GOOD Ideas for Cities: The Marshal Project

I recently participated in the creative and intelectual exercise known as GOOD Ideas for Cities a program of GOOD magazine.

A handful of creative teams were selected to work with local city agencies and organizations to tackle some of the issues theses groups are currently working on and struggling with. I was extremely attracted to the idea of using some of the brain power and talent of our creative industry to think about the topics that our local agency’s demed in need of attention.

We creatives love to solove problems that’s what we do. We do it for clients all day long and we often without prompt profess our ideas for every problem that runs across our inbox, twitter stream and news reader but what was absolutely wonderful about this project was being asked to solve problems that the people working on the ground deemed in need of some additional thought and ideas.

We were told the sky was the limit and to not limit our ideas to what we thought was possible but to think what would be great and the best solution.

You can watch the video presentation and read a little write up of my group Team ADX here.

We had a great response to our presentation and are actually presenting to Portland Public Schools today!

The other groups has some great ideas too. I’ll do a post about them soon.

My Role:

Strategy, Information Architecture, Usability Testing and Experience Design.

Worked With:

Exprima Media

Other Project Partners:

Internal Portland Art Museum Staff
Ziba (identity work)

This projects is one that I will always be proud of.  Working with local companies is always exciting. Working with my city’s art museum was a dream come true.

We started by conducted a large discovery phase including a day long workshop with all of the museum department heads, a humbling tasking working with such smart and creative people, but an wonderful opportunity to have access to everyone who has a stake not only in the website but the museum as a whole. We discussed all of the varied needs and  goals of the museum and in the end were able to arrive at a set of very actionable goals for the site.

The wireframe shown here was used as part of a clickable prototype used for user testing before finalizing our design.  Below are shots of the final site which you can view here.

The identification of these 3 focused experiences on the site VISIT, LEARN, CONNECT was the key that unlocked the path to a site with endless amounts of content fitting into a simple, logical architecture, which then allowed for a streamline design that features imagery and answers the questions of each type of  user.

Corey wrote a nice case study here:

The Portland Art Museum Web Site: Design DNA by Exprima Media

If you were at HIVE you know it was a wonderful day. I was particularly pleased by the emergence of themes across many of the talks. This is always a good sign that your discipline is moving in a positive direction if many great thinkers and doers arrive at similar conclusions independently. Well, as independently as you can in this information sharing world of ours.

One of the themes I was most happy to hear again and again was the importance’s of having design leadership present in every company and project. A number of speakers including myself talked about this in addition to the need for experience design to be present and active throughout the project design and development cycle.

I’ll get my slides with notes up next week and hopefully we can keep the conversation going. In the meantime. If you were there, I’d love to hear what you think about this.

“Interaction is a way of framing the relationship between people and objects designed for them—and thus a way of framing the activity of design.”
- Hugh Dubberly in this article (Which is excellent by the way. I recommend a read) Image from article.

I’m working on a little talk for HIVE and in doing so have written many pages and found myself thinking about what really goes into designing a product. Instead of composing a 10 page essay I thought I’d just put a few thoughts out there over a few posts and see what you guys think.

1. You have to define the Interaction Model

This seems obvious, but I often get blank stares when I bring this up. For me it’s the guiding light for the product design (visual, tech and otherwise) and is the result of many of the activities experience designers engage in.  It can come in any number of different forms, from something that reads like a style guide, to a few pages of prose, to a set of diagrams, to a wall filled with drawings, ux documents and statements. But it has to be made and it has to be understood by everyone.

If we as a design and build team aren’t on the same page about the interaction model and see the product same way in our heads how can we expect to create a product that resonates with users, works and is scalable.

So here is my attempt at a definition.

The product interaction model is made up of the product architecture, primary flow paths, set of design patterns and emotional tone; that consider how a user will understand the product in relation to what they are trying to do, how they relate it to other products both digital and physical, their mental model for it over time, the context of it’s use, and the business goals of subsequent phases of the product.

How would you add or change this? Do you have examples you would like to share?

There are these ugly little things that appear again and again in our lives (particularly in our digital lives) and I think it’s time to speak up.

Not only are they ugly they give you a negative jolt each time you encounter them and THEY NEED TO BE REDESIGNED. I’ll be calling them out as I find them in hopes that someone will hear our cries.

So, I was going through the beautiful, well designed flow of  Two of Us. Then I  clicked the button to record my smile and BOOM the Adobe Flash Player Settings module. Grrrr.

It looks scary. It’s as though it was designed to encourage folks to “Deny” it.

The experience I was in, is now over and I’m no longer thinking about sending my smile into the world I’m thinking about my computer hardware, web security, identity theft, stop signs, what is that eye ball supposed to mean?, what is Flash anyway?, am I supposed to know what Flash is?, do I have the expertise to decide if I should allow this, do I have an option?, what are the risks?, where will the question mark take me?, Is that safe?, I better just quit. I don’t feel like smiling anymore.

I can’t imagine that’s what the designer of this project had hoped for. I know because I’ve had to implement this once and it was very frustrating.

We all understand that it’s necessary to ask permission for this type of activity but what message are we sending when we pop this in front of them?

If this was designed better or better yet able to be skinned like Facebook and Twitter permission messages the product designers could send a message that yes, this action is something you should understand but we have vetted it and would like you to trust us. We  are doing everything we can to protect your privacy and keep you secure while allowing you to be part of this awesome site. You are safe, keep going. You can review what you have allowed at anytime from your account page.

So please Adobe, Redesign This.

My wish is that the banning of bottled water for casual use would soon become a major issue.

With data like this I imagine the people of the future will look back and wonder how we could allow something so damaging to everyone exist for the ease, vanity and irrational fears of a few.

I hope some of these stats echo in your head next time you consider buying or using bottled water

http://www.onlineeducation.net/bottled_water/

As always, please educate yourself and support access to clean drinking water for here. http://www.facebook.com/charitywater

In order to enter you are asked to watch multiple videos then perform a one question comprehension test in order to enter.  I feel like I’m in 3rd grade. Comprehension Test!

Does this seem like a bit much too you?  I was about to do it until I realized that the answer would be hidden somewhere within the four videos. Did I really want to watch all of them? How long are they?  Do I still get to enter if I get the answer wrong?

With further investigation I found that the videos were under 30 seconds each. That would have been nice to know.  I would have also enjoyed seeing that other people had participated and found value or at least enjoyed the exercise.

This campaign highlights a current challenge in digital marketing strategy. How much can we ask of users?  How much should we ask?  What trade-offs are we willing to make to attract and engage a more quality set of users or increase the value of the impression?

I do like the idea at it’s heart.  I enjoy the fact that a company is attempting to teach me something I may not know and provide a solution. What better way to sell something? The videos are actually entertaining even if the content is a bit suspect. And why shouldn’t we try to get users to actually pay attention?  I’m really interested to see what people actually typed into this little box.  Care to share HP?

Google keeps trying stuff. Wave, that social media thing I can’t remember, Google Docs.  Not all of it has worked but I like that there are smart people still trying to make my every day more efficient and effective.  I like that there are groups of people working on eliminate the daily frustrations that go with using software instead of coming up with something new I have to figure out how to integrate into my life. Don’t get me wrong I love new ideas, I have a few in the works and I’m addicted to trying new products out. My life is better with all of this new stuff. But I think if some of the basic activities of my day were streamlined I’d have better success utilizing the new stuff.

So I was extremely please to discover Fantastical a calender input program that integrates with all your Mac calenders.

The idea is brilliant. Throw away the old clunky methods of entering events into your calender and replace with an elegant time saving input program.

You must try it yourself but here is what I like about it.

1. Natural language input.

2. Enter all of the information into one field rather than the average 4 field steps of other calender programs.

3.  You can cut and paste into said field!!!

4. Beautiful interface design with fun and elegant visual feedback of actions.

5. Easy to access list view of all upcoming events and meetings.

6. Search

High five! to the creators flexibits.

Love their company description too.

Flexibits is Michael Simmons & Kent Sutherland

…and we create applications that are enjoyable and flexible. What do we mean by flexible? Making your Mac better. Making your life better. Removing frustration.

We’re users too, so we know what a good user experience should be. If you’re disappointed or frustrated with anything, please let us know. With many years of experience working on many popular apps, our hope is that our experience and passion is evident in everything we do.

Flexibits: Flexible bits.

Hooray for improvement instead of invention! Hooray for not giving up on the dream of seamless, enjoyable, natural computing!

Curtain from Lumber Room

I enjoyed reading Barry Johnson’s detailed account of The Felt Hat’s presentation at last weeks Designspeaks. He, unlike me, took some great notes and I think his perspective on the lessons, themes and high points of the night are spot on. This  particular statement resonated with me “…when we are trying to generate creative outcomes, we have to start messing around with the process” Although I might change “creative outcomes” to “quality outcomes” or “successful outcomes” fueled by creative intention and energy, h nails it that the grand take away from the evening was that great stuff is accomplished when we mess around with the process and are open to where the process can take us.

The Felt Hat is obviously living this particular creative dream and I was inspired to hear them talk so passionately and proudly of the work they have been  part of.  Damn that water bill was sexy and I don’t think that could have happened if they set out to make a sexy water bill.

So like I said I didn’t take a bunch of notes that night instead I choose to listen and absorb, but I did jot down one thing.

“conceptual thread”

I don’t remember exactly who said it or in what context but it has stuck with me.  So I thought I’d tell you what it means to me after listening to the presentation. (Dear Felt Hat folks forgive me if I get it wrong, correct me for sure.)

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The Conceptual Thread

When we try to accomplish something, intentional or not, we participate in a process.

If we acknowledge the positive effect of letting the needs of the project direct or define this process how do we insure that the process continually adds value and that the eventual outcome rises above the limitations of our minds?

Custom Process + Creative Thinker does not necessarily equal Brilliant Design.

There is a something else need to bring integrity, focus and heart to the work.

The process can fail or change, the designer can get lost or  frustrated, but paying continuous attention to maintaining the conceptual thread is paramount in achieving great design.

Have  the courage to follow it wherever it leads you. Find a way to realize what manifests.

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Well maybe that’s a bit heady and silly but I was inspired to think about this stuff. Mission accomplished Designspeaks.

Great night overall. I’m so happy to be included in the group of brilliant people organizing Designspeaks. I hope whether  you made it out this time or not you will follow us on Twitter and keep up to date with the exciting stuff on the horizon and join the conversation about design.

I’ll leave you with a great tweet quote from that night sent by @cre8tivegirl “In order to start with nothing you have to have hope to be begin”

-photo credit