Experiencing Design

Where IE scores over FF

2009-01-07T15:50:00.000-08:00

I often have tens of tabs open while I work. And every page I am on has several other links that I am curious about.

Right click -> open in new tab in FF opens up the link in a tab that is at the far end of the tab deck.

Whereas in IE, it opens up in the adjacent tab - much more useful to me because:
a. It keeps me in context and doesn't make me feel lost and b. I don't have to 'travel' with my cursor to the extreme right end of the tab deck to see what I just opened.

Digital Handwriting

2009-01-05T17:06:00.000-08:00

Would there be any charm in having different hand writing on a shared digital document?

I am not talking notes, highlights, and different fonts. I am not even calling for every person to have a tablet pc :P.

I am only wondering if digital scribbles can be personalized to give a paper scribble hand writing effect, which bring a personal touch to a shared document/whiteboard. You know, a personalized font generator. Related FB App: What font are you? :P

Two nice questions

2008-09-10T15:38:00.000-07:00

I decided to document these two really nice questions. I was asked one of them and read the other.

Kind person : How's your world?
Me : My world is fantastic!
KP: What makes it fantastic?
Me: The wonderful food I just had :D

Read somewhere: If you were to describe this to a friend in a few words, how would you do it?

Their friendly nature belies their smartness in actually uncovering someone's emotions. The actual answer didn't matter when answering them as much as the state of mind was revealed just by the choice of words (for the answer).

Next time I'm out user testing, these will be used for sure.

"The Design Problem" Problem

2008-05-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

Just wrapped some early user validation and paper prototyping session at ASUG in Orlando. Was a fruitful exercise even though the none of the concepts we had seemed to fly with the users.

Through weeks of intense user research and now this three day user testing we seem to have uncovered...err... let's say an enterprise design problem, for lack of a better term. My previous post questioned how we could better study enterprise culture. This I think is actually part 2 of a question. Part 1 is to actually question even what qualifies as a design problem when it comes to the enterprise. There seem to be levels to the enterprise problem which run way deeper than the usual social, cultural, economic, material and technical factors that we take into account.

I am sure I am not the first one to raise this point, but we really need to define the place of the designer in an enterprise. The problems are abstract and fuzzy alright, but when it comes to actually defining the boundaries for the design there are challenges that exist far beyond the users and their context.

So again ,when should the designer step in to solve an enterprise design problem? We have responsibilities that go far beyond creating interfaces but when we encounter certain very fundamental problems that lie beyond the realm of our influence, the designer's problem gets reduced to just that (creating interfaces).

Kind Acts

2008-04-19T17:59:00.000-07:00

I have experienced three kind acts in past two days! First, a total stranger offers me a ride to a train station when I was stuck bad. Today, I forgot my phone in a cab and the driver was kind enough to return when I called.

These simple acts of kindness are very touching. Most people, I think, will not hesitate to help out another person when needed. We need to recognize and appreciate this natural human tendency, a bit more often.

Enterprise culture and the UI

2008-04-02T20:11:00.000-07:00

I think in today's times its a given that we as designers take cultural factors into account while designing. The term 'culture' is actually quite bothersome to me, because it seems really difficult to pin point the exact characteristics that make up this 'culture'.

Of course answers can be found about the culture of a people with anthropological studies, looking up some history etc. Poets, writers, film makers and other media all contribute toward shaping and 'preserving' a culture. Blogs like the this one (I am co-authoring and hence promoting :D) are the also examples of artifacts that help you understand culture.

So the term 'culture' is ambiguous I think because there's no one direct way of understanding or defining it. Now think about the term 'work culture' or 'enterprise culture'. How hard is that to grasp? Will understanding it actually help in designing better UI's for enterprise software? What sources could I tap into if I need to understand this? Who are the gate keepers of the 'enterprise culture'?

Surprise,Surprise!

2008-02-21T18:49:00.000-08:00

Ok I admit that I have been harping on this surprise in a service theme in the last few posts, but I had to write this one since I just realized a great example. Woot! No, literally, I mean Woot!

Surprise plays such a big factor in the success of woot.com that it literally drives the user community. Of course, there's some awesome economics involved also, but just the surprise factor makes it a sticky website. Linking back to my previous post just what kind of surprise theme does it follow? "Anticipation", if you ask me. With a strange mix of suspense ;).

Parc Forum

2008-02-21T18:46:00.001-08:00

Just fresh out of the talk by Andrew McAffe at the PARC forum who talked about the whole concept of enterprise 2.0, what it means and what difficulties it face. I liked the fact that his was a candid analysis of where we stand. His point about strengthing weak ties because they are a big source of the most novel and most non-redundant information was excellent.
He identified enterprise 2.0 as "an emergence of structure" as opposed to "imposition of structure" which is in tune with how the web has evolved from procedures and workflows (form-filling, approvals etc.) to community based and lossely structured software. Finally, the acknowledgement of challenges was heartening where he talked about prospect theory and the 9x rule. Bottomline : The new offering must literally be 10 times better than the existing solution, else it is not widely accepted.

http://www.parc.com/events/forum/ Check for the slides of this talk to be put up soon!

This is not Surprising

2008-02-08T15:27:00.000-08:00

Of course, some already thought about thinking of a service in terms of a script & how film can be used as tool for experience designer.

Jeff Howard, whose blog I follow fairly regularly has a few entries of his own which you can read up here and here.

Surprise in a Service 2

2008-02-07T20:06:00.000-08:00

Inspired by my previous post, I am actively thinking of "scripting" services. In a way, service design is exactly that, but I wonder how it'd be to think of it like an out and out writer. What would be the "acts" of a service? The plot points, the catalysts,the protagonist? (I know the antagonist would be the customer care...hehehe...).

I am going to start by making up my own service genres. This won't be based on subjective feelings but more on universal experiences. For instance, something like "good service" doesn't qualify as a service genre, but something like "surprsing service" does. To add to the genres, I'll go with "regular service", "slick service", "thrilling service"...get the drift?

Clearly I am coming up with them based on films and/or video games. To elaborate on my point, I think "Ocean's Eleven", "The Italian Job", "Mission Impossible" , "National Treasure" can all be termed "slick flicks". Whether you like them or not, is another matter. The intent is to make it slick.

Put simply then, what genre of service would you intend to design?

Surprise in a Service

2008-02-06T08:34:00.000-08:00

Recently I was surprised with a government service; pleasantly. When I had visited the same office in person, I received some pretty rough treatment and was somewhat assured of being left in the dark for atleast a month. But, things took a completely different turn when they mailed my documents way before time...surprise!

Twists in films is fairly common (Seven, The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, Shawashank Redemption). Would you use twists in your service? What kind of twists?

How do you script a service design twist ? A pleasant one hopefully! I wonder....

Mr. Azim Premji@SAP Labs, Palo Alto

2008-02-02T00:28:00.000-08:00

I was quite excited about this address by the Wipro owner and one of the top thirty entrepreneurs of all time (Business Week).

Fact : The speech started a good 20-25 minutes later than the scheduled time (I had gotten my colleague from Israel to attend it, but he had to leave since it got quite late). I don't want to be sarcastic about this whole typical "IST" thing, so I am just stating what happened. It was unfortunate and really wish it had started on time.

Anyways, the speech content was a summarized bullet point list of Mr Premji's lessons in life. It was plain to say the least. "Lesson number one is..." ....& it went on till "Lesson number seven..". There were some very valuable points in there and the man's achievements and contributions are truly phenomenal. Quite simply, he deserves every little praise he gets.And he speaks well too, just not 'attractive well', I guess. His style of speaking seemed honest and crisp. The enormity of his experiencing are humbling.

I was most interested in his take on design. He kept mentioning "listening to your customers is the key", but no mention of design efforts (read user research). Another theme of the speech was the social impact corporations make (again no mention of design).

Mr Premji seems a firm believer in "technology as a liberator". His stance on viewing all things from the IT perspective is slightly unsettling (for me as a designer). And doubly so because he is one of the leaders of India in the software industry. He talks about all the right things, but a 360 degree view is lacking. His emphasis on science and engineering degrees is also a bit conservative to the point of being obsolete.

What he has done is inspirational, but its never always about technological determinism.

An experienced stalwart, but a somewhat incomplete 'visionary'.

Downtime

2008-01-26T19:58:00.000-08:00

Its been a while since I posted here, but I've been transitioning and organizing. And it hasn't been easy so far, but now that I am finally empowered with mobility (after a good 38 months of living in the US), I have been promised a new change of experience. I am sure this is true, but the past few days have knocked me out with just so many tedious and unethical services. My future experiences might change but it won't mean I'll forget these past experiences. They were potent enough to make my thinking muddled for what has been a fairly long time now.

On a brighter note, now that things are clearing up, I'll get to catch up on my reading, maintain a healthier routine and update this space regularly! Here's to liberated thinking!

"I talk a lot about soul..."

2007-12-25T23:37:00.000-08:00

Soulfulness is about deep intimacy and beauty. Its something that evokes feelings of warmth,affection and belonging. Its aesthetic. Its meaningful. It evokes memories and stimulates conversations.

A relationship, a musical composition, a film, a place, a picture ,a person can all be soulful.

I needed more words to describe just exactly what I meant by 'soulless'. Here's the link that inspired me :
http://tinyurl.com/yq9tm6

Fumble with Stumble(Upon)

2007-11-26T20:26:00.000-08:00

This one's for the record.

I get a StumbleUpon invitation to join/register all that jazz. I go for it because I trust the person who sent me the request. This thing then lures me into telling who else from my contacts are on this thing (not unlike Facebook). So, I sign in with my google account and it shows me the people who have already stumbled in life :P

And there's a big bad button saying continue or next step or whatever which I gladly push after having selected the people I wanted in my network. What I don't realize because it is so deliberately hidden from me is that below the already registered users is a list of all other emails/contacts from my gmail account whom I "wished" to invite, with the default as "Select All".

Lo and behold 750 of contacts get a StumbleUpon request from me. This is negligent design and amounts to cheating at some level. Its so super embarrassing that I don't even know where to begin my apologies.

Here's where design ethics comes in. Why should the "Select all" be checked by default? And pray,tell me why should this invite list be hidden from me? Also take note, Facebook (but as a saving grace at the sneaky checkbox is clearly visible).

Fumble, stumble, jumble,grumble....

Oh I also had issues complaining on their site. Here's the transcript:

Even submitting a complaint on this site is problematic. Why can't you tell me that my complaint has been submitted or not instead of smacking the FAQ page right into my face after I click this "Send Message" button? And I have to scroll down so far down the page to realize that my message hasn't gone through yet?

I take this as deception and its in very poor taste.

This topic will remain hot, watch this space.

What's the height of Narcissism in the digital age?

2007-11-25T19:31:00.000-08:00

Having your own website as your homepage :D.

This is an original joke, so what do you think?

Oh btw, I realized that one of the most embarrassing things is when people don't laugh at your joke. This medium shields one from those kind of awkward moments. A whole new social effect of social media,anyone? :P

A new inspiration....

2007-11-25T19:14:00.000-08:00

Bollywood! Yes, how I had forgotten about this form of media whose inanity perplexes me to such an extent that it makes me think hard.

So here are my thoughts - mashed-up, truly new media, eh? ;) (Bollywood movie Om Shanti Om and a anthopological essay by Edward Bruner)

Om Shanti Om has flummoxed me and left me in all sorts of mental discomforts! For what I consider, a long time now. At one point, I branded it "new media"!

This surely wasn't a film. I didn't feel like I had watched a movie. The whole experience of the 'film' was unique, something that wasn't necessarily special or repulsive. There's definitely a frustration associated with my inability to express my feelings toward Farah Khan's self-deprecating, sometimes smug, sometimes preposterous (read hilarious),but most definitely grandiose movie. Its megalomania and pompous show-off at one level, yet it has deep cultural significance at another. The debate in my mind is the intention of the film maker. I doubt cultural commentary as the purpose and I suspect celebrating her sense of belonging toward the movie/glamor community as the underlying motivation. Whether the former thought even came to the film makers mind while making it is moot. Inadvertently or not, Farah Khan has created, what I consider, a very important cultural expression with Om Shanti Om.

Alright, so what am I exactly talking about? Bollywood is a culture. We all agree, right? Its not an isolated culture , it determines us and we determine it (That's how all media matures/grows - by reflecting upon and by being reflected ). But, culture is not static, its dynamic , its alive and it grows each moment. How, you ask? We contribute to its growth - by reenacting, retelling, redoing, reenacting,reliving,reconstructing and in general repeating things that we inherently understand due to our being part of the culture in the first place. The reflexivity is confounding yet it exists and its real. Farah Khan's film is reflexive with a capital R. Reflexive. There! And its this reflexivity that had me confused.

Let me elaborate on this reflexivity bit. Her use of cliches, (I don't even want to start a list here...), standard dialogs ("Yeh ek maa ka dil kehtaa hai" etc.) , twists , songs, hackneyed concepts like re-birth- all that what we've come to know as the quintessential "Bollywood Masala" is essentially retelling, repeating a kind of reinforcing of the culture that we are all too familiar with AND the film itself progresses with this reuse, expanding on/building on what already is. Due its reflexive nature, the film is hard to critique as a story. And that, in my mind makes it more of a cultural expression than a film per se. And to top it off, its Ms Khan's expression of her experience in Bollywood. Even if an Om Puri were asked to make a film on his experience in Bollywood, it would perhaps have similar elements - because Bollywood culture is so universal. Heck, if a person on the street in India is asked to make a film on his/her Bollywood experience, he'll most definitely have a similar tone of expression ( ignoring production qualities etc.)

Compare this dialog from the film "aur agar sab theek nahi hai toh...picture abhi baaki hai mere dost..." to this line from an anthropological essay on cultural expressions of experience- "Stories may have endings, but stories are never over". Om Shanti Om (the expression) will end but Bollywood (the experience) will continue on and that's where the unintended (for most part) brilliance of Om Shanti Om comes to the fore. It reflexively uses this dialog to drag the film until "sab kuch is theek", finally. And its not just this dialog, its many other countless instances which makes you think - this is silly, but most of Bollywood is silly. OSO doesn't re-mediate (like other Bollywood films) , it simply re-enacts and it re-tells what it is to have a Bollywood experience.

To complete this expression, self-deprecation is a tool, hackneyed dialogs are a tool, every little thing in the film whether Ms Khan intends or not is a tool toward completing her expression. And this is a landmark expression, hilarious and all. Because this will surely compel the Bollywood community to add to this culture thereby rendering new ideas and new thoughts and new kinds of films. I won't credit Farah Khan for making an amazingly entertaining film (because 'Mai Hoo Na' was far superior) but by making Om Shanti Om she has done a great service, which will hopefully make people more reflective on the Bollywood experience and contribute toward its maturity.

"What is this an example of?"

2007-11-16T09:32:00.000-08:00

That's the question Erik Stolterman asks in his Capstone class. That's what I have been told- I have never actually attended that class. But, its the best question to ask when designing, undoubtedly. Because it makes you draw parallels and forces you to see/ recognize patterns.

Check out Luke W's notes on UI12 - especially the part of ideas come from other ideas. That's what this question is all about and it is hard to answer immediately, trust me. I applied it recently (again), and after hours of pondering, I got a very useful answer.

Thanks Erik!

S-St-Stuck

2007-11-14T12:06:00.000-08:00

The title of this post was also my facebook status a few weeks ago. As it turns out, I cannot "emphatically" blog and twitter about this workshop. Besides the point, I am not s-st-stuck because of that.

This is about the problem scoping session. Very hard to conduct and for me to participate in as a designer. As ramblings about raw data, object views, transient objects, wikis and widgets hijack the agenda, there's little or no window for design thinking.

A beautifully fuzzy problem space gets dragged into discussions of functions, forms and features. Break time....

Information Workplace!

2007-11-13T10:01:00.000-08:00

Attending the user experience workshop at SAP, they dwell on a particular project with the problem on designing 'gap' applications. I will be blogging about it on twitter and deeper reflections will be posted here.

Not being an enterprise software doesn't help. Empathy is harder to come.Software is meant to be sold - hence its about customers and not users.

These problems although abstract are very technical in nature consisting of repetitive tasks , using alternate technologies [ leading to my fav topic of uninteded usage], redundant usage, application incapabilities and a lack of cross-system intergration. The nature of the information worker and information workplace needs a deeper people centered understanding.

This workshop will be twittered and blogged about emphatically.

Redundancy of Communication

2007-11-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

Ironically, I am writing about this!

Communication happens all the time, everywhere you go, every step you take. There are things out there screaming out loud at you. Some screams are slick, some are subtle, some are undesirable and some are, just...well screams.

There are times when even screaming is not enough to communicate though. Silence doesn't work either. Its a limbo, a stalemate, a staus quo. Have you ever felt it? Neither does your silence, nor do your words get through. Somehow, communication seems redundant then.

It happened to me just recently. There are some visceral feelings that you feel the need to communicate. Have to get creative to do that. But without empathy from the other end,it is nearly impossible. Even more frustrating is when the best efforts at empathizing fail. Just trust the other person then, no way out.

There's nothing travelly about this entry :P, just some redundant thoughts I needed to get out of me.

What's the scoop?

2007-10-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

There were mounds of ice-cream in the gelato shops in Italy (pictures coming soon). Very pretty mounds too with all the fruit flavors adding to the color. That was the beautiful part.

The inspiration part was the scoop. I want to one day be able to scoop my blog or my mailbox or my facebook or you know just scoop something digital. Why? You tell me. I can list quite a few times when I have felt the need to scoop out stuff from these interfaces and put them in a cone or a cup :P.

Do you feel the need to scoop?

On a separate note, I was amused that the pineapple flavor was called "Annanass", because that's what we call pineapple in Marathi (my mother tongue). Then, someone told me that it was the Spanish who bought the pineapple to India....figures I guess.

First Post, Yay!

2007-10-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

Blog agnostic me finally succumbs! Probably lots of free time has caused this submission :D. There's a real , core reason though, which in due course of my writings might get revealed....

Welcome to Wandering Inspirations, where I post-document the things that inspire me while traveling.Inspiration for this blog - my recent trips to Europe and India (home!!).

This is only just a start point though, travel here is a very broad term which includes all kinds of trips ;)

There will be a pattern to my inspirations , you'll find out soon. But, within those you should find some interesting stories. Feel free to join in and share your stories too. Inspire me!!