Life or death usability
Over the last couple of years I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in the R&D programme for a ground-breaking medical device to help diabetics manage their insulin treatment. Part of the project was to reach a regulatory milestone, which has now been achieved. To reach this milestone we tested the usability of the device [...]
Getting a Grip. Prodesign Magazine showcases my approach to UX
This month I’m featured in Prodesign mag. The article harks back to my days designing surfboards and the moment I became ‘hooked on usability’ during a project for Sony Playstation. Read the Prodesign article ‘Getting a grip’ here as a PDF. It turns out this is the last issue of this magazine after 16 years. [...]
User Experience takes hold in NZ
These two snippets make me wonder if a customer focused approach to business and design has truly taken hold here. One’s about Banks, the other Camper-vans. Banks were some of the first companies in NZ to make a significant investment in usability and customer research, with leading banks improving their online and offline products and [...]
User Centred Design, for the long haul.
During a 9 month project with IDEO, Air New Zealand took a user centred approach to improve seating design for their long haul services. They built full scale prototypes of cabin interiors to carry out design research, evaluating seating and service concepts with real passengers. The project began in 2007 with a goal of understanding [...]
When less is less and more is too much.
This Honda trunk-lid has been simplified and streamlined so much that the owner has crudely screwed on a ‘hardware store’ handle to make it easier to use. This Mazda door entry has gone the other way by adding complexity; a key-code entry, which looked to me like it had never been touched, whereas the standard [...]
Picture, or thousand words?
Outcomes of UX research projects can be difficult to put in a nutshell, and a bullet pointed list sometimes just does not cut it. As well as the usual deliverables emerging from a brief, I sometimes add a rich picture as a visual summary. These often originate from doodles generated while I’m trying to figure [...]
Prototype, Test, Rinse & repeat
The value of iteration. Switched-on digital agencies understand the value of user testing with early stage website mockups; ironing out sticking points and identifying opportunities to improve interaction design early, before committing to code. During a day of back-to-back user interviews, ‘quick wins’, like changing a navigation item can be made in seconds and validated [...]
UX in the physical world
My latest project allows me to work on some interactions with a different kind of digital – gripping fingers and thumbs, … it’s taking me back to my surfboard building days. It’s with a kiwi company developing a new type of mouse. I’m using UX methods to help refine the design, starting off with some [...]
Running. A user centred business.
Where can I go for a run around here? Concierge at my hotel in Singapore only needed to be asked this a few times before they found themselves offering directions. …But all too often they’d spot their guests returning by taxi after getting lost in the suburbs. This jogger’s map started out when a staff [...]
Making the most of Optimal Treejack
If you want to find out how well your website navigation structure works for your customers, Treejack is a great tool for the job. If you want to know why certain parts performed poorly, and what to do about it, you’ll need to get inside the head of your customer. The tools for this are [...]