House of Mouse

Why I am an IA

2008-11-19T14:41:00.003+01:00

Adam Greenfield held the opening keynote at the fourth European IA summit in Amsterdam, 2008. The headline was “Why I’m not an IA”. He said some interesting things and suggested that our future job description become much broader, with a stronger emphasise on “experience”. I could certainly follow his reasoning, and until quite recently, I would have had no problems calling myself a “user experience designer”. But then I met Peter Bogaards…

During the first meeting of the European IA network initiative, Peter and I had a discussion about using the term UX in our job titles to explain what we were doing. I argued that UX and IA are two sides of the same coin and it would be devastating to our yet small and vulnerable community, if we caused a split between the two, such as we have seen in the US. But after listening to Peters arguments, I realised that IA is what we all practice to some extent, in order to create, sometimes deliberately, a user experience.

Realising that I actually worked as an IA, and could present myself as such, suddenly solved another problem, I’ve had for years but never noticed before; people around me didn’t really understand what I did. Now, I didn’t have to spend time to explain what “user experience design” was all about, only to have people stare at me as though I had just said that I was a jigsaw-puzzle maker or sprechstalmeister in circus.

And maybe most importantly, clients understood what I was doing, and (especially) what it could mean for their business.

That’s why I now say that I’m an IA, when people ask what I do for living. One of the reasons I think it’s so important that we use this simple and easy understandable term, when we present ourselves, is that it keeps the branding of our industry strong and recognisable. Yet the term is broad enough to contain many different variations within our community and continuously encourages constructive debates. This is also one of the reasons I got involved in this tiresome networking task – to try to bring us closer together, in a robust European network, so that we stand stronger both individually and professionally.

Tak Sirius IT!

2008-11-18T12:21:00.000+01:00

Sådan!!
Jeg vil gerne takke Sirius IT for et fremragende og forbilledligt arrangement, torsdag den 6. november.

Sirius IT gav os et åbent og ærligt indblik i deres tanker og metoder i forhold til at anvende filmmediet i formidling/markedsføring af en produktserie.

Det var meget lærerigt og gav en god og konstruktiv diskussion efterfølgende, hvor vi fik et interessant eksempel på enkel formidling af komplekse koncepter.

Vi vendte (som sædvanligt) lige spørgsmålet om hvordan vi styrke UX/IA miljøet i DK. Og svaret er selvfølgelig engagement. Så til de af jer, der ikke havde tid eller lyst til at komme; I gik glip af noget værdifuld viden. Jeg gik fra mødet både oplyst og inspireret.

Udover folkene fra Sirius IT var vi ”the usual suspects”; FatDUX, Creuna og 1508, som meddelte at ville stå for næste møde, en gang i slutningen af januar. Mere om det, formentlig.

Svar til Dorte Toft

2008-11-18T12:17:00.001+01:00

Al den hæder, der er tilfaldet en række danske produkter i en periode i efterkrigstiden, har i betydelig grad bidraget til begrebet “Danish Design”, og er samtidig netop en af grundene til at produkter som Ipod og flip IKKE kommer fra Danmark.

“Dansk design” en så indarbejdet i dansk selvforståelse, at vi tror, at det er noget medfødt. Det giver mange glade amatører, men få talenter. Og en kulturarv, der bliver forvaltet af mennesker, der er uddannet til alt muligt andet end at forstå at skabe produkter, der tilgodeser brugerne.

Det giver os produkter som B&Os Serena (til 8.000 kr!!). Og fjerner os fra markedet for de enkelte, praktiske og smukke løsninger, som bl.a. Apple nu forsyner os med. Jeg ville græde tørre tårer, hvis det ikke også var min betalingsbalance.

Cirkus 2.0

2008-02-12T20:56:00.000+01:00

Er Web 2.0 ikke bare et tegn på at Tim O’Reilly har en god markedsføring?

Nu er O’Reilly selvfølgelig ikke hvem som helst og begrebet kommer jo heller ikke af ingen ting. Der er tilsyneladende et behov for at sekvensere udviklingen på internettet (og måske i den proces forbinde sit navn til et begreb, der står for eftertiden).

Web 2.0 er efter min mening lidt som Formel 1: et rejsende cirkus i product placement forklædt som state-of-the-art – det ypperligste man kan præstere inden for sin branche.

”Web 2.0” er, som begreb, i bedste fald overflødigt. I værste fald hæmmende for at vi kan bruge de enkelte faciliteter, der gør et website relevant og anvendeligt for sine brugere (og dermed sin ejer).

Når en kunde ønsker et ”Web 2.0-agtigt” webite, så er det jo ofte bare ud fra et simpelt ønske om hjælp til at øge trafikken og gøre sitet mere attraktivt med noget der er ”hot”.

Men dermed er der også åbnet for en sund (og nødvendig) diskussion om det grundliggende koncept, dets forretningsmodel og dets relevans.

Og den diskussion er en gave til både leverandør og kunde. Det er ikke så meget et spørgsmål om ”Moral” men mere sund fornuft: Har den bærende idé noget behov for de faciliteter, der også kaldes ”Web 2.0”?

Selvfølgelig skal vi ikke bare give kunden hvad han beder om, men hjælpe ham til at nå sine mål, med hvad midler det i virkeligheden kræver.

Hvornår har du iøvrigt sidst været på “Second Life”?

Don't just take my words for it..

2007-11-22T23:22:00.000+01:00

I said that things are moving in Germany; well they are. Just within two weeks, there has been three major events in germany, where "Web 2.0 expo" perhaps is the biggest single event, besides World Usability Days.

IA Konferenz, Stuttgart, november 2007

2007-11-12T13:50:00.000+01:00

Things are moving in the German IA community
The second German IA summit was held in Stuttgart the 9th and 10th of November. I went there because Germany is our largest neighbouring country, I have friends, colleagues and clients there and things are certainly moving here.

Besides; I try to establish a roadmap for European IA with my good friend and colleague Wolf Nöding, who’s also part of the Konferenz (He held the welcoming speech). So we had our poster at the poster session.

I arrived late unfortunately, but just in time to listen to James Kalbach in English and Jan Jursa in German (simultaneously – in neighbouring auditoriums). Thanks Jan, for the warm welcome!

Bogo Vatovec had a brilliant presentation that can be applied to the European challenge; 32 Sprachen, 15 Länder, 30.000 Produkte - Ein IA Traum oder Albtraum? Interesting subject great (and very funny) presentation. His Barcelona presentation in German, with a few alterations.

Johannes Vandermeulen from Brüssel made a big impression with his presentation: Analogies between software engineering and movie making: where does the interaction designer fit it? Lots of inspiration, new, different and relevant angles. Confirms and clarifies my own thoughts.

Thomas Vander Wal had a nice presentation too: „Bottom-up Tagging Can Get You to the Top“ Tagging and Folksonomies provide a rich foundation for
understanding how people think...”

After the poster session there was a buffet and I met with the great crowd of German and Swiss IA’s and interaction designers. Apparently no Austrians were here, but I thing they will work on that until next time, next year. I’ll be there as well!

Great evening in Stuttgart: nice drinks (wine and Mai tai’s), good company (Jursa, Cottong, Köver, Shalman & Bussmann).

EuroIA 2007, Barcelona, september 2007

2007-10-12T16:19:00.000+02:00

Moderate success for European IA.
I finally made it to Barcelona again. This time for the third European IA summit. My company is a sponsor of the conference, we also sponsored the welcome drinks and my partner; Eric Reiss, was the conference chairman. My other partner Thomas Snitker was there as well.

Eric noted that, whereas the IA summit in US has to days of pre-conferences. The IA summit in EU has 24 hours of partying. True!

The Beer bash
We started at “Danzarama”, with our traditional Beer Bash along with our friends and allies from Dutch UI – User intelligence; Tjeerd de Boer, Jacco Nieuwland and the rest of the gang. We all had a wonderful evening. I’m sure flickr will prove this!

First day
Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Director Yahoo! Research, ES held a fine opening key note (Later that day we shared a cap where I suggested him to “Google” some information.. oops! “Yahoo” some information). Thanks Ricardo, for helping me find the right way through Barcelona!

Bogo Vartovec held an interesting presentation: ”22 Languages and 30 000 Products: A Nightmare Comes True?” that applies well to the notorious “European situation”.

Kars Alfrink, has a good approach to mobile interactivity and interesting points about entertainment. By the way; he currently lives in Copenhagen.

Jim Kalbach told about “Navigating the Long Tail: Adapting IA to Niche Markets” and I had to leave to find the printer who had made a poster for me and Wolf Nöding. Thanks to local living, perfectly Spanish speaking, graphic designing Brit; Derry Birkett..

I just got back in time to see the interesting panel: “Perspectives on Ethics Olly Wright, Media Catalyst, NL; Joe Lamantia, US; & Thomas J. Froehlich, Kent State University, US”. Ethics is thin ice, but Especially Olly did well.

My poster session
Wolf Nöding and I, had a poster together at the poster session: “Roadmap for European IA Network” which gave is a tremendously positive response. We are currently working on the results of our survey and we will be back in January 2008 to honor the great interest we received.

My own poster was about loosing the "A" and the "I" from the "AIDA"-model, when dealing with the web.

Barcelona nightlife is great! A lot of us got together at a Mexican restaurant (the proposed posh restaurant next door was already full), so the “Germanic” invation filled whole place; Danes, Dutch, German and Brits.

The revenge of the Vegan
We missed some of our friends, but later learned that they had been pushed around from restaurant to restaurant by a Danish AI, because she was a “Vegan” and wouldn’t eat anything animal. She should have brought her own food, or stayed at home…

Next Day:
Should have seen Stanislaw Skorka, but chose Svein Ølnes, Nils Arne Hove & Terje Aaberge, Western Norway Research Institute.

After that Claire Rowland from Seren Partners UK, presenting “Service Design”. Very interesting subject, but boy! did she speak fast - almost as fast and mumbling as Olly.

“From Physical to Digital Environments (and Back): Towards Cross-Context IA” was charmingly presented by Andrea Resmini, University of Bologna, IT; & Luca Rosati, University for Foreigners of Perugia, IT. I think Andreas daughter will become a brilliant IA!

Margaret Hanley made an excellent presentation and engaged us with defining her. Tom Coates unfortunately took an illness and couldn’t be there. Great performance!

My first panel
Morten Nordby Larsen from Joost in DK had suddenly backed out, so that left a hole in the programme. Luckily Filip Borloo stood in and made a panel discussion (with a funny and thought provoking introduction), and where both Wolf Nöding and I participated, since it dealt with the future of euroIA.

I said moderate success for euroIA because only six IA’s from Spain had participated, while we were told that more than 300 Spanish IA meet at local events. Money was mentioned as I problem, but I think it’s a question of attitude. But thanks to those who came. And thanks to the local IA’s who took us down town later night. We all had a great last evening! Once again we took over a restaurant; at my table we were 11 people, from nine different countries, speaking seven different languages; truly an European experience.

See you next year in “Bamsterdam”

Internationale Funkausstellung, Berlin, august 2007

2007-09-10T22:41:00.000+02:00

Navigon launches “Skobbler” and IFA shows a bright future of consumer electronics.
The Plane throws me out at Tegel Airport (I’m so happy that I experienced Tempelhof, when this was still open), and the shuttle bus took me straight to the Exhibition.

Navigon Skobbler and Porsche Cayenne
I was to meet with Oliver Kühn; the strategic mastermind behind “Skobbler”, and perhaps Phillip Kandal. Skobbler is now the official name for a free mobile GPS navigation solution, with a social network attached. Or at least, that’s how to discribe it now. The name “Skobbler” is apparently given by the same people who gave Porsche its “Cayenne”.

The project have undergone a lot of changes during the time when FatDUX has been assigned to provide design and usability improvements, though our “Quick Fix” service.

Oliver Kühn took me through the current state of the project, from business model to marketing plans during our one and a half hour meeting. And I shared my opinions with him. I appreciate his direct openness, as I know he appreciates my “brutal” honesty - that's what I'm paid for.

See you in Würzburg
We agreed to take another turn of usability improvements and perhaps meet later in Würzburg. And I enjoyed the rest of that day at the exhibition, watching the latest innovations; Sennheiser white noice earphones, 72” plasma screens, pocket TV, sound and vision. Impressive as the amount of black and shiny, German power cars on the parking space around the Berliner Halle.

IA Summit, Las Vegas, march 2007

2007-04-22T22:48:00.000+02:00

Everything's big in America
Mental Marathon of IA and UX at Bugsy's "Flamingo" in Las Vegas. With more than 570 attendees.

Yes, all of FatDUX went there! To the biggest event in our community; the ASIS&T IA Summit “enriching information architecture”. I had submitted a presentation but is was declined.

During the five days, I received a massive (over)load of relevant and inspireing information, which I hopefully can digest in a later blog post

Las Vegas is First Life's version of Second Life

2007-03-23T23:26:00.000+01:00

These were the words of Thomas Vander Val, as we had the breakfest the first morning of our stay in Las Vegas, attending the 7th IAsummit.

The poor European cousins

2007-03-22T23:02:00.000+01:00

I heard someone referring to the European attendees at the IA Summit in US, as the “poor European cousins”. I’m not provoked by this statement, not at all. I just think that we should have a cocktail hour with free drinks for everyone with a European passport, as a consequence.

A website is like a jelly doughnut

2007-01-15T15:09:00.000+01:00

Graphic design applied to a website is like sugar applied to the surface of a jelly doughnut.
I like to think of a website as a jelly doughnut; the dough is content, the jelly is technology, and the sugar on the surface is “skin” – graphic design applied to a website. Compared to the amount of dough and jelly, the sugar is the least ingredient; only a thin layer. But it all over the surface and makes the jelly doughnut appear homogeneous from all sides.

The Dough is structured in a suitable manner (round; smallest extension possible). And the jelly (technology, programming or CMS) is hided inside, as an indispensable part of the jelly doughnut, without which the jelly doughnut wouldn’t be a jelly doughnut.

Drejer Solen stadig om jorden?

2006-10-13T21:46:00.000+02:00

Indtil den polske astronom og matematiker Nikolaus Koperinkus i 1543 dristede sig til at påstå at solen er centrum for vores planetsystem, har man troet at jorden var universets ubestridte midtpunkt.

Kopernikus opdagelse førte en lang stribe væsentlige erkendelser med sig, der bl.a. har bidraget til, at vi kan sende mennesker på rejse i rummet.

Uden sammenligning i øvrigt, så må tiden omkring 1543 minde lidt om i dag, i forholdet mellem betydningen af de trykte og elektroniske medier, herunder især internettet.

Det er ikke sjældent at jeg føler mig som elev til Kopernikus, der skal forklare den lokale præst at jorden faktisk farer rundt om solen – og ikke omvendt, når jeg skal få en virksomhedsleder til at indse at hans website er omdrejningspunkt for langt det meste af hans kommunikation. Og at det ikke er den glittede brochurer eller visitkortet, den uanmeldte og potentielle kunde møder som sit første indtryk af virksomheden. Men at den første oplevelse oftest kommer fra et besøg på virksomhedens website.

”Sludder” siger han. ”Vores reklamebureau har udviklet en strategi, der nok skal skaffe os i kontakt med vores marked” Og så taler han om annoncer, brochurer og direct mail. ”…og reklamebureauet har også tilbudt os en hjemmeside, men jeg har fået min nevø til at lave os en, for tre flasker rødvin og en tusse” afslutter han grinende. Selv bruger han sjældent ”indernettet”, så hvorfor skulle andre?

Måske er det en generationsforskel. Måske skyldes det at min ven, virksomhedslederen, drev forretning længe før Tim Berners-Lee kom til CERN. Og det er ikke længere siden end at de fleste nuværende ledere og beslutningstagere allerede var langt inde i deres karriere, sandsynligvis beskæftiget med samme eller beslægtet virksomhed som nu. Og hvor Internettet i den tid næppe havde nogen betydning for opfyldelse af mål for deres forretningsplan, har det derfor også kun ringe, hvis nogen betydning i dag: forretningen kører jo alligevel!

Jeg ved ikke om hvorvidt internettets fremtrædende rolle som primære formidlingskanal, får betydning for min ven, men det kan være at det gør for hans virksomhed, jo mere det gør for kunder og konkurrenter.

Så kan det være at han kommer op af stolen og kaster sine ressourcer efter at give brugere og kunder bedre oplevelser på nettet. Det er jo trods alt ikke civilisationer, der tror at jorden hviler på ryggen af en elefant, der står på en skildpadde, som sender mænd til månen. Men de, der ved at Jorden drejer om Solen.

COLOURS OF CONFUSION

2006-09-03T16:27:00.000+02:00

THE PROBLEMS COMPARING SCREEN COLOUR AND PRINT COLOUR
As joyfully as it can be to play and choose among the billions of colours, when making a suitable palette for a complete visual identity program. Just as frustrating it is, when you have to determine and describe the same colours for screen AND print usage.

I bet that every designer has felt it quite frustrating to pick and determine matching print- and screen colours, not only a single colour, but a whole range of colours that has to look good together – and especially if they are not primary, but secondary or tertiary!

I bet that every designer has tried to make a client understand why he can’t compare additive and subtractive colours, holding the company brochure with the logo, next to the screen; showing the same logo, complaining it isn’t the same colour.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the unsolvable problems between the additive and subtractive colours – the colour of things vs. the colour of light - here’s a little lesson:

What are subtractive colours?
In good old days there were only subtractive colours – additive colours solely existed in Goethe’s or Newton’s labs. Subtractive colours works by absorbing some colours and reflecting others. Those reflected are the ones we see – or rather experience – since colours are only rays of light that our brains perceive and translate into the concept of “red” or “green”. Dark colour absorbs all light, whilst white reflects most light – that’s why a black surface is always warm in the sun.

Subtractive colours are also the type of colours that most people has the most practical experience with: They are the ones we play and mess with in kindergarten. They are the ones we paint, print and dye with: they are the ones that surround us on everything.

Subtractive colours are subject to certain rules, as most children know; there are three primary colours; red, blue and yellow, plus the contrasts black and white. By mixing them, you can get almost any colour; yellow and blue makes green, red and yellow makes orange. And if you mix all of them, they’ll turn into some greyish paste.

What are additive colours?
Additive colour, is light itself; coloured light. But besides at dawn and sunsets, we don’t experience that we’re surrounded by additive colours the same way as we are with subtractive colours, though sunlight is sort of an additive colour, a mix of all colours of light (a prism will show you). It’s only in small, focused areas we are aware that we meet additive colours: and mostly on screens.

Television screens, computer screens, even the screen on your Ipod, works by additive colours. But you didn’t get to play with them in kindergarten, you don’t work with them, you don’t think of them. Very few people have practical experience with them, or need to, for that matter.

Additive colours are also subject to certain rules. They also have three primary colours; a bluish red, a very bright green and an almost turquoise blue, you probably know them as “Red, green and blue” (RGB). But there aren’t any contrast colours: Black and white, as with subtractive colours. “white” is all three lights turned on. “Black” is all three lights turned off.

Additive colours mix in a completely different way: the more you mix them, the brighter they get. To get yellow you have to mix red light and green light and so on. This makes it very hard to make lightly toned colours such “sand” or light “lime”.Additive colours also have another problem; it’s depending on a medium; whereas subtractive colours often are the medium itself; a blue dyed shirt or a red painted car. Additive colours need lamps, tubes or LCD to work. And the quality of this medium determines the quality of the final outcome – despite the input may be the same. Just look at the screen wall at the local TV shop.

How to match additive and subtractive colours
In a visual identity program, colours are often used as a very important part of the identification. For a great many years, the print colour has been steering the screen colour: “We have a logo in Pantone 159, now we need one in RGB – what’s the equivalent?”

Today it’s more common in the opposite direction; from screen to print. But in both cases it’s impossible to compare a single additive colour with a single subtractive colour! It helps a bit if there is more than a single colour to compare. Two, three or more colours on the same screen will mutually relate less relatively, as will the same colours in a print. When we then compare screen and print, we are more willing to accept the divagations because we compensate by.

We can all agree that the logo on the paper is red, and the logo on the screen is red. But their equivalence is relatively and can not be measured physically; we only have our personal impression to relay on. And you know how it is with personal impression: confusing.

Det er brugerne, der bestemmer på Nettet

2006-08-22T20:40:00.000+02:00

Glem teknologi og markedsføring lidt: Hvis et website eller en anden IT-løsning skal fungere, må det først og fremmest være tilpasset brugernes forudsætninger og dække deres behov.

Hidtil har der overordnet kun været to typer af rådgivere i markedet: Reklamebureauer og webbureauer. Og selvfølgelig kan de udvikle websites. De har bare andre interesser at tage højde for, før brugernes forudsætninger og behov kommer i betragtning.

Hos et reklamebureau er Nettet blot ét af flere medier, hvis indbyrdes forhold udgør et samlet indtjeningsgrundlag for bureauet. Det er som at købe sko i en butik, hvor man også gerne vil sælge bælter og briller. Desuden er det reklamens natur at skabe iøjnefaldende opmærksomhed, hvilket ind imellem kolliderer med brugerens behov for hurtigt overblik og adgang til relevant information.

Et webbureau er som en regel knyttet - enten via ejerskab eller partnerskab - til en eller flere softwareplatforme. Hensynet til en bestemt platform går derfor forud for selve løsningen, og igen er det brugerens behov, der kommer i anden række. Her er det som at købe sko, uden at prøve dem først.

I begge tilfælde er det egentlig ikke økonomiske eller faglige ressourcer, der er problemet, men prioriteringen: alt andet får maksimal opmærksomhed, mens etablering af brugeroplevelse – den faktiske kontakt mellem bruger og virksomhed på nettet - kommer i anden eller tredje række.

Det er brugerne, der bestemmer på Nettet. Og de gider ikke bruge det, der ikke virker. Eller komme dér hvor de ikke finder det, de søger.

CREAAAATIVE NAMES

2006-08-06T17:12:00.000+02:00

THE IMPACT OF THE WEB ON FINDING NAMES FOR NEW PRODUCTS AND COMPANIES.
There is a nice book in my bookshelf, written by one of my rare mentors; late Mr. Jens Bernsen, former director of Danish Design Council and published same place. It’s called: ”Design of Names” with foreword by Wally Ollins. (No, don’t go looking for in at Amazon – it isn’t there).

The book is about how to find names for companies and products. It’s filled with all sorts of brilliant suggestions and good advice. I’ve read it several times, but only used it once, because there is one important thing it doesn’t take into consideration:

How to find a suitable name that isn’t already taken by some idiot on the net!

You go through a lot of trouble with the client and your colleagues, and finally you find something that every one think is perfect as name for the new product or company. You look it up to see if it’s available as a .com-domain, only to discover that some guy in Slovenia registered the name two months ago and is now trying to sell it for the highest bid.

Does it have to be a .com-domain?
Sure! Unless you’re only addressing users in your own country, or you're not doing international business (or do not have the potential for it), you MUST have a .com-domain: That’s where everyone will start looking, if they remember the company name – It’s like the main street of cyberspace.

That’s why I’ve only used the brilliant suggestions from the book once: when I discovered they were useless in this day and age - not all of them of course: phonic rules of perception are still the same. But most of the great efforts are in vain the moment you find out that the name is already registered, or if it means something dirty in some obscure language.

But thanks to these limitations we’ve got a whole new way of finding names and are able to accept incredibly silly constellations and fantasy-names that no one even thought of before: Just think of “google” or “flickr”. They sound funny; they have weird spelling and don’t really mean anything. And yet; they do sound familiar and we instantly recognize them as representing some internet related company or activity, solely from the weird spelling.

We all know that we’re out of good old .com-names, so short, weird words means brand new internet related company.

So, some good comes out of this; an additional way to precieve company names and their meaning (if they have any). That's some of the reason why the company I work for is called "FatDUX".

CLICK & FEEL

2006-08-06T16:20:00.000+02:00

The impact of the web on development of visual identity
Since the expression “look and feel” is referring to the general appearance and operation of a user interface, “click and feel” could refer to the actual interaction with the interface and the following user experience. And how (or why) visual identity is then applied to this abstraction.

I’m old enough to remember when a website was considered a part of the general communication - in fact: I’m even old enough to remember when there wasn’t even a world wide web (but that’s another story). Today a website is the general communication, if not as in some cases; the only.

There has been a paradigm shift along the millennium shift; from considering a website as being one element of communication among others, in the perimeter of media, to become the actual turning point of most corporate communications.

And this paradigm shift hasn’t left other means of communication untouched. Even the very core of communication; identification and exchange of expressions have been affected so tremendously that we are still trying to find out how to cope with it: It’s an ongoing process.

I'm very interested in the impact of webdesign on the making of corporate visual identity and how to use both in unity in order to get the best of it. And since both design and technology develops so fast, there’s no point in looking at special techniques or concrete visual references to companies, brands and any design in general.

Instead, I concentrate more on “why” than “how”. I want to discover the principles behind the practical, and improve our ability to understand the mechanisms of applying visual identity to the web.

I welcome any contributions and suggestions in my search. If you’re professionally trained in designing visual identity, websites or user experiences, please share some of your knowledge. Even if you're NOT trained in the above mentioned skills, but just have an opinion.

Thank you.

Et website koster det samme som en bil

2006-02-17T21:44:00.000+01:00

”Hvad koster et website?” - bliver jeg ind imellem spurgt om af en mulig kunde, der så bagefter bliver forundret, når jeg ikke bare kan give en pris, som var der tale om en liter mælk eller et kilo sukker.

Så plejer jeg at bruge et bilkøb som et eksempel: Hvis du går ind til en bilforhandler for at købe en bil, så vil bilforhandleren altid spørge tilbage, hvad den skal bruges til og hvad den må koste – uden at det undrer nogen. Ved bilkøb har vi accepteret en sammenhæng mellem pris og dækning af behov: Skal vi bare frem og tilbage, kan det gøres meget billigt. Skal vi mere end dét, så bliver prisen højere. Og skal vi løse specialopgaver med lastbil eller bus, så er prisen en helt anden.

Præcis på samme måde er det med et website. Der findes websites, der er købt for tre flasker rødvin og en tusse, og websites, der har kostet mange, mange millioner. Det er bl.a. derfor vi, der udvikler websites, spørger hvad det skal bruges til. Og når vi spørger hvad det må koste, er det fordi, der ikke er nogen grund til at bruge tid og kræfter på at udtænke fantastiske løsninger, hvis budgettet alligevel ikke strækker til at gøre dem operationelle.

2006-01-22T21:47:00.000+01:00

Fra Kusk til Chauffør
Da de første motordrevne taxier kom på gaden, var det som afløser for den hestetrukne ”hyrevogn” som var almindelige i datidens storbyer. Og hvad var mere naturligt end at lade kuskene overtage arbejdet som chauffører? Men kuskene blev simpelthen involveret i for mange ulykker, fordi de stadig tænkte og opførte sig som førere af hestetrukne køretøjer, selvom de nu sad bag rettet i de nye motordrevne. Og efter noget tid indså man at der var behov for at opfinde en helt ny faggruppe, der viste mere om færdselsregler og mekanik.

Fra "Reklametegner" til webdesigner
Noget lignende skete, da webdesign blev en nødvendig disciplin for alverdens design- reklamebureauer: Hvad var vel mere naturligt at lade reklametegneren eller designeren, der alligevel sad med logo, farve og layout, om lige at overføre sit arbejde til et website? Så tænkt, så gjort. Og resultatet blev en lang række meget flotte, meget opsigtsvækkende og kreativt grænsesøgende, men desværre ofte meget ubrugelige websites.

Hvorfor det? Hvad gik galt? Forklaringen er selvfølgelig meget enkel, når man ser tilbage:At være ”kreativ” i forhold til udvikling af henholdsvis tryksager og websites, indebærer to helt forskellige faglige udfordringer, der både i forløb og mål ligger meget langt fra hinanden. Det handler om at være kreativ på to helt forskellige måder:

Den kreative, grafiske designer eller art director
Målet for den kreative, grafiske designer eller art director, er at skabe kontakt, opmærksomhed, kendskab, fælles reference, formidling, holdningsdannelse eller -ændring og handling (i nogenlunde nævnte rækkefølge). Og midlet for disse mål er et statisk, fysisk medie – oftest papir, med hvad det indebærer af muligheder og begrænsninger. Med stor viden og erfaring, samt lyst til at lege og udfordre, udfolder kreativiteten sig som ”…søgende eksperimenter med ideer styret af intuitive fornemmelser inspireret af underbevidstheden” (for at citere David Ogilvy).

Et af de største, enkelte udfordringer for det trykte medie, er altså at skabe opmærksomhed og fastholde den, indtil budskabet er formidlet, med hvad mål det nu har for afsender og modtager. Mens selve mediets muligheder og begrænsninger udgøres af dets lavteknologiske rammer. Overvejelser omkring distributionen, hører ikke til den grafiske designers opgave.

Den kreative webdesigner
Målet for den kreative webdesigner starter først ved den fælles reference, fordi brugeren allerede er på sitet, og derfor er det overflødigt at bruge krudt på at skabe kontakt og vække opmærksomhed, det handler i stedet om adgang til information: brugeren har allerede et mål med sin tilstedeværelse. Og der med bliver ”formidling” en helt selvstændig og krævende disciplin. I en statisk tryksag er formidling mest blot et spørgsmål om at vide at modtageren kan læse. På et dynamisk website handler formidling om meget mere; f.eks. brugervenlighed, struktur, søgbarhed, tilgængelig og generel brugeroplevelse.

Og samtidig betyder selve mediets forankring i meget kompleks teknologi, utrolig meget mere for et website, ligesom dets ”distribution” – brugerens adgang til sitet og de midler, der skal skabe trafik.

Den kreative udfordring for en webdesigner består i at udfordre først og fremmest de teknologiske muligheder og begrænsningers indvirkning på brugeren: det sker, som for den grafiske designer, ud fra en stor viden og erfaring. Men former sig IKKE som eksperimenter med ideer, styret af intuitive fornemmelser, inspireret af underbevidstheden. Derimod som eksperimenter inden for rammerne af viden om fælles referencer, brugeradfærd og erfaring med ”best practice” – hvad der virker bedst i en given sammenhæng og situation.

Det er med andre ord helt forskellige metoder, der skal bruges for at skabe hhv. kreativt, grafisk design og et kreativt webdsign. Det er to – næsten modsatrettede – metoder. Og derfor bør en kreativ, grafisk designer ikke bruge sin tid på webdesign. Og en kreativ webdesigner bør så heller ikke bruge sin tid på kreativ, grafisk design. Det er nemlig den naturlige konsekvens af den nødvendige opdeling af de to faglige discipliner.

Når mekanikeren bliver chauffør
Efter at have indset, at reklamebureauet nok er stedet hvor et kreativt, grafisk udtryk eller ”koncept” udvikles, men ikke nødvendigvis implementeres - hvilket bør gøres af en webdesigner. Så er det måske naturligt at overveje om ikke man kan lade webdesigneren selv skabe det udtryk eller koncept, han skal implementere, og dermed spare en postgang. Det er jo trods alt noget med ”design”. Men det ville svare til at lade mekanikeren være chauffør. Og det går ikke: mekanikerens eksakte viden om køretøjet fysik kan aldrig erstatte chaufførens intuitive fornemmelse for at køre. Og omvendt – selvom de begge har noget med biler at gøre. Webdesigneren opererer ud fra en (næsten) eksakt viden om (især) mediets teknologiske muligheder og begrænsninger i forhold til brugerbehov og –adfær. Og kan ikke uden videre ændre sin tilgang til den nødvendige form for kreativitet.

I stedet bør webdesigneren måske indse sin afhængighed af den grafiske designer og omvendt. Og begge begynde at indrette deres arbejde på at kunne tilpasse og udnytte egne evner bedst muligt for den anden.

Den kreative arbejdsdeling
Internettet er i dag det primære informationsbærende medie. Og et website, er derfor det mest betydningsfulde omdrejningspunkt for det meste formidling, der i betydelig grad har erstattet mange former for trykte medier. Men den kreative webdesigner kommer aldrig til at skulle erstatte den kreative grafiske designer eller art director, de to må i stedet finde deres plads ved siden af hinanden: som henholdsvis chauffør og mekaniker, for uden den anden, kører bilen ikke.

Usabilitydagene, Købehhavn, november 2005

2005-11-28T21:50:00.000+01:00

WOW - Så nåede jeg alligevel frem til usability-dagene d. 23. november. Sidste år gik jeg glip af Jacob Nielsen på D'Angleterre, Men i år nåede jeg det hele - næsten.

Jeg var desværre forhindret i at deltage den første dag, så jeg kan ikke give en samlet vurdering, men her er mine indtryk:

Christina Maria Christoffersen fra Topdanmark gav et fint indblik i hendes projekt med redesign af intern skadesanmeldelse. Jeg aner konturen af en mere universel metode under udvikling. Relevant og godt fremført.

Jeg gætter at Ivan Bager også sidder i festudvalget hos velux. Hans case viste at det ikke kun kan være en udfordring med en konservativ ledelse, men også en indviklet forretningsmodel. Velux.com er vel egentlig også mere interessant for brugere end for kunder?

Mette Elf og Thomas Andreasen lod os få et glimt af deres mammut-projekt med borger.dk. Imponerende hvor meget det har været muligt at få ud af testresultaterne. Gennemsnitsbrugerene findes!! Hvad mon der sker når alle os afvigere kommer til tasterne?

Jeg er vel inhabil i min bedømmelse af mine partneres indslag: Erics gesteoptrædende, som erstatning for Morten Wolff. Og Thomas som quismaster i "usability jeopady" Men begge indslag var selvfølgelig utroligt underholdende og lærerige samtidig. Jeg tror Ivan skal invitere Thomas og hans assistenter til næste firmafest hos Velux.

Ind imellem møder jeg et udtryk som jeg ikke forstår - heller ikke når jeg får det forklaret. Det er ellers lige til, og er i termologier det indslag, der kommer tættest på mit eget felt. Men "Designantropologi"(?) mmmmm.. jeg må lige prøve at læse den igen! Helt sikkert dygtige fyre; Kim Jacobsen og Joachim Halse.

Eric på igen! levende interview med en altid oplagt Spool. Gode spørgsmål, godt formuleret, der gav Spool plads til at udbrede sig om alt fra Ipod til user experience både off-ine og on-line.

Hov, der mistede jeg igen koncentrationen, men det var også sidst på dagen da Rune Kjellberg gik på podiet med brugervenlighedsovervejelser i Region Hovedstaden. Måske var det værd for Rune at snakke med Mette Elf og Thomas Andreasen. Jeg aner en løsning, der tager mere politisk hensyn end borgerhensyn.

Hvornår bliver brugervenlighed iøvrigt betragtet som en del af den samlede brugeroplevelse? Jeg glæder mig til at Dansk IT udvider begrebet. Men det er vel sidegevinsten ved at Jacob Nielsen er født i Danmark.

Jeg er med igen på første række, til næste år.