UX is at the heart of any company
“While this [UX] is often associated with the Web, consumers who experience good UX online don’t switch off their expectations when they switch off the computer. The principles and theories of UX have created a new normal in terms of brand delivery and interaction. They state that how people actually use your product is much more important than how it was intended to be used. So engaging your consumer in ongoing, iterative product development is more valuable than holding out for a “perfect” product launch.”
Via FastCompany
The case for investing in UI and UX Design
Today, usability is a must-have for optimal return on investment with new technologies. Companies focusing on user-experience (UX) and user-interface design in product and application development create better solutions, improving revenue, loyalty, and market share. Numerous industry studies have stated that every dollar spent on UX brings in between $2 and $100 dollars in return. Already, household names such as Samsung, Charles Schwab, Motorola, Logitech, and Dell are leveraging UX and interface design in the development of their products and applications—with strong results.
Read more via FastCompany
I no longer think it’s okay that my TV is your billboard
About two months ago I freed myself from the clutches from Comcast cable subscription service and have lived with iTunes and Netflix via my Apple TV. As a person who doesn’t watch many sports and reads news online more than I ever watched it on TV I didn’t feel like I was missing anything when I cut the cord. Unfortunately this wasn’t exactly true.
What I was missing wasn’t the thing you’d quite expect like a recent episode of some show or a news event. It was commercials. Let’s be clear — When I say “missing” I mean that literally. I had no nostalgic longing for being force fed ads every 7 minutes or so like traditional television, it was just something that was stitched into everyday television watching I didn’t realize was gone until I decided to add Hulu Plus into my cable-free bliss.
I was excited to add Hulu Plus into my line of services. Ideally, iTunes would be my Pay-Per-View, Netflix would be my a la carte source for TV and support old couch potato habits during weekends of binge-watching, and Hulu Plus would keep me current on latest episodes and almost act like a DVR.
Unfortunately, that DVR came with commercials.
Despite the fact I could finally watch Community, SNL, Family Guy, The Daily Show, Colbert Report, and other programs just a day after they aired I was completely put off by Hulu’s ads. For nearly two months the one sanctuary I had from ads was my TV and I hadn’t realized it until Hulu threw them back in my face. It was like I had been sitting in low light and someone just flashed bright lights into my eyes — It literally hurt.
Long story short, at this point of me writing this article it has only been 72 hours since I have had Hulu Plus and I’m already thinking about canceling the service. I miss the zen-like TV watching I had just days ago that was ad free, and I may be willing to sacrifice instant gratification of having the shows I want now in efforts to have a relatively ad-free home.
Ads are everywhere even on two and a half minute video clips on the internet. Think about that for a minute — You now get 15 to 30 second ads on something that’s about 2 to 5 minutes long. Percentage wise that’s a huge waste of time. In a world where we are constantly hit with advertisements as soon as we open an app, a webpage, walk outside, or listen to radio, it was nice to have a sanctuary in the form of my TV.
All in all I think the experience of not being harassed by advertisers via your TV outweighs the ability of watching all of your favorite shows. If you don’t believe me, go about 6 weeks with only Netflix and/or iTunes and come back to ad-saturated television watching and you’ll see what I mean.
Inspired by “Why we canceled Hulu Plus” via Speed of Creativity
Everyday Interactions: Making the Case for Relaxed Usability Tests
Most usability test how-to lists began with, “Make the user feel at ease, explaining to them that this is not a test. Every time I rattle off that preamble, I get the feeling I really come across like this to my testers:
Photo Credit: Daria Wiki
Show me, don’t tell me. Show the tester…
Source: everydayinteractions
WHAT!!??: Projection mapping on turntables
Rimino - A Human Touch on Mobile Experience
Some interesting ideas in this video:
- Bendable hardware
- Entire back being a camera of some sort being able to recognize text, etc
- Content-aware writing recognition (if you write something that looks like an address the phone recognizes it as such)
- Being able to select a person from your contacts and “tap” them to get their attention
- Having the ability to let the phone “know” you are using the computer and to forward all alerts to it
- Having multiple mobile devices work together and automatically sync together to make a larger screen
Excellent article by @globalmoxie: Designing for Touch
“Stacking controls in a touch interface should always be avoided, especially at screen bottom. Unfortunately, that means Android apps should have their controls at the top of the screen to avoid crowding the system buttons. It’s not ideal: this puts navigation outside the thumb zone, and when you tap a button, the hand covers the entire screen. But it’s better than the alternative, which invites fat-finger errors.”
“For Android, app navigation and controls should float to the top. This is the reverse of the convention for iPhone, where the Home button doesn’t create the same kind of competition as Android’s buttons. Compare the Foursquare app for Android, left, and for iPhone, to see the resulting difference.”
Source: netmagazine.com
URBANFLOW WOULD BASICALLY ADD PERSONALIZED INTERACTIVITY TO PUBLIC SIGNAGE
