Presentation with notes: http://bit.ly/1IeHCJe I presented to Amazon's Yellow Pages search team (A9) in 2005. It touches upon the usefulness of interfaces, how search & retrieval works in the market and a proposition for moving the Yellow Pages forward. Facebok Pages ultimately went down the path I had suggested.

1. Creating A Humane Experience
Desire, expectation and fulfillment in the Yellow Pages

2. Context
1. What is a human experience?
2. Yellow Pages: The possibilities

3. humane
adj: marked or motivated by concern with the alleviation of suffering

4. Multi-tasking in the year 2005

5. Role of Technology
Make my life easier.

6. Simplify management of multiple tasks

7. Reduce manual/costly steps to one interface

8. Create instant accessibility

9. Give the user the power to choose

10. Finding information in a haystack of data

11. Role of Technology
Help me locate… and discover.

12. Convergence: Find, Purchase, Manage & Play

13. Search for object allows for relational discovery

14. Associative transparency adds context & desire

15. Objects are self-tagged, therefore rich & specific

16. Add word to query to receive more specific object recall

17. Transparency of object definition = clarity

18. Humane experience takeaways:
Create value by simplifying familiar tasks
Subtract, rather than add to the interface
Tap the human desire for instant gratification
Empower people by providing meaningful choices
Craft environments that value human participation
Useful technology is transparent in the UI
Move from hierarchical to relational constructs
Context provides meaning
Partner with users to adapt to their evolving needs

19. Technology and Design: A new experience
The possibilities…

20. Why do people use the paperback Yellow Pages?
To find localized services that meet both
general and specific retail needs

21. Why do people use the paperback Yellow Pages?
General retail needs could include:
• Finding a hardware store
• Looking for a local plumber
• Wanting Chinese food for dinner
• Getting my computer fixed

22. Why do people use the paperback Yellow Pages?
Specific retail needs could include:
• Finding the closest hardware store
• Looking for a local plumber that is 24/7
• Wanting Chinese food delivered for dinner
• Getting my Power Mac fixed

23. How successful is the paperback Yellow Pages?
Specific user needs can be supported by:
• Users scanning addresses
• Retail shops purchasing advertising to differentiate themselves
• Special sections (like Restaurants) for individual shops to list all
specific items, such as a menu
• “See also” used as a workaround to categorization issues

24. “Putting” the Yellow Pages online?

25. A9.com Yellow Pages
Scenario:
When this presentation is over, I plan on stopping by a local
café for a cup of coffee and a donut.
Let’s go find a cozy spot in downtown Palo Alto.

26. The focus of the results page is “proximity”

27. A second search term creates precision… of sorts

28. Changing the spelling creates different precision

29. The focus of the store page is “recognition”

30. The first scroll reveals the context of other stores

31. The second scroll reveals consumer reviews

32. How can the online Yellow Pages be more useful?
Design the user experience to meet the
needs of the user, not as a reflection of
existing technology

33. How can the online Yellow Pages be more useful?
Identify common attributes across each
information object model type (restaurant,
retail store, service, etc.)

34. How can the online Yellow Pages be more useful?
Empower and motivate retailers to
“tag” their services in the interface,
(instead of creating separate web
sites to represent their services)

35. How can the online Yellow Pages be more useful?
Periodically parse secondary attributes
(meta-data, tags) from user reviews
(concepts), creating a richer
information object library

36. How can the online Yellow Pages be more useful?
Evolve each information object as customers
begin to define new attribute classes through
their custom tagging

37. Concept: Yellow Page Starting Screen

38. Role of Design
Understand human needs to ensure
humane experiences