Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
Insights curated by Experientia, the UX research and design consultancy
If you could look into Intel’s crystal ball, you’d see that their vision of the future includes context-aware computing. Intel has done extensive research into what people love, and how much of that involves technology and people’s attachment to their technology. As a result, they…
Five articles in the current issue of Rotman Magazine, the high-level and thoughtful publication of the Roger Martin-led Rotman School of Management in Toronto, Canada, are definitely worth exploring: Donald Sull on stubborn mental maps (pdf) The London Business School professor and author talks about…
To fully understand what’s wrong [with Nokia], we’ve got to understand what’s been right, or to put in another way, what’s distracted Nokia. Meet the most popular phone in the world. “The phone’s small size makes its extremely portable, and easy to carry or stow.…
Wired’s Gadget Lab posts five big ideas that are currently under development at Nokia Research Center that reveal some intriguing possibilities on how we will interact with our devices in the future. Touchscreens everywhere Nokia researchers are experimenting with turning any display — the flatscreen…
Wired.co.uk contributor Anna Leach examines how augmented reality and The Internet of Things could impact each other in the coming years. “Both the Internet of Things and augmented reality (AR) are hotly tipped computing trends and both are in their infancy. Where they intersect could…
Lorraine Paterson and Boon Low highlight findings from the usability inspection report conducted for the JISC-funded research project, Usability and Contemporary User Experience in Digital Libraries (UX2.0). Demands for improved usability and developments in user experience (UX) have become pertinent due to the increasing complexities…
Smartphones’ sleek forms, tactile buttons, and blinking lights add up to a sort of game — and a perfect catalyst for compulsive behaviors, writes Shelley DuBois in Fortune Magazine. “Smartphones actually could tap into one of the same pathways in the brain that make slot…
Socially responsible design, writes Julie Lasky in Metropolis Magazine, is a whole lot harder than it looks. “While nearly all of this work is well-intentioned, almost none of it amounts to anything concrete,†points out a magazine editor I know, who may be dazed by…
In this audio interview with Design Observer, Bill Moggridge, industrial and interaction designer, co-founder of design firm IDEO, and director of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, discusses the evolution, design and life to come of the laptop, the 20 year arch of technology, the…
Some great news from the RCA this week: Design Interactions Research The Design Interactions program at the Royal College of Art, led by Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby, has launched a brand new research site, showcasing projects done by tutors, research fellows and research associates…
Two new articles in UX Magazine: Design for mobile by Juan Sanchez The Design For Mobile conference, which took place September 20-24 in Chicago, brought together a wide range of professionals, educators, and thought leaders, all interested in the current state of mobile—how to design,…
The French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have jointly published the report entitled “Innovative ways of appropriating mobile telephony in Africa“. The democratization of mobile telephony in Africa, its availability, ease of use and, above all, the extent…
Olli Savolainen has published a thesis entitled “User experience design in open source development: Approaches to usability work in the Moodle community” at the University of Tampere, Finland. “Usability work is problematic in open source software development on many levels. There is often no documentation…
Kicker Studio organised on 20 August a Device Design Day in San Francisco, exploring the design of the next generation of products. Most videos are now online: Stuart Karten: User-driven innovation [31:40] Stuart Karten Design The fast pace of technology development makes almost anything possible.…
“Creativity, Cost-Cutting & Keeping it Simple: what the Developing World can teach us about Technology” is the long title of a short feature story by Anna Leach on Shiny Shiny, a gadget blog, where she reports on a fascinating talk at CityCamp London. “We’re selling…
A contingent of Stanford University d.school students recently returned from Kenya, where they spent two weeks working with Nokia Research Africa, and the University of Nairobi, developing health-related mobile applications. The trip was the culmination of months of work in connection with a new class…
In response to questions from Amy Knox regarding US user experience and European user experience, Søren Muus (creative director at FatDUX and co-initiator of the European Centre for User Experience) recently posted on the mail list of the Information Architecture Institute some interesting ideas in…
Boston University is participating in a $2 million National Science Foundation-funded Smart Neighborhood project that seeks to make a Boston neighborhood more energy efficient. But rather than just install solar panels or electricity monitors, researchers are focusing on ways to get people on board and…
Experientia is excited to be working on two applied research projects for Flanders InShape, a Flemish design promotion agency that supports and advises small and mid-size companies in Flanders, Belgium on matters related to product development and design. The ASSIST project, in collaboration with Enthoven…
The New York Times reports on how car designers have recognised the challenge of keeping vehicles’ controls up to date in an era when technology evolves far more quickly than automakers can move. “Ford’s goal in establishing a set of design principles for automotive interfaces…
In his latest Core77 contribution, the acclaimed Donald Norman reflects on the role of testing versus creativity in design and innovation. “There is a trend to eliminate designers. Who needs them when we can simply test our way to success? The excitement of powerful, captivating…
Last week, La Stampa newspaper of Turin, Italy published an interview with Bruce Sterling, conducted by Welsh writer and essayist Rhys Hughes. The complete English version of the interview has now been posted on fortykey (which by the way has a very interesting collection of…
The results of Latitude Research and Shareable Magazine‘s The New Sharing Economy study released today indicate that online sharing does indeed seem to encourage people to share offline resources such as cars and bikes, largely because they are learning to trust each other online. And…
Timo Arnall and Einar Sneve Martinussen have published the article “Depth of field: discursive design research through film,†which discusses the role of film in interaction and product design research, and the use of film in exploring and explaining emerging technologies. “This article is about…
Jacob Gube has published a guide on Smashing Magazine that aims to familiarise us with the professional discipline of UX design in the context of Web-based systems such as websites and applications. Read guide
Fabian Segelström presented a thesis at Linköping University, Sweden, on visualistions in service design. Service design is a relatively new field which has its roots in the design field, but utilises knowledge from other disciplines focusing on services as well. The service design field can…
Yesterday cultural anthropologist Mimi Ito spoke on the impact of technology on teen and youth culture at the Meet The Media Guru event in Milan, Italy. The video is available online. Cultural anthropologist, with degrees from Harvard and Stanford, Mimi Ito co-directed the Digital Youth…
The Boston Globe profiles Microsoft researcher Danah Boyd. “At the center of the broader societal debate is Boyd, whose views on key issues like online privacy are followed closely by tech companies and policy makers. An opponent of “regulation for its own sake,’’ as she…
The Register reports at length on Nokia’s move into Mobile Money. “For a technology company, Mobile Money is remarkably low-tech. Only the tiniest amount of bandwidth is necessary for a financial transaction, and it doesn’t need to be instant – the store and forward of…
It is always a trade-off what to put on Putting People First, and what not. I try to make the call as best as I can. Whatever doesn’t cut the chase, but I still find interesting to share goes on my Twitter feed. Apparently it…
This week I watched the excellent online documentary “Journalism in the Age of Data“, which is a video report on data visualisation as a storytelling medium that Geoff McGhee created during a 2009-2010 Knight Journalism fellowship. I first didn’t write on it in Putting People…
Is turning your customers into both creative director and chief of research the ideal low-cost model for business? The BBC reports on the role of crowdsourcing in business: “Not everyone is so sanguine about the benefits. Jaron Lanier is a US computer scientist, virtual reality…
Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said in New York today that in the next three to five years, a website that isn’t tailored to a specific user’s interest will be an anachronism, according to coverage from media industry blog PaidContent, and reported on by…
By 2014, the number of mobile internet users will surpass the number of users browsing the internet via a desktop computer, says a former adviser to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and member of technology panels on the United Nations. Professor Manuel Castells told a…
Last week, the Sixth European Information Architecture Summit took place in Paris, and all the presentations are already online. Here are a few that caught my attention: Design Beyond the Glowing Rectangle: User experience design and research implications of the Internet of Things Claire Rowland…
Minneapolis firm Worrell looked at the future of health care through the patient’s perspective. Fast Company’s Co.Design site reports. “When it comes to designing new medical devices, most of the talk is about how easy products are for physicians to use, noted designer Kai Worrell…
Online social networks are growing, but the percentage of users uploading content to sites like YouTube and Facebook has “plateaued” worldwide, according to a report released Tuesday by Forrester Research, writes CNN. The report, called “A Global Update of Social Technographics,” says people joining online…
“Mobile phone use by young adults in India: a case study”, the PhD thesis of Priyanka Matanhelia at the University of Maryland, is available online. Abstract This study explored the use of mobile phones among young adults in India. The study used the theoretical frameworks…
The potential transformation of our brains caused by intensive use of computers and the internet is a threat to our quality of life on the same scale as risks to the planet from climate change, according to an eminent neuroscientist. The Financial Times reports. “Lady…
Connected devices are still having trouble finding a mass audience, a new report from market-research firm The NPD Group has found. But that is likely to change over time. “According to NPD, a whopping 75 percent of all U.S. consumers did not connect to or…