r+d - Filed under 'ux'

October 19, 2010

Quick thoughts on Twitter's UX

I liked this passage on some of the psychological differences between the UX of Twitter and Facebook, particularly the concept of following as a subscription and the type of relationship that sets up vs. friending. Given the privacy debacle Facebook has been dealing with the past 36 hours, the note on the simplicity of the privacy is also a big plus for Twitter.

Twitter nailed a few important things in their user experience compared to alternatives like Facebook. Posts are public by default, so there aren’t debates or surprises about privacy. Streams are built out of subscriptions (“following”), not “friendship”—a word that loses meaning when your friends are 500 strangers.

via 37 Signals

Filed under // Facebook Twitter UX privacy usability user-centered design

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June 24, 2010

Magnets, hooks and glue

Mark Trammel from Twitter recently hosted a Web Masters Tour event in Philly for User Interface Engineering, a usability consultancy. While the article is not surprisingly, focused on Twitter, I really liked the concept of magnets, hooks and glue and found them to be widely applicable.

From the post:

Magnets are things that pull people to a service but may not keep them there. Celebrities are strong magnets for Twitter but do not keep people there.
Hooks get people to return to a service. Connections with family members and subject matter experts get people hooked on Twitter.
Glue is a mix of news & information sources, celebrities, friends/family, and local businesses. When people get a good mix of these items on Twitter –that binds them to the service.

Again, the definitions are specific to Twitter, but the basic principles are fundamental to customer acquisition and retention. I thought this was neat shorthand for thinking along these lines.

Read the full post at UIE

photo | sun dazed

Filed under // Twitter customer experience cx ladder of engagement made to stick user experience ux

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February 8, 2010

Heinz's Ketchup Revolution

As proof that nothing should ever get too comfortable with its position in the world, the Heinz ketchup packet's 42 year run at the top of the fast food empire may soon be coming to an end. Heinz recently announced a new package design that brings several enhancements to the ketchup packet experience. While I had never really considered it before, looking at the rationale and the proposed redesign, it absolutely looks like a win.

One of the more interesting passages in the Christian Science Monitor article on the subject covers Heinz's R+D work:

Designers found that what worked at a table didn't work where many people use ketchup packets: in the car. So two years ago, Heinz bought a used minivan for the design team members so they could give their ideas a real road test.The team studied what each passenger needed. The driver wanted something that could sit on the armrest. Passengers wanted the choice of squeezing or dunking. Moms everywhere wanted a packet that held enough ketchup for the meal and didn't squirt onto clothes so easily.

First off, kudos to Heinz for committing to the a real-life ketchup lab for its designers. That aside, it's clear to see how this field research led directly to the new packet's benefits, which are as follows:

It's purported to be easier to open
It offers a dipping option to better enable ketchup consumption on the go, particularly for drivers
It holds three times as much ketchup as the old design so you don't have to open as many packages
It uses less packaging material than three packets
The new packet is recyclable

All of these characteristics seem to be hitting on all the right experience pain points the R+D team observed and are also reflected in my own rather extensive field experience with the subject matter. My particular field lab is the local Chick-fil-A. I'm sure you have your equivalent.

Moreover, the sustainable attributes are hitting on all the right marketing notes to improve adoption. Even with incremental increased cost to restaurants, many of the larger ones interests will likely be at last partially piqued by the packet's eco-benefits as further opportunities to demonstrate their commitment to greener initiatives and products. That is, of course, to the extent that a plastic is greener and more sustainable than something that can't be recycled.

While it's sad to see such a hallmark of the fast food experience on the ropes, all good things must one day end. And when you get right down to it, the packet was never all that great. It just just did what it was supposed to do. In the useful-usable-desirable hierarchy of products, it was squarely in the "useful" end of the scale, never really attempting to achieve more. To its credit, Heinz took that leap forward, in the midst of an epic downturn no less. But as a spokesperson for Heinz said: "We created the packet in 1968," he said. "Consumer complaints started around 1969."

I guess it was about time.

Interesting Trivia: Heinz sells more than 11 billion ketchup packets every year.

via Core77 and Christian Science Monitor

(download)

Filed under // CX Heinz UCD UX design eco green ketchup packaging

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January 26, 2010

Conceptualizing AR

No commentary required. Excellent conceptualization of augmented reality by Keiichi Matsuda as part of his master's in architecture. Tomorrow's now today.

via BLDGBLOG

Filed under // AR HUD architecture augmented reality ixd ui ux

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January 11, 2010

Nike's Flagship Store in Harajuku, Japan

Via Jeff Staple, here's another beautiful retail store from another great company (Nike) focused on the customer experience and the value of their brand. From the nterview with Masamichi Katayama, designer of the Nike flagship store in Harjuku, Japan:

I struggled for quite a bit with the question of how to bring together the store's location in Tokyo with the culture and business of Nike. Sports culture and fashion culture really come together here and I believe Tokyo is a city where people are very conscious of this combination.

The street culture of Nike, a tremendous variation of products, a good sense of chaos like the feeling of Tokyo, and the "Nike customer experience" I really had to rack my brain on how to mix all of these things, which is how we designed the space, with such variation. In a way, very much like Tokyo itself. I've been thinking about my impression of the store

I've been thinking about my impression of the store. The whole thing is like a piece of equipment in a playground or a big toy. To play with that idea, not as a store, but as a place for experiencing space and a time where people can get excited and can return to a childlike state. That's what I wanted to express.

I love that last thought: designing a space to return the people who explore it to a childlike state. What an admirable and ambitious goal.

Filed under // CX Nike UX brand design retail

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January 7, 2010

Boarding Pass Redesign: One Step Toward Reviving the Experience of Air Travel

I love when people take the time to redesign bad products and services. Not necessarily people who are hired to do that redesign, but rather people who have been so offput by a design or experience that they take up a small portion of their life to actually come up with a possible better approach. Gratis. Barton Smith got a lot of press for his re-envisioning of the Facebook UI after the last Facebook redesign was rather poorly received. I'm not sure I'm sold on all the elements of Barton's redesign, but it certainly has plenty of merits. Kudos to him for even taking the time to point the way to a better place. Sadly, if the screen caps of the new FB design being rolled out this week are anything to go by, not much attention was paid to Barton's considerations. Such is life.

This week I came across another fantastic redesign. Tyler Thompson, Creative Director at Squarespace, was inspired to redesign the boarding pass. You can see the redesigns attached below, but his post and the accompanying commentary are plenty humorous. One thing I didn't see mentioned in the comments when I read through them (though it may be there now) is the immediate effect of making boarding passes more accessible. In an aging population, improving readability of everyday documents is a huge benefit to a growing segment of the population. But that's just one of the many benefits of the improved design.

Revitalization by a thousand breaths

It's funny. When you look at redesigns like Tyler's, the need seems so blatantly obvious. In Delta's case, not only would the redesign be a slam dunk in terms of elevating the experience across the board, but the sheer elegance of these documents almost seems to make the trip more meaningful to the consumer. It elevates this small portion of the experience above the noise. And there's value in that.

Today's perception of travel (perhaps rightfully so) is that it's an experience akin to taking a flying bus. Point A to Point B. No frills. Uncomfortable. Cramped. Not something you look forward to. So given this experiential mire that air travel is in, it would seem that even reconsidering and improving small portions of the end-to-end experience would begin to chip away at the sour perception. Instead of death by a thousand cuts, make it revitalization by a thousand breaths. Return flying to an experience more fitting its core purpose: connecting people with one another.

Parallel to the unboxing process

As another aside on this. The whole boarding pass experience has parallels to the un-boxing process. Both comprise your first perception of the overall brand experience. What if your new iPod came in a box that was the equivalent of a Delta boarding pass. Is that really the first impression you want to give your customers? Is that how you want to start off your relationship? The check-in/boarding pass process sets the tone for the entire flight experience. Why not make it memorable and rewarding?

(download)

Filed under // Apple Delta accessibility brand design unboxing ux

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December 19, 2009

Music, Mail and Waiting in Line

The post office by my house is notorious. No one I know really wants to go there. Ever. It's simply dreadful. It's always understaffed. The line is always outrageously long. The staff is seemingly perpetually in a bad mood (probably because they are always dealing with people who have been waiting in line for too long). Confrontations at the counter are commonplace. So it was with a sense of dread that I headed into the post office yesterday to send a package.

This time was different though. When I walked into the lobby and looked through the glass to the main post office, there was a shorter than usual 10 person line and 2 USPS employees working. Pretty typical post office visit office visit for me though I was happy about the shorter line. Even so, I could already feel my frustration rising before I had even entered the main office. Sensing the cloud descending on me, I lumbered through the glass doors. Something was different. Out of the din of background, I was struck by something very unusual. Music! Clear and cheery. Silent Night being sung by a crooner.

Never in any of my previous visits had there been any other sound in the Post Office other than sighs, muffled obscenities and the barking of USPS employees "NEXT PERSON IN LINE PLEASE!!!" Music! What a delight. Apparently, one of the employees, probably operating against USPS code and soon to be reprimanded, had set up a radio on one of the un-used checkout stations and had tuned it to a station playing some very pleasant Christmas music. The music had an immediate softening effect on the experience.

Now Christmas music is generally relaxing to those who listen to it, but in this context it seemed twice as potent. The dread of standing in line was immediately lifted. The entire experience changed because of something totally unexpected. In a good way. Looking at the people in line, two of the ten, a full 20% of the current customer base, were visibly keeping beat in some fashion with the music. One was humming . . . joyfully humming as they stood in line. Humming! At the Post Office!

When I got to the counter I found my USPS employee, Wanda, to be in a very good mood. Surprisingly good. Sensing her amiable demeanor, I went out on a ledge to make small talk by commenting on the music. "I like the music, it really makes the whole line a lot more enjoyable." She looked at me and smiled and said "I know, it just makes it go a little bit faster doesn't it?" "It does," I agreed." She paused for a moment and then finished her though, "Music just calms everybody down." I followed up with "I bet you too." She smiled, her eyes agreeing. And that was that.

People need pleasant distraction. Pleasant distraction helps us forget why we're in such a rush. Did the music alone really transform the Post Office?I think so. It's no surprise, many companies (most notably Disney) have long known that distracting people in line is a great way to make time pass more quickly and improve their experience. It's just interesting to see the dramatic difference one small change can make in customer satisfaction and brand.

Filed under // USPS cx line music ux

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December 15, 2009

Square's Innovation and Ergonomics

I wanted to capture a few more thoughts from Square's demo at Le Web a few days ago (embedded below). While the demo itself was a veritable disaster for Jack Dorsey, there's a lot of interesting information you can glean from it. If you're following along at home, the demo starts at about the 7:30 mark in the video below. First the good stuff . . .

Square is listening to the card swipe - I'm not a hardware geek so the fact that Square was designed to plug into the headphone jack of a smartphone just seemed like a very commonsense thing to do. In fact, I wondered why it hadn't been done before. It's just another input device, right? Well, yes, but it is still designed to be an audio input device. What I guess I didn't realize until this video is that Square didn't hack this input for card data, rather their device is actually "listening" to the translated card swipe. As Dorey says of the self-powered swiper: "It's powered by the magnetic resistance of the swipe itself. It translates the swipe into to an audio signal and the phone picks it up and software interprets it." This may be pretty commonplace for the more technical among us, but for a simple mind like mine, this is very impressive; illustrating a powerful blend of innovation and strategic cross-platform design.
"No receipt" is an option - I didn't catch this the first time I wrote about Square's interaction, so I wanted to make sure I set the record straight. I had previously expressed concern with requiring a user to enter their email address for a receipt and stated that No Receipt should be an option for the sake of efficiency and stage frightened users. Not surprisingly "No receipt" is already an option. Another counterbalance to my concern about the retail line-killing capabilities of inputing an email address is that the device remembers emails. Still a pain for the first time you have to enter your email address, but a nice remedy for repeat business.
Quickbooks, inventory management and other open API ecosystem opportunities - While open APIs are sort of the standard protocol for new web services, what I really liked about Jack's comments is the thought that's already going into the API ecosystem (Quickbooks integration and inventory management systems are explicitly mentioned). When I first wrote about Square, I was most interested in the ability of Square to provide an out-of-the box loyalty program for business owners. The more I think about this the more it becomes clear that loyalty programs are just one layer of the power this system can provide small business owners. The open API will really enable this system to thrive.
Contract- and merchant account-Free - Riffing off Hutch Carpenter and TechCrunch, I think this business model innovation could literally be a game changer for merchant services providers. While Square is very new, it would seem wise not to discredit their opportunity. The parallel between the bone-rattling fear emanating from the mobile and telecommunications industry at the existence of a Google Phone (which could pave the way for free, ad-subsidized phones calling and no contracts - i.e. no need for AT&T, Verizon or anyone else) is stunning. Sure, Square has an nascent technology compared to the full installed base of Verifone et al, but for the right price (free card reader + no contract, etc), merchants could flock en masse to Square. This has tremendous, tremendous potential.
"Friction points" - This isn't really an observation of the UX, but just a term I noticed in Jack's presentation. I love how he refers to difficulties in card acceptance flow as "friction points". I'm probably drawn to the phrase because I mentally refer to breaks in user experience as "sand in the gears". If you've got friction or sand in the wheels, processes run less smoothly and eventually the process breaks from user fatigue/wear and tear. It's death by a thousand cuts (or long, irritating abrasion). It's also a reminder of how attuned Jack and his team are to user experience, making me believe that the concerns that follow have all been considered and are either in their implementation plans or have been otherwise dismissed as unimportant. Nevertheless . . .

So I've covered a lot of Square's awesomeness above. But one thing that's still bugging me: swiping the card. This demo is a great example of how this device could be annoying to use, which may cripple long-term adoption. While the cool factor and the business model are compelling reasons for merchants to switch initially, the device can't be annoying or they won't stay. In the video, the device fails for about 4 minutes. I lost count of how many swipes it took and I'm not sure what caused the malfunction here but you have to assume that this isn't the first time this has happened. This is a brand new device. What happens in a year of steady use? This is as good as this experience will ever be. In any case, if you watch the demo, you see a couple of things happening. 1) The swipe looks a little awkward 2) the Square moves in the jack a little after the swipe.

So let's take these in order:

The swipe looks awkward - I really can't put my finger on it, but it just looks odd to me. Maybe it's the square-ness or smallness of the device.Maybe it's the card and the device moving independently of one another, sort of like how you would try to spin a penny or a sharpen a knife. I don't know. All I can say is that it reminds me of the time my leaf blower broke. I used to start my leaf blower by holding it in one hand and pulling the starter cord with the other, i.e. both hands moving in opposite directions. It normally took about five cranks to get it to start. One day, the starter coil inside the blower broke. When I took it in to get it repaired the technician told me what the problem was. He said "How do you start it" I said that I started it as described above. He responded: "You shouldn't do that. You should always have it on the ground - put your foot on it to hold it down, then pull the cord." While holding it in one hand and pulling with the other seemed to give me more pull speed (two forces moving in opposite directions) the deal is that your energy is not as focused if you don't have the blower grounded/stable. When I took my repaired blower home, I tried it again using the mechanic's advice - it started with two pulls every time and has ever since. The grounding helped. My gut tells me this has a lot to do with the issues Jack had during his demo. Sure it had never happened before, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Square wouldn't benefit from some grounding. Keep the device stable - make the card swipe the only moving action. Along those lines . . .
The Square moves - In all of the failed attempts to swipe the card, the Square moved around several times. Getting to the design of the Square, it would seem like it might be more grounded if it clipped onto the iPhone somehow to prevent that from happening. With it swiveling around like that it sort of seems flimsy or unstable. Now of course providing a clipping mechanism might make it un-usable on all smartphones. So I know the device has to be somewhat agnostic here, but I still think it needs some grounding.

Docking station remedy

Add these two together + the possible perils of handing an iPod back and forth in a busy retail checkout environment + the challenge of signing a small screen while holding the smartphone along with other goods you just purchased and I'm convinced that a docking station is absolutely critical to widespread adoption of Square. All you need is a simple device that seats the smartphone, secures the Square (providing it the grounding needed to make the swipes more consistent), and is angled so that consumers can easily sign with their finger. Put a swivel on the base so merchants can turn it around after entering a transaction amount etc and you've solved all of these problems. No dropped phones, a secured swiping Square, a hard surface to sign your name against and type your email address against. Win.

In any case, given all of the fantastic attributes of Square, the grounding issue isn't a deal breaker, but it would seem to greatly improve the experience and ergonomics of the system. I'm not sure this is something that Square would provide as part of their core business but accessories like the docking station would seem like a great way to diversify their transaction-fee based revenue stream and improve the overall experience of their platform.

Video of Jack's Demo at Le Web:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/2747998

Filed under // Square card ergonomics human factors innovation merchant retail ui ux

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December 10, 2009

Still Broken: LinkedIn's Advanced Search by ZIP

LinkedIn rolled out a new interface today designed to improve screen real estate and navigation. I wasn't aware of the redesign until I went out there this morning but immediately noticed the changes. While it's not stunningly beautiful, it's still very functional and that wins all the important awards in my book. That said, one area that still bugs me on LinkedIn is the Advanced Search.

A lot of times I'll go out to LinkedIn to see if I can find a contact, only to discover through the Basic Search that there are several David Jones (as an example) on LinkedIn. Go figure. Instead of paging through the results, I'll just back up and hit the Advanced Search.This is typically fine if I know the company that the contact works for, but in some cases, I don't know that information. I may just know that they work somewhere near Rome, Georgia. Unfortunately, to perform this search, you can't just enter "Rome, GA" into your search criteria. You actually have to know Rome's ZIP Code.

Yeah.

Harder-Than-They-Should-Be Steps

While I'm sure that's the easiest way for the search to function technically, it's not at all functional for the people using the system, unless of course you're this guy. He probably loves this "feature". But if you're not that guy, at this point in your search, you're going to need to hit the "Lookup" link. But not before re-scanning the page to make sure you're not missing a City/State entry field. (You're not).

Clicking on "Lookup", you're taken to GeoNames, a third-party provider of ZIP codes. Fine, so you type in 'Rome, GA" and you get 5 search results for Rome.

Now you need to remember back to the other screen and recall that you are searching a 50 mile radius. Since Rome, GA is way smaller than that, you can pick any of these and you should be fine. Even still, you have to remember that search radius and after remembering you still scan that list one more time just to be sure you pick the right result. These are unnecessary mental reps that ding the usability; the system shouldn't make you think this much. Regardless, once you decide to pick one of the ZIPs, there's no "Use this ZIP" button or anything, you have to physically copy the ZIP, close the window or tab and then paste it (or memorize it or transcribe between screens) into the LinkedIn field.

Now complaining about copying and pasting sounds supremely lazy, but that step is just the culmination of a couple of harder-than-they-should-be steps. This search has just gotten annoying via death by a thousand (or 5 in this case) cuts. The reason these are cuts to the experience is that we're all used to Google (and other smart) searches now.

vs Smart Searches
Compare: I was playing cards with my buddy and he was showing off his new Droid. Specifically he was raving about the Google Search enabled voice dial, proclaiming. "You don't even need to have Pizza Hut in your contacts when you say 'Call Pizza Hut' . . . it just knows where your phone is, looks up the nearest Pizza Hut via Google, and calls that number for you." I had a similar experience with Google Search the other day. My wife and I were trying to send directions to a local park to some friends. The problem was that I didn't know the address of the park. I did, however know the name of a restaurant right next to the park. So in Google Maps, I just typed the destination as "Downwind Restaurant". Sure enough, Google knew where that was.

These are smart searches. The system is working for me in these examples. Contrast that to LinkedIn's search and you see why its geography search is distracting and annoying. Just let me type in "Rome, Georgia" or "Rome, Saskatchewan" "Rome, Italy" and have the system know the what I mean. Worst case, let me simply choose from the top three most likely places.

And sure this Advanced Search commentary is about a very small piece of functionality in an otherwise solid application, but attention to these details is what can set your brand and user experience apart. Better to be set apart by good experiences (Google's search) than frustrating ones.

(download)

Filed under // Google LinkedIn search ui usability ux

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December 8, 2009

Kinks in Square's User Experience

There's a new video out today walking through more details about Square. Quick recap of what we know now:

Cost: Dorsey hopes to give away the devices for free. I wonder if that's the just the first device or all devices. Since it's so small I could imagine them being easy to lose.
Revenue Stream: Transaction fee-based. Sounds like it's a charge on top of Interchange. I don't disagree with the approach, but merchants are already displeased with Interchange rates as is. Will be interesting to see how willing they will be to accept additional charges.
Launch date: Anticipated in March 2010

Some observations from the videos posted below:

"That was a LOT for a $3 transaction" - Not sure what the CNBC commentator's name was, but he's right. Watching the process in both videos seems like a lot of steps. While most card transactions have most of these steps, you don't see email entering or signing for low-dollar amounts much (or ever) these days. These elements are speed bumps where no speed bumps should be. The result is a slower transaction rate. In fact, in the second video at the coffeeshop, you can clearly see a cash transaction moving by at rocket speed in the background. Speed is important in retail transactions, particularly retail card transactions.
Can you email the receipt to me? OK, sure, just enter your email address. Really . . . my whole email address? - In my post about the Coke Freestyle, I mentioned stage fright. When there are people in line behind me and I need to enter my email address, which has 24 characters in it, this could be a huge bottleneck. Speed and ease of use are the reasons people use cards over cash. In fact, it's been the subject of a memorable Visa Check Card marketing campaign. While everyone likes to be green, people like speed and ease of use more. The SMS option they provide is better as it's just a phone number you need to enter, and of course the super easy alternative here is to simply provide no receipt. If the latter is not an option, it should be. Another neat option would be to "bump" the receipt to the person's iPhone/Droid but then you've just made the person fish for their phone in their pocket, at which point I'd rather just use my phone to pay via NFC.
Lots of handing the iPhone back and forth - Not sure how this handing an iPhone back and forth is going to play out in a busy restaurant/venue with people juggling a paper, a coffee, a muffin, and your store's credit card acceptance device (which happens to be your personal phone also). Hypercom terminals don't break often because they just sit there on the counter all day. Lots of handing back and forth would seem to increase accidents. Perhaps Square (or someone else) should consider creating a docking station for the iPhone for this type of environment? Something that would allow this exchange to take place more easily.
Sign with your finger . . . for $3 dollars? - Expectations these days are that low-dollar transactions will not require a signature. In fact, as almost a card-exclusive purchaser (I don't carry cash) I am always taken a little off guard when I have to sign for anything under about $15. I wouldn't want to have to sign for a $3 dollar transaction. I would imagine this is something that Square would provide as a setting for merchants.

All of these things are fixable so I still remain very interested and optimistic about Square's future. It will be neat to see how that plays out. Anyway, here are the videos of Square in action:

Filed under // CX IxD Square UX card merchant retail usability

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