India!

View from my room

Entrance to a rural health clinic. Notice the physical form and style of the mobile phone. This will become a pretty interesting artifact as the form, functionality, and meaning of mobile phones shifts. What if the phone is not associated with worries in the future?

A famous temple at Nanjangud

The juxtaposition of old & new as workers prepare for a festival

Truly Inspiring

An inspirational message from Paul Hawken:



http://designthinking.ideo.com/?p=328#content (via Tim Brown)

Follow Lane Discipline

A few photos and thoughts from time in Bangalore, India.

Follow Lane Discipline. A street sign that everyone absolutely ignores. People regularly jet across lanes and weave around the lane markings to speed up travel. Lane discipline in the US is a given; people signal when changing lanes and use their horn sparingly. In India, honking your horn means so much more. It could be a warning, an outcry of annoyance, or "Watch out! I'm going to pass." What cultural insights might be drawn from these observation? I think my initial tendency was to assume that things are just disorderly. But does lane discipline makes sense in this specific context? First of all, many of the vehicles do not fit the standard lane size. Rickshaws are just wider than half of the lane width and motorbikes/scooters are closer to 1/6 the width. With the amount of traffic on the roads, I'm sure it would be incredibly inefficient to maintain strict lane discipline. I feel that the fast pace, volatile nature of traffic in India produces better drivers.


Full Service ProviderAn advertisement on the back of a rickshaw for comprehensive weight solutions. This made me laugh.


Wish I was spending more time here:

Origami mp3 player

The thing that I love about this design is that the physical interaction maps directly to the mental model of the user. If I want the mp3 player to play, I fold it to look like the classic play icon, a triangle pointing to the right. See below:



In order to fast forward, I fold the mp3 player into the classic fast forward icon. I envision these signature moments surprising and delighting users. It's an interesting combination of iconic representation and mapping that make operation quick and very intuitive. Hopefully, our interactions with digital devices will continue to go in this direction.

What's not clear is how you maintain the current state without having to hold the small device continuously. For example, will I be able to put this in my pocket without having it get accidentally folded into shapes that interrupt my listening experience. I imagine this is key to making those signature moments worth it.


Via: Fast Company

Interaction Critique - The Clapper

The Clapper Plus Interaction Critique from Nicholas Evans on Vimeo.

WeBlimp

One of the coolest things (in my opinion) going on at the olympics right now is an interaction experiment called WeBlimp. The WeBlimp is a remote controlled mini blimp. At they olympics, though, this miniature blimp is controlled by multiple people who stand in a space and work cooperatively to direct the blimp. People must work together to direct their collective center to direct the blimp. However, the blimp is in a completely different room and has a camera so those steering it can interact with those who are actually near it. It makes for some pretty interesting (and I'm guessing, at times, some funny, foolish, and frustrating) interactions.

weBlimp! from BdotQ on Vimeo.

The Power of Storytelling

How many of you let out an audible "awwww" when you saw the following commercial?



Google does an incredible job of advertising their search engine in this advertisement. I love this video, because it leverages the power of storytelling. It just resonates with me. It gives a tangible demonstration of Google's their search service is useful in a number of contexts, and uses the power of story to tug at our heartstrings.

The music builds perfectly (it makes me shudder, but in a good way) as the video progresses to the climax when the search "How to assemble a crib" is typed in the search bar. The subtle sounds in the background give some added guidance as to what's going on and help people imagine the progressing scenes. Why is this video so appealing? Everyone wants to find love in this world and be loved. Google makes an emotionally appealing case that they can help you on that journey.

The video makes good use of the design principle called closure to tell the story. We observe the parts, individual searches (which taken individually would less meaningful), but perceive the whole, the connected story, and construct a continuous story in our head. In this case, we are given the freedom to imagine the in-between steps. And the music and structure of the video lead us to construct an ideal and positive story. I think storytelling is such an essential part of understanding the context to design within and communicating design solutions. Here it is employed as a useful advertising tool that builds Google's brand. And the kicker? This video probably cost them very little in comparison to other Super Bowl commercials.

TSA and Iconic Representation

While in the security line in an airport this past weekend, I noticed a new video about restricted items on flights and procedures for packing liquids. The TSA chose to use iconic representation to illustrate many of the rules. The video can be found playing on this page of their website: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/index.shtm. According to Universal Principals of Design, icons reduce performance load, conserve display and control area, and make signs and controls more understandable across cultures:

Here is a screen shot from the video:

Here we see Symbolic icons used. The icons represent a category of objects that are banned. However, it's not completely clear what all of these icons symbolize. Fortunately, the video enlarges them and adds some text to clarify the categories. Here, it clarifies that the top middle icon, which symbolizes flammable or explosive materials:

Here are some other screen shots from the video:

Liquids Procedure

Approved Laptop Bags

The icons follow best practices by being labeled (most of them at least) and sharing a common visual style and color. UPD also talks about how pictures are remembered better than words, which the video clearly helps accomplish.

Here is another TSA video from their YouTube channel for international travelers that uses iconic representation to communicate different concepts of traveling to and from the US: http://www.youtube.com/user/TSAHQpublicaffairs#p/a/f/0/vRGUaSKtEg8. However, many of the concepts are only made clear by the voice narrating them in English. If I'm coming from a foreign country, I might not understand the narrator...TSA fail.

Making Interactions Seamless

During Jen Levin's visit to class, she talked about the difficulty of getting diabetic patients to log the context when they check their blood sugar. She talked about how the Bayer Contour attempted to make that interaction seamless by taking advantage of the latent time when people were waiting for the reading of their blood sugar to get them to input some context details such as before or after a meal or exercise. Here's a photo of the Contour USB:

My NUvention:Medical Innovation project team has come up against a similar wall. We're hoping to get input from caregivers (doctors, nurses, technicians, etc.) in order to help improve the patient experience in the Emergency Department. However, we've heard over and over again, that you can't design anything that would require input from the doctors and nurses. "Anything that requires more workload will fail." After Jen's presentation though, I'm starting to think that it's completely possible to get input from caregivers, as long as the interaction is seamless. The trouble is finding the opportunities to capture latent moments and getting the caregivers to see the value of inputting information. We'll just have to make sure to make a clear connection between them inputting information and the value of that information to the patient as well as link that back to improved patient satisfaction. Luckily, Press Ganey reports regularly measure satisfaction.

I really like this concept of designing people's interactions with devices seamless. I think it's a great way to lower the bar for new adopters. Making something fit naturally into someone's daily routine seems like the best way to introduce new products that offer a long-term benefit, but don't have clear, short-term value (satisfaction reports lag by 2 months from when a patient was in the hospital).

We've thought of giving them something that's portable that can be interacted with as they walk from room to room or allowing them to input information right alongside when they are "charting" (putting information into the electron medical record).

My question for this audience is: What other clever devices or systems have you seen that capture latent moments in order to get a person to interact in a way that they wouldn't be inclined to normally? What other areas could we draw inspiration from?

Amazing 360 Degree Videos of Haiti

Check out these amazing videos that allow you to pan 360 degrees, look up and down, and play and pause.

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2010/01/world/haiti.360/index.html

This interaction is delightful (other than the fact that you're looking at the devastating images of haiti). There is a straightforward prompt to click and drag to see where I'd like. Once I click and drag, I quickly learn how to pan in any direction. I can look up, down, behind me, and to both sides. If I see something that I'd like to look at more closely, I just pause the video and scroll around. The only thing it's lacking (interaction-wise) is the ability to zoom.

I think it does a great job of letting people see the current reality there. I would appreciate some commentary on what is going on in the places they drove through and recorded. I think this would help the user connect even more deeply with the current situation in Haiti and maybe even motivate them to action.

Understandability not Simplicity

Think about the last time you went to buy a product, like a cell phone, that could be made by several different brands. You go online and you look at the different features that each product has. Online shopping websites do this to us all the time. They provide what seems like a very helpful product comparison tool, which allows you to put products side-by-side and compare features. And many times people end up purchasing the product with more features. People want the more capable product.

People also often worship simplicity. Think about how often you hear simplicity equated to beauty and ease of use in product reviews. There is a discord here. More features and simplicity do not mesh well. Don Norman posits that: "We want devices that do a lot, but that do not confuse, do not lead to frustration. Ahah! This is not about simplicity: it is about frustration. The entire debate is being framed incorrectly. Features is not the same as capability. Simplicity is not the same as usability. Simplicity is not the answer."

So what is the answer? We want products that are understandable and do not frustrate. Confusion leads to frustration because we are not in control any more. When we loose power and control, it frustrates us. Products that are understandable don't frustrate us. We often mistakenly equate understandability with simplicity. We can, however, make devices with many features as long as the device is understandable.

Check out this video of a one year old baby playing with an iPhone


(Aside: Maybe the iPhone OS should be adapted for the One Laptop per Child program?)

Is it just learned behavior and nothing more? I would argue it isn't because the child comprehends the consequences of different actions. The interactions of the phone are so understandable and so intuitive that even a very young child can navigate the device. Does simplicity lead to understandability? Maybe, in some cases. But understandability is key and it can be accomplished with good mapping and feedback!

Mac Os X Quick Look

I love the Quick Look feature in Mac Os X. It allows me to quickly preview the contents of a document without fully opening the document in a program. I simply select the file I want to preview in the Finder and press the space bar to get a preview. Here is a screen shot showing the feature in action:


This feature has fundamentally shifted how I interact with files on my computer and is changing my mental model of what it means to manage files. I used to have to open each file by loading a program in order to view the contents. Now, I can even preview mp4 videos without having to wait for QuickTime or some other video player to start up.

Why do I love this feature so much? Here's a scenario from my daily life and how Quick Look has become such a useful tool: At any given time, I'm working on a variety of projects with students from different parts of the university. Different people have different operating systems and prefer to use different file formats. I often receive Powerpoint and Excel files from teammates. I don't have Microsoft Office for Mac so I normally couldn't view these files unless I took the 2-3 minutes to boot up Windows on my virtualization software, but Quick Look allows me to preview these documents simply by selecting the file and clicking the space bar. I can scroll through the entire document and quickly digest the content. I can even look through different tabs on Excel documents and resize the preview window if I want (including making it full screen). I just click the space bar when I'm done and the document disappears as quickly as it appears. If you look at the screen shot above, I'm previewing a Microsoft Word document.

How does Mac Os X preview these even when I don't own Microsoft Office? Does is really even matter? It could be magic for all I care, but I do appreciate Apple taking the time to understand the nuances of how people are using computers today and designing this beautiful interaction into their operating system. It's become a valuable tool and a daily affirmation that I made the right choice when picking an Apple computer. There are many of these little interactions that save me time and make the experience enjoyable and seamless, such as the dedicated play, pause, and skip keys on the keyboard so that I don't have to switch to my music player to pause a song if I want to play a video while on the web.

Here's another scenario: I just got back from a trip and would like to send a few pictures from my computer to my family by email. I write the email and then click on Attach a file. This brings up the select files window. From here, I can easily navigate to a folder with the pictures. Then I can use Quick Look to quickly preview different photos and select the ones that I want to attach. Without Quick Look, I would have to go through my photos, open them all up, then memorize the file names of the ones I wanted to attach. With Quick Look, the process is so much easier and faster.