As I have said many times before, I don’t subscribe to the notion that design within an organization should be something that the one “creative person” or group of “creative people” should solely be responsible for. Ever since my final semester of graduate school and into my professional career in User Experience design, I have been driven by a desire to remove the “mystery” of design and make the process more transparent. Continue reading »
Apr 162011
Mar 262011
Previously I posted a link to my colleague Matt Snyder’s blog post about Design Thinkers vs. Design Keepers. Since then there has been a lively and lengthy discussion in the comments section regarding how designers are viewed in the industry by non-designers, how designers view themselves, and the role of a designer and whether or not the designer is ultimately responsible for the outcome of a product. My two cents to the conversation are as follows:
In an organization responsible for building and selling a digital/software product, there are hundreds of people who affect the final outcome. Continue reading »
Someone asked that question on LinkedIn in the User Experience group. The author of the question also went on to say:
“Some people read books, some write or share their experience or thoughts on blogs or by simply reading some famous author’s blogs to upgrade their knowledge. Share your most preferred blogs or books to improve and update latest trends on User experience.”
This is a common question to find on LinkedIn or on forums like IXDA. However, I typically find that these are the wrong kind of questions to ask, especially since the question is concerned with “the latest trends.” Also, responders almost always view user experience or interaction design as web design, software usability, or graphic design (a dilemma that isn’t likely to go away anytime soon). Indeed it does include these things, but I feel to do it well one must take a broader perspective of what it means to design technology. In any case, I thought my response to this question was decent, so I decided to re-work it here. Continue reading »
Apr 212010
This post will most likely feel like like a train coming off the rails. I will clean it up at some point. Maybe. Anyway…
Most designs are the result of a process of co-design, involving several stakeholders and people directly involved in the creation of something. In this process, there is a constant state of exchange between the people involved. Effective communication is important at all stages, but this isn’t easy to accomplish. There are many things to consider, including the different roles, perspectives, and communication skills of people, as well as how we even might measure what “effective” communication looks like. Continue reading »
I was going to write a post today about the ways in which design is being discussed, viewed, and used by individuals and organizations. My colleague, Matty Snyder, and I have spent a lot of time discussing this and alas, he beat me to it and wrote it better than I could have. Check it out.
J. Ambrose Little just posted recently about reading Jon Kolko’s Thoughts on Interaction Design. While I am new to this whole design thing, I have previously posted about my uneasiness with the claim that we design behavior.
Continue reading »
Oct 312009
For my Interaction Culture class I decided to a close phenomological reading of a bit of machinima made from WoW clips set to the song “Here Without You” by 3 Doors Down. It has been an interesting journey. It is incredible to think that some clips from World of Warcraft set to a cheesy late 90′s love-rock song could make me misty-eyed. I dare you to watch this video multiple times and not be moved at least a little bit. Continue reading »
Oct 272009
I recently participated in one of those joint school-company training sessions. I will just call the company “Acme”, and state that they provide a large assortment of design tools that we all know and love. I was quite disappointed with it. I can deal with being shamelessly advertised to, but this event was particularly bad because “Acme” was trying to force me to use their tools in a certain way and telling me how I should think about my own design process. Scary stuff. Continue reading »
So this week I embarked upon a new journey in my HCI/d education in Indiana University’s Master’s program. The ship I am on is called Interaction Culture, and it is headed by Captain Jeffrey Bardzell. In this class we will look at how theories in the humanities, specifically aesthetics and critical theory can be applied to the field of HCI/d. Looking at literature and drawing upon the wealth of philosophical debate and experience in the arts brings up the obvious question: How does this apply to HCI/d practice? This can be quickly followed with thoughts such as “I am a practitioner so I have no use for theory,” and “While you are theorizing I will be busy actually designing stuff.” Continue reading »
Jun 202009
This is sort of a continuation of the previous post about designing to change behavior. I am not really arguing one side or the other here, rather I am searching for some insights about design. To that end I have chosen a few books to dive into this summer, among them the book Freakonomics. One of the main themes of the book is about how we are creatures of incentive. Most people think only of business and marketing when they hear the word incentive, but Freakonomics speaks more about psychological and social motivations. Continue reading »
