Nick Finck's Blog

Leap: an advancement in touchless gesture-based UI

2012-05-21T20:45:40+00:00

Leap is an interesting advance in gesture based design for the digital experience. Notice how its not actually touch based and more gesture based (think Kinect) yet there are no finger indicators needed like we saw with Sixth Sense. It is an advancement from near competitors like the touchless gesture UI of Mimesign. (via Simon Whatley)

Leap represents an entirely new way to interact with your computers. It’s more accurate than a mouse, as reliable as a keyboard and more sensitive than a touchscreen. For the first time, you can control a computer in three dimensions with your natural hand and finger movements.

My xChannel talk from Breaking Development

2012-04-04T17:06:00+00:00

Back in September I gave my Cross-Channel Experience talk at the Breaking Development Conference in Nashville. Today they posted the video of my talk (more details). It was interesting giving this talk to a room full of mobile optimized web (MOW) advocates, but in the end I think there was a lot of good information they got from the presentation based on the feedback I have heard.

Mo’ IXD

2012-03-22T16:56:20+00:00

Just a few days ago I gave a talk at The School of Visual Concepts here in Seattle. It was for Kevin Wick’s User Experience 1 class, a great class for those just getting started in the field of UX. Here is my slide deck. The presentation focused mostly on mobile interaction design and also emerging technology. Also, if you are starting out in UX, see my post on Starting a Career in User Experience Design .

The Cross-Channel Experience in Lisbon

2012-01-24T18:46:25+00:00

The nice folks at UXLX in Lisbon, Portugal have published a video of my talk on The Cross-Channel Experience for your viewing pleasure.

Here is the description of the talk:

No matter how many departments your organization has, to your customers, it’s all the same business. They expect a cohesive experience across all touch-points with your company, regardless of whether it’s related to advertising, customer service, social presence, or the actual product or service you provide. The satisfaction of your customers, and thereby the success of your organization, depends in no small part on your ability to create a cohesive and consistently high-quality cross-channel experience.
Some examples of disjointed cross-channel experiences are:

The customer has to inform the customer service representative of what the website says about their own return policy.

The specifications of a product online does not match the actual product a customer goes to pick up in the retail store.

The experience of the mobile application is far superior to the experience of the standard web application or software application.

The customer has to make three different phone calls to get their account changed because the information is stored in three separate business units.

Applying consideration for the cross-channel experience is much easier said than done. It requires a significant level of coordination and collaboration between the stakeholders, to understand not just how to optimize their particular part of the service, but to maintain that optimal and consistent experience throughout. For example, the customer service department can do a great job of correcting a problem after the fact, but they can add greater value to the product or service as a whole by collaborating with sales and product teams to prevent the issue from arising in the first place.

In this presentation, you will gain a better understanding of the different ways your customers might interact with your business. We will show how you can map out these touchpoints and help drive the creation of a cohesive experience across the various channels. We will show you how to navigate the political waters within your business to implement a true cross-channel design, which will build great experiences for your customers, regardless of how they are engaging with your business.

Gifts for User Experience Geeks 2011

2011-11-28T16:43:01+00:00

It is time for another installment of Gifts for User Experience Geeks! Just in time for the 2011 holiday season. Be sure to check out the last three years (2008, 2009, and 2010). This list is a collection of items I have come across over the last year that would make the ideal gifts for UX geeks like Information Architects, Usability Specialists, Interaction Designers, and even Web Designers. I also put the call out to several of my colleagues to contribute suggestions and I have included those where I felt they were a good fit. Thank you to everyone who contributed! Hope you like the list. If you notice something not on my list or have corrections for the list let me know!

User Experience Software

Diagramming

OmniGraffle Professional 5.3.6 for Mac ($199.99)
OmniGraffle 1.6.1 for iPad ($49.99)
Microsoft Visio Professional 2010 for Windows ($559.99)
Expression Studio 4 Ultimate for Windows ($599)
Balsamiq Mockups Desktop for Mac & Windows ($79)
Adobe Fireworks CS5 for Mac & Windows ($299)

Sketching

Ideate for iPad ($3.99)
Autodesk SketchBook Mobile for iPhone, iPad, or Android ($1.99)
Adobe Ideas for iPad ($5.99)
Penultimate for iPad ($0.99)

Prototyping

Adobe Proto for Android ($9.99)
Invision Web-Based App ($8+/month)
ProtoShare Web-Based App ($49+/month)
Axure RP Pro 6 for Mac & Windows ($589)
iRise Professional for Windows ($6,995/seat)
UX Pin App Web-Based App (coming soon!)
Antetype for Mac ($289)

User Research

Cohdoo Highlight for iPhone ($4.99)
Cohdoo Player for Mac ($3.99)
Cohdoo Converter for Mac ($0.99)
SurveyMonkey Web-Based App ($17/month for unlimited responses)
Reframer Web-Based App ($29/month)
Ethnio Web-Based App ($49/month for 500 responses)

Usability Evaluation

Silverback 2.0 for Mac ($69.95)
OpenHallway Web-Based App ($49/month)
Loop11 Web-Based App ($350 for 1,000 participants)
Morae 3.1 for Windows ($1,495)
Chalkmark Web-Based App ($109/month)
IntuitionHQ Web-Based App ($9/user test)
Gazehawk Web-Based App ($495/10 participants)

Screen Sharing and Meeting

GoToMeeting for Mac & Windows ($49/month)
WebEx for Mac & Windows ($49/month)
Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro for Mac & Windows ($45/month)

Screen Capture

Camtasia Studio for Windows ($299)
Camtasia Mac for Mac ($99)
Snagit for Mac & Windows ($49.95)

Information Architecture and Content

Treejack Web-Based App ($109/month)
OptimalSort Web-Based App ($109/month)
Simple Card Sort Web-Based App ($49.99/month)

Document Share & Review

Dropbox for Mac, Windows, Linux, iPad, iPhone, Android, & Blackberry ($9.95/month)
Review for Mac, & iPhone ($2.99)
OneHub Web-Based App ($29/month)
Draftboard Web-Based App ($12/month)
Wrkview Web-Based App ($9/month)

Analytics

Clicktale ($99/month for 20,000 pageviews)
ChartBeat ($9.95/month for 1,000 concurrent visits)
Google Analytics (free!)
Woopra (free!)

Misc.

IconFactory xScope for Mac ($29.99)
Business Model Toolbox for iPad ($29.99)
Gamestorming Card Deck for iPad ($4.99)

Add-Ons

Konigi Wireframe Stencils for Omnigraffle (free!)
Konigi UX Template for Omnigraffle (free!)
Konigi Wireframe Icons for Omnigraffle ($12)
Konigi Wireframe Icons for Axure ($12)
Konigi Sketch Stencils for Omnigraffle ($12)
Konigi Keynote Wireframe Toolkit for Keynote ($12)
Keynote & Powerpoint Wireframe Toolkit for Keynote & Powerpoint ($12)

Other User Experience Goodies

Prototyping and Sketching

Paper Products

UX Sketchbook ($12)
iPhone® App Sketchbook ($12)
iPad App Sketchbook ($12)
Dot Grid Book ($14)
Action Method Paper Products ($5-$15)
Browser Sketch Pad ($13.95)
iPhone Sketch Pad ($13.95)
iPad Sketchbook ($13.95)
Windows Phone Sketch Pad ($13.95)
Moleskine Star Wars notebooks ($14.95+)
Moleskine notebooks ($3+)
MUJI Memo Pad - Four Frame ($1.75)
MUJI Recycled Paper Thumbnail Sketch Note ($1.50)

Sticky Paper Products

Clothing

Events & Associations

Membership to the Information Architecture Institute ($20-40)
Tickets to the IA Summit 2012 in New Orleans, LA, USA (estimated at $750)
Tickets to UXLX 2012 in Lisbon, Portugal (€ 245)
Tickets to Interaction 2012 in Dublin, Ireland (€ 575.00)

User Experience Books

General UX

A Project Guide to UX Design by Russ Unger and Carolyn Chandler ($23.09)
The Elements of User Experience (2nd edition): User-Centered Design for the Web by Jesse James Garrett ($26.39)
Undercover User Experience Design by Cennydd Bowles and James Box ($19.79)

UX Delight and Seduction

Seductive Interaction Design by Stephen P. Anderson ($21.40)
Designing for Emotion by Aarron Walter ($35.99)
Emotional Design by Donald A. Norman ($11.53)
Design and Emotion by Deana McDonagh, Paul Hekkert, Jeroen van Erp and Diane Gyi ($124.42)

UX Thinking

Storytelling for User Experience by Whitney Quesenbery & Kevin Brooks ($39)
Mental Models: Aligning design strategy with human behavior by Indi Young ($39)
Design is the Problem: The Future of Design Must be Sustainable by Nathan Shedroff ($39)
The Innovator’s Way by Peter J. Denning and Robert Dunham ($19.77)
Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson ($17.88)
Designing with the Mind in Mind by Jeff Johnson ($32.39)

Communicating UX

Communicating Design (2nd edition) by Dan Brown ($29.69)
Communicating the User Experience by Richard Caddick and Steve Cable ($29.54)

Mobile UX

Designing the iPhone User Experience by Suzanne Ginsburg ($27.38)
Tapworthy: Designing Great iPhone Apps by Josh Clark ($25.24)

Content Strategy

Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson ($16.41)
The Web Content Strategist’s Bible by Richard Sheffield ($25.99)

Information Architecture

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (3rd edition) by Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld ($26.39)
Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web (2nd edition) by Christina Wodtke & Austin Govella ($29.70)
A Practical Guide to Information Architecture by Donna Spencer (£12)

Interaction Design

Cadence & Slang by Nick Disabato ($20)
Designing for Interactions by Dan Saffer ($22.20)
Designed for Use by Lukas Mathis ($30.68)
Designing Interactions by Bill Moggridge ($28.35)
Designing Interfaces by Jenifer Tidwell ($32.97)
About Face 3 by Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann and David Cronin ($23.85)

UX Sketching

Sketching User Experiences by Bill Buxton ($32.97)
Sketching User Experiences: The Workbook by Saul Greenberg, Sheelagh Carpendale, & Bill Buxton ($19.95)

UX Evaluation

Remote Research by Nate Bolt & Tony Tulathimutte ($39)
Card Sorting: Designing Usable Categories by Donna Spencer ($39)
Search Analytics for Your Site by Louis Rosenfeld ($39)
Measuring the User Experience by Thomas Tullis and William Albert ($35.27)

Information Visualization

Beautiful Visualization by Julie Steele and Noah Iliinsky ($49.89)
Designing Data Visualizations by Julie Steele and Noah Iliinsky ($19.09)
Visual Complexity by Manuel Lima ($31.50)
Envisioning Information by Edward R. Tufte ($36.00)
Visual Explanations by Edward R. Tufte ($33.75)
Beautiful Evidence by Edward R. Tufte ($39.54)
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward R. Tufte ($28.00)

Misc.

Prototyping: A Practitioner’s Guide to Prototyping by Todd Zaki Warfel ($39)
Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks by Luke Wroblewski ($39)
The Little UX That Went a Long Way by Dan Willis ($12.95)

The UX of Productivity in the Future

2011-10-28T05:49:50+00:00

By now you have seen the video released recently from Microsoft about productivity in the future. It highlights a bunch of interesting uses of technology that largely exists today in some form or another mixed with a bunch of smoke and mirrors for things that may be technically near impossible to implement depending on how you interpret the video. It’s a great exploration in to the art of interaction design as it relates to how we could potentially interact with information and the world around us, but there is something the video doesn’t cover…

I don’t think the problems of tomorrow will be about being able to get useful information, it will be finding value and meaning in it. If this sounds familiar to you it should, I have said it countless times before. This is precisely the kind of problem that needs to be solved by user experience professionals, specifically in the content strategy and information architecture disciplines.

OmniTouch - Touch screen for any surface

2011-10-18T02:33:56+00:00

Microsoft Research will unveil OmniTouch, a touch screen for any surface, at UIST 2012. Chris Harrison wrote about the research he did on the project. It is uncanny how simular this work is to MIT’s SixthSense which I have written about back in 2009.

What Motivates Us?

2011-09-20T21:51:16+00:00

Here is an interesting talk that Dan Pink gave to the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) entitled “Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us.” Dan illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace. You might be surprised to know it has nothing to do with money, in fact, monetary incentive caused poorer performance among people. It is interesting to me because in my last job hunt (which I still owe you a post on), I took compensation out of the equation because I didn’t want that to be the reason why I choose one job over another. I can easily say that I am the happiest I have been in 10 years here at my new job and I wake up each day with excitement & purpose.

Slides on xChannel from Nashville

2011-09-18T21:10:40+00:00

Due to popular demand, here are the slides from my presentation at the Breaking Development conference in Nashville last week. It’s the same basic talk I have given before on The Cross-Channel Experience but with a few minor tweaks and the talking points were more focused on mobile web than anything else. If you didn’t make it to Nashville, I would highly recommend checking out this conference when it comes to Orlando especially if you are doing any level of mobile web design.

Be sure to check out Luke Wroblewski’s notes from my talk. I found them to be pretty accurate with what was said on stage.

Photo by Michael Lehman

Sketchnotes by Dennis Kardys

UX Careers Guide

2011-08-24T01:53:08+00:00

The folks at Onward Search have created a UX Careers Guide packed with some great information visualizations of some of the trends and metrics they are seeing in the industry. You can read more about it on their blog post. Related, if you haven’t already checked out my blog post on Starting a Career in User Experience Design you should.

Nick Finck's Blog

Leap: an advancement in touchless gesture-based UI

My xChannel talk from Breaking Development

Mo’ IXD

The Cross-Channel Experience in Lisbon

Gifts for User Experience Geeks 2011

User Experience Software

Diagramming

Sketching

Prototyping

User Research

Usability Evaluation

Screen Sharing and Meeting

Screen Capture

Information Architecture and Content

Document Share & Review

Analytics

Misc.

Add-Ons

Other User Experience Goodies

Prototyping and Sketching

Paper Products

Sticky Paper Products

Drawing Surfaces

Sketching Instruments

Cards, Games, Snacks, & Calendars

Hardware

Clothing

Events & Associations

User Experience Books

General UX

UX Delight and Seduction

UX Thinking

Communicating UX

Mobile UX

Content Strategy

Information Architecture

Interaction Design

UX Sketching

UX Evaluation

Information Visualization

Misc.

The UX of Productivity in the Future

OmniTouch - Touch screen for any surface

What Motivates Us?

Slides on xChannel from Nashville

UX Careers Guide