[Book] Hooked

Hooked: A Guide to Building Habit-Forming Technology By Nir Eyal Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform Released: December 2013 Pages: 154 [Amazon link] Why do some products capture our attention, while others flop? What makes us engage with certain products out of habit? Is there be…

[Book] Design for Behavior Change

Designing for Behavior Change: Applying Psychology and Behavioral Economics By Stephen Wendel Publisher: O’Reilly Media Released: November 2013 Pages: 400 [Amazon link] A new wave of products is helping people change their behavior and daily routines, whether it’s exercising more (Jawbone Up), taking control of…

[Book] Experience Design

Experience Design: A Framework for Integrating Brand, Experience, and Value Patrick Newbery, Kevin Farnham 240 pages October 2013 Wiley [Amazon link] Description Businesses thrive when they can engage customers. And, while many companies understand that design is a powerful tool for engagement, they do not…

Saving the lost art of conversation in the age of the smartphone

Megan Garber of The Atlantic interviews (alternate link) Sherry Turkle, a psychologist and a professor at MIT whose primary academic interest—the relationship between humans and machines—is especially relevant in today’s networked age. Turkle’s most recent book, Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and…

The anthropology of Big Data

The anthropology of an equation. Sieves, spam filters, agentive algorithms, and ontologies of transformation Paul Kockelman This article undertakes the anthropology of an equation that constitutes the essence of an algorithm that underlies a variety of computational technologies — most notably spam filters, but also…

The epistemology of Big Data

In addressing the insecurities of postmodern thought, Big Data falls prey to some of the same issues of interpretation, writes Michael Pepi in The New Enquirer. More in particular, Pepi points out that “the conditions that generated postmodernism were an intellectual half-step toward the logic…

People powered data

Geoff Mulgan, CEO of Nesta (the UK innovation charity), writes that in 2014 the growing movement to take back control of personal data will reach a tipping point. “The next few years will bring a further explosion of data, and data awareness in daily life.…

Screen Life: The View from the Sofa

A new study carried out for Thinkbox by COG Research and designed to help the advertising community understand the context of multi-screening (watching TV and simultaneously using an internet-connected device such as a laptop, smartphone or tablet). Using a combination of research techniques which examined…

Reinventing the wheel

Experientia has been featured in RISD.edu, the website of the Rhode Island School of Design, where Experientia partner Jan-Christoph Zoels received his master’s degree in industrial design. The article offers a brief overview of some of Experientia’s recent work, before going into more depth about…

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…

The lack of closure experience in digital products and services

There’s an ever-growing tide of inactive, dormant, or extinct customer accounts and other online personal data swallowing up the digital landscape, writes Joe Macleo in UX Magazine. As designers, one of our objectives when creating digital services and products should be to incorporate a “closure…

Robert Fabricant on scaling your UX strategy

Leading businesses like Google are exploring scalable strategies that make UX relevant to engineers and MBAs across their organizations. Robert Fabricant has posted a quick look at some of the different strategies that they are deploying: 1. Lean UX 2. UX in R&D 3. Baby-Step…

The psychology behind information dashboards

With its interactive and intuitive interface and its ability to visualize data in a single screen, the information dashboard is becoming a critical tool in the hands of the business user. Moreover, it is also making its way into apps used by laypeople for managing…

New UK Lab to transform healthcare using design

A new centre will bring the principles of design into the heart of a leading hospital to create a global research hub for “frugal innovation and high-impact, low-cost design”, writes The Times Higher Education. Royal College of Art (press release) and the Institute of Global…

Design your way to better public services

Innovative design-based approaches to public service management can rapidly enhance user experience whilst driving effective and efficient policymaking, explains Lucy Kimbell on the site of the Policy Network (the UK’s leading thinktank and international political network based in London). “[The UK Cabinet Office, the Young…

[Report] Leading Business by Design

Design is now firmly on the business agenda. No longer the cherry on the cake for high-end goods and luxury brands, over the past decade it has gained relevance for the way organisations are structured, how they operate and how they think. An increasing number…

Melinda Gates on the power of human-centered design

Interesting quote from a Wired interview with Melinda Gates and Paul Farmer: WIRED: What innovation do you think is changing the most lives in the developing world? MELINDA GATES: Human-centered design. Meeting people where they are and really taking their needs and feedback into account.…

[Report] Next generation working life

How will work be organized in the Networked Society? Fundamental changes are taking place. Cultural changes and rapid technological development are changing the rules and opening up for new ways of structuring business and changes in the workplace. Ideas and innovation are fueling this move…

[Book] Public and Collaborative

Public and Collaborative Exploring the intersection of design, social innovation and public policy Ezio Manzini and Eduardo Staszowski (Editors) New York, September 2013, 181 pages Download [Alternative links 1 – 2] This book edited by Ezio Manzini and Eduardo Staszowski documents and presents some reflections…

An ethnographic study of UK policy making

Professor Alex Stevens of the University of Kent, did quite an unusual ethnographic study – focused on understanding how UK civil servants use evidence in policy making, and in the process comes to some quite political conclusions: “Based on participant observation in a team of…

The changing nature of service and experience design

The ubiquitous nature of smart products and smart systems underscores the fact that the definitions of “service design” and “experience design” are becoming moving targets. Many products are becoming services and experiences are becoming products that differentiate brands. What does this mean for design and…

Teens in the digital age

Two talks on teens in the digital age: The App Generation: identity, intimacy and imagination in the digital era (video – 21:18) Talk at The RSA, London, UK – October 2, 2013 Today’s young people have grown up almost totally immersed in digital media. But…

Talks and presentations from UX Australia

UX Australia 2013, a 4-day user experience design conference that took place in Melbourne at the end of August, has posted a lot of presentation slides and audio recordings on its site. Here a (small personal) selection: Agile ethnography in New York’s secret public spaces…

[Book] Reputation Economics

Reputation Economics: Why Who You Know Is Worth More Than What You Have by Joshua Klein Palgrave Macmillan Publisher November 2013, 256 pages [Amazon link] Abstract As the internet has increasingly become more social, the value of individual reputations has risen, and a new currency…

UX and the civilizing process

Kevin Simler is clearly a highly informed and engaging writer. In this essay, he argues that “UX is etiquette for computers“. “A focus on appearance is just one of the ways UX is like etiquette. Both are the study and practice of optimal interactions. In…

Behavioral change strategy cards

Artefact Group, the Seattle based design company, has posted the first installment of its Behavior Change toolkit. “We’ve curated this selection of cards to give you a sample of principles and strategies that you can apply to your own work, dealing with concepts like how…