Facebook’s new wider photo layout

I suspect, as many others have, that two main drivers of the redesign were to move comments ‘above the fold,’ and to be able to place ads much closer to those comments. If that’s the case I completely understand the decision, but I’m really curious about how this fits with (or goes against) users’ preferred visual scanning habits.

There’s been a lot of eye tracking research conducted on web users in the past, but most of it has focused on text-only pages, or on pages where images are just a supplement to lots of text. If the habits found in those studies hold true in all cases, then something like Jakob Nielsen’s f-pattern would indicate that moving comments to the right side would be an improvement. As they’re brought up higher on the page, comments are in an area where users will be more likely to see them.

On the flip side, research from Catalyst Group [pdf] indicated that when text-heavy data is organized into columns, users find those multi-column layouts suboptimal to single-column layouts. Users found multi-column layouts more “tiring” to use, and more difficult to develop a scanning strategy for. But the caveat remains: the original Nielsen article describing the f-pattern, and the Catalyst Group report were both focused on text-heavy content. Are there differences when a photo is the primary area of focus on the page?

my scan pattern for Facebook images – old vs. new

I think this article on design layouts is really instructive, particularly the part toward the end about focal points. It makes sense that the photos, comments and ads force users out of common scanning patterns and into a pattern imposed by the elements’ placement on the page. My gut feeling after using this new Facebook photos layout is that it puts a little more strain on the user than the previous version, by pulling users out of their natural visual scanning flow. While that can serve a clear purpose in art, it seems less useful in a situation like this, where Facebook is hoping users spend lots of time viewing album after album of photos (and the accompanying ads). The new layout’s scanning pattern from photo in the middle to comments on the right just didn’t feel natural to me. It’s entirely possible that I’m simply more used to the old vertical layout, but I’d love to see more research done in this area to get a better feel for what’s really happening.

dialog box for deleting a form element in MailChimp

In order to delete a field, MailChimp requires you to type “DELETE” into a text box before confirming (it doesn’t even accept the word in lower case).

Removing barriers and making things easier for users is something we’re constantly focused on when designing interfaces. But this is a great example of an instance where making it more difficult to accomplish a task is what really serves the user the most. Error prevention is one of Jakob Nielsen’s Ten Usability Heuristics, and it’s often accomplished with some sort of “are you sure?” confirmation dialog. But hitting “yes” or “OK” is easy. I want deleting customer information from my email newsletter application to be difficult — at least difficult enough that I can’t do it because of an itchy trigger finger or because I neglected to read carefully.

Warning dialogs aren’t sexy, and they’re handled pretty much the same way in almost every UI that I’ve encountered. Kudos to MailChimp for considering the user experience (not just the look!) for even the most ‘basic’ of UI elements in their product. They’ve made it difficult to do the sort of thing that you really don’t want to do by accident.

Real objects are more fun than buttons and menus
Allow people to directly touch and manipulate objects in your app. It reduces the cognitive effort needed to perform a task while making it more emotionally satisfying.

I don’t disagree with that statement all together, but I believe that UI choices should pass the “is it usable?” test before even considering the “is it fun?” test. Placing the tenet “Real objects are more fun than buttons and menus” so close to the top of their list, and encouraging it as default behavior (“deviate with purpose”), could end up causing developers to make some pretty bad UI decisions with their applications in the name of adhering to Android design principles. The temptation to implement fun, clever interactions is strong, but it’s not always the best choice.

Consider bant, a diabetes management application for the iPhone. I think there’s a lot of great design in this application, but one major interaction stands out to me as compromising usability for the sake making something more “fun” or interesting. Instead of entering a blood glucose level via the keypad when making an entry, bant users hold and drag a circle with their finger to align with the blood glucose reading (x-axis) and the time of day (y-axis). While I find the circle object large enough to touch without difficulty, it’s pretty aggravating to try dragging it to the exact spot on the screen in order to reflect my current blood glucose level. There’s a handy barrier at the current time, making it easy to add an entry in the moment. However, if you’re trying to add an entry from earlier in the day, good luck trying to align the circle on the small cluster of pixels representing the exact reading and time.

Creating an entry is the most common action a user will take in bant — ideally 4+ times per day. Violating best-practices established by Fitts’s Law, by requiring such a precise action, is a compromise that doesn’t seem worth it to me. I think it’s great that bant’s developers are trying to push the envelope to create fun and interesting new interactions to engage users, and that Google is pushing Android developers to do the same. But it’s important to base those decisions on what works, both physically and cognitively, for the people using your product. That is an instance when you truly should deviate with purpose.

It was a great opportunity to practice brainstorming and collaborative problem-solving, but I think the most important thing I learned relates to the way we approached the problem, and ultimately decided to present our idea. Here’s two lessons I took from the experience:

1. Rather than focus on all the things your new idea could be and the wide variety of users it could serve, spend your short time generating a single, solid use case. Keep that problem in mind and design an idea that will directly solve it. Don’t create a bunch of solutions and then go looking for a problem.
2. Stories are powerful. While some might offer more polished sketches or designs, if your design is presented with a clear progression that allows someone to see a real-life application, it will be much more compelling. An explanation of the myriad features in your design doesn’t necessarily help someone understand how any one person would use it.

We were asked to approach the idea of a refrigerator with the capability to know 1. what items are in it, 2. how much of each item are present, and 3. what the expiration dates of the items are. What could we design that would take advantage of those features in order to solve a problem?

some of my sketches from the design jam

My ideas focused on a mobile application to help users identify recipes that take advantage of what they currently have at home, and provide them with a grocery list that includes the items they still need to purchase in order to complete the recipe.

Netflix’s UI redesign removes the click-to-scroll arrows

Netflix web streaming is something that I actually use quite a bit, so any change was bound to cause a little friction. Because of that I decided to hold off judgement for a bit, in order to evaluate the changes from less of a “get off my lawn” perspective. A month later I’ve gotten used to almost all the changes, but one thing still irks me: I don’t like the switch to clickless scrolling.

It’s not terrible. Being able to browse at a leisurely pace without constant clicking is nice at times. But I don’t like the fact that, because it is now the only way you can browse suggestions from the main page, it removes my control over browsing speed. It’s entirely possible that this new scrolling method isn’t actually any slower — I’d be interested in testing that if I could go back to the old interface — but the loss of control makes it feel slower, and that’s all that matters.

Simply adding the click-to-scroll feature (and arrows) back into the mix would allow much more flexibility. Novice users and people with a slower scroll preference can utilize the clickless scrolling, while users who are way too familiar with Netflix’s suggestions could click through them more quickly, at their leisure. Catering to both types of users wouldn’t seem to impede on either group’s experience, and would strike a nice balance between catering to existing/experienced users and adding a new UI feature.

As an undergrad, one of my favorite professors had us complete an assignment called “Me at my best.” It was designed to help us think about our strengths so that we’d be able to place ourselves in situations in which we excel. That assignment taught me one of the most important lessons of my undergraduate career, and I was reminded of it this week while reading a book called First, Break All the Rules. In one chapter, author Marcus Buckingham distills the wisdom of thousands of talented managers down to this great nugget:

People don’t change that much.
Don’t waste time trying to put in what was left out.
Try to draw out what was left in.
That is hard enough.

Everyone has a different set of talents and weaknesses, and you’ll find the most success by taking advantage of that fact rather than fighting it. Great managers understand this about their people, and you should understand it about yourself. Continuous improvement is important, but too often we focus only on areas of weakness to improve upon.

What if you decided instead to pick out something you’re already good at and really take it to the next level? You could work toward becoming the Excel whiz at your office. Or be the person all your friends go to when they need help designing their website? Maybe you really *get* social media, and can find a way to turn it into your job.

Being average at everything is a sure-fire way to fly under the radar. The people who get noticed are the ones that know what they’re good at, and constantly put themselves in a position to use and improve on those skills. They find the sweet spot.

Need help figuring out what your strengths and talents are? Let’s try the ‘me at my best’ exercise:

1. Grab a pen and some paper and write down 3-5 things that you’re good at, things that come naturally to you. Think of skills like communication and organization, or characteristics like reliability and work ethic.
2. Find five people that know you well, from a variety of settings: family, friends, co-workers, bosses, etc. Ask each person to write you an email or letter describing your strengths, and the situations in which you excel. Encourage them to give specific examples of times that you’ve exhibited these skills.
3. Compare your list with the ones you’ve received from others. There will be some common ones, but there’s a good chance they’ve listed some strengths that you didn’t even realize that you had.

Now you have a better sense of where your skills and talents are, and when you’re ‘at your best.’ Start taking on roles and responsibilities that play into these strengths. You’ll feel much more confident in your abilities, and you’ll be better set up for success. As you continue to hone these existing strengths, you’ll find it easier to articulate exactly what you’re good at. And people will definitely take notice.

When are you at your best?

Photo credit: Savannah Grandfather on Flickr

A friend of mine recently passed along The MBTI Map, by the Integrated Design Laboratory at South Korea’s Ajou University. It’s a really fascinating information visualization project that displays the 16 Myers-Briggs Type Indicator types as a subway map, with ‘stops’ representing each of 39 representative personality words. It’s useful in understanding some of the fundamental differences, as well as similarities, among the various MBTI types. Also, I want a huge print of the poster, because it would look awesome on my wall.

I’m a sucker for anything involving the MBTI. I’m certainly not an expert, but I’m always on the lookout for tools that can help me better understand the different MBTI types and how they interact with each other. I’ve recently had the opportunity to take the lead on a summer project at work, and I spent a little time thinking about how my type, ENFP, affects the way that I manage projects.

Confessions of an ENFP

ENFP’s are not detail people, and I’d be lying if I told you that I automatically focus on the details in any situation. Fortunately, there has been no shortage of opportunities in my life to practice my attention to detail. I’ve spent years in school and at work training myself to think like a more detail-oriented person because it simply does not come naturally to me. Without practice, those situations feel a lot like trying to throw a baseball with my left hand.

As an ENFP, I need to be keenly aware of follow-through on long-term projects. I am able to generate a lot of enthusiasm about projects and endeavors at the outset, but unchecked, this can cause me to lose focus at the excitement of new possibilities and quickly jump from one thing to another. Case in point: two summers ago I dove headfirst into learning the piano, only to drop it two weeks later when I decided I’d rather learn to speak Japanese. Of course I ended up learning neither, but I ended up finding something I really wanted to focus on; I came out of that summer having taught myself HTML, CSS and a little Javascript.

Making it work

Given the previous two statements, you might think I hate the idea of project management, or worse, that I’d be terrible at it. That’s not the case, but I’ve had to rely on a couple tricks to make it work:

ENFP’s are naturally project-oriented, so I’m never lacking excitement at the start of any project. One thing I’ve learned to do is to take advantage of this, and really front-load as much of the ‘detail stuff’ that can be completed in the early stages. Because of that enthusiasm, I’m easily able to power through the things I find to be less fun, and save the more exciting stuff for when my enthusiam comes down to a more normal level. Every time I’ve used this strategy I’ve been able to avoid problems with follow-through.

The second thing I do is turn a large project into a bunch of smaller ones. Lots of people do this to make big projects seem more manageable (bonus!), but I do it mainly to avoid playing into my weaknesses. If I plan it right, the excitement at the start of each mini-project is enough to carry me all the way until that piece is finished — think of it like ‘star power‘ in Guitar Hero. This method is mostly a mental trick to keep my energy level up throughout, by taking advantage of the part of my brain that says “Ooh, shiny new project, how exciting!” each time I start one of the smaller pieces.

I can attribute a lot of my successes, both professional and social, to having a solid understanding of how I perceive the world and how I make decisions. The MBTI has been a great resource to gain a better understanding of both of those things, and how they impact my interactions with others. How does your understanding of your MBTI type impact the work that you do?

Photo credit: David Sifry on Flickr

“Am I supposed to put my education section first, or my experience? Also, should I put my Physics class in ‘related coursework’? And I’m not wild about my objective statement. What do you think?”

Hold on a minute. Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to take the time to craft a well-written resume. To make sure the experiences you list are relevant, and speak to skills and accomplishments rather than just responsibilities. To have someone from career services take a look when you’re finished, just to be sure. But you’ve been job searching for a while now, and you aren’t having much luck. Obsess over the little details all you want, but your resume is not the problem.

“But there are hundreds of other people applying through these job boards! If my resume isn’t perfect, how will I stand out?”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 70% of people get their jobs through networking. So why are you spending all of your time on job boards, sending resume after resume to places that aren’t responding? Networking is always important, but when searching for a job in a tough economy, your connections are invaluable. Scale back the time you spend scouring Monster.com and use it to start building relationships through networking.

“But networking is scary, and I suck at it.”

You use networking skills all the time, and you don’t even know it. Let’s talk about three things you should be pretty comfortable with already, and how they relate to networking:

Asking questions. People love to talk about themselves. When you meet someone new, ask questions to get to know them better. They’ll enjoy their encounter with you a lot more, and there’s a pretty good chance you’ll learn something. Sure, much of the time it won’t be anything helpful to your job search. But maybe she was a summer intern at that accounting firm you’re interested in, and knows people in the HR department. If you’re too busy talking about yourself, you’ll never know. Important caveat: you have to actually be interested in the answers to the questions you’re asking, otherwise you’ll come off as an insincere jerk.

Being helpful. Most people aren’t going to respond well if you walk up to them and immediately start asking for favors. Don’t be “that guy.” Make an effort to approach every new relationship with the goal of being helpful. It doesn’t have to be some big gesture, but a small display of kindness goes a long way. People will be much more willing to help you (unprompted, even) if they see you as a helpful person.

Knowing what you want. If you’re good at the first two skills I mentioned, many of the people you encounter will be willing to help you out if they can. But there’s no way they’ll be able to do that if they don’t know how to help! You need to be able to articulate your passion, skills, and goals when the subject comes up. Once you can do that, you’ll be amazed at the number of opportunities people will send your way.

“OK, I guess I never realized that those ‘networking’ skills are things that I’m already good at, just in another context. But where do I start?”

Glad you asked. Pick one of these and start doing it this week:

• Reach out to your weak ties using tools like LinkedIn and Facebook
• Connect with fellow students through extracurricular activities
• Find someone who has the job you want in 5 years and ask for an informational interview
• Follow people on Twitter to develop new relationships with others in your field
• Become active in a professional organization

Each new relationship that you develop offers the potential to put you one step closer to the job you really want. Don’t you think that’s a better use of your time than obsessing over the minutiae of your resume, and on how many times you can send it out?

Photo credit: goh-wz.livejournal.com

Last week I decided to pull one of my favorite books, Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, back off the shelf. If you’ve never read it before (you should), the book describes the way in which ideas, trends, and social behaviors ‘tip’ and begin spreading like wildfire. News about Oprah officially joining the ranks of the Twitterati had the micro-blogging service at the forefront of my mind, and I wanted to re-read the book to help get a better grasp on how Twitter finally ‘tipped.’ Instead, I ended up with a much clearer idea of how social networks like Twitter and Facebook can fit in to our professional networking efforts.

In the book, Gladwell describes three types of people — Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen — that he believes to be critical in driving social epidemics. Using the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon as an analogy, Gladwell describes Connectors as “people whom all of us can reach in only a few steps because, for one reason or another, they manage to occupy many different worlds and subcultures and niches.” You know someone like this. It’s the person that seems to know everyone. Not only that, a Connector enjoys using his/her network to connect groups and individuals that would never otherwise interact. “We rely on them to give us access to opportunities and worlds to which we don’t belong,” says Gladwell. Some of you savvy networkers out there might see where I’m going with this.

When it comes to finding a job, many people start off their networking efforts by reaching out to their ‘strong ties’ like close friends, coworkers, and family members. While there’s nothing wrong with that approach, it’s probably not the most effective way to spend your time. Think about it: most of these people occupy the same social circle, work at the same company, and/or spend their time doing many of the same things as you. There’s not much of a chance that any one of them is able to find out about an opportunity that you haven’t heard about already.

Contrast this with your acquaintances, or ‘weak ties.’ While you’d recognize this person in a crowded room, s/he is not someone you see on a regular basis. This person spends time in a completely different world from you, possibly one with very different opportunities. Having access to many weak ties opens up networking possibilities far beyond those associated with strong ties.

Remember the Connectors? Gladwell describes them as ‘masters of the weak tie.’ Having a true Connector in your corner is incredibly useful in finding a job, as sociologist Mark Granovetter discovered in his aptly-named study, Getting a Job. In his research, Granovetter discovered that 56 percent of people found their job through a personal connection — yet only 16.7 percent of those people described seeing their connection “often.” With over 83 percent describing seeing their connection either “occasionally” or “rarely,” Granovetter went on to coin the term “the strength of weak ties” as a way to illuminate this phenomenon.

I promised I’d bring this back to Facebook and Twitter, so here it is: the people that complain about someone having hundreds of ‘fake friends’ on Facebook, or think that Twitter is nothing more than a place to tell people what you’re eating for lunch, are completely missing the point. Facebook allows you to maintain acquaintance-level relationships with people you would have long since forgotten otherwise. Twitter gives you access to millions of people using the service that you don’t even know. Aside from being fun to use, these tools are great ways to expand and leverage your weak ties. Most people don’t have the natural ability of a Connector, but social networks can help the average person act like one. And if you’re searching for a job right now, you should be using all the tools at your disposal.

Do you see the value in using Facebook and Twitter help you leverage weak ties? Let me know in the comments, or on Twitter @scottytsuch.

Photo credit: notsogoodphotography on Flickr

Bill Cosby: I said to a guy, “Tell me, what is it about cocaine that makes it so wonderful,” and he said, “Well…it intensifies your personality.” And I said, “Yes, but what if you’re an asshole?”

I had the opportunity to spend last Friday at Module’s Midwest Digital Conference, listening to some heavy-hitters in the field of social media, including Scott Monty of Ford, and uber-blogger Chris Brogan.

During the panel discussion at the end of the day, one of the speakers, Jeremy Tanner (@penguin on Twitter), made a comment that really stuck with me. I’m not sure if I got it verbatim, but the basic point was this:

Social media doesn’t make you awesome, it just exposes what you already are.

Jeremy was talking specifically about companies trying to build a social media presence, but his insight is just as relevant for job seekers and young professionals. Technology and social media tools are great resources, but they’re only helpful when you have great substance to back it up.

LinkedIn can help you extend and visualize your network, but it can’t give you networking skills — you need to develop them on your own.

Twitter provides access to thought-leaders in your field, and an avenue to connect with people based on nothing other than a shared interest. But you’ll have nothing to contribute to the conversation if you don’t bother to do some of your own learning first.

It’s very important to use these tools to your benefit, and there’s great advice all over the web on how to do just that. But don’t think for a minute that any of these things is a silver bullet to make your job search a successful one. So join some extracurriculars, volunteer, and get an internship, because there’s no substitute for practical experience in your field. Make time in your day to read good books that broaden your horizons and force you to think in a way that you never have before. And by all means, learn how to network, because it’s the same thing whether you’re online or face-to-face.

The social media tools available to you right now can expand your network, amplify your message, and boost your knowledge, but they can’t change what you are to begin with.
So ask yourself: is your inner-awesome worth exposing?