neutral point, where the design is neither frustrating nor delightful. It doesn’t suck, but it’s not remarkable either. It’s just a neutral experience. When improving a bad design, we first must remove the frustrating bits to get to that neutral point. Observation of the users’ experience, followed by careful rethinking of the design can remove everything that’s introducing frustration. Improving the design from the neutral point, to introduce delight is a different process. It’s additive, whereas getting to the neutral point is reductive. We have to know what to add to make the experience become delightful. Read the article Pleasure, Flow, and Meaning — The 3 Approaches to Designing for Delight. What approach does your team take to add delight to your design? Tell us about it...
by Jared Spool | Feb 11, 2014 | Resources
Applications built on public data (think flight and train schedules) bring great benefits to their users. But the benefits they bring are highly dependent on how well the applications are designed. Designs will get better if the designers really watch users with the applications and use their feedback for updates. Today’s article by Cyd Harrell is an excerpt from chapter 12 in the book Beyond Transparency. She discusses the relationship between data, design and the end user. Cyd’s workshop, Conducting Usability Research for Mobile Apps, dives into the usability research that captures these relationships in addition to other valuable information. Here’s an excerpt from the article: The past decade has brought enormous and growing benefits to ordinary citizens through applications built on public data. Any release of data offers advantages to experts, such as developers and journalists, but there is a crucial common factor in the most successful open data applications for non-experts: excellent design. In fact, open data and citizen-centered design are natural partners, especially as the government 2.0 movement turns to improving service delivery and government interaction in tandem with transparency. It’s nearly impossible to design innovative citizen experiences without data, but that data will not reach its full potential without careful choices about how to aggregate, present, and enable interaction with it. Read the article The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship: Data and Design in Innovative Citizen Experiences. What choices has your team made to present innovative experiences with both public and private data? Tell us about it...
Accomplished, self-reliant creative industry ninja for well over a decade, with a solid knowledge and insight to a wide range of web/UX and creative skills.
I have high expectations for the results of my labour. I am confident in my ability to produce, and while I prepare for the worst, I do the work necessary to tilt the odds so that the best will happen.
Lifelong design & media industry geek. Ardent traveller. Relentless optimist. Fanatical gamer.
