Box it up, then be creative
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Tuesday, 23 December 08 - 07:21 PM (GMT +10:00) By James Breeze in Strategic thinking |
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Earlier this year, I wrote on thinking strategically then filling in the boxes. Successful innovations start this way.
Mark McGuinness reminded me of this as I played one of his his mind games for thinking inside the box tonight here on my holiday in NZ.
He uses creative constraints like time, money and understanding market realities to generate better and faster innovations. But he reminds us to forget about the restrictions of red tape and any fears you may have. Most of all he points out that understanding your customers and what they do is key! Erm... I agree!
I always remember when I was in a meeting with a big bank and the creatives were being drilled on the benefits of accessibility with the website they had just built. I heard cries of "you're stemming our creativity" and "that's so boring" but if they had been given their creative constraints up front, or better still, created them themselves, then there would have been no argument.
The value of eye gaze data during usability tests
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Monday, 22 December 08 - 07:17 PM (GMT +10:00) By James Breeze in Eye tracking |
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If you don't have an observer during a lab-based Tobii eye tracking usability test, you may be missing client impressions and insights from the participant you're testing!
I was recently doing some eye tracking with a global banking client. The client project managers and designers were in the observation room watching the person’s eye gaze data live on the screen as the participant was doing some usability testing. It was amazing to realise that they were actually learning things that the usability interviewer was not.
The clients could see a trace of the participants eye gaze in real time. Therefore, they found the usability VERY interesting and it was blatantly obvious when a participant got confused or looked at things that were superfluous to the task at hand! The exactly way a participant's eye move on the screen may not be completely apparent to the facilitator.
The clients added a whole heap of value to the process, and helped me to clarify my recommendations, and also make sure that I didn’t miss anything they thought was important to report on!
Because the clients are getting all these great insights, a debrief after the session is imperative!
If you don't have an observers, or time for a debrief how can you fix this?
Use a third computer to show the participant's gaze data live to the facilitator!
To do this you need to connect all three computers through a LAN and enable Remote Live Viewing on your eye tracker. Angle the facilitator's screen away from the participant and your ready to go!
OZCHI08
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Wednesday, 10 December 08 - 12:02 PM (GMT +10:00) By James Breeze in UX |
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Just started OZCHI 08 in Cairns. We are staying at Palm Cove and it is very very very hot and humid!
130 people and many from overseas! Bas and I are exhibiting the Tobii eye trackers. Looks like we might be able to eye track an interactive game with location based mobile photos, that way we can see which ones people like the most.
Here's a taste of the view out the front of our hotel!
Tim Winton on surfing
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Sunday, 07 December 08 - 08:56 PM (GMT +10:00) By James Breeze in Strategic thinking |
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I just read this inspiring interview by Tim Baker, of Surfing Life fame, with award winning author Tim Winton.
There's times I go out at Long Reef, across the road from my place, after a busy work day and for ages can't seem to catch any waves that are worth writing home about. Mainly, this is because I don't let go. Let go of the day, the past, tomorrow or what other people think. I don't live in the moment.
Then, I'll catch a screamer, and everything changes, I spend the rest of my surf totally ripping, totally absorbed.
Tim, the writer, describes this perfectly,
[Surfing is] a way of slowing down and processing stuff without consciously addressing it. A lot of the time we’re forced to live in the future or the past. Surfing is something that keeps you in the present tense. Some of that is just the immediacy of the problems it sets you, physical adjustments you make every half second to stay on your feet or avoid physical injury (or discomfort, at least). Some of it is just the energy required that dulls much of your other problems.
I don't meditate much anymore, but I surf. Once again, Tim captures this,
For me surfing is about beauty and connectedness. Riding a wave to shore is a lovely, meditative thing to be able to do. You’re walking on water, tapping the sea’s energy without extracting anything from it. You’re meeting the sea, not ripping anything out of it.
And I'm being environmentally friendly at the same time,
Few other water pursuits have this non-exploitative element. As a boater, fisherman, shell-collector or whatever, I’m always taking something away from the sea, having an impact on it... But as a surfer I’m riding energy that the sea is expending of its own accord, the way a dolphin or seal or sea-lion does. The actual physical sensation of sliding down a wall of water, feeling really awake and alive and in the moment, is hard to describe to the non-surfer. It looks beautiful and it feels beautiful. Knowing that you’re not doing any damage just makes the feeling better. For some men in particular, whose lives require a kind of utilitarian mindset that can be pretty unfulfilling, this is one of the few activities they undertake in which they can do something pointlessly beautiful. There’s no material result, nothing they can show themselves or the boss. There’s just a bit of a rush, an elevated heart rate, a buzz that lasts all the rest of the day.
I am most certainly taking a copy of 'Breath' on holiday with me!
Eyetracking in Robotics
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Saturday, 29 November 08 - 06:00 AM (GMT +10:00) By James Breeze in Technology helping people |
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Imagine a person in a wheel chair using their eyes to control a robot to help them around the house or to steer their wheelchair?
Martin Tall has recently developed software to harness someone's eye gaze, as captured by an eye tracker, and communicate with a small robot constructed with LEGO.
In Martin's words, "The concept allows for a human-machine interaction with a direct mapping of the users intention"
Imagine if you could link this up with the Emotiv software, that I blogged about previously, and use your thoughts to control the robot too!
Design it wrong
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Monday, 24 November 08 - 10:18 PM (GMT +10:00) By James Breeze in UX |
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Joshua Ledwell has it right with his short post on iterative user interface design.
In my words:
Someone once said Fail early, fail often... Early means UX people should iterate wireframes over and over again! It is very important to communicate this to partners and clients clearly at the start of a project. It can take a while for them to understand that your wireframes are not going to be perfect straight up! This is particularly true of rich applications - the possibilities of interface design are infinite! At the early stages of the project the wireframes lead to innovation, they trigger ideas and requirements that were not previously considered. This is particularly for new products. Iterated wireframes also allow each member of the project team to 'show' us their perspective. You know, many minds are better than one (UX) person!
Conversations leveraged
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Friday, 07 November 08 - 09:14 PM (GMT +10:00) By James Breeze in Social networks |
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Jye Smith insights into conversations recently prompted me to wax lyrical on his blog. I couldn't let you miss out!
Jye Says:
(nice pic Jye, had to be reposted!)We all have conversations every day. But why? What inspires you to do so? A lot of people I know are introverted and shy away from new conversations but thrive on conversations with old friends.
Are customers friends we haven’t met? How are you going to start this conversation?
When I talk to someone, when I blog, when I respond: I want to learn. In fact, in all facets of my life right now, I’m looking to learn as much as possible. I don’t want to do what I can do, I want to attempt something I haven’t done yet — and use what I’ve already learnt. That, to me, is what I’m trying to do here: here’s what I know so far, now what do you think?
In order to learn, we need to fail.
Whether its coffee mornings or teapots at World Bar — I want to learn more. What inspires you?
I responded:
Conversations are awesome! I hunger for them. Sometimes they generate inspiration, however, that inspiration is often fleeting, forgotten in a busy work day, stressful moment or a great wave.
Only when I continue to ponder that inspiration does it actually change my perspective. Then I learn and maybe even turn it into and insight that improves my life in some way. But how do I do this?
I leverage conversations by blogging. When I get inspired I think, ‘I’ll blog that’, then I write the inspirational nuggets down on a beer coaster, serviette or a pad. Maybe I’ll even use my phone to Tweet about it, that’s like writing a note to self. Then, when I get time, I enter the nugget into my blog and start writing my thoughts down free form. I might even do a bit of research!
I may complete a post then and there or I might finish it in a year. Doesn’t matter, the inspiration is safe. When I actually write the blog post, tighten it up, worry about what other people will think and publish; I process the inspiration and turn it into an insight. But that is not it. The process is only part way there!
Once blogged, people read about the insight and comment. They might criticise me or praise me, either way, I learn. Only then is the conversation truly leveraged.
Thanks Jye!
Eye tracking my Baby Benjmain
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Thursday, 06 November 08 - 06:02 PM (GMT +10:00) By James Breeze in Eye tracking |
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Check this out!
I used a Tobii T60 eye tracker to track my son looking at some Facebook pictures. See how he always focuses on human eyes and mouths. He ignores Belinda and our doggy because they weren't looking right at the camera!
Oh, and it was so easy to do! He's standing on my wife Kylie's lap and bobbing around all over the place.
In Case of Emergency
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Thursday, 30 October 08 - 04:57 AM (GMT +10:00) By James Breeze in Technology helping people |
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Apparently this is a standard procedure all paramedics follow at the scene of an accident when they come across your mobile.
ICE - In Case of Emergency
We all carry our mobile phones with names & numbers stored in its memory but nobody, other than ourselves, knows which of these numbers belong to our closest family or friends.
If we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill, the people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn't know who to call. Yes, there are hundreds of numbers stored but which one is the contact person in case of an emergency? Hence this 'ICE' (In Case of Emergency) Campaign.
The concept of 'ICE' is catching on quickly. It is a method of contact during emergency situations. As mobile phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you need to do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name 'ICE' ( In Case Of Emergency).
The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when he went to the scenes of accidents, there were always mobile phones with patients, but they didn't know which number to call. He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized name for this purpose. In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and hospital Staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialing the number you have stored as 'ICE.'
For more than one contact name simply enter ICE1, ICE2 and ICE3 etc. A great idea that will make a difference!
Let's spread the concept of ICE by storing an ICE number in our Mobile phones today!
Technology helping people...
Bake your eye tracking cake
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Saturday, 18 October 08 - 01:20 AM (GMT +10:00) By James Breeze in Eye tracking |
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Do usability professionals really use eye tracking to its full potential?
During my recent training course with other Tobii resellers, Tommy Strandvall, Tobii's trainer, used a cake analogy to describe how eye tracking data is leveraged in UX projects.
He spoke of three ways to enhances research outcomes.
The cherry on top.
Analysis happens as part of a standard usability test and client/developers usually observe participants' gaze data live in the viewing room. The best clips from the best sessions are replayed when usability test results are presented and a few heat maps are quickly pulled from the data and used to illustrate key findings.
In this context the eye tracking is commonly used as a sales value add and some eye candy that the end client can flash around their office.
The Icing.
Analysis is completed after the test and the the eye tracking data is one key focus. Practitioners us some metrics to support their findings, however the standard usability methods are generally the main source of information.
The cake.
Eye tracking is leveraged in the process for all relevant UX work. Whether it be as a key component of the final report, a way to manage actual usability testing sessions or simply as a key method of analysing and drawing conclusions from the data. In this case, other methods of UX research and design are used in concert with eye tracking but most findings are based on eye tracking data, relying heavily on objective metrics and additional analysis with statistical tools outside of the eye tracking software.For the 'Cake Bakers' eye tracking is not presented as an option or 'a nice to have'. It is simply 'The way we do things round here', it is embedded in all UX practices of a business. This includes having a clearly outlined process or user centred design that incorporates eye tracking at all stages in all projects. For example:
- Tracking existing or competitor sites
- Quickly tracking wire frames for iterative feedback
- Tracking different design concepts
- Tracking beta sites
The data is used to deeply understand and empathise with how test participants experience the product, why they have problems and whether what they are telling you is an accurate representation of what they actually thought.
What this means is that the reports that are produced are considerably more insightful than ones that did not have eye tracking because the experimenter has a more detailed understanding of human experience.
Additionally, the data is used in an objective way to illustrate successes for the designers and issues during the test. This might be in terms of relevant heat maps, gaze plots and video highlights.
Misunderstanding of eye tracking, and the 'Cherry' approach, has meant that eye tracking can be perceived as fairly light and lacking insight, particularly considering the equipment is quite expensive. But this does not have to be the case!
We need to show the UX industry that eye tracking as a valuable and objective tool that is critical to understanding exactly what people are experiencing. This will allow us to leverage eye tracking and create better experiences for everyone.
... More items are available in our News Archive
