Visit any karaoke studio and you’ll find a notebook full of songs, listed alphabetically by title or artist. While this architecture is useful for searching, it’s nearly useless for browsing, which is the prime behavior pattern for patrons. Looking laterally, the online music industry has quickly adapted this construct, offering social tagging, categorization, and recommendations. [...]
Tags: behavior, data, interaction
In one of my entrepreneurship courses, my professor offered this thought: entrepreneurs are in the game either for the money or for the fame; decide which, because each alternative might lead to different choices, goals, and metrics for success. This dichotomy comes up constantly, but I believe it’s incomplete. In a recent research study regarding [...]
Tags: edgecrafting, innovation, interaction
Online advertising is all about increasing relevance and decreasing resistance. In the beginning Facebook launched an ad program to grow revenues. As any publisher will tell you, there is a certain inherent resistance to interacting with online advertising, usually expressed through complex conversion formulas. A major barrier to interacting with online ads is that you [...]
Tags: advertising, interaction
Consumers today are faced with information overload, to the extreme. The rapid expansion of the internet society is the main cause of this phenomenon. There are far too many options in every decision we make, so we must rely on gut feelings, recommendations, stereotypes, and context clues. What this means as a designer, is you [...]
Tags: behavior, data, interaction
“What are you doing right now?” or “What’s on your mind?” no matter how you say, this simple little interface addition has taken off like wildfire, stolen the spotlight, and completely changed the face of social media and user experience. What a clever twist, a private little soapbox for enthusiasts everywhere; a way to express [...]
Tags: innovation, interaction, web design
Since the dawn of time console gaming has (seemingly) been all about power: graphics prowess, processor speed, the latest digital media wrapper and more. Each generation war was marked by tremendous leaps in gaming hardware: reviewers coo’d over the pretty pictures and fanboys brandished their new purchase as the very pinnacle of scientific advancement. Sony [...]
Tags: gaming, innovation, interaction
I stumbled upon a few new smartphone apps: GetGlue allows users to check-in to their favorite movies, shows, books, and music and see what friends are enjoying, add comments and ratings, and receive personalized recommendations. Avoidr uses the Foursquare API to help you avoid exes and former friends. And Assisted Serendipity monitors guy/girl ratios at [...]
Tags: behavior, data, Improvements, innovation, interaction, metrics, mobile
My friend’s car has a neat fancy digital readout in the center of her speedometer. I asked her about it, and she said it tracks gas mileage. It even jumps up and down while driving based upon your habits, encouraging safe, efficient speed and acceleration. In what ways can we use this practice to influence [...]
Tags: behavior, context, interaction, metrics
I’m excited about the ipad. Apple has built its recent success on creating human experiences, on solving problems rather than adding features. iPod was not the first MP3 player, iPhone was not the first smartphone, and iPad is not the first tablet PC. But rather than creating me-too products, the company approaches the interaction with [...]
Tags: edgecrafting, innovation, interaction, mobile, storytelling
I hate April Fools Day. As a maven I’m constantly reading new articles to keep abreast of the latest trends, and April 1st throws a kink in my habit. Every now and then, a company will utilize the holiday to present playful, imaginative new ideas like the Lost alarm clock from ThinkGeek. My favorite from [...]
Tags: interaction, web design
