User Experience

Today there is hundreds of video camera in the market, each coming with tons of features, but can you remember all the features? Are these features useful? How many times have you felt lazy to pick up your camera, shoot and captured video to playback on your PC or TV because it takes up too much effort? And then the memory tapes (Mini DV, H8), card, batteries to worry about.

And, what about the parents who have a running toddler and a baby to carry while shooting – how easy is are these cameras in situations like these? Not much!

PureDigital thought about all these factors and focused on a camera that is really easy to use, so you can focus on what you want to capture in the easiest and quickest way.

Here are some of the quotes they have recived:

• Wall Street Journal: “Stunningly simple to use“
• BusinessWeek: “A Sweet and Simple Camcorder“
• CNN Money.com: “YouTube for Soccer Moms“
• Chicago Tribune: “Catching life’s little wonders on video just got easier“

See the picture below of Flip Video or learn more about the camera at PureDigital product page.

I read this article in business week on Philips’ customer centric design process to redesign their electric shaver. The ROI is yet to be measured on this product but I can say for sure that after listening to 5,000 men in U.S., Europe, and China this new electric shaver would be an easy sell.

Here are some highlights from the case study, if you want to get a quick snapshot:
Research:
• Philips interviewed 5,000 men in U.S., Europe, and China between the ages of 35 and 54
• Target users are experienced shaver who is comfortable spending more for a premium shaver

Findings:
Men didn’t have problems shaving the face but had problems with hairs on the neck under the chin.

Solution Idea:
To design an electric shaver that can easily maneuver around the neck, with least irritation.

Prototype:
Among other finds from the customers, the design was inspired by many ads showing cars, phones, and men accessories and color was inspired from the Silver Motorola RAZR phone, BMW Z4 Coupe, and the Volant silver series skis.

You can read the full article on Businessweek.com

“Call to Action” is a marketing concept that is also applied to the web. In marketing, it’s used to make the advertisement effective by telling prospective customer what steps they need to take next. You can see this prominently in infomercials where the advertisement would say that you need to “pick up the phone and call the number on your screen now to order” because they don’t know how many of these products they can sell at this low price, and how long the free gifts would last.

The meaning of “call to action” remains the same on web too, below is a email from”Feed the children” with prominent “call to action” telling me the “options that I have”, “steps I should take next” and “how I can take those steps” and making those as clear as possible. Take a look below, and while you are at it you can help by donating too.

Here is another article on “Call to Action” and a link to Feed The Children’s website.

I was working on a web-based application that needed a custom 404 Error page, so out of curiosity I got online to see what some of big players in the industry (who also have huge teams of usability and user experience people) have done.

So what is a 404 Error Message?
404 error message is a web page displayed by most web servers when it is unable to find the original page that the user requested. For example: If John request for http://www.yahoo.com/mail.html on Yahoo.com and if the page does not exists or has moved, Yahoo’s server will by default show an alternative basic page which is a 404 Error page, unless this has been modified or customized.

The basic guidelines for error messages are:

1. Error message should be written in plain english so all users should be able to understand it’s meaning.

2. The message should explain the user why they are seeing this page.

3. And finally, the message should suggest the user what steps she/he can take to fix it.

To my surprise, some of these big players have done a lousy job to follow these guidelines. Let’s take a look at some samples.

Google – Does NOT follow usability guidelines
Monster – Does NOT follow usability guidelines (worst 404 page I’ve ever seen)
Staples – Does NOT follow usability guidelines (Staples doesn’t show any page, just redirects to the homepage)
Yahoo – Follows usability guidelines (Redirects user to homepage after 10 secs)
MSN – Follows usability guidelines
Useit – Follows usability guidelines
Here is a sample of basic 404 error page displayed by IIS (Internet Information Server by Microsoft):

Card sorting is a method used to find out how people group information. It helps to understand patterns on how people would expect to find information. There are two main methods for performing card sorting, i.e. Open and Closed Card Sorting. Below you can find a few articles on card sorting and 2 web-based tools for card sorting.

Articles:

1. Card sorting: a definitive guide by Donna Maurer and Todd Warfel
2. What is Card Sorting? by InfoDesign
3. Card Sorting: How many Users to test by Jakob Nielsen
4. Information design using card sorting by James Robertson

Web-based tools:

1. WebSort™ is a web-based software tool that enables researchers to perform remote card sort studies. Create a study, send a link to participants, and analyze the results- all through a web-based interface.
2. OptimalSort gets users involved in information architecture design.

I’m lately seeing coverage of news related to user experience, here is one piece seen on a pharmaceutical news site..

“New Look and Feel – Updated graphics and images in addition to new page layout and format provides visitors with an improved user-experience. …”

Read the full story