Making decisions is hard? For most people it is, for some it even is hard to overcome. Since the weather just has gone sunny, you may find yourself standing in line for an ice-cream, in front of you a whole family trying to decide whether they shall take chocolat, banana-vanille or "boerenjongens" (literaly: Country boys, in this case: icecream with brandied raisins). They were even trying to be rational about it (if we all take chocolat, then little... aso)
Unfortunately, people are not very good in rational decisions for everyday use. We tend to trust our mental models (and we should!) and make emotional decisions. This is smart, because usually we do not have time to make a rational decision ("if I take a Papsi Max instead then it is low on sugar, but a Cherry-coke... Oh, no, I am late for class... Or shall I take a Rivella instead? It is also low in sugar and it's got this extraordinary taste, but maybe I should take a drink without bubbles, because that's gonna make me feel... Oh hell, I'll just have a black coffee. Oh, wait, there's also Wiener Melange in the new machine, I haven't tried it yet," aso aso).
Imagine this while driving a car? With another car driving towards you? (No, you're not playing chicken, you're trying to get the kid to school, to be in time for your work, and trying to decide what to eat tonight.) If you start thinking rational about the car in front of you, you may never know what you will eat tonight. You just don't have the time.
Suppose I have a long rope, from one building to another, say 10 meters up in the air (I had some left from my kid's kite), and I would ask you to test its strength by hanging at it.
You would say "no". (And that's probably why I won't ask you).
Is this a rational decision?
No, it isn't. You didn't take time to think about. You didn't need to, but therefor it is an emotional decision. Just be glad we are good at emotional decisions.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
SMART!
This is terrible! Somehow I will have to find a way to make time to continue writing. Collecting drafts doesn't do any good (there is one on paper prototyping that I just don't seem to get finished)
TU Delft (Delft University of Technology) has found a way to make an accelerator pedal smarter! The way this is done is very nice. The driver gets feedback according to the distance to the vehicle ahead. But it does not provide a regular warning signal (the annoying blinking light or just as annoying beep), it just makes the pedal harder to press if you are too close.
Since people are very good in avoiding annoying signals (who still notices the annoying ads while surfing? Do you ever click them?), this is so smart. It doesn't take over (how annoying is that!), but it does help you to take notice in a non-obtrusive way.
Link to TU Delft (English)
Link naar TU Delft (Nederlands)
Direct link to the article
TU Delft (Delft University of Technology) has found a way to make an accelerator pedal smarter! The way this is done is very nice. The driver gets feedback according to the distance to the vehicle ahead. But it does not provide a regular warning signal (the annoying blinking light or just as annoying beep), it just makes the pedal harder to press if you are too close.
Since people are very good in avoiding annoying signals (who still notices the annoying ads while surfing? Do you ever click them?), this is so smart. It doesn't take over (how annoying is that!), but it does help you to take notice in a non-obtrusive way.
Link to TU Delft (English)
Link naar TU Delft (Nederlands)
Direct link to the article
Monday, March 26, 2007
Perceptie
Zou iemand mayonaise lusten die legergroen van kleur is? Wat zou onze perceptie zijn? Bedorven? Of gewoon 'vreeeselijk'?
Hmmm, hoe krijg je iemand dan tot het eten van legergroene mayonaise?
Is eenvoudiger dan het lijkt, je geeft het gewoon een andere naam, dressing bijvoorbeeld.....
(dank Wouter Klootwijk)
Hmmm, hoe krijg je iemand dan tot het eten van legergroene mayonaise?
Is eenvoudiger dan het lijkt, je geeft het gewoon een andere naam, dressing bijvoorbeeld.....
(dank Wouter Klootwijk)
Sunday, March 25, 2007
User Testing - I
Cheap & Easy! That is, as far as costs are concerned, not the results.
Today we look at Card Sorting. Since real users are the people who have to work with what you are developing, it is important to know how they look at their tasks, what is their mental model? Which labels do they use? What is their terminology?
Card Sorting: What is it?.
Card Sorting is a method to get user-input even before you start to develop. It provides you with the user's view on the subject. Two methods: Open Card Sorting and Closed Card Sorting.
Open Card Sorting is done with blank cards, labels are provided by the end-users. Closed Card Sorting is done with labeled cards, users provide the position in their mental model.
Card Sorting: How do you do it?.
1. you have to collect some real end-users (the ones that really have to work with it), up to 15 should be sufficient, but less is OK, even 2 would help a lot.
2. you divide them into groups, about 5 persons each.
3. you provide them with cards, ca. 30 cards usually is OK and one or more felt-tips.
Open Card Sorting
4. Open Card Sorting: you ask your users to write down the issues that are important to them. Each item is written on a different card. When they are done:
5. ask your users to put the cards into stacks.
6. ask them to label each stack.
7. collect the stacks.
Closed Card Sorting
4. ask your users to put the cards into stacks.
5. ask them to label each stack.
6. collect the stacks.
Card Sorting: What does it do for you?
Card Sorting provides you with insight in the mental models that users use doing their tasks. It gives you the labels they think with, making it easier for you to taylor your design to their needs.
Tip: Provide your users with feedback, let them know they did make a difference!
More on Card Sorting:
www.infodesign.com - Usability Resources
www.boxesand arrows.com
Jacob Nielsen (www.useit.com) on Card Sorting
More on Mental Models
Wikipedia on mental models
Ruth Byrne's website on the subject
Don Norman's website, you should read anything Don has written.
Today we look at Card Sorting. Since real users are the people who have to work with what you are developing, it is important to know how they look at their tasks, what is their mental model? Which labels do they use? What is their terminology?
Card Sorting: What is it?.
Card Sorting is a method to get user-input even before you start to develop. It provides you with the user's view on the subject. Two methods: Open Card Sorting and Closed Card Sorting.
Open Card Sorting is done with blank cards, labels are provided by the end-users. Closed Card Sorting is done with labeled cards, users provide the position in their mental model.
Card Sorting: How do you do it?.
1. you have to collect some real end-users (the ones that really have to work with it), up to 15 should be sufficient, but less is OK, even 2 would help a lot.
2. you divide them into groups, about 5 persons each.
3. you provide them with cards, ca. 30 cards usually is OK and one or more felt-tips.
Open Card Sorting
4. Open Card Sorting: you ask your users to write down the issues that are important to them. Each item is written on a different card. When they are done:
5. ask your users to put the cards into stacks.
6. ask them to label each stack.
7. collect the stacks.
Closed Card Sorting
4. ask your users to put the cards into stacks.
5. ask them to label each stack.
6. collect the stacks.
Card Sorting: What does it do for you?
Card Sorting provides you with insight in the mental models that users use doing their tasks. It gives you the labels they think with, making it easier for you to taylor your design to their needs.
Tip: Provide your users with feedback, let them know they did make a difference!
More on Card Sorting:
www.infodesign.com - Usability Resources
www.boxesand arrows.com
Jacob Nielsen (www.useit.com) on Card Sorting
More on Mental Models
Wikipedia on mental models
Ruth Byrne's website on the subject
Don Norman's website, you should read anything Don has written.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
User Tests
To make things usable it is important to do tests with (real!!!) users. It is important to do the tests with real end-users who will use the application, the web-site, or whatever needs to be tested. Testing by designers/developers doesn't do anything, they know the application, they are profound with computers, they are NOT the average user.
Are user tests profitable? Oh yes, they are, look it up at Jacob Nielsen's site (http://www.useit.com), you will find several items about the subject in his Alertbox. (You can sign up for his newletter)
Of course User testing is much more profitable when you do it cheaper. And you can do it cheaper! Much cheaper! For quite a long period I was hired either to do user tests or to do a heuristic evaluation (providing comments as a usability specialist). This can be quite time-consuming for a website with more than just a few pages or a complicated application, and therefor expensive. But even more important: you are very limited in what you can do. For instance, you do not make people happy telling them to do it all over again. Not if it is the result of several months of hard labour..... Nevertheless, sometimes the only reasonable advise is just to do that.
And always I thought: "why didn't you come sooner?" It would have been easier for me, cheaper for you, and much better for the poor sod that has to work with it.
The next posts will be about how to do tests (as a design team, you will not have to hire a usability specialist, although if you wish, you can mail me...) I will write about card sorting and paper mock-ups with linx for more background information.
Are user tests profitable? Oh yes, they are, look it up at Jacob Nielsen's site (http://www.useit.com), you will find several items about the subject in his Alertbox. (You can sign up for his newletter)
Of course User testing is much more profitable when you do it cheaper. And you can do it cheaper! Much cheaper! For quite a long period I was hired either to do user tests or to do a heuristic evaluation (providing comments as a usability specialist). This can be quite time-consuming for a website with more than just a few pages or a complicated application, and therefor expensive. But even more important: you are very limited in what you can do. For instance, you do not make people happy telling them to do it all over again. Not if it is the result of several months of hard labour..... Nevertheless, sometimes the only reasonable advise is just to do that.
And always I thought: "why didn't you come sooner?" It would have been easier for me, cheaper for you, and much better for the poor sod that has to work with it.
The next posts will be about how to do tests (as a design team, you will not have to hire a usability specialist, although if you wish, you can mail me...) I will write about card sorting and paper mock-ups with linx for more background information.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Corporate Identity
Should a university have a corporate identity?
Of course it should have some identity, a logo and so on, but what about guidelines, styleguides? Should they be strict? And how strict should they be? For instance, should different faculties be able to have a different identity? (Well, actually, they do. But can you notice?)
Large companies usually have large styleguides. Most of them are books (folders, so they are extendable) with already too many pages (300 pages is no exception.....). Examples that I know of include IBM, Apple, Microsoft, but also the city of Groningen (Netherlands).
Up until now, I hated those. The larger the styleguide, the more I hated it. And I still do. But I did find one that I actually like! The reason: it's smart & it's small! And it's the MTV's Identity Guidelines. Thank you, people at MTV, for your insight, for showing the world that it really is possible this way.
Read more about it at http://www.lifeclever.com/a-styleguide-for-people-who-dont-like-styleguides, it's an interesting article. And they do have more: http://www.lifeclever.com.
How is this at the NHL (Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden, or: NHL University of Applied Sciences)? Well, I suggest you look at their site and try to find out which studies are exciting, which are dull, and so on. Good luck!
Of course it should have some identity, a logo and so on, but what about guidelines, styleguides? Should they be strict? And how strict should they be? For instance, should different faculties be able to have a different identity? (Well, actually, they do. But can you notice?)
Large companies usually have large styleguides. Most of them are books (folders, so they are extendable) with already too many pages (300 pages is no exception.....). Examples that I know of include IBM, Apple, Microsoft, but also the city of Groningen (Netherlands).
Up until now, I hated those. The larger the styleguide, the more I hated it. And I still do. But I did find one that I actually like! The reason: it's smart & it's small! And it's the MTV's Identity Guidelines. Thank you, people at MTV, for your insight, for showing the world that it really is possible this way.
Read more about it at http://www.lifeclever.com/a-styleguide-for-people-who-dont-like-styleguides, it's an interesting article. And they do have more: http://www.lifeclever.com.
How is this at the NHL (Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden, or: NHL University of Applied Sciences)? Well, I suggest you look at their site and try to find out which studies are exciting, which are dull, and so on. Good luck!
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Newbie
Well, since this is my first post and my first blog I consider myself a newbie, despite my age. (For the curious ones, I will make a profile, probably some time in the near future). Most posts will be in English, but some may be in Dutch.
Subjects will range my whole scope of interests, usually connected with the fields of my profession, Interaction Design, with emphasise on Usability, Cognitive Ergonomics, Psychology, to name a few, up to Buzz marketing, and so on. You also may find posts concerning RIA and Web 2.0, although those could be just links to interesting articles, sites, lists et cetera.
For starters: http://www.web20searchengine.com/web20/web-2.0-list.htm.
For Dutch starters: http://www.usabilityweb.nl, with several articles that I can recommend, for instance Gestaltpsychologie en Webdesign, Zoekmachinewaanzin (search engine madness) and many more).
Subjects will range my whole scope of interests, usually connected with the fields of my profession, Interaction Design, with emphasise on Usability, Cognitive Ergonomics, Psychology, to name a few, up to Buzz marketing, and so on. You also may find posts concerning RIA and Web 2.0, although those could be just links to interesting articles, sites, lists et cetera.
For starters: http://www.web20searchengine.com/web20/web-2.0-list.htm.
For Dutch starters: http://www.usabilityweb.nl, with several articles that I can recommend, for instance Gestaltpsychologie en Webdesign, Zoekmachinewaanzin (search engine madness) and many more).
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