05.15.11
I am starting to believe that designers definitely need to start reading up on psychology. In fact, I am certain that if you were to pick some of the best designers in the market today, they would all understand human emotions and the psyche very well.
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07.22.10
Check out this article at Engadget.com.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/22/kin-listed-as-at-least-240-million-writeoff-in-microsoft-earnin/
Mark my words, bad product design will cost you. In Microsoft’s case, it costs them $240 million! $240 million! Most companies will never see that kind of revenues in their lifetime. It is very critical, I mean absolutely critical to have a great Product Design team.
In my opinion, Kin was a flawed product from the beginning. It was touted for a different market. A market which in my opinion did not exist. My guess is MSFT released this product so as to find a reason to bury the product managers and the team behind it. I have read numerous reports that internal wars @ Microsoft were largely responsible for this product. My Q: “What was the CEO of the company doing?” and why he isn’t held accountable for this gaffe.
This is a serious rookie mistake from a corporation like MSFT. This is good, however, as it is a classic case study in bad product design.
07.18.10
In my previous post I talked about the “Design of Things to Come”. I proposed that companies should start taking design very seriously by giving it an equal footing compared to the other areas of product development.
In this post, I propose the strategies to find change agents within your organization. If you cannot find the change agents, I propose hiring one at the top most level so that change can happen throughout the organization.
Before I give you the solution, here are things you should NOT do:
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07.04.10
“Every $1 invested in usability returns between $10 and $100″ – IBM
Reference: http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/DS01
Our Software industry has changed radically over the past few years. It is for the first time in years that technology has closed in the *familiarity* gap. “What is the familiarity gap, Anup?” you might ask.
See, originally products were always thought of to work a certain way – the way that the users were most familiar with, mimicking real world behaviors – but they never did, largely because of technical limitations. The end product always worked differently and wasn’t intuitive enough, and thereby never bridged the familiarity gap. You could not open up an app or a site and just start using it in the most natural intuitive way without a 100 page user manual or a 3hr training.
Contrast that to the apps and well designed sites today, if you need training to use a system, the product team dropped the ball.
There is a whole new paradigm of user interface design called NUI (Natural User Interface). The success of the iPhone and touch screens has only scratched the surface of the art of designing experiences that connect with you as a user and are an *extension of your behaviors*.
If you ever listen to Bill Buxton speak (http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/DS16) you will notice the importance of the Design of Things to come.
Bill often compares physical designs like buildings, objects etc to software or systems and identifies commonalities between the two and provides us with guidelines to build products and systems that facilitate building wonderful products.
For many, UX equates to designing a pretty looking website, or providing “lipstick on the pig” to an existing site. WRONG! Tony Hsieh shows that user experience trumps over everything. It affects each and every aspect of your business including your people and your product. That is where Zappos comes in. Buying shoes is an ordinary proposition. Buying shoes at Zappos.com is an experience in itself. Nothing can be more rewarding than a Zappos experience.
The future of our industry lies on designing not just your software, but your business, your technology and your customer service in a way that all these elements seamlessly blend into a superior product that delivers more than you promised. And that is what I call as the “Design of Things” to come.
Companies that understand the importance of design will be the only companies that will survive moving forward. Apple is leading the way (think iPhone, iPad), Microsoft has slowly started showing signs of excellence on certain areas (think Zune HD, Zune Software, Bing and Kinect (think gestures)) and the rest of the companies will eventually follow suit or perish.
It is only when you give design, technology and business an equal footing in building a product that you can come up with beautiful, functional and memorable products.
Read the above sentence very carefully, I mention the fact that design, technology and business each have an equal footing. Corporate Managers will rebuke the above statement. I won’t be surprised. But the price you pay for not following this simple advice is very high. I have personally seen at least one startup with around $50 million in funding bury itself to the ground because the managers’ inability to change to accept this cold hard fact. If only they had listened…
It is a very tough job to change habits, but our industry must realize that these old habits need to die for the good of our industry. Millions of people use our products, some make a living using our products. Can we subject them to the pain and frustration on a day-to-day basis? I think not. It is morally incorrect to build products that frustrate users on a day-to-day basis. They will find alternatives, they always do.
So say you agree to all that I have to say. You’ll tell me, “OK Anup, I am ready to make this change. Tell me how.” I will welcome your decision with a smile and tell you that change will be slow, but certain. It has to be carefully orchestrated so as to not run your business to the ground. It has to be planned and not just in timelines, but also in resources, personnel and technology.
The next article I write will talk about the importance of personnel and finding the right change agents either within your organization or on the outside. Help is readily available, at prices far cheaper than you can imagine.
03.22.10
I’m very impressed by this video talk at the Mix 2010 Conference. This shows that the possibilities are endless when you have the right mix of technology and design. Enjoy!
http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/DS11
