Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
The internet of things and yet another revolution The “internet of things” is viewed as the next big thing, but when will it allow people to create their own stuff, asks Russell M Davies on the BBC website. “It’s a world where everything is smart…
Intel’s corporate anthropologist Genevieve Bell has written an elegant introductory article for the BBC site on the role of anthropology in the corporation – particularly aimed at a lay audience. “Ultimately, my team’s role is about making sure the product development processes start from an…
Hivos (The Netherlands) and the Centre for Internet and Society (Bangalore, India) have consolidated their three year knowledge inquiry into the field of youth, technology and change in a four book collective “Digital AlterNatives with a cause?â€. This collaboratively produced collective, edited by Nishant Shah…
Tuuli Kaskinen and Roope Mokka, researchers at Demos Helsinki, argue in an essay that we need more than mere sustainable versions of everyday products: we need new products and services based on behaviour change. “Most companies are dismally bad at creating successful sustainable consumption. Today’s…
The key to designing social media well lies in designing it for a user’s social interests. Conventional software addresses the user’s task-oriented needs and objectives. But social media succeed when they engage the user’s social interests. An article by Adrian Chan on Johnny Holland. “Social…
Des Traynor recently spoke at the Content Strategy Forum in London about the importance of which words used in an interface. The difference between Facebook’s Like and Google’s +1 seems superficial, but ends up influencing the behaviour of the users. Choosing the words you use…
The draft proceedings of EPIC 2011, the Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference, currently taking place in Boulder, CO, USA, are available for download during the conference. They contain drafts of papers and workshop abstracts, and photos and abstracts from Pecha Kuchas and Artifacts. Print proceedings…
Using behavioural insights could save taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds over the course of the [UK] Parliament and thousands of lives a year, according to an annual report published today. The Government’s Behavioural Insights Team annual report outlines a series of new approaches it…
A week ago Mayo Clinic — the world’s largest and first integrated nonprofit medical practice — hosted the Transform symposium in Rochester, Minn., USA. The event focused on innovations and designing solutions to transform the experience and delivery of health care. Videos of most of…
Medium rise timber office building in low-to-no carbon emissions district, Helsinki, Finland, wins Holcim acknowledgement award for sustainable construction. The Low2No design team led by Sauerbruch-Hutton, Arup and Experientia were recognized for the multi-story timber construction headquarter for Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund. The office…
What happens when one of America’s most successful and beloved companies suggests that consumers reduce their purchasing of new products? Outdoor outfitter Patagonia did just that – raising the economic ante for Corporate America with a first-of-its-kind “Buy Less, Buy Used†initiative, offered in coordination…
In Studio: Recipes for Systemic Change by Bryan Boyer, Justin W. Cook, Marco Steinberg Helsinki Design Lab (HDL) / Sitra 2011, 337 pages > Free download > Blog post This book explores the HDL Studio Model, a unique way of bringing together the right people,…
Museums are exploring digital and mobile technologies to enhance visitor experience. Initiatives go beyond technology within exhibits and installations, but also include more pervasive uses of tech to create interactive experiences for visitors throughout a museum, as well as remote experiences for those who cannot…
Dan Lockton is continuing publishing extracts from his Brunel University Ph.D thesis ‘Design with Intent: A design pattern toolkit for environmental & social behaviour change’ as blog posts. While the first post dealt with the importance of behaviourism in design for behavioural change, the second…
When we talk about customer or user experience in the financial services arena, what do we actually mean? The understanding of banks and banking is not a straightforward concept, and there are different types of banks out there which serve different purposes for different audiences.…
Design thinking and techniques can help create radical innovations needed to meet the challenges facing local communities and services, says Philip Colligan, executive director of Nesta‘s public services lab. “What we’re now learning is that there are low-cost and low-risk ways to apply design techniques…
An essential part of any design activity is understanding the context one is working in, particularly the social context. Eventually when proposals are made, these too must be measured by their likely impact on the people who will use and live with them. The Helsinki…
Marko Ahtisaari is the global head of Nokia’s design unit, and he is responsible for Nokia’s product and user experience design. During Copenhagen Design Week, Marko shared Nokia’s thoughts on how design will shape and influence the patterns of human interaction in the future at…
Through Stanford University lectures and a project, coordinated by Scott Klemmer, learn the fundamentals of human-computer interaction and design thinking. The setting for the course is mobile web applications. 43 video sessions in all.
Dr. Kusum Gopal, an anthropologist who has served as a United Nations (UN) Expert and Technical Advisor to government agencies, speaks to The Chronicle on challenges facing developing countries and offers solutions. Q: You mention Ethnographic analysis – what do you mean by that?…
In the next ten years, smart machines will enter virtually every domain of our lives, including assisting doctors during surgery, fighting on battlefields, building things in factories, and assisting in classrooms, nursing homes, and offices. As machines augment and replace humans in various tasks, their…
Megan Garber of the Nieman Journalism Lab recently visited the New York Times R&D Lab and updates us on the latest interface developments there. The New York Times imagines the kitchen table of the future August 30, 2011 The Times Co.’s R&D Lab is betting…
Forget the dysfunctional approach of the national curriculum, we need to open young minds to the creative possibilities of computing, writes John Naughton in today’s The Observer. “Instead of laying the dead hand of key stages 1-4 on our children, we could be opening their…
A strong experience strategy, derived from qualitative user research and experience workshops, can bring a collected vision to your organization and not only identify the true value of your products but help you transform the way your company does business, argues Nick Myers on the…
Historian Elin Whitney-Smith looks at previous periods of disruption to understand what companies (and people) are going through today. “According to Elin Whitney-Smith, executives facing technological and economic change have a major decision to make: Will they handle disruption like the Spanish grandees who dominated…
This month’s e-Periscope review has a brief interview with Experientia partner Mark Vanderbeeken, talking about Experientia’s strategy on sustainable living in Helsinki and how its work on the Low2No project won the Italian National Prize for Service Innovation. e-Periscope is the online economic review of…
Applying Anthropology in the Global Village Christina Wasson (Editor); Mary Odell Butler (Editor); Jacqueline Copeland-Carson (Editor) 288 pp. – Nov, 2011 Left Coast Press Hardback (978-1-61132-085-5) Paperback (978-1-61132-086-2) [Amazon link] Synopsis The realities of the globalized world have revolutionized traditional concepts of culture, community, and…
A two-year, five-campus ethnographic study on how students view and use their campus libraries showed that students rarely ask librarians for help, even when they need it. The idea of a librarian as an academic expert who is available to talk about assignments and hold…
In a series of blog posts Rebecca S. Kuchar of Sylver Consulting illustrates the challenges and rewards of orchestrating global and multi-cultural research. A first focus is on France and Rebecca talks with Caroline Baker, founder and managing director of European Market Research Associates (EMRA).…
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…
The latest issue of the peer-reviewed research journal, International Journal of Design, is devoted to service design. It is edited by Birgit Mager of the Köln International School of Design, Cologne, Germany, and Tung-Jung (David) Sung of the Department of Industrial and Commercial Design, National…
The mobile phone is now a ubiquitous item even among the world’s poorest, and in fact over 70% of the mobile phones on the planet are in developing countries. With this in mind, a new Mobile Learning Toolkit has been launched to empower trainers in…
In a six part article series Gerd Waloszek of SAP User Experience [who is very inspired by Nathan Shedroff’s latest book ‘Design is the Problem’] approaches the topic of the sustainable behavior of a workforce from a designer’s point of view. Part 1: Action fields…
The commonly held belief that the internet is turning an entire generation into solitary web-junkies is a myth, according to new research. In a paper to be presented to a gathering of Nobel prize winners later this month, three influential economists claim their work demonstrates…
Digital technology allows us to tell tales in innovative new ways. As the tools available to publishers grow more sophisticated, it’s up to us, writes Aleks Krotoski in The Guardian, to experiment and see what sticks. “The Edinburgh international book festival begins this week, featuring…
Four interesting articles in Research Magazine, a UK industry magazine. This month we… browsed a virtual supermarket Robert Bain explores a simulated supermarket used to research products and store designs. Behind the sofa Simon Lidington thinks researchers have forgotten the art of conversation. Turns out…
Kevin Miller, global head of insight at in-flight magazine publisher Ink discusses how the environment impacts airline travellers psychologically and in turn affects their choice of media. “The airline passenger journey, from home to boarding the plane and beyond, is a dynamic and emotional experience,…
Architects and construction companies can learn a lot still from the techniques of ethnographers and UX designers. Here is an example from the Real Estate section of the Washington Post: “What do home buyers want? For more than two decades, home builders have sought to…
The Spring 2011 Journal of Information Architecture, Issue 1, Vol. 3 is now available, with an editorial by IA Institute Board member, Dan Klyn describing this addition’s articles as a collection of “…no-fuss, panoramic views into IA’s way of seeing the design of information, spaces…
Danah Boyd thinks we need a more critical conversation about the importance of designing with social norms in mind. “Good UX designers know that they have the power to shape certain kinds of social practices by how they design systems. And engineers often fail to…