We learned from the passionate Tina that having passion for what you do ultimately pays off. It was a real “feel-good talk” and a plea to do what you believe in together with nice people.
The best interface is no interface
Golden Krishna (yes, that's his real name) is a senior designer at Samsung Innovation Labs where he works on the near future of consumer electronics. Despite Samsung being a major supplier of screens, Krishna believes that the future of UX design does not lie there. UX designers need to solve people's problems and stop thinking in screens, he firmly believes . A graphical interface on a screen is often an unnatural, complex and often unnecessarily expensive solution. Golden supported his statement with striking examples and also provided alternatives. The entire presentation revolves around three principles:
Design for processes and goals, not for means
So no iPhone app that lets you open your car doors in 12 steps, but a sensor under the bumper so you can open the trunk with a movement of your foot. Handy if you have your hands full of groceries.
Technology should adapt to people and not the other way around
So no DOS-like commands or key combinations to use a product, but actual supporting technology. A good example of this is the self-inflating tire from Goodyear .
The average user does not exist
People are unique, so look for solutions that adapt to the user. A great example of this is Nest , the self-learning thermostat that adjusts the settings based on usage.
There were a lot of questions afterwards, which usually means the presentation was well received. It was mainly his vision and conviction that made it special and worthwhile. Although Krishna's story was mainly focused on product development, there were, strangely enough, enough learnings for screen designers.
Behavior change as value proposition
Adaptive Path has been a fixture at conferences on UX, usability, persuasive design, and related domains for years. They have studios in San Francisco and Austin and call themselves an experience design firm . Chris Risdon is a typical Adaptive Path employee: analytical and pragmatic, and able to articulate his thoughts very well.
No bite nail polishThe question Risdon raised was: what impact does the possibility of passively collecting data and using it again in a meaningful way have? He wants to generate smart design solutions and influence human behavior. He is not alone in this, because design for behavior is hip & happening. Interest in this field is fueled by new technological developments that enable products and services that play a far-reaching role in daily life. Risdon advocates a different, less technology-driven approach, a shift from technology-driven to psychology-driven. His most interesting proposition was: you achieve the most if your user is very aware of what you want from him. He gave the No Bite nail polish as an example. This illustrates the principle well: the polish stinks so much that you will forget about biting your nails.
His plea to think in feedforward instead of feedback was beautiful . You can use information and data to adequately respond to future situations. If you know that certain rousing music makes you run faster, make sure that those tracks are automatically selected at the end of your marathon. Risdon did not really come up with new and groundbreaking insights. He gave it a different order, unashamedly kicked in an open door now and then, but he knew how to present it very well. He did make it clear once again, to a full room, that the practice of design and innovation in the digital domain is desperate for hands-on knowledge and insights.
Lara_CroftSusan O'Connor drew a connection between television and games: a simple and compelling list to data story. Television started with three networks: ABC, NBC and CBS. The television programs such as Beverly Hills were risk-free and aimed at a large audience. Newton Minnow calls television in 1961 'a vast intellectual wasteland'. Later, programs that were less for the masses emerged, such as Magnum and Hillstreet Blues. Much later, cable television came along and niches emerged such as MTV, with only music videos all day long.
Then HBO came along with The Sopranos and AMC with quality series like Madmen and Breaking Bad. Series that are written, according to O'Connor, from connection and emotion. They contain a storyline and scenes aimed at getting viewers into a certain state of mind and following a certain emotional path. And then came her point: from that perspective, the gaming world can learn a lot from television. 'The Golden Age of Games' comes when games are developed from what the player should feel instead of experiencing. That really creates engagement 'on the heart level'. O'Connor: “How does Lara Croft feel when she shoots? Is she angry? Is she feared?”