Tags to Richness

The chart above shows the operating systems my customers used in 2010 to date.  As an Interaction Designer it’s my job to get inside the heads of my customers as much as possible.  One way I get inside their heads is by forcing myself to use the same operating system as they do.  I believe it gives me some additional insight into my users when I too have to deal with that annoying UAC crap in Windows (for example).

Granted I will let myself upgrade to the latest version of Windows, I’m not that hardcore to still use XP, but when XP was the latest version of Windows I used it for years.  Even though Macs are far superior (I’m definitely not a Windows fan-boy), I believe it helps me become a better Interaction Designer by doing everything I can to understand and empathize with my customer’s needs and issues.

This week I read through the insightful John Sculley interview about Steve Jobs.  I found the article very simple and yet very rich.  Here are three things relating to designing products that I found most interesting.

1. Difference between Microsoft products and Apple products

Bill [Gates] was brillant too - but Bill was never interested in great taste.  He was always interested in being able to dominate a market.  he would put whatever he had out there to own that space.  Steve [Jobs] would never do that.

2. Customer experience

He always looked at things from the perspective of what was the user’s experience going to be? … Apple wasn’t just about computers.  It was about designing products and designing marketing and it was about positioning.

3. No focus groups

Steve said: ‘How can I possibly ask somebody what a graphics-based computer ought to be when they have no idea what a graphic based computer is?  No one has ever seen one before.’

I don’t agree about no focus groups, though I do agree that focus groups aren’t for coming up with things that don’t exist.  Focus groups are for generating mental maps that are helpful as you design.

Read the full article here

The August 2010 Wired magazine has an article entitled “The Master Planner” (Kelly 90).  The article is basically a question and answer session with Fred Brooks, the author of The Mythical Man-Month which was published 35 years ago.  In the article Brooks is discussing the ideas in his new book The Design of Design.

These are my two favorite quotes, I highly recommend the whole article.

How has your thinking about design changed over the past decades?

When I first wrote The Mythical Man-Month in 1975, I counseled programmers to “throw the first version away,” then build a second one.  By the 20th-anniversary edition, I realized that constant incremental iteration is a far sounder approach.  You build a quick prototype and get in front of users to see what they do with it.  You will always be surprised.

You’re a Mac user.  What have you learned from the design of Apple products?

Edwin Land, inventor of the Polaroid camera, once said that his method of design was to start with a vision of what you want and then, one by one, remove the technical obstacles until you have it.  I think that’s what Steve Jobs does.  He starts with a vision rather than a list of features.

Design of Design on Amazon.com

Wired Magazine’s website