Usability
We are an international experience design consultancy helping companies and organisations to innovate their products, services and processes by putting people and their experiences first.
It’s that time of year again – Milan’s don’t-miss event for the design community is here. If you’re looking to get inspired at Milan Design Week, then check out our top picks for the latest edition, from Experientia’s designers, strategists and partners. Milan might be best known for its busy streets, traditional cafés and world […]
Following the 2016 Smart Innovation Award at “FIMBACTE Trophées du Cadre de vie”, the CITYOPT project has once again been recognized, this time in the prestigious French design competition: “Observeur du Design 2017”, in the Service Design category. In June 2016, CITYOPT won the first stage of the Observeur du Design. Now the project has […]
Last month Putting People First announced the upcoming conference on design & sustainable innovation for smart cities in Nice France. Meanwhile we are pleased to announce the full event agenda (see below). This event will feature professionals from leading research institutes and industry gathering to present key initiatives which combine Energy Efficiency and Service Design […]
Invitation to the International Conference on Design & Sustainable Innovation for SmartCities Nice (France) 8 December 2016 On the 8th December 2016, the CITYOPT project will host an international conference on Design and sustainable innovation for SmartCities, at the Centre Universitaire Méditerranéen, France. An open invitation to attend is offered to people and organisations who […]
The 100&Change is an international competition and a landmark opportunity for thinkers and designers to tackle critical challenges affecting the world. Michele Visciòla will be one of the panel of expert judges who will select which project is worthy of the $100 million grant. 100&Change is the MacArthur Foundation competition – launched this year for […]
The September issue of the Harvard Business Review (HBR) contains a lengthy essay, entitled Building an Insights Engine, on how Unilever has created the organizational capabilities to “transform data into insights about consumers’ motivations and to turn those insights into strategy.” The article was written by Frank van den Driest and Keith Weed of a […]
New Australian government website focused on user needs to go live by end of year
A new government website for Australia, focused around citizens’ needs rather than government structures, could be launched by the end of the year, Paul Shetler, chief executive of Australia’s Digital Transformation Office (DTO), has told Global Government Forum. The site, which will bring together a number of government services structured around the tasks users wish […]
Why we need better UI in patient-used medical devices
With patients increasingly treating themselves at home, often using specialist equipment, the chance of use errors increases, and the ensuing results can be deadly. User Interfaces (UI) have a key role to play in reducing the risk of use errors in a patient-used device, writes David Furley of PDD. In fact, he says, “the benefits […]
Free usability help for privacy toolmakers
The non-profit Simply Secure is launching a new series of usability programs for organizations, companies and individuals who are making cryptographic/privacy/security tools. Simply Secure’s mission is to help make privacy tools usable by normal humans, not just supernerds. In this usability program, they employ UX experts who offer free consulting, training, research, support and design […]
Blackphone 2 review: privacy and great usability
Guardian writer Samuel Gibbs writes that the second edition of the Blackphone by security and privacy company Silent Circle is a step up in usability and is surprisingly easy to set up and use, even for privacy novices. “The Blackphone 2 promises to be the most secure Android smartphone available. It’s not the most advanced, […]
Why are microwave ovens all so difficult to use?
The first ‘science oven’, launched in 1967, was simple to use but then digital interfaces came along and made things worse. The real problem, according to Charles Arthur, is that microwave ovens live too long. “In the end, I think there’s a simple reason why these interfaces have not merged more rapidly: life-spans. It’s not […]
[Book] A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences
A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences by Sarah Horton & Whitney Quesenbery Rosenfeld Media, 2013 288 pages In their new book, A Web for Everyone: Designing Accessible User Experiences, Sarah Horton and Whitney Quesenbery make a case for accessibility that begins and ends with people. “We believe that great design starts by thinking […]
Search results on travel sites: examples and best practices
Search results pages on travel sites should help customers to find the best deal for them without having to work too hard. Graham Charlton of Econsultancy looked at a range of search tools from travel websites, which highlighted the importance of flexibility when users search for travel. For this review he is looking at flight […]
UX review of Samsung Galaxy Smartwatch
Smartwatches are the future, but the Samsung Galaxy Gear is only partway there, writes Raluca Budiu, a senior researcher with Nielsen Norman Group, in her detailed and extensive UX review of the Samsung Galaxy Smartwatch. “One big reason to believe in watches is that this form factor has already been victorious. Historically, before wristwatches were […]
Experientia presents “BancoSmart”, the innovative ATM interface designed for UniCredit Bank
The user-centred approach is moving into finance, as banks increasingly connect to their customers’ needs and wants. As part of this trend, global banking and financial services company UniCredit Bank collaborated with user experience consultancy Experientia to create a user-friendly, people-centred ATM – the BancoSmart. Click on image to view slideshow The user-centred approach is moving into finance, […]
Experientia rivoluziona la user experience degli ATM con “BancoSmart”, l’innovativa interfaccia degli ATM UniCredit
Le banche stanno cercando sempre più di entrare in sintonia con le esigenze ed i desideri dei propri clienti, innovando i propri prodotti e servizi secondo una approccio centrato sull’utente. Per dare concretezza a questo principio, UniCredit ha deciso di collaborare con Experientia con l’obiettivo di rinnovare a fondo la user experience del proprio canale ATM. Click […]
Designing for the multi-user: missed by Apple, Google and others
The iPad is a multi-user device according to industry reports, writes Frank Spillers. But you wouldn’t know it from picking up even the latest generation iPad, especially if you are a physician or business user handling sensitive data. The design approach of designing for lone users misses out on a fundamental nature of mobile devices: […]
Teenage usability: designing teen-targeted websites
Recently published Nielsen/Norman Group research shows that teens are (over)confident in their web abilities, but they perform worse than adults. Lower reading levels, impatience, and undeveloped research skills reduce teens’ task success and require simple, relatable sites.
Are the older generation getting tech-savvy?
BBC News has published a 5 minute video feature on Cambridge University’s Design Centre where they test how elderly people use technology. Must-have modern gadgets are designed by young people with young people in mind – that is the view of Ian Hosking, who works at Cambridge University’s Design Centre. This can mean that elderly […]
The Design for Usability book
The Design for Usability project, that researched how best to contribute to the development of usable products, published a book that provides the product development community with a comprehensive and coherent overview of the results of the project, in such a way that they can be applied in practice. The book outlines the studies conducted […]
Slow HCI
The latest issue of Interfaces, the quarterly magazine of the Interaction Specialist Group of the BCS, the British chartered institute for IT, is devoted to Slow HCI, or how to design to promote well-being for individuals, society and nature. Here are the key articles: Invisible stable interfaces Kai A. Olsen, University of Bergen and Molde […]
Top 10 things still to fix in experience design
Here’s the view of Ray McCune, managing partner at Flow, on some of the peaks we still have to climb if experience design is to become a mainstream business discipline. It’s quite excellent. 1. Targets and incentives within businesses must be aligned with long-term value As long as business managers are incentivised only to deliver […]
Five new articles on UX Matters
Tips on Prototyping for Usability Testing By Jim Ross, Principal of Design Research at Electronic Ink, Philadelphia, PA, USA Because user research studies peoples’ behavior, the most effective research techniques involve observing participants doing things and talking about what they’re doing. Research that focuses on opinions and discussions of behavior in the abstract isn’t as […]
Creating human-to-human design
In the ever-changing and expanding world of the web, reaching the end user effectively is paramount in the minds of businesses, writes Stephanie Hamilton on Onextrapixel (OXP), a weblog dedicated to delivering useful, comprehensive and innovative information for designers and web developers. We are entering a new age of Web design and development where this […]
The difference (and relationship) between usability and user experience
In a blog post, Justin Mifsud discuss the terms usability and user experience, highlighting their differences and more importantly the relationship that exists between them. “Usability is a narrower concept than user experience since it only focuses on goal achievement when using a web site. By contrast, user experience is a “consequence of the presentation, […]
Usability testing with children: a lesson from Piaget
In this post, Sabina Idler, information designer at Usabilla (The Netherlands), introduces Piaget’s theory of cognitive growth and explains how it can be useful for usability testing with children. “Children are becoming an increasingly important target group on the web. Good usability and high user experience are crucial aspects for a successful website. Early and […]