Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
The Wall Street Journal looks at the rise of alternative currencies: “The weak dollar. A Federal Reserve constantly being second-guessed. It’s times like these when talk inevitably turns to alternative or complementary currencies. While local currencies have come and gone,…
In emerging markets, agents are the customer-facing element for mobile banking providers, “who rely on them to open accounts, do customer care, and (crucially) stock adequate amounts of cash and e-float to enable clients to deposit and withdrawal. Yet, there…
Gartner says the bridge to the future with social networks will be with roles with origins in the social sciences, reports eWeek. Better understanding of the Web will require skill sets more closely aligned with sociology, psychology and other…
“To navigate the landscape of organizational culture interaction designers need a set of practical tools, language & knowledge drawn from the world of cultural anthropology.” That is the core of the argument of Sam Ladner on the Johnny Holland blog.…
From pyramids to pancakes The era of elitism, top-down management and deterministic ideals is over. We are now living in an age of social innovation and sustainability that opens up the future to the many, not just the few. Mass…
Abhijit Kadle explains how the mobile phone can easily be used as a learning tool: “Like all communication and computing devices, mobile phones can be used to learn. The content delivered would depend on the capabilities (features) of the…
Oliver Reichenstein, a Tokyo-based information architect, explores the value of information: “While producing information costs money, information as such doesn’t necessarily carry monetary value; it mostly carries intellectual, social, artistic, practical value. And that’s why, historically, news has been commercially,…
What happens when a large % of your target market wants your brand cachet but is happy with a decent-enough quality fake? Nokia’s user anthropologist Jan Chipchase has published an essay on the current state of the fake mobile phone…
Helsinki, Finland – Yesterday, Turin-based company Experientia was announced as part of the winning team for a project in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki, which aims to construct an urban zone with low or no carbon emissions. Sitra, the Finnish innovation agency, revealed…
Dina Mehta, founder and managing director of Mosoci India, reports on how Nokia Life Tools actually gets used in India, and more in particular, how the how the Learn English program, a part of Nokia Life Tools, really works on…
Yesterday, Nokia launched Nokia Money, a new mobile financial service enables financial management and payments from a mobile phone – aimed specifically at emerging markets. From the Nokia press release: “Nokia Money has been designed to be as simple and…
Montparnasse, a UX boutique firm, tries to imagine what empowering the user experience of the customer really means: “When people consider buying anything, whether it be clothes, a gadget, or home, they often spend a lot of time comparison shopping…
The last few weeks we have witnessed an avalanche of posts about augmented reality. To begin with there is Bruce – Bruce Sterling that is. He has been following the trend for months now, all culminating at his excellent keynote…
Today, Microsoft is launching OneApp, an app for people running Windows Mobile phones with slow processors and not a lot of memory. Basically, it’s a lightweight app that lets you run more intensive apps by grabbing just the basics of…
Fast Company explores what neighbourhood currency would look like: “Hyper-localized currencies have been popping ever since the economy went sour–not surprising, since local currencies also gained popularity during the Great Depression. Five local Massachusetts banks have developed Berkshares–there are 185,000…
Steve McCallion, the executive creative director at Ziba Design, is a bright man whom I had the pleasure of meeting during a service design event in Brussels in December 2007 — we got along immediately. As part of his introduction…
According to CNN, mobile phones in the United States will be able – within five (5!) years – to make electronic payments, open doors, access subways, clip coupons and possibly act as another form of identification. But there is work…
Don Hammonds of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on the use of market research and ethnographic observations by car manufacturers: “The tool that most people associate with automotive market research is the focus group but another tool has become more popular…
Juliette LaMontagne argues on the Design Observer that mobile devices aren’t distractions in schools; they’re machines for learning. “When it comes to technology integration, you need to meet students (and teachers) where they are. When you begin with a tool…
CGAP has published a brief entitled “Poor People Using Mobile Financial Services: Observations on Customer Usage and Impact from M-PESA”. “Despite growing agreement on the potential of technology to expand access to finance, or branchless banking, there is surprisingly little…