By Pete Broadbent on 25 June 2010
It always amazes me when I press the genius button on my iPod and an instant play list is created which is perfect for my needs, it rarely disappoints! Is it possible that my iPod knows my music library better than I do? Absolutely it does, don’t ask me how but it is damn clever.
Surely this level of functionality is a good thing I hear you shout? Well in theory it is, but we can’t overlook the effect that this and similar functionality has in raising user expectations of all the tools and services they use.
This manifested itself most recently during a round of workshops we ran for an intranet design project. I was amazed at the technical literacy of the employees involved and it became very clear that users are no longer satisfied with the status quo. Their understanding of the ‘art of the possible’ has grown exponentially and I regularly hear users say ”just make it work like Google.”
As expectations rise our job as user experience designers gets harder but it sure is getting interesting..
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By Pete Broadbent on 24 June 2010
Webcredible currently has a job vacancy for a user experience consultant! We’re looking for someone to work on a variety of challenging usability, IA & design projects for household name clients.
The job role entails:
- Having total ownership of your projects, liaising directly with clients and presenting your work to them
- Working alone or with other consultants on a wide range of projects for a large variety of clients
- Requirements gathering, interviews and user research
- Creating wireframes for websites
- Preparing, conducting and reporting on usability testing
- Carrying out and writing up expert usability evaluations
If this sounds interesting then read about our user experience consultant job vacancy, send over your CV and you could be working here sooner than you think!
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By Claire Savage on 24 June 2010
I heard on the radio that historically England performs better when their games are broadcast on BBC television and not ITV. So it was with great relief that I settled down to watch the match on BBC Television yesterday, not just because of the risk of cutting to an advert just before the 1 goal of the match, but also with some hope we would get through to the last 16!
Perhaps it’s not surprising then, that ITV came bottom in our World Cup Websites: All to Play For report. Over the last few weeks we have analysed the World Cup-focused websites of FIFA and four major broadcasters - the BBC, Sky, ITV and Eurosport, against 10 best practice usability guidelines.
It’s been an interesting report to write as really this event could be argued to be the main predecessor to the Olympics 2012 and lessons learnt during the World Cup will be the basis of online presence in 2 years time. We think the 2010 World Cup has seen people going online en masse like no other sporting event before, just think about the multi platform user experience during London 2012.
Enough of the future and back to the present. We’re down to the last 16 and a message for ITV:
‘ITV – it’s all to play for.. but currently it’s BBC 1 and ITV 0’.
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By Rhodri Buttrick on 18 June 2010
- Children can’t use it. The reason given for this is that their voices are too high! This is rubbish and I started using speech recognition when I was 9. The technology has developed a lot so it should be even easier now.
- When using it you have to talk REALLY LOUD! When I was at school this was one of the reasons teachers were reluctant to let me use it in the classroom. However, I am using the software right now and I’m talking barely above a whisper. When using it in lessons, I was certainly never any louder than the guys gossiping at the back of the classroom!
- Training takes for ever. With the latest versions of software Dragon NaturallySpeaking only takes about 30 minutes to do initial training.
- You have to speak each word individually like a robot. Wrong! In fact it works much better if you speak as naturally and as fluently as possible.
- You have to speak really slowly. Wrong again, it’s better if you speak at a normal pace. In fact, if you pronounce each individual word properly, you can speak as fast as you like. Usually, when I am dictating, I speak a lot faster than I would in normal conversation.
- When you are dictating, the room has to be totally silent. This was a concern I had when using speech recognition in a busy classroom. However the microphones used for speech recognition generally tend to be proximity microphones which only pick up noise close to. Unless somebody’s being particularly loud next to you, the odds are, recognition will not be affected.
- You are not allowed to use speech recognition in an exam. False. The access arrangements for GCSE and A levels do allow it and it is covered in the Regulations. Universities also allow it. Schools and universities sometimes make a meal out of this one but persevere as it is permitted but not many people know this.
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By Yeevon Ooi on 14 June 2010
I am obsessed with visualisations. I try to be an advocate of how they are literally worth a thousand words (or more), and should be used wisely.
People refer to them as data graphics, data visualisations, information visualisations, info graphics and etc. There are differences between these visualisations but the underlying concept of them being useful and usable shouldn’t be different.
The info graphics or visualisations that we see on websites or magazines or other media outlets are sometimes visually appealing but not that useful. I remembered evaluating a tool which helps people visualise their social networks and there was feedback on how people would print out the visualisations and stick it on the wall because it looked pretty cool although it didn’t actually make any sense.
So is there a way to design these visualisations better so that they actually help people make sense of information?
I think there is, and I’ve summarised a few very basic guidelines for designing visualisations that are easier to understand or manipulate in some instances. It’ll be interesting to hear what you think about it :)
Photo credit: munterbund.de
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