I do a lot of Excel magic at work and have been thinking about spreadsheet design for a while now, mostly because of Non-designer’s Design Book I read a few months ago. But based on the feedback I got, this is not something you would want to put on your UX portfolio – there are more important things after all. And, well, those are just spreadsheets. Spreadsheets are boring.
But they don’t have to be.
The world would be a better place if analysts, accountants and other number crunchers learned about information architecture and design principles. Ugly spreadsheets are often just a waste of time because in the end no one pays attention to them unless they really have to. And when they have to, they cry.
Badly designed spreadsheets are like badly designed intranets – people spend more time being confused than doing actual work.
When Boring meets Design
For a while now I’ve been producing a bunch of monthly web traffic reports for our sales teams. The reports were designed by another web analyst a few years ago, and it’s quite funny that when I took over, every month someone would come back pointing out that a website was missing or something was broken… And it meant only one thing: no one paid attention and noticed that before. Why? Because those bloody things were badly designed and overloaded with data.
So I’ve decided to put my UX hat on and take the spreadsheet design seriously. I talked to sales people to better understand how they work, when they access my reports, why they don’t use them (too big, too slow to open, too much data, can’t find things), what information they need to do their job etc. Technically you could even call it a contextual inquiry. (I happen to sit next to one sales team – it’s the worst possible place for an analyst, but at least observing them in their natural habitat was easier).
For another report I went a step further and organised an online card sorting exercise to improve information grouping and labelling – that’s the only thing you can do when you have a long, random list of items and sorting them alphabetically makes no sense. Well, you can do this or cry and curse.
Later, I gathered the data and started playing with spreadsheets: added any missing information, changed labels, moved things around, deleted stuff, simplified, grouped, added contrast and headers…
And people were happy. They actually started looking at the reports and using them.
It wasn’t a glamorous job – those are just spreadsheets after all. But it was important: now sales people can spend less time searching for information and more time on the phone, talking to clients and backing up their claims with stats. And earning money for my salary.
Last month I decided to regularly publish mini-reviews of books I read so I can refer back to those notes – I’m getting tired of “yeah, I’ve read it. No, I can’t remember who wrote it or what it was about, but I remember it was good. I think”. Also, I love books, so writing about them is always a fun thing to do. Hope you find it useful as well.
One of the best UX books I’ve ever read and it is a shame it has been on my reading list for months – I should have read it a long time ago! The book explains the function of sketching, describes different types of sketches and argues that there is a difference between lo-fi prototypes and paper/interactive sketches: sketch is defined by its purpose, not by its form. There are also good and inspiring examples that nicely illustrate the points that the author is making. The writing style is somewhere in the middle between being academic (including references to papers) and too conversational, what makes the reading experience really pleasurable.
I tend to read UX books only when commuting and hardly ever read them at home, but I found myself ignoring everything else just to finish a chapter before going to sleep. And another one. And maybe just a few more paragraphs… I know I’ll be re-reading the book and can’t wait to get my hands on Sketching UX Workshop (a sample chapter [PDF] has been making rounds on Twitter – looks like others are equally excited).
It is a short and free ebook that, I think, is trying to make you do things. It first explains the idea of the flinch – the instinct that makes us react to danger – and then argues that this is exactly what keeps us in our comfort zone. For some people the book can serve as a motivational tool, but I’m not convinced. I think I see the point, but the exercises are not that useful or appealing – at least not for me. “Pick an ugly mug and break it” – well, yes, but I’m not going to clean that. “Talk to strangers on the street” – why should I bother people when I hate when strangers bother me?
I’m not entirely sure that this book was a waste of time, but not reading it wouldn’t change anything in my life (maybe because months ago I decided it was time to get out of my comfort zone, so didn’t need convincing). I also don’t really know why the whole book is needed – an article summarizing the main points would be much better.
It was recommended by a friend as a nice introduction to the lean startup thingy everyone seems to be obsessed lately. It is short and summarizes something I’d call “good business practice” rather than “customer development” and halfway through the book I found myself wondering “why am I even reading this”? I’m not an entrepreneur and I’ve never worked for a startup, so my user research and business analyst selves been shouting all the time that this is what you do: research, test ideas, research, more research, understand your audience, understand the market… Obvious stuff! Perhaps it is not that obvious for people starting their business. And I think this is the biggest value of the book: it helps you understand how startups work and how they should work. It teaches about proper business thinking and reminds you that far too many companies simply ignore sensible things, doing what they have always done. It might have been an obvious read for me, but now I may give a copy to my manager and see if we can stir things up a bit.
One of the best and most entertaining comic books I’ve read since discovering Fables. It has all the things I like: humour, explosions, and bad ass women who are not sexualized as it often (almost always?) happens in comics. The one thing Nextwave lacks is a proper plot and the story line is just an excuse for showing more Unusual Weapons of Mass Destruction, but in this case it doesn’t really matter. Nextwave team was formed to fight terrorism, but it turns out they were recruited by a de facto terrorist organisation, so they steal action plans and go rouge to make the lives of their former employers miserable.
The thing I found the most refreshing was the fact that the team was lead by a woman and there were other female team members: it’s not a bunch of guys and a token woman. As expected from a comic book, the ladies are pretty, but they don’t look like porn stars. They are strong and mean. Monica is a former Captain Marvel, Tabby explodes things, including herself, and Elsa Bloodstone – a monster slayer – has become my favourite character (although I don’t want to read her original series, she doesn’t look cool anymore).
Nerdwish: I would love to see Nextwave’s Elsa team up with Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop – not sure what for, but my two favourite female characters kicking ass together would be awesome.
I found it accidentally and couldn’t resist. I opened iTunes Store and got flashed in the face with an in-store ad of Marvel comics. So I clicked. I ignored Avengers and a bunch of other super hero titles and looked at Others, because that’s where the cool stuff is, and there noticed the Wizard. The drawing style was so different compared to other comics on the screen. So beautiful. After downloading a sample I decided to buy the book – it was so pretty. I just love things drawn like that. I bought it for the art and it was well worth it. If I had to describe it with one word it would be “lovely”. And the story? Well, it’s Wizard of Oz, nothing special. But beautifully drawn nothing special.
Internet, meet Silka – a smile sharing device for people living apart.
Silka is a sociable creature. She likes company; when someone’s around, she wakes up. When someone touches her, she smiles. And when one Silka is happy, her twin is happy too.
Silka was born in November as a part of a university project. Our group (me, Jennifer, Jesper, Kio, and Robert) had to design some sort of a domestic technology and since we all were communicating in one way of another with family and friends who lived away – in different cities, different countries, on different continents – we focused on communication.
Research
First, we did what students usually do – we posted a short survey on Twitter and Facebook. We wanted to find out how people communicated with their family and friends, how often, what modes of communication they used and how they shared pictures. We then interviewed a few people and asked them similar questions, but this time we also wanted to know whether they thought about the family, how happy they were with the frequency of communication, and how they felt when they didn’t have time for a call.
Additionally, we looked around people’s homes to better understand how they stored memorable objects, and reviewed existing remote presence projects for inspiration and to see what else was out there.
Design
Next, we moved to sketching. My main idea was heavily influenced by my tablet research and I’m glad we’ve dropped it – why would anyone be interested in an interactive photo frame? Other ideas were quite unique though, and included a heat sensitive sticker that transmits hand prints and short messages, a plinth with a glass screen that adds interactivity to memorable objects, and a “robot doll” that sends pictures:
We loved those ideas (well, except for my photo frame… But hey, I couldn’t get that thing out of my head – that’s what happens when you spend too much time thinking tablets!) and decided to test them.
We grabbed a bunch of people and showed them rough sketches. As expected, the frame idea had to be discarded (“why not just buy Grandma an iPad?” – see? tablets!). The plinth idea also didn’t work: apparently the pedestal was robbing memorable items from their intimacy. However, people actually liked the other two ideas: the sticker would be great on a fridge and the doll resembled a Russian Matryoshka doll so seemed to be a good idea for a gift.
As a result Robert designed another version of our robot doll:
We returned to some of the users with the new design to ask for further feedback. Responses varied from super-excited (“I want one for all my kids!”) to rather negative (“why the hell would I want this dust-gatherer?”), but again the positive comments came from our target group (parents) and the negative ones from geeks with no feelings. And because of that the final version was even cuter:
She’s cute, isn’t she? I can’t stop smiling every time I see her. Every. Single. Time.
Functionality
So, how does she work?
Main features include:
Paired Silkas communicate over 3G network.
The face describes various states of activity.
Biometric sensors measure galvanic skin response and heart rate variability, and the results are used to pick a colour. For example, someone who has just woken up will send a different colour than someone who’s just returned from a gym.
Some activity states are accompanied by pulsating heartbeats.
It has a built-in movement sensor that allows her to wake up when someone is near.
It also has a built-in heater that makes her warm.
The body shows a print of a palm when the twin device has been touched.
Achievement unlocked
We have written a paper based on the project and submitted it to CHI 2012 Student Design Competition. As it turned out last week, the paper has been accepted. Yay!
If you don’t mind academic writing style, you can download the paper [PDF]. It’s basically what I’ve written here but with fancy words, more details and a few different pictures.
I love to read and since I read a lot I may as well share some recommendations or friendly warnings (or simply list books I’ve read for future reference). This may or may not be UX related, and it’s very likely that if I manage to write about books every month, there will be comic books, sf & fantasy and some random stuff.
A handy little book that neatly summarizes the whole design process and provides a short history of devices. I came across it after completing the Design Practice module at UCLIC where we had to design a device, and the first thought was “I wish I had read it earlier”. For those familiar with the process, the book can serve as a quick reminder, and for those making their first steps it can be a good starting point as it covers all the basics and encourages further exploration. It is short, cheap and worth reading.
This book was recommended to me by a friend who said it was “the best design book [he has] ever read”, so I had quite high expectations. Unfortunately, it disappointed me. It’s not that this is a bad book, it’s just that there’s nothing new in it for me. I read Emotional Design by Don Norman (and liked it, although the part about robots was rather meh), I read Neuro Web Design by Susan M. Weinschenk for the UX Book Club and I’m currently in the middle of the Affective Interaction module at university – so there really wasn’t anything I didn’t know already. If you’re totally new to the topic, then go and read it – emotions in design are important. DfE shows a lot of practical examples, which is a big plus (although most of them didn’t convince me and I’m not quite sure why), and is rather short and to the point. But if you’re familiar with emotional design or affective computing, then you can skip it.
A really good book: interesting, practical and nicely written – I really liked the author’s writing style. Web form design has been waiting on my To Read pile for over a year now, and now I’m eager to read it. Mobile First presents some useful stats (and I’ve already quoted them at work) and really good examples that explain the main points. The only issue I have with it is the title itself – I don’t agree that mobile should be first; we should focus on all devices simultaneously, with the strongest emphasis on the device our audience uses the most. But that’s kinda obvious and I’m taking it literally, right? Anyway, read it. Now. And watch these videos.
It’s 2044 and the Internet has been replaced (absorbed?) by one enormous virtual reality. Everyone’s on OASIS because the real world sucks. When the creator and owner of this system dies, a quest for his fortune starts: whoever solves his puzzles coded in the virtual world and finds his Easter Eggs will get his fortune and gain control over the whole system. The twist? The guy was obsessed with the world of his youth (the 80s) and its pop-culture – so to succeed, egg hunters need to share his obsession.
I really liked the book. Not only because it’s full of references to the world of my childhood and is aimed at geeks (Dungeons & Dragons! Tolkien! Back to the Future! Blade Runner! Obscure old computer games!), but also because the story is engaging, characters are interesting (yay for Art3mis!), and the whole thing flows nicely. However, it’s not all rainbows and unicorns: main characters are irritatingly lucky at times, deus ex machinas are flying low couple of times, and, well, I know everyone likes Cory Doctorow, but seriously?! Anyway, it’s still an entertaining thing to read, especially if you like pop-culture, geeky stuff and/or the 80s. And it looks like the movie is coming in 2014.
Earlier today I ran a quick and dirty twitter poll to find out if people still use home pages or home tabs in their browsers. According to this totally unscientific research, people tend to:
ignore default pages and just use the last saved session with open tabs (4 answers)
use speed dial or frequently visited sites page (4 answers)
use an empty page – about:blank (3 answers)
use a defualt page – usually Goolgle or about:home (3 answers)
personalize it e.g with a calendar (1 answer)
don’t use it at all and rely on the bookmarks bar (1 answer)
But that’s coming from my Twitter network, so a pretty tech savvy and a rather biased sample. To get more info, I talked to sales people in the office as they are quite ‘normal’ compared to online geeks. The results, obviously, were quite different: they don’t change the default page, they use Google and if Google wasn’t there as a default they would set it up, they add there email or MSN or BBC News, etc. So nothing surprising.
There’s also a special type of people who like to use their speed dial for weird things. Fortunately, there aren’t that many of us.
To get a full picture, I also asked people from Opera and Mozilla about any stats they might have. Turns out that Opera doesn’t collect such data, which is a shame. I didn’t manage to get any Firefox data either, but I came across the results of the new tab research posted by Firefox Research Team. Not exactly what I was looking for, but still useful as they seem to be moving towards the Opera-like speed dial and it means that a) new tab behaviour will be relevant in this context, b) they will have stats.
So, what’s the conclusion then?
The reason I decided to quickly find out if there’s any research on the topic was a persona I was reviewing that had Zoo set as his home page (whaaa….?). My first reaction was: Oh dear, what a sad person. Second reaction was: Wait a minute! No one uses home pages anymore!
Well, turns out people do use them, but it’s not a “home page” anymore – now there are home tabs, speed dials and frequently visited sites panels. Suddenly Zoo on of those sounds quite likely (but still rather sad).
