Digital Insanity Magazine by Bruno Amaral

RanchStories

Tue, 11 Dec 2018 22:24:02 +0000

Alan Cooper

#RanchStories

The father of visual basic

Writing feature packed bug free software didn’t guarantee success

Most significant innovation is paired design

The results of pair design á la @MrAlanCooper is mind-blowing. I can really recommend it. #uxlx
— Per Axbom (@axbom) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/axbom/status/735866573869711364

The one and only @MrAlanCooper is up on stage and we are all in awe. #ranchstories #uxlx
— Adam Bruzon (@adambruzon) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/adambruzon/status/735866761019592705

Everyone who designs and develops software has the power to shape the way we live. @MrAlanCooper #uxlx
— Melissa Perri (@lissijean) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/lissijean/status/735866733291012098

@eilis_boyle: We’re all cyborgs and alchemists @MrAlanCooper @caseorganic #uxlx

We're all cyborgs and alchemists @MrAlanCooper @caseorganic #uxlx
— Eilis Boyle (@eilis_boyle) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/eilis_boyle/status/735867221247938560

"Agricultural & software dev are similar if industrialised & can be toxic. You don't have to deplete to make a profit." .@MrAlanCooper #uxlx
— Graphic Mint (@Graphic_Mint) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/graphic_mint/status/735868464368373760

"Agricultural & software dev are similar if industrialised & can be toxic. You don't have to deplete to make a profit." .@MrAlanCooper #uxlx
— Graphic Mint (@Graphic_Mint) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/graphic_mint/status/735868464368373760

lissijean: Software companies that focus on profit forsake their values and treat customers like extractable resources. @MrAlanCooper #uxlx

Melissa Perri @lissijean on Twitter

https://twitter.com/lissijean/status/735868836377944067

"So many of the hard learned lessons of the industrial age don't work with bits the way they did with atoms" @MrAlanCooper #uxlx
— Stephanie Rieger 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇨🇦🇪🇺🍵 (@stephanierieger) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/stephanierieger/status/735869572448931840

Tightly managed teams rarely create great software.

Alan Cooper

"Family agriculture feeds the world. It's wrong that it's not economically viable…the same is happening in technology." @MrAlanCooper #uxlx
— Stephanie Rieger 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇨🇦🇪🇺🍵 (@stephanierieger) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/stephanierieger/status/735871080523534337

@MrAlanCooper Smart, deep and human oriented talk as closing keynote at #uxlx conference pic.twitter.com/ZGEH5VkXq9
— Wiesław Kotecki (@WiesiekKotecki) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/wiesiekkotecki/status/735872220304691201

Profit is a by-product of quality

Interaction Designers vs Algorithms

Tue, 11 Dec 2018 22:11:05 +0000

@gilescolborne

gilescolborne: How I stopped worrying and learned to love algorithms. https://t.co/iYFZMDFD70 #uxlx

How I stopped worrying and learned to love algorithms. https://t.co/iYFZMDFD70 #uxlx
— Giles Colborne (@gilescolborne) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/gilescolborne/status/735864857313042432

Spotify has a feature where they suggest a playlist to the users, based on their algorythm. What did the designer do to add value?

Natural Languages interfaces are being used more and more.

The GUI doesn’t need to be redesigned.

Will designers be replaced by data scientists ?

How algorithms work

ranking
sensory input
anticipation and agents
natural language

They need data to work.

First layer of data: time table data for example. Second layer: gps data from the bus Third layer: local weather, traffic…

we can use the different layers to anticipate and predict what will happen.

Inputs —> algorythm —> output

Has a designer you need to know what output is useful for the user.

You start with a raw algorithm and it evolves being adjusted as time goes by.

gabrielhl: Watching @gilescolborne talk at @uxlx? Nice long reads on Spotify Discover Weekly: https://t.co/3yLGVkTIzV and https://t.co/502Unvh5a3 #uxlx

Watching @gilescolborne talk at @uxlx? Nice long reads on Spotify Discover Weekly: https://t.co/3yLGVkTIzV and https://t.co/502Unvh5a3 #uxlx
— Gabriel Lovato (@gabrielhl) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/gabrielhl/status/735861538075103232

Don’t just add extra layers, find which make the most difference to the user to find the optimal solution faster.

There as to be a dialogue between the designer and the engineer to find what is best to the user. — Giles Colborne

Conversations can’t start with a blank screen and need to setup a path to success.

Just because the answer is correct, it doesn’t mean it’s the right answer. What format does the user want to see?

stephanierieger: Basic algorithm design: Inputs (what’s available, accurate, meaningful) + Algorithm (w/ relevant training) + Output (what user needs) #uxlx

Basic algorithm design: Inputs (what's available, accurate, meaningful) + Algorithm (w/ relevant training) + Output (what user needs) #uxlx
— Stephanie Rieger 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇨🇦🇪🇺🍵 (@stephanierieger) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/stephanierieger/status/735863398890668032

users need a clear signal: are they talking to a bot or a human ?

Spotify’s discover weekly feels like a mixtape from a friend and not a message from a bot.

There is an undefinable quality between those tracks.

Designing to Learn

Tue, 11 Dec 2018 21:56:58 +0000

@lissijean

https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/MelissaPerri/designing-to-learn

The controversial subject of the MVP

Great for testing yet some teams seem defensive towards it.

We don’t do that here.

MVP is seen as

a way to cut corners.
the first version of a product
a product built in half the time and budget

MVP should be the minimum ammount of effort required to learn.

The definition is not coherent and needs to evolve.

Proposal: let's get rid of the term MVP

focus on the goal: learn what your customers want and need as early as possible and to get it into their hands fast.

It’s a process, not a product.

do our customers really have this problem?
what do our customers expect to gain in the end ?
What are they doing to solve the problem on their own?
what do they care about in a solution
where will they use the solution?

Problem-Solution Fit VS Product-Market fit

Design ways to learn more

It’s hard to get in touch with users who drop out.

What’s their biggest problem ?

Users couldn’t find the menus, information on what goes in the box, they didn’t understand the product.

The IA was wrong.

The experiments need to be designed to learn about the customer, it’s not to learn whether or not the solution works.

Example: HiFly

They fill in for flights that get canceled or have to be repaired.

Other companies use it to test new routes at a fraction of the cost of investing in the new route from the get go.

Example: Airbnb

Hosts were posting bad photos. Airbnb took it on themselves to take better photos and saw a spike on conversion rate.

Airbnb added the possibility to hire a photographer for free.

Product strategy emerges from experimentation

Sofymaxi: Design experiments to learn. But experiments are not excuses to don't focus on the big idea @lissijean #uxlx #leanux #mvp

Design experiments to learn. But experiments are not excuses to don't focus on the big idea @lissijean #uxlx #leanux #mvp
— Sophie Muto (@Sofymaxi) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/sofymaxi/status/735857705789849603

Strategy is the long term goal and vision.

Management needs to change the way they are doing their jobs. They need to provide good vision, goals and guardrails to help the team move forward.

Your brand is how people feel about your product or service. — Bill Beard

fearing Cost of delay: delaying features or product may mean competitors get ahead in the market share.

for the first version there should be a next quick iteration.

Figure out what the customers want and not the MVP

The Emerging Global Web

Tue, 11 Dec 2018 21:47:11 +0000

@stephanierieger

http://slideshare.net/yiibu

http://www.slideshare.net/yiibu/the-emerging-global-web

The online World is saturated in developed economies and we are seeing emerging economies coming.

Price of devices is going down and soon everyone will be able to go online.

Examples:

man in kuwait selling sheep on instagram
people in tailand selling products on facebook

Hacked businesses based on this new technology.

davilagrau: Tons of data in the presentation about The Emerging Gobal Web @stephanierieger @uxlx #defign #ux

sophiavux: Learning about Kuwaiti shepards and grandmas selling sheep and dried fruit on Instagram. A whole other web. #uxlx

Learning about Kuwaiti shepards and grandmas selling sheep and dried fruit on Instagram. A whole other web. #uxlx
— Sophia V Prater (@sophiavux) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/sophiavux/status/735834049403572224

How these markets are evolving and using the web

Chinese commerce is also different in an important way

90% of Online retail is sold through online marketplaces as opposed to other economies where they use individual sellers.

From selling sheep to clothes, mobiles & social empower the informal economy in rural areas. #uxlx pic.twitter.com/PFZrv0La5n
— Evgenia Grinblo (@Grinblo) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/grinblo/status/735834818303426561

these marketplaces are looking for opportunities to reach small villages as a way to gain new users to sell online.

One person serves as an ambassador and seller for the whole village.

This chinese marketplace model is already spreading

Jumia in Africa for example

How can consumers find what they really want?

Imagine pinterest with a monetization system built from scratch.

Loving the fast passed presentation from @stephanierieger in #uxlx #conference #freshinsights pic.twitter.com/jceiD70U6m
— Frederico Carvalho (@FredCarvalho) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/fredcarvalho/status/735836223223304192

Developing markets are going straight to Social

WeChat is the poster child for this. Fivee years old and 7 milion users. Does photo blogs, subscriptions and allows to customize the API, pay and have a virtual wallet.

Not just chat, but functional stuff.

You can talk with bots and people and sometimes both in the same context.

Kenya - mobile banking infra-structure M-paya(?)

Giant marketplaces are dealing with a problem of counterfeits

Ali Baba created a paying platform and it creates an escrow service. It holds the money until the buyer approves the sale after inspecting the product. — Alipay

It is now being used as a currency in all of china

Mobile is the glue of these services and platforms.

QR Codes are central in wechat, messenger also uses it and in china it can be used for payments.

So much information in @stephanierieger's talk about internet in developing countries that it's impossible to pick what to tweet #uxlx
— Gabriel Lovato (@gabrielhl) May 26, 2016

https://twitter.com/gabrielhl/status/735838383847673857

Online, Offline and Mobile or Desktop is irrelevant. Everything blends into everyday life.

Russia is faced with a problem in postal infra structure. Sales assistants go door-to-door and get payments as well.

lissijean: Lamoda in Russia sends delivery men with clothes packages to your doors, have you try it on, give fashion advice collect payment. #uxlx

Lamoda in Russia sends delivery men with clothes packages to your doors, have you try it on, give fashion advice collect payment. #uxlx

Melissa Perri @lissijean

Fairy Tale Experiences

Tue, 11 Dec 2018 20:53:55 +0000

Per Axbom

The more people’s brain is in auto pilot, the better ?

The reptilian brain is great for conversion.

What is our responsibility to the user?

Task completion is not the same as goal fulfillment. #uxlx #fairytale https://t.co/jOZrTCbrXX

axbom

We made things so simple that we are losing relevance for the user. Who needs to accidently buy 18 L of milk anyway?

Task completition is not the same as goal completion. We need to turn off the auto pilot and help the user think.

monicadefonseca: ... you cannot make everything that easy! Is not fair #Uxlx @axbom

axbom: Making it hard for people to join can give you loyal, active and serious users. #uxlx #fairytale

Making it hard for people to join can give you loyal, active and serious users. #uxlx #fairytale pic.twitter.com/bvnTHOZ5fy
— Per Axbom (@axbom) May 26, 2016

filipexav: "Making something easy does not create loyalty. Understanding people's real story does. Patience does" @axbom #uxlx

"Making something easy does not create loyalty. Understanding people's real story does. Patience does" @axbom #uxlx pic.twitter.com/zKkQtStQVH
— Filipe Xavier (@filipexav) May 26, 2016

People need to feel accomplishment

It is liberating to clear obstacles, game designers add obstacles to increase satisfaction.

How We Talk, How Machines Listen

Mon, 10 Dec 2018 12:21:49 +0000

These are my notes from UX LX 2016, recently recovered from Evernote and therefore being published outside of their natural sequence. For the rest of the content, open the UXLX16 story page

@jonesabi

Humans respond to the volume they hear.

today we are going to cover our process of conversation, how we speak to machines and how to make machines with voice interfaces stronger.

rules that we follow everyday

when we walk down the street we don’t make eye contact with other humans.

making eye contact is a form of recognition and that we would like to engage in conversation.

steps

recognition
greeting
initial enquiry

Grician maxims

say what is true
be as informative as required
be relevant
be perspicuous

Leaning about Grician Maxims (and how fictional narratives constantly break them) from @jonesabi #uxlx https://www.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/dravling/grice.html

stephanieriegerTweet

Computers need to wait for us to stop talking in order to process what we said.

It then extracts tiny parts of speech, runs sound recognition to understand the natural language.

The dialogue manager keeps track of this process and identifies the differente elements of the sentence.

It then generates natural language.

Neural Networks are being used to improve this process.

Paris - France + Italy = Rome.

Basebal - Bat + Racket = tennis

there is a hidden layer that humans don’t have access to, and it processes this information to come up with the best probable outcome.

Coesion

Cohesion is the glue of discourse - cohen giangola, balogh

My kid only eats rice He can’t survive on that.

Computers can now understand pronouns.

Cadence

rythm, stress and intonation

For every word spoken to a computer, we need to give different levels of intonation

Context

Context is an agent’s understanding of the relationships between the elements of the agent’s environment.

— Andrew Hinton

Comprehensive

People will only use voice interfaces when they don’t need failure modes like the computer saying it can’t do that without asking for more information.

A conversation interface that really works needs to be able to match all these requirements.

Really interesting talk about voice interfaces by @jonesabi More info here https://t.co/IYWEAg95hn #uxlx #design #ux
— Andrés-Leonardo Martínez-Ortiz (@davilagrau) May 26, 2016

Photos

recording of ‘how we talk, how machines listen' 20160526 11:01:31.m4a

Calm Tech

Tue, 01 Nov 2016 17:25:22 +0000

@caseorganic

We are all cyborgs, we use objects and technology to go outside our natural environment or be able to do new things.

We are waking up next to our technology. How does that affect us?

Macy Meetings in 1941 : anthropology and scientists dicussing technology

50 billion devices will be online by 2020 — Cisco

1. We live in an era of interruptive technology

We need a calm technology

Attention is a scarce resource.

2. Technology should empower the periphery

3. technology should inform and encalm

example: the heat sink shows the water's temperature using colored light

4. tech should amplify the best of tech and the best of humanity

machines shouldn't act like humans
humans shouldn't act like machines

Humans are good at curating, technology is good at going through a lot of data.

5. technology can communicate but doesn't need to speak

6. technology should consider social norms

Technology should consider social norms: is it enhancing, normal, or restorative? @caseorganic #uxlx pic.twitter.com/kpLpzKAsSv
— Evgenia Grinblo (@Grinblo) May 26, 2016

Where are the norms now, where will they be in the future?

How will people react to it?

Google glass is not a new feature on a current device. It's a whole new device with several new features.

It was too much for people to handle at once.

The iPhone was the opposite example. Improved on an existing system, developer on boarding, limited features.

Calm technology focuses on the mental cost of doing things.

A person's primary task should not be computing, but being human. — Amber Case

The scarce resource in the 21 st century will not be technology, it will be attention. — Mark Weiser

CalmTech.com

Amber Case, presenting Calm Tech

Semantic Noodling

Sat, 22 Oct 2016 17:49:09 +0100

UXLx

UXLx brings professionals from all over the world to Lisbon for 3 whole days of trainning and networking. Next edition is taking place on the 23^rd and 26^th of May 2017.

Programme and Tickets

Programme and Tickets are available at UX-LX.com

This talk was without a doubt one of the most intriguing ones. Chris brought to the stage tales of divination, randomizers and even party games to unblock creativity.

UX Podcast has an interview with Chris and Denise Jacobs on both their views on creativity.

Q: How do you think new things?

A: we can't help it

Chris Noessel also tweets as and using the #nametale hashtag

The doors of perception by Aldous Huxley

2 out of 2 speakers referring to hallucinogenic drugs! #uxlx
— Séamus Byrne (@SeamusByrne) May 26, 2016

"What worked before is what we need not to do."
— Chris Noessel

Divination

Haruspication : divining by sheep liver
I Ching : produce random binary numbers to find reference to a pre written set of 'answers'
Tarot: context, focus and outcome by drawing random cards

Entertainment

Other machines that produce new meaning:

Mad libs
Musikalische Würfelspiele : a musical dice game
Ariadne's thread (latourex)
The lonely planet guide to planetary travel. Techniques to discover a new place
Cards against humanity

Deep structure

Signifiers, randomized in a fixed grammar & read for new meaning.

Semantic Noodling & Meaning Machines

Creativity

Poetry: "The rose is red. The violet's blue. Sugar is sweet, and so are you."

N+7 (oulipo)

Signoras, randomized in a fixedgram & read for mean square

Constrained writing allows us to find new linguistic formulations.

We've gone from Haruspication - reading future on a sheep's liver to Oulipo, a way of randomizing an intended text. @chrisnoessel #uxlx
— Gabriel Lovato (@gabrielhl) May 26, 2016

Name Reconstruction

Exercise

Name recostruction @meaningmachines #nametale pic.twitter.com/XdnEiOIX6p
— Marzia Battaglia (@marzia_bat) May 26, 2016

Sketch by @dblo_om

@meaningmachines

Name: David Blum

Story: A farmer picking up weed flowers #UXLx #sketchnotes pic.twitter.com/9DhJ2RwEC5
— David Blum (@dblumx) May 26, 2016

Photos of Chris Noessel at UXLx

Co-Create Creating Better Together

Sat, 22 Oct 2016 00:29:39 +0100

UXLx

This is possibly the biggest conference for User Experience professionals of any field. Next edition is on the 23 and 26^th of May 2017.

Programme and Tickets

Programme and Tickets are available at UX-LX.com

Source: DeniseJacobs.com

Create

Creativity is the new black, it is highly valued by others. We are hardwired to create.

For business, it's necessary.

.@uxlx We must dispel the myth of the lone creative genius, who constantly generates brilliant ideas alone. #createtogether #uxlx
— Denise Jacobs (@denisejacobs) May 26, 2016

We need to avoid silos and work in concert with others.

Steps for creativity

1. unblock

Fear of being judged, and criticized, is a block.

Fear of making mistakes, not being perfect.

Fear of ideas being too unique, too different.

The inner critic is the main block for creativity.

.@uxlx Great acronym for F.E.A.R.=False Evidence Appearing Real (or F*uck Everything And Run!) #createtogether #uxlx
— @denisejacobs:

.@uxlx Great tips for "Banishing Your Inner Critic" https://t.co/3t9XTOye8t #createtogether #uxlx https://t.co/kIpFHAmrxM
— @denisejacobs

Adopt an experimentation mindset and Ideas will start to flow

2. Connect

More people: more creativity

Be generous, share ideas… there's a flipside: you also have to listen.

Avoid over talking because you are muting others.

Tips for listening

Be present
Pay attention
Relax your own agenda

Try it: Talk + Talk / Talk + Encourage, it builds trust and safety.

.@uxlx Generating good ideas with people means listening. Work to become an adept listener. #createtogether #uxlx
— @denisejacobs

3. combine

Diversity of people = diversity of ideas

Complementary roles and responsibilities

Respond and adapt to the environment to create

.@uxlx “Play is how we invent and experiment.” – @bigmediumjosh, “The Web Gets Real” #createtogether #uxlx
— @denisejacobs

.@uxlx Read this Book!! Betterness: Economics for Humans: https://t.co/6dKeBwHQoR #uxlx #createtogether https://t.co/2qK40jg5mW
— @denisejacobs

.@uxlx “Collaboration flourishes when there is a willingness to embrace new practices and thinking.”- @distilco, “How to Collaborate” #uxlx
— @denisejacobs

Instead of "yes, but", work to amplify the ideas of others. It's called plussing.

Start where you are
Accept the offer
Fully commit
The response is always "yes, and"
Make your colleagues look good

4. construct

Build an environment for creativity

5. encourage stupid ideas

They may be the best ones

This co creation is a new paradigm, it's time to up level our creativity.

It's not about more stuff, it's about making things better

Betterness: Economics for humans a book by Umair Haque

Sketch by @danavizcaino

Unblock your inner critic to spark your creativity & develop possibilities @denisejacobs @uxlx #uxlx @momentdesign pic.twitter.com/sfAkJkNFoW
— Dana Vizcaino (@DanaVizcaino) May 26, 2016

Banish you inner critic

Denise has a book coming out in 2017, and you can sign up for it now.

Digital Insanity Magazine by Bruno Amaral

RanchStories

Interaction Designers vs Algorithms

How algorithms work

Designing to Learn

Proposal: let's get rid of the term MVP

Design ways to learn more

Product strategy emerges from experimentation

The Emerging Global Web

Examples:

How these markets are evolving and using the web

Developing markets are going straight to Social

Fairy Tale Experiences

How We Talk, How Machines Listen

rules that we follow everyday

steps

Grician maxims

Neural Networks are being used to improve this process.

Coesion

Cadence

Context

Comprehensive

Photos

Calm Tech

1. We live in an era of interruptive technology

2. Technology should empower the periphery

3. technology should inform and encalm

4. tech should amplify the best of tech and the best of humanity

5. technology can communicate but doesn't need to speak

6. technology should consider social norms

Amber Case, presenting Calm Tech

Semantic Noodling

UXLx

Q: How do you think new things?

A: we can't help it

Divination

Entertainment

Deep structure

Semantic Noodling & Meaning Machines

Creativity

Name Reconstruction

Sketch by @dblo_om

Photos of Chris Noessel at UXLx

Co-Create Creating Better Together

UXLx

Create

Steps for creativity

1. unblock

2. Connect

Tips for listening

3. combine

4. construct

5. encourage stupid ideas

Banish you inner critic

Photos of Denise Jacobs at UXLx