fluidux

[fluidux]

Meta design & Creative thinking

In a world that is not predictable, improvisation and evolution are more than a luxury: they are a necessity. The challenge of design is not a matter of getting rid of the emergent, but rather of making it an opportunity for more creative and more sustainable solutions. User-centered and participatory design approaches have focused primarily on activities taking place at design time. These approaches have not given enough emphasis and they have provided few mechanisms to support systems as living entities that can evolve over time. Metadesign is a unique design approach concerned with opening up solution spaces rather than complete solutions (hence the prefix meta-), and aimed at creating social and technical infrastructures in which new forms of collaborative design can take place. This approach extends the traditional notion of design beyond the original development of a system to include co-adaptive processes between users and systems that enable the users to act as designers in personally meaningful activities and be creative. 

 read the full paper 

[fluidux]

Still Jake's favorite analogy for describing the role of user experience in the product / services ecosystem. Cereal FTW.

[fluidux]

. . .

Matt on being a responsible designer

“ Sometimes, working in this fast-paced digital space, it's hard to take a moment to think of how others will see the information we are designing. As I run more and more Requirements workshops with our clients, we do need to incorporate Accessibility insights into our designs. My view was further sharpened when I attended a recent talk on here in SF. Here’s a good stuff from Luke McGrath for learning the three levels of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 – otherwise known as WCAG 2.0. We should be proficient in Level 2. Basically, be nice, be human, don't be an asshole. "

[fluidux]

. . .

Matt on the agony and ecstasy of html

" I know this sounds very californian, but I really like this wind map. And this one. Code was simpler then, and interactions more precise. But when I look at code today, this one from the Hunger Games franchise is nice. No HY, it's not Shockwave (snort). Pure html, the stuff we've always wanted to do back in the Flash days. This is what happens when code and design comes together. Small interactions make a big difference."

[fluidux]

. . .

Henry on the shock and awe beauty of the Digital Services Playbook.

" It reminds me of that motherf-ingwebsite. But less angry. The experience is designed "content out" and not "canvass in". Meaning, content drives experience. The design is super lightweight and lightning fast load. It challenges me to think about design and code in the larger content context. Not to mention, the well written "plays". Each chapter is written without jargon yet has meaningful references to current computing trends. Play 8 is especially interesting. It calls for "a modern technology stack,' implying open source, cloud services, and component design."

[fluidux]

summer in goldengate park

[fluidux]

summer in new york, chelsea piers, group volleyball. 

[fluidux]

. . .

HY on a soapbox (again) about sustainable and meta design ideas.

" I feel the current design flashpoint, to "reduce everything" down to the elemental core, somewhat distressing. Often, it evaporates into a hollow walled-garden approach. Witness the single button tyranny on the Iphone, what with the beastly arrogance of it all! Yes, form follows function, from Sullivan to the contemporary corollary in Dieter Rams work. But where's the soul, and delightful irreverence, colorful traits that are also beautifully human? Why should consumers and users pay the price for design conceits? Papanek (as did Rachel Carson) wrote hippie dippy tracts, but they've become wonderful thought pieces on designing and living in context to our environs. Today, I find Kenya Hara's work moving. It distills elements of Meta Design principles (especially his recent typography work for Tsutaya Bookstore in Daikanyama, Tokyo) to produce profound emotive pieces as well as strive to respect our daily lives. "

[fluidux]

Scott hypes up Hyperlapse for onboarding design.

" It drove me crazy last year. I'm on a rampage to design the best onboarding experience. And then hyperlapse showed up. I like the various modes, from explanation to creation, in a simple flow. I created a test  (1/2 hour doughnut eating in Vermont shown only to those present at meeting) while chasing Izzy the dog around the office.  "

[fluidux]

HY caught the Happy show two years ago in Toronto, while Jake shared this wonderful Sagmeister's rant. Keepin' it real.

[fluidux]

. . .

Henry champions Style Tiles in big complex projects.

" I feel Design today is a meta integration between code and grid. As UX designers, we have to find ways to get closer to code, to make things work. I like this video because it strips away all the old ways of doing "design," to give a structured view and process. Coding is not a "what if," for UX, but a "what can be" for rapid product and experience designs. "

[fluidux]

. . .

Matt likes Good Magazine for good reads and thoughtful design. 

" It's the header design that did it for me. Thoughtfully scaled, it's not always a massive hero image, but using a playful height and background color. These variants help to bring out the article's content, include the beautiful typography. Throughout, there are small motions to heighten reading pleasure. All these elements - header design, content typography, motion design - create this wonderful intimacy between code and design. "

[fluidux]

TED Talk: How Giant Website Design for You + Take-Aways

I came across this great TED Talk on design by Margaret Gould Stewart, Director of Product Design at Facebook.

This talk covers several interesting design stories. Find out the following answers by watching the video:

The designer at Facebook invested about 280 hours to update the Facebook “Like” button from to. Why was that?

When the YouTube team decided to change their start rating system to Like/Dislke buttons, they encountered big obstacles from the community, how did they solve this issue?

The Facebook team made great improvements around the “report” photo feature by touching on the users’ emotional aspects, how did they do that?

I think everyone can get valuable take-aways from this talk --

For you, me, everyone out there in this world who use things in their daily lives: we can get very efficient at using bad designs. It’s not right. We can be more picky, and that desire will drive more better designs.

For all the designers:

Design is detailed. We need to get tiny things right, because those people who use our products count on us.

Design is a combination of art and science. Use a data-driven approach in our design process, so that we can know better about our users, and how they interact with our products.

Design is changing. Nothing can last forever, at some point our designs will fade away, but we should be very proud to be part of something that may just change the world.

  Original post by Yingying

[fluidux]

Great Talks/Meetups for UX Designers in SF/NY

There are lots of wonderful talks and meetups around the bay area, especially in SF. As UX Designers, we should go out to get new knowledge, meet other designers, hear, talk about what’s going on in the tech and design/non-design world.

Here are a list of talks/meetups that I recommend. If cannot go, some of them recorded the talks:

SF & NY Designers + Geeks: they have monthly talk on really interesting topics, the topic in SF on Aug 21st is Fashion Tech. I’m going. Check out their previous talk videos.

SF & NY Creative Mornings: interesting topics. Check out their previous talk videos.

  Below are meetups for SFers:

San Francisco Internet of Things: they are definitely on the new happenings in the tech world

Cascade SF: nice community with a cool organizer. Next talk by Alan Cooper on personas on Aug 27, 2014

Design Thinking: haven’t had a chance to go to this group, but looks great

Lean UX SF: nice big community with great speakers

UX Eye: nice community with interesting topics

Bay Area UX/UI Mobile Design: wonderful speakers

Enterprise UX: Enterprise-focused

Startup Product Talks SFBay: for any of you who is interested in products, product management

Original post by Yingying

[fluidux]

Take-aways from Twitter Design Studio Tour

It was “San Francisco Design Week” last week (06/16/2014 - 06/20/2014). I went to the Twitter Studio Tour, enjoyed a talk from Mike Davidson, Twitter’s VP of Design, and got to talk to a few awesome designers. Here are my take-aways: 

Understand the problems first: designers should not jump into solutions (design) at once. Do homework, do research, first understand who’s using the product, how they are using it and what the problems are.

Every pixel matters — especially on mobile, because of the limited real estate.

Every second counts — Twitter is an app for people on-the-go, it’s critical to make action short, fast

Respect user attention, let them focus on what they do and facilitate it

Twitter goes with you, there’s no expert users.

Refine relentlessly, nothing is perfect.

Produce best experience that we are proud of.

[fluidux]

Hunting Unicorns - What makes an effective UX Professional

from Patrick Neeman

[fluidux]

15 Free UX eBooks

15 books to brush up on your fundamentals for free. Read it while camping, waiting for the forever late 33 Muni, or when the F-train hipster parade fails to thrill. 

Search User Interfaces by Marti A. Hearst (2009) If you want to design innovative search user interfaces, you need this book close at hand at all times.

Web Style Guide by Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton (1999) A style guide for the interface with real long-run value, showing us deep principles of design rather than simply fashion and technology.

Designing Interfaces – Patterns for Effective Interaction Design by Jenifer Tidwell (2006) Anyone who’s serious about designing interfaces should have this book on their shelf for reference.

Designing Mobile Interfaces by Steven Hoober and Eric Berkman (2011) This practical guide teaches you the core principles for designing effective mobile user interfaces, and helps you get started by providing more than 40 proven UI patterns for mobile websites and applications.

Mental Models in Human-Computer Interaction by John M. Carroll and Judith Reitman Olson (1987) Research Issues About What the User of Software knows.

Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design by Shawn L. Henry (2007) A focus on accessibility during the entire user-centered design process.

Converting The Believers by Usereffect (2008) Turn believers into buyers and maximize your website’s ROI. Learn how to use analytics, usability and testing to systematically improve online sales.

Task-Centered User Interface Design by Clayton Lewis and John Rieman (1994) This report is based on 8 series of usability studies with users in 4 countries reporting how they actually used a broad variety of websites and apps on a range of mobile devices, including touch phones and smartphones from many vendors.

User Centered Design – The Fable of the User-Centered Designer by David Travis (2009) After reading this 40-page fable, you’ll understand the framework of user-centred design and know how to apply it to your own design project.

234 Tips and Tricks for Recruiting Users as Participants in Usability Studies by Deborah Hinderer Sova and Jacob Nielsen (2003) This report tells you how to set up and manage a recruiting program, how to get the right users for specific tests, and how to deal with the users you have recruited.

Introduction to Good Usability by Peterpixel (2008) A collection of Peter’s posts about design guidelines in PDF format.

UX Storytellers – Connecting the dots by 42 UX masterminds (latest update 2011) 42 UX masterminds tell personal stories of their exciting lives as User Experience professionals.

A Hitchhikers Guide to the Obvious: Web Usability 101 by Squiz (2009) The design best practices for usability and how they can positively impact your bottom line. The paper also gives concrete guidelines on how to test for usability on a shoestring budget.

Designing the Mobile User Experience by Barbara Ballard (2007) Gain the knowledge and tools to deliver compelling mobile phone applications.

Human Computer Interaction Lecture Notes by Dr. Keith Andrews (2011) These lecture notes have evolved since he first started teaching human-computer interaction at Graz University of Technology in 1993 and have benefitted from his teaching courses on user interface design at FH Technikum Kärnten in Villach, web usability and advanced user interfaces at FH Joanneum.

Bonus: Research Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines by Usability.gov Throughout your Web design or redesign project, you should take advantage of what is already known about best practices for each step of the process. The Research-Based Web Design and Usability Guidelines, compiled through an extensive process of research and review, bring you those best practices.

Editorial note: I have also collected some free ebooks about Usability. Are ebooks not your cup of tea and you prefer to smell real paper, then maybe you can have a look at my UX book collection.