Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
Mike Kuniavsky has posted a pre-print draft of the first chapter of his new book Smart Things: Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design (see also this earlier post). The final book, he says, will be different and this is no substitute…
In his bimonthly column in the ACM CHI magazine, Interactions, Donald Norman argues that most gestures are neither natural nor easy to learn or remember. “Gestures lack critical clues deemed essential for successful human-computer interaction. Because gestures are ephemeral, they…
The latest Pew Research Center Internet & American Life Project report is out: “The Impact of the Internet on Institutions in the Future” surveys 895 tech experts on the way that technology will change institutions (government, business, nonprofits, schools) in…
The Winter 2009 issue of MIT’s Innovations Journal is focused on “Mobilizing Markets.” All contents are available online. Prerequisite to Prosperity Why Africa’s Future Depends on Better Governance by Mohamed (Mo) Ibrahim Harnessing the Mobile Revolution by Thomas Kalil Phone…
“Mobile-based livelihood services in Africa: pilots and early deployments” is a new paper by Jonathan Donner, a researcher in the Technology for Emerging Markets Group at Microsoft Research India, The paper describes a collection of initiatives delivering support via mobile…
To launch Twist, a new men’s fragrance in its global Axe brand, Unilever turned to a preapproved crowd of eager young amateurs for help. Venessa Wong reports in Business Week. “In July 2008, Unilever executives convened 16 regular young men…
The title might be a bit cryptic for some readers, but Jan Chipchase is a well-known user researcher/anthropologist at Nokia. He spent a decade exploring the intersection of technology, people and culture for Nokia, and specializes in turning insights into…
Consumers are willing to sacrifice performance for perceived social status from green products, says the study Going Green to Be Seen: Status, Reputation, and Conspicuous Conservation, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. “Shoppers choose hybrid cars, “green”…
How cities became our greatest design challenge yet. Justin McGuirk, the editor of icon, the UK’s leading architecture & design magazine, argues in The Guardian that, amid unprecedented levels of urbanisation, designers must be trusted to fashion cities that not…
Peter Morville and Jeffery Callender recently released their brand new book “Search Patterns: Design for Discovery“. It’s an excellent, must-read book for the user experience community. Brad Nunnally, user experience designer at Perficient, had the honor to chat with Peter…
Petz Scholtus reports in TreeHugger on presentations by Alastair Fuad-Luke, Gui Bonsiepe and Alfred Astort during the recent 1st International Congress of Design and Innovation of Catalonia (CIDIC) at the ESDi School of Design in Spain. “Designers should get away…
A new study by the Associated Press has come to the conclusion that consumers are “tired, even annoyed, by the current experience of advertising,†and that, as a result, they don’t trust very much of it. But at the same…
This project of the Nordic Innovation Center aimed to draw attention to user driven innovation in the health care sector, and to develop and test methods for user driven innovation in the context of health care. “The report consists of…
Our personal details are used everywhere. And it’s more easy to share, mine and exploit them than ever before. This new report by the UK think tank Demos is an up-close and personal investigation into how people feel about the…
The World Bank in partnership with mobile handset maker Nokia is set to fund the establishment of mobile applications laboratories in Africa in a move to boost innovation in the field. “The mobile laboratories will help assist mobile applications entrepreneurs…
The concept of “privacy†is incredibly different depending on which side of the Atlantic you live, says Eric Reiss. And in an increasingly globalized world, it’s becoming more and more important to acknowledge these divergent points of view. “Americans tend…
Qualitative, and especially observational or ethnographic, research enables us to delve much more deeply into the relationship between our firm and its product/service and the customer, argues Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management at the University of…
Africa Calling: Can Mobile Phones Make a Miracle? is the title of a long article by Jenny C. Aker (Assistant Professor, The Fletcher School) and Isaac M. Mbiti (Assistant Professor, SMU), published in the March/April 2010 edition of the Boston…
At Lift France 09, Mike Kuniavsky spoke about Changing Things: Fab Labs, towards decentralized design and production of material products (link to 25 min. video). Kuniavsky’s new book on ubiquitous computing user experience design is now finished and will be…
Successful Service Design: Turning Innovation Into Practice is a website created by the UK’s Cabinet Office that provides a robust guide to service design. The site, that also contains an extensive library, offers “a stage by stage approach for teams…