Defining intelligent content

Added on 22 March 2015 Peter Bogaards

Intelligent content or smart content?

“Content that is both digital and data-driven is poised then to be highly dynamic. This means that the content can be adapted quickly and efficiently to exactly suit the needs of different users. It is fundamentally responsive, which is much more than simply adapting to different viewing dimensions. Intelligent content that is genuinely dynamic can be programmatically adapted to reflect specific product versions, to incorporate customer-specific details, and to take into account a user’s location and even background. It can be adapted to work optimally in different formats, themselves produced automatically.”

(The Content Philosopher) ★

The information professions: Knowledge, memory, heritage

Added on 16 March 2015 Peter Bogaards

After all the technology, we tend to forget the information. Info and Tech are brothers in arms.

“Along with leading to growth in the numbers of people doing information work, the increasing role of information in our contemporary society has led to an explosion of new information professions as well. The labels for these fields can be confusing and overlapping, and what does and does not constitute an information profession has become unclear. (…) The analysis makes possible the incorporation of popular new information disciplines into an overarching framework that includes pre-existing fields as well. The analysis provides a perspective that clarifies the relationships among the information disciplines as well as their relationship to other professional activities in society.”

(Marcia Bates ~ Information Research 20.1) ★

Intelligent content demystified: A practical, easy-to-understand explanation

Added on 12 March 2015 Peter Bogaards

I’m more into smart content. Smart as in CIA (CPU, Internet, and API).

“In very simple terms (…) intelligent content is an approach. Intelligent content is the approach of thinking through the way we structure (organize) and manage content – so that it can be managed as a strategic asset.”

(Robert Rose a.k.a. @Robert_Rose ~ Content Marketing Institute) ★

Why the Card UI is the next big interaction paradigm

Added on 12 March 2015 Peter Bogaards

There was a time when CUI meant ‘Character-based User Interface’. That time has gone.

“I think it’s safe to say that, going forward, the majority of mobile UI designs will be based on the card UI paradigm. The next logical step is marketing professionals and ad agencies starting to embrace cards. The larger platforms are already embracing it. The card UI is set to be the next creative canvas for online content and will consequently also be the next big ad unit.”

(Juntoo) ★

Design principles: Insights are not about analytics

Added on 10 March 2015 Peter Bogaards

When you have no design principles, you’re not knowing where you’re going in the design space.

“Applying the Jobs-to-be-Done theory, rather than creating archetypal customer personas, we try to understand what motivates customers to use Intercom and what jobs they are addressing with the product. This practical implementation of Jobs-to-be-Done helps us to create what we call a Job Story.”

(Michelle Fitzpatrick a.k.a. @shelliefitz ~ Intercom) ★

Tools for mobile UX design: Task flows

Added on 10 March 2015 Peter Bogaards

When something can be carried around and the context changes, what does it mean for Design.

“For years, really ever since User Experience became a practice area with processes and principles, we’ve been saying that the best time to engage with a project is early. But we simply do not exercise that principle often enough. We’re all too happy to please our bosses and clients in the short term—and let them insist that we can do our work fast, cheap, and well.”

(Steven Hoober ~ UXmatters) ★

A brief history of user experience design

Added on 4 March 2015 Peter Bogaards

This brief is very, very brief.

“Today, UX has grown into an important design discipline that continues to grow and evolve. And while it’s fairly new, its multidisciplinary history can be traced all the way back to the Renaissance—if not earlier. To think about where the much debated-practice of user experience design will take us next, it’ll help to take a look back at some of the key events in its meandering evolution.”

(Ali Rushdan Tariq a.k.a. @alirtariq ~ FastCo Design) ★

How to grow your business by monitoring your UX strategy

Added on 4 March 2015 Peter Bogaards

Business and UX, from a strategic perspective (again).

“User experience in a company can be made superior by paying attention to various factors. Bringing good services and products to customers will directly have an impact on the business performance and results. There are various methodologies that one can use for monitoring the experience and bring about necessary changes to enhance it. Applications, software tracking systems and other useful tools and techniques can help in finding the right changes. To make sure your company offers the best to customers it is important to benchmark the user experience with these tools. Ultimately it involves delighting users so that they remain content and happy with the experience.”

(Rohan Salve ~ Techved Consulting) ★

Service design: An introduction to a holistic assessment methodology of library services

Added on 3 March 2015 Peter Bogaards

LUX, the Library User Experience. Cell division in the field.

“This paper explores service design as a relevant method for service assessment and creation in a library environment. Service design allows for a holistic and systemic look at the various systems that make a library function. This methodology is a co-creative process conducted with library staff and patrons. By working together, librarians and patrons can create more relevant services or refine current services to be more effective and efficient.”

(Joe Marquez and Annie Downey ~ Weave Volume 1 Issue 2) ★

People don’t read, they scan

Added on 3 March 2015 Peter Bogaards

Scanning also involves reading, but at a general level. Unless, the texts are relevant, interesting or remarkable.

“The emergence of highly content-based websites now means one thing: how to fit the content within a very well-functioned website while not sacrificing the aesthetics? In addition to that, the development of web nowadays mean viewers will be able to view these content across multiple sizes of screens. Such are the challenges of designing in these interesting times.”

(Zana Fauzi and Dahlia Ahad ~ Stampede) ★

Mystical guidelines for creating great user experiences

Added on 3 March 2015 Peter Bogaards

I would go for magical guidelines. UX and Magic, brothers in arms.

“This article aims to present an overview of the mystical process of creation and principal of co-creation and to illustrate how it can guide bringing digital product ideas into reality–although it’s easy enough to see how this could translate to other products and services–in a way that ensures a great user experience, and makes our creative process more natural and outcomes more fruitful.”

(Tal Bloom a.k.a. @TalBloom ~ Boxes and Arrows) ★

Design for user empowerment

Added on 2 March 2015 Peter Bogaards

Empowerment: Kickass power users.

“As an accessibility researcher, I have noticed that some of the best work comes when there are people with disabilities on the design and development team, contributing to all aspects of the design and implementation, not just as participants in user studies. I call this strong engagement by users design for user empowerment, meaning, in its strongest sense, that the users of the technology are empowered to solve their own accessibility problems. Here, I will try to explain, mostly using examples, why this approach is so powerful.”

(Richard Ladner ~ ACM Interaction Magazine March/April 2015) ★

Interaction design meets architectural thinking

Added on 2 March 2015 Peter Bogaards

Beside design thinking, we now have architectural thinking as well.

“Architecture is the classic, established approach to the design of our built environment. For hundreds of years, architects have focused on the design of our physical surroundings to define the frames for our lives. In doing so, architecture has established itself as the tradition of working with the material and artificial aspects of our physical surroundings to support the social and cultural aspects of our lives. With this as its primary focus, architecture as a discipline and a practice shares several characteristics with interaction design. Architecture is people-centered yet design-oriented; it deals with the intersection of human factors and artificial matters—that is, the material, designed aspects of our everyday lives.”

(Mikael Wiberg ~ ACM Interaction Magazine March/April 2015) ★

Multitasking on mobile devices

Added on 1 March 2015 Peter Bogaards

It’s still task-oriented. So, usability therefore. Quite something else than omni-channel or multi-device. Word, words, words. A rose is a rose is a rose.

“Multitasking involves being able to rapidly switch between different apps and to combine multiple sources of information. Small mobile screens limit users’ ability to see content from different apps at the same time, so current operating-system support for multitasking focuses mostly on switching between different apps. This increases users’ memory load, so mobile designers must help users compare and rapidly retrieve recent items.”

(Raluca Budiu ~ Nielsen Norman Group) ★

UI does not equal UX

Added on 26 February 2015 Peter Bogaards

When even the popular press gets into a DTDT conversation, we haven’t done a great job.

“The key can be found in ensuring that the UX is designed end-to-end from a core understanding of the user through to design and delivery, whereas the UI is the presentation designed to expose the power of that design process underpinning the UX for the user. Combined, UI and UX are the two different aspects that literally define the success of your product.”

(Sarah Deane a.k.a. @4HourUX ~ Huffington Post) ★

Meta-design: The intersection of art, design, and computation

Added on 24 February 2015 Peter Bogaards

The only thing that is missing is connectivity as a unique trait of digital.

“In a traditional design practice, the designer works directly on a design product. Be it a logo, website, or a set of posters, the designer is the instrument to produce the final artifact. A meta-designer works to distill this instrumentation into a design system, often written in software, that can create the final artifact. Instead of drawing it manually, the designer programs the system to draw it. These systems can then be used within different contexts to generate a range of design products without much effort.”

(Rune Madsen a.k.a. @runemadsen ~ O’Reilly Radar) ★

How legend Paul Rand pioneered the era of design-led business

Added on 24 February 2015 Peter Bogaards

It’s called IBM version 5.

“In a way, what Apple does today with design is what IBM was doing in ‘50s (…) It was about simplification and cohesiveness across all platforms of the brand—products, ads, stores. These are all ideas in the modern vein that came about with Rand’s work with IBM. It set a precedent.”

(Carey Dunne a.k.a. @careydunne ~ FastCo Design) ★