Year End Favorites

The Death of Sign In

Originally posted on Truth & Robots on 11/25/09.

I am so excited to hear that Mozilla is working on incorporating user identity into the Firefox browser. This has been a passion of mine for a couple years now and I feel like a huge weight is being lifted off of my shoulders. Designing experiences where registration and sign-in are necessary online has been a thorn in the side of user experience for years. Having to sign-in to every site that you visit is a royal pain in the you know what. Allowing users to sign-in to the browser will make for better experiences across the web. So, get out your pom poms and cheer with me. The death of the sign-in is just over the horizon. You can read more about this on Aza Raskin’s blog.

The Value of an Experience

Designing for Mobile

Originally posted on Truth & Robots on 7/18/09

Designing experiences for people sitting at their computer is no longer acceptable. As mobile has become a common method of accessing information it can no longer be assumed that people are accessing these experiences from their offices. The trend in the late 1990s of companies building websites as an alternate type of brochure is something to look back and laugh at. Especially when considering the capabilities of the interactive experiences available today. Even though many are laughing I see the resurrection of the trend today as mobile experiences become more prevalent. It seems that many web experiences are being duplicated for mobile devices. Should we assume that the expectations of the people visiting these mobile experiences are the same as when they are sitting at their desks? No. Of course not. Mobile experiences need to make a few educated assumptions about the reason someone would access the experience while away from their desk. These assumptions can allow for certain information to be pushed to the front whereas it might not be up front on a desktop based experience. Visiting the website for a chain of movie theaters can provide me with plenty of information. If I visit the site from my phone I think it would be fair to assume that I am likely most interested in locations and show times. It might also be valuable to display information based on my current location. Displaying the same marketing messages as are on the desktop site only frustrates me.
This brings to mind the complexities of designing for mobile. I think that designing for mobile is just the beginning. With the growth of the netbook market, the variety of mobile devices which can access the internet as well as the smart phones which offer mobile applications, the number of platforms available for interactive experiences are growing exponentially. The methods of interaction are only complicating the issue. Consider that touch interfaces, gestural navigation and motion detection are just the beginning. Creating experiences which are location aware, time aware and add in any type of social context and suddenly there is a lot to consider when creating these experiences. Designing for context is the real challenge. Meeting the needs of people where and when they are and meeting the needs of the device will become the new standard for interaction requirements.

The Truth About T-shirts

The Future of Advertising

Having attended a few of the “Conversations about the future of advertising” events I’ve had the chance to really question what the future of advertising will be. While the speakers at these events have been inspiring and unique in their perspectives, I can’t help but try to imagine a not to distant future where advertising is nothing like it has ever been. With the growth of “real time web” I see an opportunity for a fresh take on digital persuasion. The current trend seems to be social media. Convincing ourselves that if we “get people talking” about brands or products does not take into account the context of the conversations which mention them. I can imagine a future where the “realtime web” allows type of contextual advertising. If you take a look at Friendfeed and watch the web in action you can see how responding to an individual, “in the moment”, makes sense. For example, if I were to favorite a video showing a new Camero or bookmark a blog on muscle cars it would be quite easy for someone at Chevy to comment on my activities as soon as they appear.There are lots of people monitoring Twitter for mentions of their brand or product. They reply when they can improve a better customer service experience. I’ve heard people say that they can’t talk to everyone who mentions a brand or product. This is why I think that the future of advertising is less about the company connecting with customers about the product and more about people connecting about products.

Imagine this scenario: I favorite a video showing the new Camero on Youtube. I click a link in the comments which leads me to a blog about modern muscle cars. I like what I see so I bookmark the blog. Both of these activities would show up in my Friendfeed. Meanwhile, Louis Gray sees my activity come across his stream and, assuming he were a Camero and modern muscle car aficionado, he comments on the stream that the Camero is a great car and that he highly recommends it. He goes one step further and adds a link to his preferred dealer. This activity from Louis is advertising and if Chevy had a budget to reward people for doing such advertising, it would be in the interest of anyone who loves Chevy products or services to tell their friends about Chevy. It is likely that they would mention Chevy in conversation anyway, so why not reward people for doing so.

Taking this idea one step further, I think it would be pretty cool if there were some sort of consortium of companies which worked together to reward people for advertising for them. Just like a “Made in the USA” tag on certain clothing these products could be identified as being part of the consortium. This way anyone who joins up can be rewarded for advertising a variety of products. They can be rewarded through this “Consortium of Real Time Advertising” and everyone wins. If I got a nickel for every person I told to buy a Mac I’d be driving a new Camero.

Is that really necessary?

I’ve been meaning to get this idea out of my head for a while. I imagine a future where the Interwebs have no forms. No need to ask so much of people in order to give them what they want. I think we can start towards that dream by eliminating unnecessary questions. I’ve grown tired of the business first mentality which leaves us all filling out forms in order to obtain information or entertainment worth less than the value of the information we provide. I’m excited to hear that more and more e-commerce sites are utilizing anonymous check out. I recall being asked if I could add a phone field to my wireframes for a registration page. When I asked why it was necessary I was told that the phone number could then be given to the telemarketing department. I remember this putting a sick taste in my mouth. When creating forms I like to ask why for each field that I’m adding. I’ve found myself asking again and again, “Is that really necessary?”

Consider the amount of information asked of you when you register to use a website or web application. Can you imagine using the site without handing over your details? If so, then why is it that you were forced to enter your standard information? Is it just common place? Has the form become nothing more than an expected element of an interactive experience? I’m tired of filling out forms to register with a site which I’m exploring just to find that I don’t like it and won’t likely visit again. I often don’t get anything out of registering. If using or choosing to not use a site requires that I register that seems a bit ridiculous. If the business of a site was to sell nuts they should have no need to ask me anything unless I choose to order some nuts. Then it is expected that my payment, billing and shipping information would be needed. If I wanted to add some nuts to a wish-list and return at a different time to purchase them I can understand that the system would need a way to remember me. All that should be needed is a user name and password. Upon returning to the site I could sign in to retrieve my wish-list. Why should I need to share my address or grandmother’s first pet’s name to add a few nuts to a wish-list?

So, I’m calling for change. I’ll do my best to make sure that the projects I’m involved in ask only what is necessary when necessary. I hope that others in my profession can also convince their colleagues that if they are not in the business of gathering personal data, they should not collect personal data. Someday we may get to a place where there are no forms but until then I can only hope that the questions asked are relevant to the moment and, of course, necessary.

For this post I wanted to create a sarcastic example of a ridiculous form. I figured I’d try and use one of the many online drawing tools. I quickly came across Gliffy a web based Visio of sorts. Right on the home page there’s a huge button which screams, “Try it now FREE.” I assume that this means I can create my funny little image quickly and be done with it. BUZZ!!! Wrong! Upon clicking the button I am taken to this page which tells me, “You are just one click away from signing up for a 30-dayFree Trial Premium Account.” Yep, you guessed it. I’m required to register in order to try it for free. So, if you’re disappointed that there’s no visual to go with this post, blame Gliffy.

Traffic Sucks

I really hate sitting in traffic. It feels like such a time suck. I’m really amazed that with all the advancements in this modern age that traffic is still as bad as it is. The cogs began to turn while I was, of course, sitting in traffic. I imagine that with existing technology we have the capability to eliminate traffic. The hard part will be a requirement for new standards for vehicles and roadways.

I see the solution to traffic starting with networks. We have had networks for years and I think that we are at a point where it is fair to say that we can manage networks. Packets of information are sent around the world every second of every day and this all runs fairly smoothly. The highways I spend so much time sitting on are really just a big network and the vehicles are like information being sent around the network. I expect that all the cars could be identified and located via GPS. If the roadways had a spattering of GPS identification points which could be used as benchmarks the margin of error for vehicle location could be greatly reduced.

If the roadways can be managed by the same software that manages networks then traffic can be managed. I think that most traffic problems don’t come from the roads or the cars but from human error. If the human element can be removed by allowing software to manage the roads as well as the vehicles then traffic would cease to exist. Imagine if, like the change to digital television, the government required car manufacturers to include these features. Imagine if the DOT could manage the network. Imagine no more traffic. I know I’m dreaming but am I crazy?

SXSW – a recap

I went to SXSW with Keith Wolf, Chief Creative Officer of Wolfmotell. We flew from Minneapolis to Austin on Thursday afternoon and after checking in to the hotel went out for dinner at a fantastic italian place called Vespaio. I ate Carpaccio, which I had never had before, and it was fantastic. I also ate a scallop risotto which was so good that I ate the whole thing. Risotto is usually so heavy that I can never finish it.

Friday was mostly an introduction to SXSW. I wandered the convention center exploring booths and demonstrations and did a bit of people watching. I caught Brian Brushwood who gave a talk or more of a show on social engineering. Brian is a fantastic magician and a great entertainer. Friday night was dinner at the iron cactus and then a bit of bar hopping. After enjoying some bacon wrapped shrimp and a couple margaritas I checked Twitter to see if anything was going on. It turned out that Kevin Rose and Gary Vannerchuk were hanging out at a bar called the Chuggin Monkey. I figured if they were there then that’s where the party was. We joined them on the 2nd floor for an hour or so while the place went from a dozen people to a line at the door. I got a chance to run my idea for the future of the UnSummit by each of them and got great responses. I wanted to run it by people who actually give talks and start great conversations. Kevin said that he thought it was a great idea but that no one would want to go to Minneapolis and a lot of tech people are in San Fransisco. He suggested that it would do better there. Gary had a similar opinion but much more, “Gary-esque.” He seemed to like the idea but believed that speakers wouldn’t show up unless they were paid. Once the place began to fill up we moved on down the road to hit a few more bars.
The following day was a full day of talks. I attended talks on branding, microformats, gestural UI and QR codes. I also got to hear the CEO of Zappos talk about his company and how important the culture is. By the end of the day my brain hurt. I got to check out the video game trade show where they had guitar hero in 3D, which was pretty cool. We ate that night at a creole place called the boiling pot where they “bib” you and pour the food out onto the table where you eat it all with your hands. We had craw fish, crab, shrimp and sausage. The food was really tasty and a pain in the ass to eat. We then went to the official SXSWi party which was really crowded and really far away. Getting there wore us out, or maybe it was the previous night. Anyway it was an early night.
Sunday was another full day of talks which started off with the best panel I’ve ever seen. The panel was supposed to be about spec work and whether it’s evil or not. The panel ended up being a cage match between one of the founders of Crowdspring and one of the founders of Threadless. Another cage match was going on between David Carson and the audience. It was awesome. If you can find a recording of it, I would highly recommmend it. Afterwards I talked to Jeremiah Owyang and ran the UnSummit idea by him. He also liked the idea but expressed that with travel costs so high it might be difficult to get people to come to Minneapolis. That panel was followed by the best talk of SXSWi, given by Jared Spool, who is brilliant and hilarious. Jared spoke of killing user centered design and also danced to Beyonce. The afternoon had a keynote interview with the Nate Silver which was all about data and the power of data. Before heading out for another night of parties we caught Gary talking about crushing it.  That night we hit up a variety of bars where we were lucky enough to catch Bacon Shoe and later ended up at a party where Gary was giving out free wine. I got a glass of $85 Pinot Noir. It was super tasty.

Overall I would say that SXSW was pretty damn awesome. I had a blast and soaked up lots of ideas. The talks were inspiring and informative and I expect they will influence many of my ideas this year.

The Google

I was lucky enough to go to sxswi this year and it was a great time. I will have a full recap soon but first I wanted to share a video where I was able to ask a representative from the UX team at Google, “The Big Question.”