Author: Victor

A real-world web navigation case study of the eGreetings site, via Mersault*Thinking

Throughout all the social and political punditry around the presidential election last night, only Doris Kearns Goodwin thought about the candidates as human beings, saying something like, “…their eyes are puffy and throats are sore from campaigning and they’re now filled with anxiety as we play chess with their situation.”

Just saw a seminar on e-commerce usability by Carolyn Snyder. Fairly interesting, I especially respect her for staring down a room for of New York CHI geeks and stating that the old Boo.com site “did some innovative things that came close to working.” On another occasion she flat out contradicted a guideline of Jakob Nielson, whose company sponsered the study. Perhaps the venue – the main conference room at Razorfish – inspires moxie.

On the topic of Boo, I found it interesting that even people who liked the site didn’t like Miss Boo, finding her annoying. Like the Microsoft Office paper clip, I continue to wonder why people hate animated avatars. Perhaps they insult our intelligence, expecting us to treat a cartoon character like an intelligent entity.

This makes me wonder how people would react to an anthropomorphized version of the usual web/windows interface. Imagine a mandatory text box that pleads, “Hey, don’t forget to fill me out!” Or a Buy Now button that seductively winks at you and purrs.

Awesome birthday gifts – both my brother and my nephew and my sister and my other nephew called to sing Happy Birthday.

the color of smoke

“This computer can’t make cookie?! You call that state of art?!” – the Cookie Monster, this morning.

the color of flurries in the sky north of New York City

FEED interview with Karyn Kusama, director of Girlfight: “…I think collaboration needs an auteur. I am the writer and the director, and I’m happy to say I didn’t design it or shoot it. It’s liberating to give up control to the people you trust. I think that’s love.”

gulabjamuns

The usability lifecycle argues for an iterative design process. This is totally where my head is at these days – apparently I agree with Nielson on something.

Still, all three of these methods – iteration, waterfall, and just-do-it – happen at some level of granularity in a project. For example, design may begin with a just-do-it idea, because you have to start somewhere. The design process may happen iteratively, then be “waterfalled” (sorry, I know that’s not a word) to a shop to be built (and this whole process may be repeated iteratively). So when discussing this we need to talk about the scope of activities the process addresses. Nielson is discussing it at a project level, but when you’re actually doing it, it ain’t that simple.

green!

burnt sienna

the color of stress as it builds up and chokes your brain so that you can’t figure out what to work on first…

Garrison Keillor’s monologue in “A Prarie Home Companion” always starts with, “It’s been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my home town…” I need one of those, a lead in.

Here’s some interesting design pattern-ish descriptions of Early Development. I love starting a new project with these ideas in hand.

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