20
Jun 09
I was talking to my father sometime before the HDTV conversion, and he was complaining that the VCR couldn’t record shows anymore now that he had installed the converter box.
“You know,” I said, rolling my eyes at the fact that he had been recording TV shows on VHS for at least 20 years, “They’re going to stop manufacturing VHS due to their decline in popularity.”
“I know! That’s why I went to the store and bought them in bulk!”
I tell this story not to mock my father’s determination to hold on to analog technology but to give some background on why I’m such a skeptical adapter. I figure sure, maybe I’m not the first on my block to have the iPod but I was certainly right to have my reservations about Laserdisc.
Then I saw this article via Sean Biefeld and couldn’t help but admonish my own reluctance. I mean, Ray Bradbury is 89 years old. He has a right to hate new technology. I, on the cusp of my twenty-fourth year, have a lot more to see before I can begin shaking my fist and naysaying those meddling kids. And if you don’t adapt quickly, you will be left behind. Even more frightening to me is that I will not be able to innovate.
So bring it on, brave new world. I’m ready and willing…as long as it doesn’t cost me too much money.
05
Jun 09
Last Saturday I attended the first ever Big (D)esign ’09 in Dallas. I was impressed with the caliber and content of the speakers . I’d rather not do one of those quick summaries where I regurgitate the highlights because I feel that the ideas I was exposed to deserve a little more illumination than that- so I’ll try to do a few more posts on the presentations that fascinated me the most.
One of the ideas I enjoyed was presented by Stephen P. Anderson in a lecture entitled “The Art and Science of Seductive Interactions.” I went in thinking he’d just present some basic interaction patterns. Instead, he stayed true to his title and discussed how you can consistently produce interactions that ‘seduce’ your audience through study and ingenuity.
Creating a popular, viral product or application isn’t a lucky accident (well, at least in most cases). It’s an engineered and carefully planned experience. You can have a well designed, very usable product but people may not be sticking around long on your site or your competition is overtaking you. Why is that? It’s because you haven’t tapped into what surprises, delights, and holds people’s attention by understanding how humans work.
Anderson proposed that if you understand your audience and what makes them tick by studying psychology, social sciences, and interactions that you find intriguing you can produce consistent, strong results. In order to take a product from good to great, you must know what interactions are intriguing to your users and why.
Never forget that you are a user yourself. Do you ever experience something that delights you and makes you want to explore the site or application more? Then ask yourself why. Is it because your friends use it? It’s mentally stimulating? Is it because they incorporated a fun game? The majority of us are on the internet quite often so there’s no reason not to make an effort to study what works for us, what does not, and why. By making this effort, your ability to design fantastic products will grow by leaps and bounds.
If you’re interested in learning more about the happenings at Big (D)esign, check out the twitter feed from that day- there are also some links to recap posts .