For all of the hype around “user experience” it often feels like we struggle with what it means to actually craft an experience. We build and ship products that are perfectly fine. We make things that are usable, attractive, responsive, reliable and whatever else has come to be expected. And yet, there’s something missing. Something intangible. It’s not obvious what’s missing, until we contrast our own work against other mediums more established than our own: Film. Game design. Storytelling. Advertising… These mediums know how to make us feel, in deep and profound ways. So how do we do the same? Are there processes we can change, or things we can do to create memorable and meaningful experiences? And who has reached this level of emotional engagement? In this session, Stephen P. Anderson will explore the subtle, but critical ways we can level up our work, bringing a depth and richness to the experiences we shape.
What Board Games can Teach Us about Designing ExperiencesStephen Anderson
There’s a reason so many board gamers show up UX events. The same skills that make us great information wranglers are the same things that make board games like Catan, Pandemic and yes, even Exploding Kittens so appealing! It should come as no surprise that we’ve seen prominent UX leaders cross over into board game design (Matt Leacock, Dirk Knemeyer).
If we scratch beneath the surface, there’s a set of shared skills (and struggles) common to these different professions. Specifically: the spatial arrangement of information, visual encoding of information, creating designed spaces, a systems view, playtesting / user testing, competing tensions, triggering emotional responses, and many more.
Okay, so what? Sure, it’s kind of neat that we have so much in common. But how might this change what I do at $largecompany? Here’s the honest truth: The game design profession is just a little bit farther down the road than us, and we have a lot to learn from this group if we can look past the superficial differences. We talk about designing for emotions, but let’s face it, game designers are actually winning at this. Processes? We talk about lean and agile, but game designers have mastered playtesting (and the design to playtest ratio should make us embarrassed at how little we actually iterate with users). And there’s plenty more. I’m confident that if we can look our our own profession through the lens of game design, we’ll see plenty of glaring opportunities for improvement, and a few tricks we might pick up, as well.
We all enjoy well-designed, well-crafted experiences, but all too often our development processes (Agile, Lean) and organizational cultures seem to pit deadlines and quick iterations against a thoughtful attention to details. Sacrificing quality on the altar of quick is a dangerous mistake, especially as the bar for “good enough” continues to rise in 2015.
We see an ever increasing attention to detail, specifically when it comes the careful use of animation, typography, communications with customers, and creating all-around frictionless experiences. This attention to detail isn’t limited to Apple anymore. Instead, we’re seeing this across industries—companies like Uber, Square, Virgin, and Nest are sweating the details to dominate their competition through design.
So, what does it take for a company to consistently deliver great customer experiences? And what exactly does it mean to be a “design-driven” company?
Speaker Stephen P. Anderson will share his experiences, both as a consultant and now as part of an executive team, trying to balance the needs of the business with needs of the customer. He’ll share the tools and processes he uses to reconcile “getting it done” with “getting it done right,” showing how you can create a culture that values both shipping and quality experiences. He’ll explore what craftsmanship looks like for (mostly) digital experiences, with numerous examples of companies and products that are raising the bar for UX professionals.
For all the attention given to design and UX in recent years, here’s the truth: Most companies are not set up to truly deliver an experience. Consider the rich, nuanced experiences we’ve come to expect from more mature mediums like film or game design. These experiences makes us feel, in deep and profound ways. But pulling this off requires a constant orchestration of things at the systems-level and a laser focus on incredibly fine emotional details. And speaking frankly, things like “feelings” “experiences” and “emotions” — these are intangible things. Businesses are trained to prioritize, quantify, and measure tangible things, that promise a clear payoff. We pit belief–about what will create a great customer experience— against data. Is there a reconciliation between these two mindsets?
In this session on design leadership, speaker Stephen P. Anderson will share his experiences, both as a consultant and as part of an executive team, trying to balance the needs of the business with needs of the customer. He’ll share a model — adapted from game design — that offers to balance theses kinds of “art and science” issues, promising to bring together cross-functional teams and reconcile competing interests. Taking cues from game design, this new model will give you a constructive way to think about everything from designing for emotional needs to tracking key metrics to discerning between “little e” experiences and the “Big E” experience. Walk away with a framework you can use to balance what’s right for the business with what’s right for the customer.
To be good user experience folks, we need to crack open some psych 101 textbooks, learn what motivates people and then bake these ideas into our designs.
What Board Games can Teach Us about Designing ExperiencesStephen Anderson
There’s a reason so many board gamers show up UX events. The same skills that make us great information wranglers are the same things that make board games like Catan, Pandemic and yes, even Exploding Kittens so appealing! It should come as no surprise that we’ve seen prominent UX leaders cross over into board game design (Matt Leacock, Dirk Knemeyer).
If we scratch beneath the surface, there’s a set of shared skills (and struggles) common to these different professions. Specifically: the spatial arrangement of information, visual encoding of information, creating designed spaces, a systems view, playtesting / user testing, competing tensions, triggering emotional responses, and many more.
Okay, so what? Sure, it’s kind of neat that we have so much in common. But how might this change what I do at $largecompany? Here’s the honest truth: The game design profession is just a little bit farther down the road than us, and we have a lot to learn from this group if we can look past the superficial differences. We talk about designing for emotions, but let’s face it, game designers are actually winning at this. Processes? We talk about lean and agile, but game designers have mastered playtesting (and the design to playtest ratio should make us embarrassed at how little we actually iterate with users). And there’s plenty more. I’m confident that if we can look our our own profession through the lens of game design, we’ll see plenty of glaring opportunities for improvement, and a few tricks we might pick up, as well.
We all enjoy well-designed, well-crafted experiences, but all too often our development processes (Agile, Lean) and organizational cultures seem to pit deadlines and quick iterations against a thoughtful attention to details. Sacrificing quality on the altar of quick is a dangerous mistake, especially as the bar for “good enough” continues to rise in 2015.
We see an ever increasing attention to detail, specifically when it comes the careful use of animation, typography, communications with customers, and creating all-around frictionless experiences. This attention to detail isn’t limited to Apple anymore. Instead, we’re seeing this across industries—companies like Uber, Square, Virgin, and Nest are sweating the details to dominate their competition through design.
So, what does it take for a company to consistently deliver great customer experiences? And what exactly does it mean to be a “design-driven” company?
Speaker Stephen P. Anderson will share his experiences, both as a consultant and now as part of an executive team, trying to balance the needs of the business with needs of the customer. He’ll share the tools and processes he uses to reconcile “getting it done” with “getting it done right,” showing how you can create a culture that values both shipping and quality experiences. He’ll explore what craftsmanship looks like for (mostly) digital experiences, with numerous examples of companies and products that are raising the bar for UX professionals.
For all the attention given to design and UX in recent years, here’s the truth: Most companies are not set up to truly deliver an experience. Consider the rich, nuanced experiences we’ve come to expect from more mature mediums like film or game design. These experiences makes us feel, in deep and profound ways. But pulling this off requires a constant orchestration of things at the systems-level and a laser focus on incredibly fine emotional details. And speaking frankly, things like “feelings” “experiences” and “emotions” — these are intangible things. Businesses are trained to prioritize, quantify, and measure tangible things, that promise a clear payoff. We pit belief–about what will create a great customer experience— against data. Is there a reconciliation between these two mindsets?
In this session on design leadership, speaker Stephen P. Anderson will share his experiences, both as a consultant and as part of an executive team, trying to balance the needs of the business with needs of the customer. He’ll share a model — adapted from game design — that offers to balance theses kinds of “art and science” issues, promising to bring together cross-functional teams and reconcile competing interests. Taking cues from game design, this new model will give you a constructive way to think about everything from designing for emotional needs to tracking key metrics to discerning between “little e” experiences and the “Big E” experience. Walk away with a framework you can use to balance what’s right for the business with what’s right for the customer.
To be good user experience folks, we need to crack open some psych 101 textbooks, learn what motivates people and then bake these ideas into our designs.
Visual design is more than styling. It is function. And not only because it communicates, but also because it makes us feel. And between feeling and communication, people find things easier to use.
How do you extend a product vision statement such that it remains aspirational but is specific enough to clarify intention and make difficult decisions easy? Enter "Design Tenets"
The Architecture of Understanding (World IA Day Chicago Keynote)Stephen Anderson
Keynote for World IA Day, answering the question "When, Where and How does Understanding occur?" Specifically, this talk discussed (1) interactions (and embodiement) (2) how new technology is changing the "information environments" we design for, and (3) a bit about perceptions and cognition.
(Don't) Use Your Words: Visual Communicators Rock!Katie Laird
Visuals are pretty. And they are crucial to creating data filled presentations that won't lull your audience to sleep.
This slide deck takes a look at basic techniques, tools and strategy anyone who has ever wanted to communicate just a little better visually can grow from.
Want to learn more - or want to have a presentation like this presented to your organization? Visit me at www.schipul.com/happykatie.
How to understand how design and business fit together (and don't). Understanding how a market changes everything about how you design.
From my General Assembly User Experience Class Series
A semester postmortem on the mindful xp project at the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon. Over the spring 2012 semester our project team developed 10 games with a focus on meaning and expression.
In this presentation we discuss the origins of our project, the 10 games we developed, and what we learned from our experiences about creating meaningful, expressive games.
Visit our website at mindfulxp.com!
Trends are moving towards the emergence of site customization based on user state. We will cover practical development examples on using user interest and identity data mining techniques to be able to determine the emotional ease, frustration levels, and intention of users, and customize the user experience based on that.
Visual tools and innovation games workshop - SPTechCon - Apr 2014Ruven Gotz
Half-day workshop presented by Michelle Caldwell and Ruven Gotz on getting to shared understand and better requirements for your SharePoint projects through the use of Visual Tools (such as mind mapping, wireframing, and card sorting) and Gamestorming (also called Innovation Games)
Casper van Est from the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam is going to discuss the teaching of fundamental game design structures such as risk/reward, feedback loops and visual cues, using examples from well known games as well as his own succesful indie game SpeedRunners.
How design techniques can shape more effective organizations
Designers fall in love with the things they design: flows, wireframes, journey maps and personas. But design is not a title or a set of deliverables. It is a way of interacting with the world purposefully, in order to make it a little bit better.
In this talk, Christina will explain how design thinking is a kind of cognition that is particularly useful when working on wicked problems. She will show how design techniques can shape more effective organizations, from creating the right products in the right markets to setting and making better goals. Design can even shape better negotiations and form more effective teams.
The things you don’t design often happen anyway, but rarely they way you hope they will. Design the future you wish to live in.
What you will learn
This talk will cover a design thinking approach to product design, business design and organizational design.
Who is this talk for
It is for anyone who needs to make the future look different from the past, from front line designers and product managers to CEOs and startup founders.
Design Principles: The Philosophy of UXWhitney Hess
The visual principles of harmony, unity, contrast, emphasis, variety, balance, proportion, repetition, texture and movement (and others) are widely recognized and practiced, even when they aren’t formally articulated. But creating a good design doesn’t automatically mean creating a good experience.
In order for us to cultivate positive experiences for our users, we need to establish a set of guiding principles for experience design. Guiding principles are the broad philosophy or fundamental beliefs that steer an organization, team or individual’s decision making, irrespective of the project goals, constraints, or resources.
Whitney will share a universally-applicable set of experience design principles that we should all strive to follow, and will explore how you can create and use your own guiding principles to take your site or product to the next level.
understanding our past to improve our futureGillian Smith
This talk was given at the symposium on procedural content generation at ITU Copenhagen, November 2014. It outlines the major motivations for doing research in PCG, identifies historical trends, and asks questions about where we are going next.
An Introduction to Educational Game DesignMichael Pinto
This presentation covers:
- Definition of a Game
- What Makes a Game a Game
- Learning Through Play (High Concept)
- How To Start To Learn How to Design Games
- Core Mechanisms of Games
- Soft Qualities of Games
- Survey of Different Types Of Games and Their Mechanisms
- Overview of Educational Games
- Gamification for Education
- Educational Games In Context of Transmedia Storytelling
Prompt engineering is a concept in artificial intelligence, particularly natural language processing. In prompt engineering, the description of the task that the AI is supposed to accomplish is embedded in the input, e.g. as a question, instead of it being explicitly given.
A talk we had at Texity systems.
Topics were
“ Are you really a User Experience Designer ?
The shift from product design to process design”
Contents
- what is user experience ? A bit of historical perspective
- Who coined the term and what did he mean ? ( Don Norman coined this term)
- how does IA, interaction design, usability, user research, relate to user experience ?
- what is product user experience ?
- how is different from user experience design of a service ?
- if this is User Experience, then what exactly is customer experience ?
- Should there be a designation called User Experience designer?
- The CEO, the engineer, the sales manager , product manager ….. are they UX designers or they aren’t ?
- Product design vs Process design
- The notion of a User , and who is the Customer ….. can user and customer be same ?
- A better term : DUX ( designing for user experience )
Visual design is more than styling. It is function. And not only because it communicates, but also because it makes us feel. And between feeling and communication, people find things easier to use.
How do you extend a product vision statement such that it remains aspirational but is specific enough to clarify intention and make difficult decisions easy? Enter "Design Tenets"
The Architecture of Understanding (World IA Day Chicago Keynote)Stephen Anderson
Keynote for World IA Day, answering the question "When, Where and How does Understanding occur?" Specifically, this talk discussed (1) interactions (and embodiement) (2) how new technology is changing the "information environments" we design for, and (3) a bit about perceptions and cognition.
(Don't) Use Your Words: Visual Communicators Rock!Katie Laird
Visuals are pretty. And they are crucial to creating data filled presentations that won't lull your audience to sleep.
This slide deck takes a look at basic techniques, tools and strategy anyone who has ever wanted to communicate just a little better visually can grow from.
Want to learn more - or want to have a presentation like this presented to your organization? Visit me at www.schipul.com/happykatie.
How to understand how design and business fit together (and don't). Understanding how a market changes everything about how you design.
From my General Assembly User Experience Class Series
A semester postmortem on the mindful xp project at the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon. Over the spring 2012 semester our project team developed 10 games with a focus on meaning and expression.
In this presentation we discuss the origins of our project, the 10 games we developed, and what we learned from our experiences about creating meaningful, expressive games.
Visit our website at mindfulxp.com!
Trends are moving towards the emergence of site customization based on user state. We will cover practical development examples on using user interest and identity data mining techniques to be able to determine the emotional ease, frustration levels, and intention of users, and customize the user experience based on that.
Visual tools and innovation games workshop - SPTechCon - Apr 2014Ruven Gotz
Half-day workshop presented by Michelle Caldwell and Ruven Gotz on getting to shared understand and better requirements for your SharePoint projects through the use of Visual Tools (such as mind mapping, wireframing, and card sorting) and Gamestorming (also called Innovation Games)
Casper van Est from the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam is going to discuss the teaching of fundamental game design structures such as risk/reward, feedback loops and visual cues, using examples from well known games as well as his own succesful indie game SpeedRunners.
How design techniques can shape more effective organizations
Designers fall in love with the things they design: flows, wireframes, journey maps and personas. But design is not a title or a set of deliverables. It is a way of interacting with the world purposefully, in order to make it a little bit better.
In this talk, Christina will explain how design thinking is a kind of cognition that is particularly useful when working on wicked problems. She will show how design techniques can shape more effective organizations, from creating the right products in the right markets to setting and making better goals. Design can even shape better negotiations and form more effective teams.
The things you don’t design often happen anyway, but rarely they way you hope they will. Design the future you wish to live in.
What you will learn
This talk will cover a design thinking approach to product design, business design and organizational design.
Who is this talk for
It is for anyone who needs to make the future look different from the past, from front line designers and product managers to CEOs and startup founders.
Design Principles: The Philosophy of UXWhitney Hess
The visual principles of harmony, unity, contrast, emphasis, variety, balance, proportion, repetition, texture and movement (and others) are widely recognized and practiced, even when they aren’t formally articulated. But creating a good design doesn’t automatically mean creating a good experience.
In order for us to cultivate positive experiences for our users, we need to establish a set of guiding principles for experience design. Guiding principles are the broad philosophy or fundamental beliefs that steer an organization, team or individual’s decision making, irrespective of the project goals, constraints, or resources.
Whitney will share a universally-applicable set of experience design principles that we should all strive to follow, and will explore how you can create and use your own guiding principles to take your site or product to the next level.
understanding our past to improve our futureGillian Smith
This talk was given at the symposium on procedural content generation at ITU Copenhagen, November 2014. It outlines the major motivations for doing research in PCG, identifies historical trends, and asks questions about where we are going next.
An Introduction to Educational Game DesignMichael Pinto
This presentation covers:
- Definition of a Game
- What Makes a Game a Game
- Learning Through Play (High Concept)
- How To Start To Learn How to Design Games
- Core Mechanisms of Games
- Soft Qualities of Games
- Survey of Different Types Of Games and Their Mechanisms
- Overview of Educational Games
- Gamification for Education
- Educational Games In Context of Transmedia Storytelling
Prompt engineering is a concept in artificial intelligence, particularly natural language processing. In prompt engineering, the description of the task that the AI is supposed to accomplish is embedded in the input, e.g. as a question, instead of it being explicitly given.
A talk we had at Texity systems.
Topics were
“ Are you really a User Experience Designer ?
The shift from product design to process design”
Contents
- what is user experience ? A bit of historical perspective
- Who coined the term and what did he mean ? ( Don Norman coined this term)
- how does IA, interaction design, usability, user research, relate to user experience ?
- what is product user experience ?
- how is different from user experience design of a service ?
- if this is User Experience, then what exactly is customer experience ?
- Should there be a designation called User Experience designer?
- The CEO, the engineer, the sales manager , product manager ….. are they UX designers or they aren’t ?
- Product design vs Process design
- The notion of a User , and who is the Customer ….. can user and customer be same ?
- A better term : DUX ( designing for user experience )
“Let me tell you a story….” – Storytelling, one of the most powerful ways to convey messages and a basic human need.
The workshop explores the role of storytelling in digital service design. With the constant rise of new emerging technologies, new challenges arise impacting various areas of design. Allowing for non-linear and more continuous experiences, the user is empowered to alter the course of the narrative and the way content is experienced and explored.
The static world of websites and apps is challenged by new technologies such as Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift, and connected devices, all of which require the creation of continuous, multi-routed storylines that Occulusinteraction Design is crafting and orchestrating, as interaction allows the user to be more deeply involved with the content the story thereof. Instead of presenting a linear feature, the user can follow various characters and affect the outcome of the story. This results in more dynamic stories and outcomes, captivating the user and enhancing the user experience.
A co-creation with Maria Lumiaho and Suvi Numminen, at Futurice.
“Let me tell you a story….” – Storytelling, one of the most powerful ways to convey messages and a basic human need.
The workshop explores the role of storytelling in digital service design. With the constant rise of new emerging technologies, new challenges arise impacting various areas of design. Allowing for non-linear and more continuous experiences, the user is empowered to alter the course of the narrative and the way content is experienced and explored.
The static world of websites and apps is challenged by new technologies such as Google Cardboard, Oculus Rift, and connected devices, all of which require the creation of continuous, multi-routed storylines that Interaction Design is crafting and orchestrating, as interaction allows the user to be more deeply involved with the content the story thereof. Instead of presenting a linear feature, the user can follow various characters and affect the outcome of the story. This results in more dynamic stories and outcomes, captivating the user and enhancing the user experience.
Presented as a workshop at Interaction 16 in Helsinki, 1.3.2016.
Often times we hear it spoken about how UX can change business within a company, or an explanation of what UX is, or how the culture can become transformed by understanding the language of business and how to marry it with UX. The foundation of understanding this is important, but what does the journey look like in getting there?
In this talk different processes will be shown in how to accomplish all of the above. Most importantly, a process of being adaptive and empathetic. Whether it’s in a corporate environment, a small business, or a start-up company, anyone can benefit from these different kinds of design processes, strategies, thoughts, and realistic points of view.
The surest way to craft anything is to understand how it fits into the bigger picture...the bigger story. We'll unpack how our favorite movies can unlock tools to craft remarkable digital User Experiences.
Better User Experience for WordPress Sitesaungstad
An introduction to a handful of universal principles of User Experience (UX) design with tips on how to implement them on a WordPress site. Many of the ideas are easy to implement and will be useful for any site really - large or small, wordpress or not.
Presented to the WordPress Geneva group on April 23, 2013. Thanks & enjoy!
A New Toolbox: Artifact Providence 2013Kevin Sharon
Kevin and Sophie reveal Happy Cog’s design process through their experience building a responsive site from beginning to end, including: kicking off the project, the collaborative design process, and the tools they tweaked along the way. Find out what worked and what they learned. In the end, it should be clear that this is a time for experimentation and finding new approaches for new tasks.
Personas - redesigning their content, rethinking their formBen Crothers
This is for UX designers, HCI and service designers, as well as anyone in product strategy, marketing and product management. At IxDA on Thursday 27 Nov 2014, I shared how we at Atlassian redesigned our personas. But what's more important is how you can re-think your personas and not only design their *content* the right way, but their *form* in a new way, to make them much more intuitive to use.
UX Workshop introducing what UX is and why it is important. The audience may or may not be familiar with UX so the presentation focuses more on principles than a step-by-step how-to.
As UX professionals, we spend a lot of our time thinking about the usability of software. But how often do you stop to think about how usable you are – to your colleagues, stakeholders and peers? Many of the same considerations apply to people as to applications. So if you find that you’re not getting your points across, getting materials thrown “over the wall” to you, or not being invited to the conversations you know you should be part of… maybe it’s time for a usability review. Luckily, there are some things you can do to help your “users” gain more understanding and to produce better outcomes for everyone. We’ll cover how to more effectively interact with a team in order to get benefits for yourself and for the whole team, preventing problems down the line while making your working life much happier.
https://vimeo.com/115937297
We spend so much time focusing on conventional programming. Everyone focuses on standards, code clarity, testing, and what gems to use. Let's chat about what's done before your fingers hit the keys. Let's talk about brainstorming, requirements, stakeholders, mock-ups, and writing solid user stories and acceptance tests with Cucumber. Every project has a story - how will your next one end?
An intro to what people (and myself) think UX is. Also who is "doing" UX and how you can do it better. Originally presented at Product Camp Nashville - Sep 2018
Users are People Too Adobe Max PresentationMeagan Fisher
Too often we create brands, experiences, and content that sacrifice humanity on the altar of conversion optimization. Join this session as we explore how to make our web and mobile experiences feel less like a business transaction and more like a conversation through human-oriented brand, marketing, and experience design.
Creative director, user advocate, and designer Meagan Fisher will share techniques that will help you honor the humanity of users through empathy-driven design and content.
Place in Space (AKA "How to Design A Concept Model")Stephen Anderson
“How do you create a concept model?”
It's a simple question without a simple answer. As wranglers of information, we routinely create visual artifacts to make sense of difficult subjects. Think service blueprints. Site maps. Clusters of sticky notes on walls. Venn diagrams. These are all external representations created to organize our understanding—concept models. And in team settings, these models allow us to communicate and collaborate; master these visual thinking skills and you can effectively frame the conversation. For as long as we’ve organized things into stacks (“my pile, your pile”) or into some continuum (letterforms carved into a clay tablet, sorting kids by height), we’ve used the *spatial* arrangement of things to assign meaning. Consciously or not, we're tapping into a powerful visual language to help us and others understand difficult concepts. But, what is this language we're using? And can it be taught?
In this session, speaker and author Stephen P. Anderson will share the fundamental elements behind every visual representation. Much like there’s a grammar behind the written word, there’s a grammar behind the visual display of information; once understood, you can easily create clear and concise visual representations of thought.
Best of all, this same approach extends into other kinds of external representations, such as custom data visualizations or novel interfaces. And, as we move into a connected world, where information is distributed into the physical environments around us, we can prepare now by having a fundamental vocabulary to describe this arrangement of information.
Whether on the page or screen, or in the physical space around us, understanding how to derive (and convey) meaning through the arrangement of information is and will become an essential skill for anyone designing information.
This presentation shares the journey I’ve been on, from trying to shape and influence a user’s path, to creating sandbox environments in which people can play and amaze us!
______
Designers are trained to guide users toward predetermined outcomes, but is there a better use of this persuasive psychology? What happens if we focus less on influencing desired behaviors and focus more on designing ‘sandboxes’: open-ended, generative systems? And how might we go about designing these spaces? It’s still “psychology applied to design”, but in a much more challenging and rewarding way!
In this talk, I’ll share the journey I’ve been on, from trying to shape and influence a user’s path, to creating these sandbox environments. You’ll learn why systems such as Twitter, Pinterest, and Minecraft are so maddeningly addictive, and what principles we can use to create similar experiences. We’ll look at education and the work of Maria Montessori, who wrote extensively about how to create learning environments that encourage exploration and discovery. And we’ll look at game design, considering all the varieties of games, especially those carefully designed to encourage play — a marked contrast with progression games designed to move you through a series of ever-increasing challenges, each converging upon the same solution. Finally, we’ll look at web applications, and I’ll share how this thinking might influence your work, from how you respond to new feature requests to how you design for behavior change in a more mature way.
It’s easy to solve the wrong problems. Good design relentlessly questions assumptions and reframes the problem to be solved. We know this, and yet, HOW to actually reframe a problem is missing from our conversations.
In this session, Stephen P. Anderson will share tips that have helped him cut through the noise of requests and requirements, to focus on the real problem(s) to be solved. Specifically, you’ll pick up ways to see a problem from different perspectives, ways to ask why, how to draw upon seemingly unrelated experiences, how to separate real from perceived constraints, and most importantly, ways to keep yourself in check, so as not to solve the wrong problem (or if you do, you do so intentionally, for a strategic purpose!).
Whether you’re designing strategies or screens, you’re sure to pick up a few new mental hacks that you’ll no doubt use on a daily basis.
Euro IA Closing Plenary - What I'm Curious About…Stephen Anderson
What are you curious about? What do you want to know more about by this time next year?
Here's my answer to that question (c. 2012) and why I believe Curiosity is core to everything we do as a profession.
For all our accumulated information there's a clear absence of understanding. Are sensemaking tools the next big thing?
(Keynote give at Big Design 12: http://bigdesignevents.com/sessions/to-boldly-go-from-information-to-understanding )
What's Your Perception Strategy? (Why It's NOT All About Content)Stephen Anderson
If we focus too much on content, we ignore what we know about how our associative brain comes to makes sense new information. Think about how many people respond before reading past the first sentence of an email, or how a magazine article doesn't get the same reaction when displayed in HTML. Or consider how knowing the author of a publication influences your judgement of that content.
Picking up from the session Stephen P. Anderson gave last year on "The Stories We Construct" (a biological look at the narratives that influence behavior), this session focuses on how we come to perceive—and respond to— information. From phantom limbs to magicians fooling our senses, Stephen proposes a model that makes sense of how we truly experience information. Practical? You'll leave with a deep understanding of everything UX is about and an awareness of common practices that don't account for this knowledge.
How are stories constructed? // The things we buy, the decisions we make, how we spend our time— stories govern all these actions. But how are these stories constructed? Specifically, what have we learned about how our brains make sense of and integrate new information?
What do rock bands have to do with management? Groups and organizations, just like musicians, don’t all work and behave in the same way. In this presentation, I to the music industry to describe four organizational archetypes—each with a different set of values and way of working. By understanding each of these work cultures, the culture you work in, and the work style that best fits you personally, we can make sense of the conflicts we face at work and become more effective at our job, whether we’re employees, managers or—rock stars!
We all work with information. In our web sites. Our web apps. Print communications. Graphs, and charts. But how exactly do you present information in a way that simplifies the complex, communicates powerfully, and actually delights people?
In this presentation, Travis Isaacs and I share some of our information design secrets. From travel plans to search results to quarterly earnings statements—here's a handful of information design and data visualization case studies, identifying principles that apply to just about any project.
Learn how to identify and group related information, create a visual hierarchy, draw focus to the most important content, use images appropriately, see familiar data in a fresh new way, and much more!
Leading the Rebellion: Turning Visionary Ideas into RealityStephen Anderson
(My presentation from Adaptive Path MX)
You’ve got an idea. Maybe it’s a better process that’s a bit unorthodox. Or maybe it’s a new product idea you need to push through your organization. The question is: How does that idea become reality? Between procedure, politics, and other pushbacks, implementing visionary ideas — however promising — requires a lot more than a good prototype or story.
To understand how unorthodox ideas can make it through an organization, we’ll look outside the design industry to filmmaking. Specifically, we’ll look at what it took to make the one of the most influential — and disruptive — films of all time: the original Star Wars movie. If we look behind the scenes, what did it take to get George Lucas’s space fantasy from script to screen? From assembling the right team to navigating the Hollywood corporate studio environment to tapping into powerful universal patterns, speaker Stephen P. Anderson will share six lessons that we as UX Managers — and leaders — can all learn from Lucas’ adventure.
Inspiration from The Edge: New Patterns for Interface DesignStephen Anderson
(My presentation from the IA Summit 2008)
Want a fresh perspective on UI design? Look around. Not at other web sites or desktop applications but at other interactive media. Tivo, the iPhone, the Wii software interface, the ‘Sugar’ OS for the XO Laptop… there’s a world of new UI inspiration that is already being proven out in other devices.
The Force Behind Star Wars: Turning Design Ideas into RealityStephen Anderson
You’ve got an idea. Maybe it’s a new idea for a web application. Maybe it’s a new product idea you need to push through your organization. The question is: How do you turn an idea into reality?
To answer this question, we’ll look at the making of Star Wars. We’ll look behind the scenes at what it took to get George Lucas’s space fantasy from script to screen. From assembling the right team to navigating the Hollywood corporate studio environment to tapping into powerful universal patterns—this presentation suggests more than a dozen lessons UX designers (and developers!) can all learn from this adventure.
Hello everyone! I am thrilled to present my latest portfolio on LinkedIn, marking the culmination of my architectural journey thus far. Over the span of five years, I've been fortunate to acquire a wealth of knowledge under the guidance of esteemed professors and industry mentors. From rigorous academic pursuits to practical engagements, each experience has contributed to my growth and refinement as an architecture student. This portfolio not only showcases my projects but also underscores my attention to detail and to innovative architecture as a profession.
Between Filth and Fortune- Urban Cattle Foraging Realities by Devi S Nair, An...Mansi Shah
This study examines cattle rearing in urban and rural settings, focusing on milk production and consumption. By exploring a case in Ahmedabad, it highlights the challenges and processes in dairy farming across different environments, emphasising the need for sustainable practices and the essential role of milk in daily consumption.
You could be a professional graphic designer and still make mistakes. There is always the possibility of human error. On the other hand if you’re not a designer, the chances of making some common graphic design mistakes are even higher. Because you don’t know what you don’t know. That’s where this blog comes in. To make your job easier and help you create better designs, we have put together a list of common graphic design mistakes that you need to avoid.
Transforming Brand Perception and Boosting Profitabilityaaryangarg12
In today's digital era, the dynamics of brand perception, consumer behavior, and profitability have been profoundly reshaped by the synergy of branding, social media, and website design. This research paper investigates the transformative power of these elements in influencing how individuals perceive brands and products and how this transformation can be harnessed to drive sales and profitability for businesses.
Through an exploration of brand psychology and consumer behavior, this study sheds light on the intricate ways in which effective branding strategies, strategic social media engagement, and user-centric website design contribute to altering consumers' perceptions. We delve into the principles that underlie successful brand transformations, examining how visual identity, messaging, and storytelling can captivate and resonate with target audiences.
Methodologically, this research employs a comprehensive approach, combining qualitative and quantitative analyses. Real-world case studies illustrate the impact of branding, social media campaigns, and website redesigns on consumer perception, sales figures, and profitability. We assess the various metrics, including brand awareness, customer engagement, conversion rates, and revenue growth, to measure the effectiveness of these strategies.
The results underscore the pivotal role of cohesive branding, social media influence, and website usability in shaping positive brand perceptions, influencing consumer decisions, and ultimately bolstering sales and profitability. This paper provides actionable insights and strategic recommendations for businesses seeking to leverage branding, social media, and website design as potent tools to enhance their market position and financial success.
Dive into the innovative world of smart garages with our insightful presentation, "Exploring the Future of Smart Garages." This comprehensive guide covers the latest advancements in garage technology, including automated systems, smart security features, energy efficiency solutions, and seamless integration with smart home ecosystems. Learn how these technologies are transforming traditional garages into high-tech, efficient spaces that enhance convenience, safety, and sustainability.
Ideal for homeowners, tech enthusiasts, and industry professionals, this presentation provides valuable insights into the trends, benefits, and future developments in smart garage technology. Stay ahead of the curve with our expert analysis and practical tips on implementing smart garage solutions.
Can AI do good? at 'offtheCanvas' India HCI preludeAlan Dix
Invited talk at 'offtheCanvas' IndiaHCI prelude, 29th June 2024.
https://www.alandix.com/academic/talks/offtheCanvas-IndiaHCI2024/
The world is being changed fundamentally by AI and we are constantly faced with newspaper headlines about its harmful effects. However, there is also the potential to both ameliorate theses harms and use the new abilities of AI to transform society for the good. Can you make the difference?
Top 5 Indian Style Modular Kitchen DesignsFinzo Kitchens
Get the perfect modular kitchen in Gurgaon at Finzo! We offer high-quality, custom-designed kitchens at the best prices. Wardrobes and home & office furniture are also available. Free consultation! Best Quality Luxury Modular kitchen in Gurgaon available at best price. All types of Modular Kitchens are available U Shaped Modular kitchens, L Shaped Modular Kitchen, G Shaped Modular Kitchens, Inline Modular Kitchens and Italian Modular Kitchen.
2. We make things that are:
usable
attractive
responsive
reliable
user tested
aligned with business goals
delivered on time
etc.
3. We make things that are:
usable
attractive
responsive
reliable
user tested
aligned with business goals
delivered on time
etc.
And yet...
I feel like there’s something missing.
4. We make things that are:
usable
attractive
responsive
reliable
user tested
aligned with business goals
delivered on time
etc.
And yet...
I feel like there’s something missing.
Something intangible…
5. We make things that are:
usable
attractive
responsive
reliable
user tested
aligned with business goals
delivered on time
etc.
And yet...
I feel like there’s something missing.
Something intangible…
9. If an animator does their job right,
animations not only move the story along
but visually display a character’s
personality. These Big Hero 6 test
animations of the characters performing
what is superficially the same action show
just how much depth Disney’s animators
brought to each of them.
Commentary from The Mary Sue:
“
10. depth
If an animator does their job right,
animations not only move the story along
but visually display a character’s
personality. These Big Hero 6 test
animations of the characters performing
what is superficially the same action show
just how much depth Disney’s animators
brought to each of them.
“
14. The key was to go down a level deeper. At work, we were
doing a branding exercise for a product, and we listed off the
adjectives we wanted to describe the product. I realized that a
similar exercise would work here…
I mulled over all the feedback on the mechanics: what type of
experience were they creating on their own? What adjectives
did players use to talk about the mechanics? Players described
the game as simple and elegant. It was calming and relaxing to
play. They were surprised and delighted by the richness of the
decisions. They said it flowed smoothly, that they could play it
over and over again.”
— R A N D Y H O Y T , G A M E D E S I G N E R / P U B L I S H E R
http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/the-themes-they-are-a-changing/
“
15. The key was to go down a level deeper. At work, we were
doing a branding exercise for a product, and we listed off the
adjectives we wanted to describe the product. I realized that a
similar exercise would work here…
I mulled over all the feedback on the mechanics: what type of
experience were they creating on their own? What adjectives
did players use to talk about the mechanics? Players described
the game as simple and elegant. It was calming and relaxing to
play. They were surprised and delighted by the richness of the
decisions. They said it flowed smoothly, that they could play it
over and over again.”
— R A N D Y H O Y T , G A M E D E S I G N E R / P U B L I S H E R
“
16. This image captured perfectly the feeling that the playing
the game produced, and I knew a theme and narrative
woven around this could work to produce a great experience.
http://www.leagueofgamemakers.com/the-themes-they-are-a-changing/
21. ?How often do we really let design principles
drive every product decision?
22. ?How often do we really let design principles
drive every product decision?
adding features
pushing back on customer requests
prioritizing the backlog
how we design a familiar feature
eliminating features
27. Don’t take these similarities too literally.
Big Hero 6
Character Studies
“Let’s focus on better
UI animations”
“In what nuanced
ways do we evoke
aesthetic reactions?”
28. Don’t take these similarities too literally.
Big Hero 6
Character Studies
Board Game
Design
“Let’s focus on better
UI animations”
“Let’s create a narrative,
entertainment-like,
emotional experience!”
“In what nuanced
ways do we evoke
aesthetic reactions?”
“Is there a cohesive
set of emotions that
anchor all of our
product decisions?”
29. Don’t take these similarities too literally.
Big Hero 6
Character Studies
Board Game
Design
“The Carousel”
Clip
“Let’s focus on better
UI animations”
“Let’s create a narrative,
entertainment-like,
emotional experience!”
“Let’s figure out how
to sell our stuff, like
Don Draper!”
“In what nuanced
ways do we evoke
aesthetic reactions?”
“Is there a cohesive
set of emotions that
anchor all of our
product decisions?”
“Focus on the
experience, not the
features”
39. you can write and publish online articles
other people can comment on your articles
you can share articles
bookmark articles
It’s 2012…
“a publishing platform…”
40. you can write and publish online articles
other people can comment on your articles
you can share articles
bookmark articles
It’s 2012…
“a publishing platform…”
?
41. you can write and publish online articles
other people can comment on your articles
you can share articles
bookmark articles
It’s 2012…
“a publishing platform…”
! no customization options
! no custom domains
! royalty-free access to all content
?
42. you can write and publish online articles
other people can comment on your articles
you can share articles
bookmark articles
! no customization options
! no custom domains
! royalty-free access to all content
“a publishing platform…”
?
It’s 2012……a new place on the Internet where people share ideas
and stories that are longer than 140 characters and not
just for friends. It’s designed for little stories that make
your day better and manifestos that change the world.
It’s used by everyone from professional journalists to
amateur cooks. It’s simple, beautiful, collaborative,
and it helps you find the right audience for whatever
you have to say.”
“
43.
44. “Everything changed for me over the weekend when I took the time
to write a blog post on Medium.”
“As someone who writes a lot of stuff and has used a lot of different
writing software, I'm telling you that I was blown away by the quality
of the product as a writing tool.”
“The entire process is a breeze. And once published, the article looks
pretty good too in terms of typography and appearance.”
“Intuitive enough to seem psychic.”
“Because it is such a pleasure to work with, Medium has become
something of a fetish object for writers.”
“It does not take a user experience designer
to publish a professional story.”
“A joy to use!”
“It’s so damn beautiful. Medium has removed all the cruft that gets
between the reader and the message…”
“Clean design, great concept, full of potential treasures to be read.”
“The best writing tool on the web.”
45. But here’s the thing: I feel as if the service looks so good
that it invites only the best content that I—or anyone—
can write before actually hitting publish.
Let’s put it another way: If I’m going to write a
post on Medium, I don’t want to let Medium
down. (“It’s not you, it’s me.”)
“Part of the reason I haven’t published to Medium is because
I’m slightly intimidated. I know that is illogical and insane
on the surface, but I feel intimidated and almost as if I have
to rise to a higher standard on Medium.”
—Christina Warren, senior tech analyst at Mashable
46. But here’s the thing: I feel as if the service looks so good
that it invites only the best content that I—or anyone—
can write before actually hitting publish.
Let’s put it another way: If I’m going to write a
post on Medium, I don’t want to let Medium
down. (“It’s not you, it’s me.”)
“Part of the reason I haven’t published to Medium is because
I’m slightly intimidated. I know that is illogical and insane
on the surface, but I feel intimidated and almost as if I have
to rise to a higher standard on Medium.”
—Christina Warren, senior tech analyst at Mashable
48. • you can write and publish online articles
• other people can comment on your articles
• you can share articles
• bookmark articles
The obvious “what to build”
features & functionality
49. • Designed more like a magazine.
• Designed a social system to create a
built-in audience for new authors
• Launched with published authors
(which set really high bar for content)
• Hired former Wired.com editor Evan
Hansen as an editor for the site
• Bought he long-form journalism
startup Matter
• Created what is arguably the best
writing tool on the planet
• Promoted contextual comments
• Focused on typographic UI details
that compete w/ centuries of print (vs
other web platforms)
• Focused A LOT on quality content
• Offered pre-publishing feedback
• you can write and publish online articles
• other people can comment on your articles
• you can share articles
• bookmark articles
The obvious “what to build”
features & functionality
The not so obvious “how to build” (& launch)
experience details
50. • Designed more like a magazine.
• Designed a social system to create a
built-in audience for new authors
• Launched with published authors
(which set really high bar for content)
• Hired former Wired.com editor Evan
Hansen as an editor for the site
• Bought he long-form journalism
startup Matter
• Created what is arguably the best
writing tool on the planet
• Promoted contextual comments
• Focused on typographic UI details
that compete w/ centuries of print (vs
other web platforms)
• Focused A LOT on quality content
• Offered pre-publishing feedback
• you can write and publish online articles
• other people can comment on your articles
• you can share articles
• bookmark articles
The obvious “what to build”
features & functionality
The not so obvious “how to build” (& launch)
experience details
Product
51. • Designed more like a magazine.
• Designed a social system to create a
built-in audience for new authors
• Launched with published authors
(which set really high bar for content)
• Hired former Wired.com editor Evan
Hansen as an editor for the site
• Bought he long-form journalism
startup Matter
• Created what is arguably the best
writing tool on the planet
• Promoted contextual comments
• Focused on typographic UI details
that compete w/ centuries of print (vs
other web platforms)
• Focused A LOT on quality content
• Offered pre-publishing feedback
• you can write and publish online articles
• other people can comment on your articles
• you can share articles
• bookmark articles
The obvious “what to build”
features & functionality
The not so obvious “how to build” (& launch)
experience details
Experiences
Product
52.
53.
54. “Still amazed by how much @SlackHQ reduced the number of
unnecessary emails I could have on a normal workday. #slack”
“Added my entire cohort at @bitmakerlabs to @SlackHQ. Great way to
get tons of valuable feedback considered too informal for email.”
“@SlackHQ is already the glue of our remote team. Can't believe we lived without it.”
“The UI in @SlackHQ is SO well considered. Full of helpful surprises.”
“I have to say, @SlackHQ + @appear_in is a game changer for easy
video conferencing. By far the lowest friction solution I've seen.”
“Just discovered @slackHQ, which lets us see all our updates from trello,
sourcetree and drive in one stream! We're in love :D and it's free!”
“Loving the @SlackHQ experience. Looks like it'll join #Evernote &
#Wunderlist as another daily productivity app I can't live without”
“@SlackHQ this may be the best piece of software I found in years #inlove”
"With @SlackHQ, the world of business software is edging into
consumer tech. And it's surprisingly good fun."
“Started using @SlackHQ for the first time in a while at work and it has
been one of the happiest days I've had! Thanks!”
55.
56.
57.
58. • You can create a room
• add people
• share files
• chat as a group, or
• direct message one another
The obvious “what to build”
features & functionality
59. • You can create a room
• add people
• share files
• chat as a group, or
• direct message one another
The obvious “what to build”
features & functionality
60. •Went after individuals and product teams
(vs entire companies)
•Focused on a differentiated brand
•Hyper-focused on onboarding experience
•WOM marketing
•Laser focus on quality and responsiveness,
taking longer than normal to iterate the
preview version
•Positioned themselves against email and
mailing lists (not the “chat room” category)
•TONS of integrations (more of a glue
between existing services, than a
competing service)
•Super-frictionless tool, available for
nearly every platform!!
•Solid team
• You can create a room
• add people
• share files
• chat as a group, or
• direct message one another
The obvious “what to build”
features & functionality
The not so obvious “how to build” (& launch)
experience details
75. A teenage girl with a bleak outlookneeds to feel more socially acceptedwhen eating healthy food, becausein her hood a social risk is moredangerous than a health risk
84. “…until it feels right”
With animations, you speed up, slow
down, change they style…
85. With board games, you endlessly playtest…
With animations, you speed up, slow
down, change they style…
86. With board games, you endlessly playtest…
With animations, you speed up, slow
down, change they style…
“…until it feels right”
87. With board games, you endlessly playtest…
With animations, you speed up, slow
down, change they style…
With presentations you rehearse and adjust things…
88. With board games, you endlessly playtest…
With animations, you speed up, slow
down, change they style…
With presentations you rehearse and adjust things…
“…until it feels right”
89. With board games, you endlessly playtest…
With animations, you speed up, slow
down, change they style…
With presentations you rehearse and adjust things…
With film editing, you cut, recut, change the sequence…
90. With board games, you endlessly playtest…
With animations, you speed up, slow
down, change they style…
With presentations you rehearse and adjust things…
With film editing, you cut, recut, change the sequence…
“…until it feels right”
92. “…until it feels right”
…REQUIRES AN INTIMACY WITH
THE MATERIAL(S) OF YOUR CRAFT.
TO ITERATE…
93. http://www.westword.com/restaurants/meet-the-man-behind-the-music-at-more-than-1-400-chipotles-5121272
It is very difficult to approach Slack with beginner’s
mind. But we have to, all of us, and we have to do it
every day, over and over and polish every rough edge
off until this product is as smooth as lacquered
mahogany.
Each of you knows “really good”. Each of you is able
to see when things are not done well. Certainly we all
complain enough about other people’s software, and
we all know how important first impressions are in
our own judgements. That is exactly how others will
evaluate us.
Look at it hard, and find the things that do not work.
Be harsh, in the interest of being excellent.
— S T E W A R T B U T T E R F I E L D
“
94. ALIGN AROUND THE EXPERIENCE
2 OBSESS OVER THE DETAILS
FOCUS ON THE WHOLE
1
3
TO CRAFT A GREAT EXPERIENCE…
106. [Avengers] was very difficult to make it flow and
cohere in terms of all the changing perspectives and
characters, all these movie stars, all these beats to hit.
It's a ridiculously complex puzzle. But once you’ve got
the puzzle, and you’re just filling in the voices and
coming up with the moments, that’s what’s fun”
— J O S S W H E D O N
“
107.
108.
109. Surprise and delight are the high-fructose
corn syrup of the experience economy”
“
110. ALIGN AROUND THE EXPERIENCE
2 OBSESS OVER THE DETAILS
FOCUS ON THE WHOLE
FOCUS ON AWESOME USERS
1
3
4
TO CRAFT A GREAT EXPERIENCE…
112. We tend to focus on…
➡ making awesome products
➡ making an awesome service
➡ making an awesome company
113. We tend to focus on…
➡ making awesome products
➡ making an awesome service
➡ making an awesome company
…but what if we focused on
making awesome users?
114. We tend to focus on…
➡ making awesome products
➡ making an awesome service
➡ making an awesome company
…but what if we focused on
making awesome users?
115. Example of User Awesome:
I find the clean organization of Ulysses gets out of
my way, and when I’m writing—it’s as smooth as
silk. In a subtle way, I feel inspired by Ulysses and
consequentially, I end up spending more time with
my butt in the chair, actually writing because I’m
enjoying myself.”
—Micah Moss, Screenwriter and Novelist
“
116. 2 OBSESS OVER THE DETAILS
ALIGN AROUND THE EXPERIENCE1
FOCUS ON THE WHOLE3
FOCUS ON AWESOME USERS4
TO CRAFT A GREAT EXPERIENCE…
117. 2 OBSESS OVER THE DETAILS
ALIGN AROUND THE EXPERIENCE1
FOCUS ON THE WHOLE3
FOCUS ON AWESOME USERS4
TO CRAFT A GREAT EXPERIENCE…
Look for needs (the why & when)
Align the entire team around the desired outcome
Let the desired experience to drive all product (+ business) decisions
Look for opportunities to create transformative experiences
…not just the parts
Keep iterating, until it feels just right
…not just a few playful moments
120. I’m convinced that it is feelings, and feelings alone,
that account for the success of the Virgin brand and
all its myriad forms.”
— S I R R I C H A R D B R A N S O N
“
121. People will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”
— M A Y A A N G E L O U
“