“Whether you are testing the User Interface for a new technology or just re-branding your service, chances are that you could benefit from some sound market feedback. The good news is that you don’t have to spend weeks on research or thousands of dollars to get it. Cafe testing — quick, low-cost, informal market testing at a cafe — can help you get the feedback you need fast. This article tells you everything you need to know to get started.”

“…let’s say you’re not a Ward Cunningham or any other famous, visible, already influential industry player. You’re an engineer, or maybe a program manager. In that case, you do what many of us did at Sun… subvert from within. Here’s my little unofficial guide to creating passionate users for those working in Big Companies. Most is from things a maverick (but cleverly disguised as compliant) group of us did at Sun, while we could.”

“Catalyst’s proprietary test of the usability of blogs, conducted in late June and early July of 2005, can be downloaded immediately here. Our analysis sheds light on a variety of heretofore neglected, user-experience related design challenges associated with blogs’ potential to become a mainstream medium for Internet users.”

“Having a coffee and cake with Jakob Nielsen, the web usability expert from Nielsen Norman Group, I asked him what was holding up progress on the web. ‘Three things, really: I call them lazy, stupid and evil design,’ he replies.” (Thanks InfoDesign!)

“A friend pointed me to a survey that eBay is conducting. Because that survey will likely expire soon, I grabbed screen shots of the survey, because it was a fascinating example of how not to understand user behavior. The first page of the survey is straightforward enough. They want to get a sense of general satisfaction. Probably good for calibrating responses that follow. But the second page of the survey is bizarre.”

Adaptive Path is heading to Minneapolis July 19-20 to present a two-day workshop, Beyond Usability: Designing the Complete User Experience, with Peter Merholz and Janice Fraser. Readers of xBlog get a 15% discount by using this promotional code: FOPM. More info on the workshop can be found at http://www.adaptivepath.com/events/2005/july/.

“While there is much good in design thinking, I think we have to not get carried away about designers’ power. In my experience, I’ve seen many negative qualities of design thinking, qualities that have proven a detriment on projects and to the profession as a whole. Dirk Knemeyer exposes the dark essence of design thinking when stating, in the comments section of an article he wrote, ‘we need to begin controlling the environments that our work is being experienced in.’”

“Jeffrey Veen recently joked that ‘every consultant needs a Venn diagram.’ Turns out he was only half-kidding. The two or more overlapping circles that make up a Venn diagram are often used in mathematics to show relationships between sets. In the context of User Experience, however, Venn diagrams are frequently used to ‘quickly convey a message or vision, as a visual reminder to support change/focus, and to easily identify the cause or source of something.’î (Thanks kottke.org!)

“Iím not entirely sure how serious I am about this article. On the one hand, I find myself agreeing with my more cynical side on uglier, more demanding work days. On the other, I think Iím overreacting and way off base with this train of thought. Either way, consider this entry nothing more than a philosophical meandering on the culture of usability in the high-tech world, intended only to spark conversation, not to be taken as my unwavering viewpoint on the topic.”

“Simplify, Simplify, Simplify! Simplicity may be the most important usability design principle as well as being the common thread through many other design principles. Simplicity of design not only optimizes business and the user experience but also simplifies software development, deployment, maintenance and support.”

“If you’ve ever done any usability testing, then you’ve been affected by Ginny Redish’s pioneering work. Ginny is a world-renowned usability expert and co-author of the books, ‘A Practical Guide to Usability Testing’ and ‘User and Task Analysis for Interface Design.’ While preparing for Ginny’s full-day seminar at the User Interface 9 Conference, UIE’s Christine Perfetti had the opportunity to ask Ginny about her thoughts on the best practices surrounding usability testing. Here is what Ginny had to say about her experiences.”

“So, for anyone out there who feels like failing to get a job in usability, here’s a brief checklist of steps. 1. Don’t do any research. Why waste your valuable time finding out about your future employer? 2. Make sure that your email approach makes it clear that you didn’t do any research by wording it in as impersonal a way as you can manage. 3. err… that’s it”

“User Experience (UX) is an emerging field concerned with improving the design of anything people experience: a web site, a toy, or a museum. UX is inherently interdisciplinary, synthesizing methods, techniques, and wisdom from many fields, ranging from brand design to ethnography to library science to architecture and more. UXnet is dedicated to exploring opportunities for cooperation and collaboration among UX-related organizations and individuals.”

“I’ve been practicing information architecture since 1994, and from Gopher to Google have seen dramatic changes in the landscape of organization, search and retrieval. Through these ten tempestuous years, I’ve found the infamous three circle diagram to be a great tool for explaining how and why we must strike a unique balance on each project between business goals and context, user needs and behavior, and the available mix of content.”

“This is not to say that it doesnít have a significant role to play in user experience design. When done right, usability testing will improve your Web site and your development process, but the current culture surrounding Web site usability testing is such that it rarely benefits the design. Worse, this misapplication can undermine the acceptance of this important technique throughout an organization.”