The Hierarchy of Digital Distractions
A great visual depicting the many digital distractions that we encounter on a daily basis.

Study:  Fewer fields in a contact form sharply increases conversions
In the fall of 2007 and again in the spring of 2008, Imaginary Landscape performed a comparison of two types of contact forms on its Web site at www.imagescape.com.  The test compared an 11-field Contact Us form with a 4-field Contact Us form. The more abbreviated form resulted in a 160% increase in submitted forms.

Electrical Circuit Runs Entirely Off Power in Trees
You’ve heard about flower power. What about tree power? It turns out that it’s there, in small but measurable quantities. There’s enough power in trees for University of Washington researchers to run an electronic circuit, according to results to be published in an upcoming issue of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ Transactions on Nanotechnology.

How to Design Buttons to Help Improve Usability
Buttons can play a big part in how visitors interact with a website. They come in varying shapes, sizes and styles but there are a few things to consider when designing buttons.

10 Productivity Tips for Web Designers and Developers
Productivity is something that all web designers and developers strive for. We all have too much work to do so anything that can help us along the way can make a big difference.

South African pigeon faster than broadband
A Durban IT company pitted an 11-month-old bird armed with a 4GB memory stick against the ADSL service from the country’s biggest web firm, Telkom. Winston the pigeon took two hours to carry the data 60 miles – in the same time the ADSL had sent 4% of the data.

Zooming Interfaces for Augmented Reality on Phones
A video demonstrating this technology.

Digital Information Design Best Practices
What are some best practices for digital information design? There are many information design resources, however there are a few attributes that can make for an effective story with information design and infographics.
 
50 things that are being killed by the internet
The Internet has wrought huge changes on our lives – both positive and negative – in the fifteen years since its use became widespread.

The bright side of sitting in traffic: Crowdsourcing road congestion data
What if you could do a little something to improve the world during your daily drive to work? Some interesting ideas from the official Google Blog.

Communicating User Experience Design
When trying to communicate the process of user centred design to senior managers it helps to convey the idea as concisely as possible. This infographic conveys the various steps and phases of user centred design on a single page.

User Experience Designers vs Creative Director
With roles constantly in-flux, how do these two differ and overlap?

9 Things You Can’t Forget When Designing a Blog
Designing a blog can be quite a daunting task, to be sure. To-do lists alone for could fill pages if you were to include all the minor details that accompany the project.

The Definitive Guide to About Me Pages
One of the most important and least used aspects of any website is the “About Me” page. It’s not enough to have an interesting site and great product if your visitor can’t find a way to relate to you.

Monopoly City Streets
Now you can play Monopoly using Google Maps! 

Organizations Should Leverage Social Sciences to Place Next-Generation Technology Jobs
As individuals and organizations progress in their adoption and leverage of the Web, new work streams and needs will arise, resulting in companies utilizing social sciences to fill next-generation technology jobs, according to Gartner, Inc.

The freelancer’s toolbox: 33 useful apps & websites for the freelance designer
As a freelancer, managing your time and business is mandatory if you want to get some time for designing. All the softares and websites introduced in this article can save you some precious time and money.

Web Design Trends: Call To Action Buttons
Call to action buttons are the buttons that you, as a web designer, want all your users to click on when they land on your page. Usually they’ll be a link to a download, sign up or sale. Seth Godin calls them bananas and your users are the monkeys. The objective is for the monkey to find the banana in less than 3 seconds (before they give up and leave). “Force yourself to design each and every page with one and only one primary objective. That’s the banana. Make it big. Make it blue (or red). Make it obvious.”

Moodboarding Methods for Web Designers
Moodboards help you gain a complete understanding of what you are trying to achieve design wise. They also keep you inspired, and you can create as many as you like for any one project.

10 Elements of Highly Effective Articles
Generally speaking, people visit your site for one of two reasons.  First, they come because you engage with them personally.  They are your friends and they visit to connect with you.  Second, they come for your articles.  They come because they view you as an authority in your field and they want to learn from you.  Or maybe they come because your writing entertains them. 

Best of Best WordPress 404 Error Page Designs
High bounce rate can negatively impact your website by decreasing your revenue from advertisers and more. You can reduce the bounce rate and increase pageviews by simply optimizing your 404 Error Page.

5 Steps to Streamline your Creative Process
This article summarizes how to streamline a creative process to make it as efficient as possible.

How They Did It: District 9
How did a largely unheralded Vancouver VFX facility land the job of creating amazing CG aliens for one of the coolest movies of the summer?

Related posts:

1. Best of the Web Weekly Roundup: Aug 29 – Sept 4
2. 20 User Experience Books you should own
3. The 10 Commandents for Designing Less Evil Forms

The Cardinals now join the Bills, Seahawks, Titans, Bengals, Panthers, Chargers, 49ers, Raiders, Vikings and the Lions on NFL’s club technology platform. Congrats to all who made this possible. We hope the fans love their new Cardinals home.  Check it out, and all comments are welcome!

Related posts:

1. DetroitLions.com redesigned and ready for new season!
2. Raiders.com Redesigned and Launched
3. 49ers Redesigned Site Now Live

The Lions now join the Bills, Seahawks, Titans, Bengals, Panthers, Chargers, 49ers, Raiders, Vikings and the Cardinals on NFL’s club technology platform. Congrats to all who made this possible. We hope the fans love their new Lions home.  Check it out, and all comments are welcome!

Related posts:

1. Raiders.com Redesigned and Launched
2. AZCardinals.com Revamped for 2009 NFL Season Kickoff
3. 49ers Redesigned Site Now Live

The Raiders now join the Bills, Seahawks, Titans, Bengals, Panthers, Chargers, 49ers, Lions, Vikings and the Cardinals on NFL’s club technology platform. Congrats to all who made this possible. We hope the fans love their new Raiders home.  Check it out, and all comments are welcome!

Related posts:

1. DetroitLions.com redesigned and ready for new season!
2. AZCardinals.com Revamped for 2009 NFL Season Kickoff
3. 49ers Redesigned Site Now Live

Television

NFL Network
A television network solely devoted to the NFL. Includes 8 live regular season games, in addition to preseason games and other game broadcasts. The NFL Network also offers year-round NFL programming. Learn more >

NFL RedZone
NFL RedZone is a brand new channel brought to you by NFL Network each Sunday afternoon during the season. NFL RedZone will jump from game to game to bring you key moments from around the league — live as they happen on the field in HD. DirecTV, Comcast, Verizon FIOS, and Dish Network will carry RedZone, with more carriers to come. Learn More >

NFL Sunday Ticket
NFL Sunday Ticket™ brings you access to up to 14 live games a week in the regular season.  With the player tracker, follow up to 18 players each week right on your screen – a perfect feature for Fantasy players! Also, get scores and stats of other games without missing the game you’re watching. This is carried exclusively on DirecTV.  Learn more >

Network TV
Throughout the season, catch selected games broadcast on FOX, CBS, NBC, and ESPN on Monday Nights. View the schedule >

Online

Game Center
NFL.com has launched a brand new Game Center experience, where you can follow live plays and stats from the game, making for a valuable fantasy football resource. Don’t forget to try out the new 3D Drive Chart view, and chat with other fans before, during and after the game.  Also for the first time ever, you will be able to watch in-game highlights, all without leaving Game Center! Check it out on nfl.com, by clicking on a game in the scorestrip.

Field Pass
NFL.com offers Field Pass, a subscription based product that allows you to listen to live game audio. Access live streaming audio and replays of over 250 NFL in-season games and replay archives going back to 2004; including preseason, regular season, and postseason match-ups. Get Field Pass >

Game Pass
If you live outside North America, you’re in for a treat. You can subscribe to live HD streaming video of every regular season NFL game online, and this access also includes archived broadcasts and NFL Network programming. And now for the first time, watch the all new RedZone channel as part of the Game Pass experience.  Get Game Pass >

Game Rewind
Watch every NFL game on-demand, commercial free, in its entirety. Control the archives of the 2008 and 2009 seasons in stunning HD quality video. Subscribe now, and never miss a game again. Get Game Rewind >

NFL.com/LIVE
NFL.com hosts NFL LIVE as a free on-line companion to the NFL Network broadcast games.  Submit questions to the experts and receive in-depth analysis of the game.  Learn more >

DirectTV Supercast
Included with NFL Sunday Ticket,  Supercast delivers live streaming video of every NFL Sunday Ticket game to your computer desktop. This also includes stats to track your favorite players’ performance. Learn More >

Fantasy Football
If you’ve played Fantasy Football online before, you’ll know that the likes of NFL, ESPN and Yahoo! Sports let you track your players’ performances in real-time. To many folks, following NFL games from their fantasy team’s point-of-view, is an engaging and fun experience.

Mobile

NFL Mobile Live
Get live audio broadcasts of every regular season game, live NFL Network games, live NFL Network 24/7 and customizable red zone alerts all on your Sprint mobile phone. Access the NFL whenever and however you want. Free for Sprint subscribers with any data plan. Learn more >

NFL Wireless
Use your mobile phone to access NFL.com anytime, anywhere. Keep up to date on the latest scores, news, and updates from NFL.com when you can’t be at your computer. Learn more >

DirectTV Supercast Mobile
Use your NFL Sunday Ticket subscription to access live games on your mobile phone.  This shares the same features as the Supercast computer application, meaning you can also enjoy live streaming video, highlights, scores and stats wherever you happen to be. Lear More >

Text Alerts
Sign up for mobile alerts and you’ll get instant scoring notifications as well as quarterly updates and end of game summaries. Learn more >

Radio

NFL Sunday Drive
Sirius Satellite Radio enables you to hear every game and also listen to the experts talk about the game 24/7/365.  Learn More >

Local Radio Stations
NFL teams run their own flagship radio stations, where you can listen to game-day coverage and around-the-clock analysis. Visit your team’s website for a full list of affiliates, or view all teams here.

Related posts:

1. AZCardinals.com Revamped for 2009 NFL Season Kickoff
2. Mobile Web Design trends for 2009
3. DetroitLions.com redesigned and ready for new season!

The Emotion Jacket

Paul Lemmens, a cognitive scientist in the User Experiences group of Philips, is researching the connection between emotion and touch, and how this can be used to evoke a wide range of emotions from excitement to relaxation. A jacket is worn by the user and it responds to signals encoded in a watched DVD. These signals trigger 64 independently controlled vibration motors that are distributed across the arms and torso.  This complex system of touch can then cause a shiver to go up a viewer’s spine or create butterflies in their stomach; and many other emotions to compliment the viewing experience. This kind of experience will heighten viewer empathy, by creating an emotional connection between them and the characters in the movie. Scientifically, this is a relatively unexplored territory, but as humans we have an intimate and innate connection between emotion and touch. Things look very promising for Philips as they strive to create a richer and more immersive entertainment experience for their customers.

The Hug Shirt™

This invention became famous when exhibited at Wired magazine’s NextFest and was named one of the best inventions for 2006 by Time Magazine. The Hug Shirt™ is worn and used to send and receive hugs over distance. Embedded in the shirt are sensors that feel the strength of the touch, the skin warmth and the heartbeat rate of the wearer. Actuators (receivers) also recreate the sensation of touch, warmth and emotion of the hug that has been sent from the distant sender. This experience is created by sending data from the shirt (via Bluetooth) to your mobile device, which in turn delivers the hug data to your friend’s phone, and ultimately to their shirt.  Even if one of the two doesn’t have a shirt, the “shirtless” can create and send a virtual hug using HugMe™ software running on their mobile device. Apart from the technology itself being noteworthy, a user-centered approach including prototypes and user testing was part of the product’s design process. Furthermore, this approach moved it to market more quickly with better results.

Shape Shifting Garments

In the spring of 2007, fashion designer Hussein Chalayan exhibited a range of clothing which demonstrated the use of memory shape alloys in haute couture design. Shape memory alloys potentially allow for perfect fit adjustable shaped garments. When you run a particular current through a fabric, a shape is created which is ‘remembered’ when the current is switched off. Apply a different current and a different shape is created. In other words, you have programmable clothing. This allows zippers to be closed, cloth gathered, and hemlines to rise, without human assistance.  Now you have fashion as you see fit, literally.

The Kickbee

Corey Menscher, a father-to-be, has constructed a device called the Kickbee that notifies him when his unborn baby kicks inside the womb. The Kickbee is a stretchable band with attached sensors, and is worn by a pregnant mother over her stomach. A micro-controller in the band then captures the movement of the baby kicking, and transmits the signals wirelessly to an application on a nearby computer. The computer in turn broadcasts short messages of “I kicked Mommy!” on Twitter, which can be shared with family and friends. As an expecting father, I see this as some kind of surrogate experience, a substitute for the real thing.

Force Feedback Gamer’s Vest

TN Games® has come up with an incredibly immersive impact-generating technology that utilizes an air compressor system to fire pneumatic cells, each capable of delivering up to 5 lbs of force. These cells fire at their own rates, force, and duration, giving players a wide set of sensory experiences that include punches, kicks, stabs, bullets, blasts, G-force, and other types of environmental contact effects. So if you were playing your favorite First Person Shooter, and you got hit by a bullet, you would feel the physical impact of the round, just as the game character would. The 3rd Space vest is the first product to harness TN Games’ impact-generating technology. The vest communicates with compatible games to give precise, 3 dimensionally accurate impacts where it happens, as it happens. You have to wonder about the safety of technology like this, especially under prolonged use and its potential for modification.

The Kokoro

Anaid Gomez Ortigoza, a student at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU, is working on a project called ‘kokoro’ which is a wearable play-list generator for the iPod. What really stands out is the device’s ability to play music based on the pace of the user’s heart-rate. The idea is that your heart-rate changes based on your emotion or activity, and through rate change, your heart becomes an interface between you and your iPod. Matching songs to these variable rates will ideally match songs to your emotional or physical state. And while you may want to rely strictly an automatic match, there is still the ability for the user to override their heart’s choice by choosing a faster or slower setting. This works by picking up the wearer’s heart-rate via a sensor, and then transmitting the data to the Kokoro electronic device, which is housed in a textile pouch connected to an iPod.  This is a pretty simple concept but it represents a much more complex idea. That is, our body interfacing with devices on a passive and emotional level, and in doing so, freeing up our attention to focus on work or activities that require cognitive effort.

SmartLife HealthVest™

SmartLife® Technology have developed a textile based technology platform that monitors vital health signs such as ECG, heart rate, EMG, respiration, tidal flow and skin temperature. When worn, this technology continuously monitors a person’s vital signs throughout their daily lives on a 24/7 basis. The garments are designed in a very user-centric fashion, whereby the sensors are automatically in contact with the skin, their position is correctly located and the wearer requires little instruction for set-up or routine use. Data collected by the SmartLife HealthVest™ can be transmitted in real time via Bluetooth to a remote computer, PDA, or even a cell phone which in turn can alert medical personnel if necessary. The technology represents a paradigm shift from traditional high cost patient monitoring in hospitals to affordable unobtrusive remote personalized monitoring in the home or on the go; and is also an excellent example of how technology can enhance rather than disrupt life. SmartLife® stays true to their name by following a user-centered design, and turning health monitoring into a pleasant user experience. Now if only this replaced visits to the dentist!

“HAL” Robot Suit

Tsukuba University’s professor Yoshiyuki Sankai can stand tall as the inventor of this “Hybrid Assisted Limb®” or HAL. This technology is essentially a robot suit that can expand and improve the wearer’s physical capabilities.  When the wearer attempts to move, nerve signals are sent from the brain to the muscles. At this moment, HAL detects bio-signals on the surface of the skin and interprets the wearer’s intention before they actually move.  This enables HAL to move  as the wearer moves, in a synchronized non-delayed unison. Cyberdyne has embraced the overwhelming potential of HAL, and is expected to produce units for rehabilitation and physical training, disabled people, heavy labor, disaster rescue and entertainment. To own one will set you back nearly $60,000.

Soldier’s Suit

Whether we agree or not with how money is being spent on arms, the military is constantly looking to gain the edge through innovation. This desire provides a unique opportunity for technology and designers to save U.S. soldier’s lives. In 2020, the U.S. Army will roll out a suit that integrates nanotechnology, exoskeletons and liquid body armor. The suit’s helmet will house a GPS receiver, radio and network connections which enable each solider to be in constant contact with each other, and act either as individuals or as a collective. Closest to the body, a Warrior Physiological Status Monitoring System contains sensors that monitor physiological indicators such as heart-rate, blood pressure and hydration. This data is then relayed to medics who can determine whether to send in support, or provide feedback, and will be able to easily see where the solider is on a map. As protection, liquid body armor made of magnetorheological fluid protects the wearer. This fluid remains in a liquid state until an electrical pulse is applied. At this point, the armor changes from a soft state into a rigid state within thousandths of a second and protects the soldier by deflecting incoming bullets. Improving the soldier’s strength by 300% is made possible by a lower body exoskeleton made of lightweight composite devices attached to the wearer’s legs. The exoskeleton will also serve as a platform for mounting high-powered weapons. Researchers hope to see this developing technology mature in the next 15 to 20 years.

Invisibility Cloak

Firstly, as ridiculous as this sounds, inventing an invisibility cloak is based on physical laws. We see objects when the light falling on these objects is reflected back from their surface and into our eyes. The idea is to develop a device that prevents light from reflecting back into our eyes. Glass is already accomplishing such a thing, as we look right through it, but obviously wearing glass is not going to make us invisible. So what can possibly make the wearer invisible? Well according to researchers, the cloak design makes use of tiny needles to be fitted into a hairbrush shaped cone at angles and lengths that would force light to pass around the wearer. The major limitation of the current design is that it can bend light of a single wavelength and so only renders the object invisible under that specific wavelength of light. Developing a similar device that can bend lights of all wavelengths is still a technological challenge for researchers, but they have stated that it is possible according to the laws of physics. Even with invisibility under a single  light wavelength, the cloak could shield soldiers from night vision goggles. It could also be used to hide objects from laser designators used by the military to illuminate a target.  Sorry Harry Potter fans, you’re going to have to wait until technology catches up to you.

Bullet Dodging Body Armor

IBM was recently granted a patent for bionic body armor, originally filed last March, that’s intended to enable the wearer to dodge bullets. The device works by constantly emitting electromagnetic waves that bounce off any fast-moving projectiles. If the object in question is determined to be a threat, muscle stimulators activate and cause the wearer’s body to contort in such way to avoid being hit. It works under the idea that a sniper typically fires from a distance, given the armor time to detect the oncoming bullet and react accordingly. You have to wonder if The Matrix was a source of this inspiration.

Wearable Agriculture Suit

The Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology has developed an agriculture robot suit tailored to the 40% of Japan’s farm workers who are over the age of 65. Shigeki Toyama, a professor in robotics who developed the robotic harvesting and pruning suit, sought to make it industry and task-specific in order to generate cost savings in producing the suit. With Japan’s aging population, this solution seems to present a transition between human workers and what will ultimately become fully robotic ones. So you want to retire at 65? Forget it! Put this suit on and get back to work!

So what does all of this mean to us as designers?

• Firstly, I think it means we need to be aware of what technology exists and what is being developed out there. Think creatively and figure out how it can be leveraged and harnessed appropriately.
• Big corporations appreciate the massive potential of wearable technology, and are already filing patents, building prototypes and releasing to market. Take note of emerging players and follow them closely.
• Identify which industries are hungry for this kind of innovation. So far, entertainment, health care, fashion, sports and the military are embracing wearable technology.
• As designers we should be looking for lifestyle and vocational problems to solve. We have the ability to create experiences that can dramatically improve productivity through highly functional and pragmatic design. Designs can literally save and improve the quality of lives.
• Conduct ethnographic research by observing users “in the wild”.  This should be done prior to design to get an idea of how they go about their daily lives, and then again once they’re wearing the technology to see how it’s positively or negatively affecting them.
• Understand that designing wearable technology might be about allowing users to express themselves. This is especially true in the fashion and lifestyle industries.
• For certain applications, users will expect to experience things emotionally and physically.
• Identify data points and triggers on the human body. Think of how the wearer’s anatomy can be an interface for technology, in both directions. We are after all, a wonderful showcase of biological, chemical and electrical technology.
• Become skilled at sketching concepts and storyboarding. There could be many visual ways to communicate an idea, but make sure to place emphasis on storytelling. We may be dealing with abstract user interfaces that do not need wireframes, but rather require visual explanations for how the interface is used and technology works.
• A new kind of designer will be needed to pioneer and support the advancement and design of wearable technology. A hybrid set of skills will be required, with ideal candidates possessing a deep understanding of user experience principles, industrial design, and perhaps a background in technology too. There might also be demand for designers from specific industries such as fashion, health care, sports, etc.  But either way, designers that are massively out-of-the-box thinkers, will be highly sought after by both start-ups and corporations alike.

With this emerging technology and rapidly evolving user experience frontier, we should not abandon a user-centered approach to designing wearable technology. Staying true to this philosophy will make the transition for both users and designers a less stressful and more enjoyable one.  Yet while we stay the user-centered course, as designers we need to adapt and evolve our skills. Who knows, it might not be long before we’re wearing technology to design wearable technology.

Related posts:

1. IBM patents Matrix-style, bullet dodging armor
2. 20 User Experience Books you should own
3. 'Wearable Agrirobot' Power Suit Helps Aging Farm Workers

Audi Conversations Visualization
Click on the “Conversations” link at the bottom of the page.  Here you’ll experience a social media visualization and aggregation of Audi related YouTube videos, Flickr Photos, Tweets and blog posts. Both pretty and functional, and not visualization for the sake of visualization.

Screen Resolution Template
Whether you agree with the existence of “the fold” or not, Methodologie has put together a very useful template that compares the various screen resolutions and what percentage of web users are able to see these web canvases.

UX for videogame design: Gameplay Research
A very fascinating look behind the scenes of video game research. When you consider that Grand Theft Auto IV took in over $500 million in sales in it’s opening week, and World of Warcraft generates $100 million per month in subscriptions, it’s not surprising that video games are now very serious business requiring very serious research.

INDEX: Award 2009 Winners
The idea is to improve life through design, within the categories of “Body”, “Home”, “Work”, “Play” and “Community”. Check out who won and what they designed.

Stunning Photos of the Wildfires in Southern California
It’s an annual event/disaster here in LA. I still find it hard to believe we don’t have a better handle on how to detect, prevent and extinguish these fires.  There’s a huge opportunity here for someone to come forward with a firefighting innovation.

Write with a Knife
An excellent post that explains how to write in a succinct fashion.

In Revolutionary Color
Russian color photos taken 100 years ago, look as if they were taken yesterday.

The seven sins of usability
A user-friendly website is essential to keep people interested in what you have to say and ultimately keeps them coming back. Neil Walker, Chief Technical Officer at Just Search, looks at what usability nightmares marketers should avoid when designing a website to enhance their brand.

Related posts:

1. Best of the Web Weekly Roundup: September 5–11

Using the Web can still be a very annoying experience!

We’ve come a long way on the web today. Or have we?  While we’ve innovated in many areas, we’ve also continued to disregard pre-existing issues. And in some cases, we have also created new ones. Here is my list of the top 65 most annoying things about the web today. They’re in no particular order, but I have organized them into what I consider core groups.

Poor Design

1. Illegible text. I can’t read that, it’s too small. And what on earth is that font called?
2. Busy backgrounds.  Oh MySpace, why do you allow users to create profiles like that? My eyes hurt.
3. Obscure links. I’m confused, can I click on that or not? Oh I get it, you don’t want me to view other pages.
4. Flyouts that are too large. Holy crap Yahoo!  This is a page within a flyout!
5. Drop-down menu navigation too many levels deep. OK, if I slowly move my mouse this way first… dammit Jim, I’m a doctor not a magician!
6. Complicated navigation. I just want to get to that page, the one over there! Oh I see, you want me to complete the maze first.
7. Abused centerpieces. Aren’t centerpieces supposed to serve as mechanisms for promotion, rather than areas to cram an entire page’s worth of content into itself? Call me an idealist, I guess.
8. Poor navigation labels. Give me a clue and use labels that make sense!
9. Clutter & chaos. With no emphasis or information hierarchy, it’s difficult for me to know what to look at, and what to do next.
10. Ugly WAPs. Many companies treat their WAP sites like a deformed step-child they keep in the basement.
11. Splash screens. Nice, a road block between your user and your home page.

Unfindable Information

1. Dysfunctional site search. (Sigh) Why didn’t this site just use Google?
2. Too many blog categories. Isn’t this what tags were meant for?
3. Contact info. I just want to speak to them on the phone! And when I say “them” i mean a human.
4. Invisible sign in. OK, so I registered, but how do I sign in?
5. Hidden account closure. I guess I’m a member for life now?
6. Unscannable info. I want to quickly know if this article is relevant. But alas, huge paragraphs, long headlines and no subheadings make for an unscannable chunk of data, and an indigestible piece of gristle.

No Content Strategy

1. No focus. Yada, yada, yada. Get to the point, what’s your message and what do you offer?
2. Spelling & grammar. Spelling mistakes are hard to forgive and really hurt credibility.
3. Ineffective product pages: What am I buying? Why should I buy this? Help me understand, and I’ll move down the purchase funnel!
4. Outdated. There’s nothing more thrilling than seeing a blog frozen in time. At some point, a landfill for websites is going to be needed.
5. Small photos. Why would I buy something I cannot see?

Auto-Behavior

1. Auto-playing home page video. Take note ESPN.com: the first thing I do when coming to your site is scramble to find the video pause button. And that’s when I’m surfing from home.
2. Auto browser resizing. And you did that because?
3. Customer service nags. Ironic really. Chat pop-ups appear like genies out of a lamp when I don’t need them.
4. Theme tunes. Got to love that auto-play music, especially when it cycles over and over and over, and over.
5. Auto opt-ins. It seems like an automatic opt-in is a contradiction in terms to me. No I don’t want your newsletter, and if I did, I’d opt-in.

Evil Forms

1. Unreadable captchas. Pure Evil. If I had a brick, why I would…
2. Too many fields. This is utterly exhausting. Oh forget it, I’m going to abandon this form.
3. Cryptic error messaging. OK, so I made a mistake. If you used English, I might be able to fix it.
4. No confirmation. Was I successful or not? I’m looking for anything here, a “thank-you”, a “job well done”, a “good boy”… anything that confirms the form was indeed a submitted form.
5. Too many constraints. I want to add my Canadian zip code, but you’re validating against the US format only!
6. Too small fields. How I’m supposed to enter my street address in that state-sized field?
7. The reset button. Do we really need this? I especially love it when I accidentally press “reset” instead of “submit”. It’s especially satisfying when it’s a long form.

Intrusive Advertising

1. Pop-ups. And that includes those fancy, flashy, moving, hard-to-close ones. Are you serious? This is 2009.
2. Interstitials. Thanks for adding another click and creating a barrier between me and your content! Give me a reason to leave, I dare you.
3. Flyouts via links in content. Oh darn, I didn’t know that was an ad! Thanks for punishing me.
4. Too many Google ads. I know there’s some content around here….
5. Long video pre-rolls. Is this ad ever going to end? Hang on; I forgot what video I clicked on.
6. The bus stop. Home pages that resemble bus stops — flyers, posters, graffiti all shouting at me. Sometimes, I swear I can even smell urine.

Accounts

1. Remembering user names and passwords. Seriously, how many do I need to keep track of? Just give me Facebook connect already!
2. Being forced to register for purchases. I just want to buy it, OK? Forget it, I’m going elsewhere.
3. Forced password reset. I just want to know my password! The one I chose but have forgotten. I know you know.
4. Getting locked out. I get the three-attempts-and-you’re-out idea, but it would be nice to know the rules before hand!
5. Password sent by “snail mail”. I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry. Should I expect a scroll to be delivered and read by a messenger?

Abuse

1. Spam. We still cannot cure this disease?
2. Viruses. If I was a conspiracy theorist, I’d say the anti-virus companies were creating these. You know, supply and demand and all.
3. Phishing. Particularly sneaky; and definitely a step beyond annoying.
4. Trolls on messageboards/blogs. Oh well, that’s life I guess – art imitating life and all.
5. Fake profiles. Am I following the real Steven Hawking on Twitter? It says here he went bowling last night.
6. Facebook app invitations. For the thousandth time, no I do not want to play Mob Wars, and no I don’t want a “pet in an egg” either.

Technology

1. Explorer 6. I speak for all developers here, if there’s a plug attached, please pull it. RIP Explorer 6.
2. Plug-ins. Not only do I have to download another plug-in, I have to keep these things current!
3. Entire sites built in flash. I don’t get it, why?
4. PDF overuse. Why couldn’t this PDF just be a web page?
5. Dell’s Netbook trackpad. Designed to be web browsing device, Dell’s Mini 10 trackpad has a trillion bells and whistles, but cannot fulfill basic tasks like moving the cursor from point A to point B without going to C first.
6. Small netbook screens. While mobile devices have optimized views for their screens, Netbooks and their 9 and 10 inch screens are caught in a weird place.
7. Inconsistent colors. Optimizing colors and contrast across both Macs and PCs is a designers nightmare.
8. Charging for Wi-Fi. Provide it free of charge, and the patrons will come!

Waiting

1. Slow page load. OK that’s it, I’ve been patient and their 3 seconds are up.
2. Comment approval. I thought, I articulated, I commented, I waited. Nothing.  That will teach me to contribute.
3. Black-hole between ordering and shipping. I took me 5 minutes to order this laptop, why isn’t it getting shipped? Should I place my order again? Should I cancel this order? What’s the order status?
4. Twitter is down again. I’m starting to think this is a feature. One akin to a long line outside a trendy night club.
5. Customer service. Since I cannot get a human on the phone, a 24 hour response time to my e-mail is not acceptable. Well look at that, I guess you just quantified the value of my business.
6. Submission timers. I saw this really great article! I know, I’ll post it on Reddit. And there’s another one, I’ll post that on Reddit too. What, I have to wait 10 minutes to post another article? That will  teach me to contribute.

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1. The 10 Commandents for Designing Less Evil Forms
2. Best of the Web Weekly Roundup: September 5–11

Touchable Holography - feeling raindrops

Mid-air displays have been seen in Science Fiction movies for several decades. As an example of this interactive holographic experience, the recreational “Holodeck” in Star Trek, instantly springs to mind. 

While holograms already exist as virtual objects hovering in front of the user, you cannot touch and feel this object. However, amazingly the University of Tokyo is now demonstrating touchable holography, an emerging technology that brings with it the sensation needed to complete the interactive experience between user and object. For example, when the raindrop hits the user’s palm, he feels tactile sensation. And in another demonstration the user sees and feels a small virtual creature running on his palm.

These are definitely early days, but this opens up call kinds of opportunities for how we interface with applications, games, and even each other.

Watch the video below to see the technology working!

Click here to view the embedded video.

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2. U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi Virtual Humanoid
3. The iBar: The World's First Multi-touch Bar

NFL.com New Fans Section

NFL.com launched its new Fans section yesterday, which has been designed with the football fan in mind. It’s a major NFL initiative to engage fans, and this new section represents both a step and a long term commitment to this fan-centric philosophy.

Here are some of the highlights of the new Fans Section that we designed:

1) The crowd has spoken 
Fan quotes from around nfl.com will bubble up in real-time to reflect a holistic aggregation of fans commenting around the website.

2) The Top 10
This feature allows a fan to get a snapshot of popular content for their favorite team. This includes top video, discussions, user generated video content and more.

3) Live Chat
Fans can submit questions to NFL experts, who in turn answer their questions. These are very frequent and so we wanted to communicate a live chat schedule.

4) Twitter
Fans can follow NFL experts and receive updates. We’ve used Twitter very successfully around events such as the Super Bowl and the Draft. Again, we’re wanting to keep current and fan-friendly.

5) Top Fans
We hope calling out top fans acknowledges those individuals’ commitment, passion and contributions to the NFL.com community.

Overall, our hope is that this page reflects a hive of community activity within nfl.com and entices fans to register, and subsequently become active participants in nfl.com’s fan community. As we continue to build out our community, there will be more news to share. Stay tuned!

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3. Arsenal fans could catch replays, live action on Sony's PSP

How this works
Each of your senses (touch, smell, sight, taste, hearing) sends information to the brain at a different frequency. The brain determines where the sensory information it receives comes from by the frequency at which it resonates, it can then process it in the appropriate way (e.g. turn sight information from the eyes into pictures in the mind).  

An array of resonators positioned on the surface of an Eye Candy transmit information from the tongue to the brain at the frequency that the eyes usually send visual information to the brain. A pleasant sensation of soda bubbles can be felt on the tongue as the mind decodes this sensory information as vivid pictures.

What are the available flavors?

• RELAX –  Tranquil fish swimming through the streams of your consciousness will help you to unwind.
• SOCIALISE - The shooting stars will encourage sociability.
• ASSERT – A big thumbs is guaranteed to reassure and motivate you.
• MEDITATE – The the slowly shrinking circle helps you to meditate.
• OVERCOME – Images of spiders will enable you to overcome your fears.
• FOCUS – Direction giving arrows help to improve focus and attention.

Head on over to EyeCandy.com and order yours, just make sure not to mix flavors! Is this a step in the path of replacing chemically induced “highs” with electronically induced “highs”?

Is this legit?
I’ll admit, it’s hard to believe this is legit.  But before you make your mind up, watch the Wired Science video below, which shows a very similar device used by a blind person to read numbers on playing cards as if he was looking right at them, and even follow a path drawn on the ground.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Update: Well it turns out the Eye Candy product is actually a spoof, but the technology is very real.

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2. 'Wearable Agrirobot' Power Suit Helps Aging Farm Workers
3. Touchable Holography, an Emerging Technology

1. Adblock Plus
Ever been annoyed by all those ads and banners on the internet that often take longer to download than everything else on the page? Install Adblock Plus now and get rid of them. Watch a quick overview.

2. Xmarks
Xmarks is the #1 bookmarking add-on. Install it on all your computers to keep your bookmarks and (optionally) passwords backed up and synchronized. Xmarks also helps you uncover the best of the web based on what millions of people are bookmarking.

3. Cooliris
The Cooliris 3D Wall — Simply the fastest and most stunning way to browse photos and videos from the Web or your desktop. Effortlessly scroll an infinite “3D Wall” of your content from Facebook, Google Images, YouTube, Flickr, and hundreds more.

4. Video DownloadHelper
This is a tool for web content extraction. Its purpose is to capture video and image files from many sites.Just surf the Web as you are used to, when DownloadHelper detects it can do something for you, the icon gets animated and a menu allows you to download files by simply clicking an item. For instance, if you go to a YouTube page, you’ll be able to download the video directly on your file system. It also works with MySpace, Google videos, DailyMotion, Porkolt, iFilm, DreamHost and others.

5. Yoono
All your social networks and instant messaging in one easy to use browser sidebar. Get all your friend updates, update your status and share stuff easily across Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and more – all at once! Simplify your online social life.

6. Shareaholic
Shareaholic is a lightweight and easy to use add-on for Firefox with a minimal browser footprint. Shareaholic makes it very simple to quickly, and very easily share, bookmark, and e-mail any web page via a wide array of your favorite web 2.0 social networking, bookmarking, blogging, and e-mail services.

7. WOT
WOT, Web of Trust, warns you about risky websites that try to scam visitors, deliver malware or send spam. Protect your computer against online threats by using WOT as your front-line layer of protection when browsing or searching in unfamiliar territory.

8.  TwitterBar
TwitterBar allows you to post to Twitter from Firefox’s address bar. A small Twitter icon sits to the right of your address bar; clicking on it will post your tweet, and you can hover your mouse over it to see how many characters you have left.

9. Fire.fm
Fire.fm gives you access to the extensive music library on Last.fm. Last.fm gives free radio to the US, UK, and Germany, plus subscriber-based service to the rest of the world. Listen to your favorite music and discover new artists in the process.

10.  WebMail Notifier
WebMail Notifier checks your webmail accounts and notifies the number of unread emails. Supports: gmail, yahoo, hotmail, daum, naver, empas, nate and more.

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To find these photos you can either search by keyword, or browse on the Google-powered map. One very useful feature is the ability to navigate from one photo to another without going back to the map. Look for arrows on the photo, and click on them to instantly get transported to the new destination.

Below is a photo from Chapman’s Peak near Cape Town, South Africa. OK, so as a Capetonian, I’ll admit I’m baised. But regardless, you cannot argue with the beauty of this photo and the unbelievable immersion of 360Cities.net 

Chapmans Peak in South Africa

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1. Pastiche: Keyword-Based Virtual Tourism

1) Communicate to users that Twitter is a place where people can discover what is going on in real-time.

2)  Provide the opportunity for a user to try it out first, so they can get an idea of what Twitter is before signing up.

The homepage is supposed to debut this week.  What do you guys think Twitter can do to improve their homepage?

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Enter Amy Buckner, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of AnswerLab, a user experience research company based out of San Francisco.  I’ve worked closely with Amy on a couple of usability tests and wanted to see how AnswerLab is approaching mobile usability.

BRADLEY HEBDON: Last time we chatted you mentioned AnswerLab was focusing more on usability testing for mobile. Is this still the case?

AMY BUCKNER: Yes, clients are devoting an increasing amount of resources to develop both mobile apps and WAP sites. There are 2x as many mobile devices in the world as there are TVs . . . and 4x more mobile devices than PCs. If your company doesn’t currently have a mobile strategy, it will – and very soon. At AnswerLab, we’ve been focused on exploring new research techniques to understand the user experience with prototype and live mobile sites and apps.

BH: What sorts of systems/devices are you testing?

AB: Almost everything. To get a true picture of how your WAP prototype will perform, it’s critical to conduct usability testing across a variety of devices – from Blackberry to iPhone, from touch screen to clamshell – each interface poses a series of user experience challenges. What works on one device, might break on another. Clients who are serious about mobile web design, should have a comprehensive library of devices for both user testing and QA. It’s not easy, but it’s imperative to developing a good user experience.

BH: How are you approaching the actual usability test? How is it different from usability testing for the web?

AB: Mobile testing is dramatically different from web-based testing. First, as mentioned earlier, it’s impossible to standardize on one device. In traditional usability testing, you can set up a computer at various screen resolutions and be confident you’ve covered most of the usage situations. In mobile, you need to test on multiple devices. Secondly, mobile devices are . . . well, quite mobile, making it difficult to focus a camera on the screen during testing and recording. We’ve used both remote-controlled cameras and in-room videographers to constantly keep the back-room picture in focus. Thirdly, finding the right participants is critical. When testing a WAP site, you want users who would naturally be typing in a URL on their phones and browsing WAP sites in real life.  Unfortunately, most mobile device owners have never done this . . . but think they have. It can be a real shock in the lab if you don’t have an air-tight screening process.  Also, your analysis needs to focus on findings that apply across devices vs. findings that are relevant to only one device, thus complicating the reporting process.

BH: Are you testing them in a lab setting, or “in the wild”?

AB: Both. If we’re looking for usability issues around downloading an app or for basic tasks, we typically conduct lab-based testing. This ensures we can observe users’ behavior first hand – and help guide users if a prototype is involved. Clients can watch this live from behind the glass or remotely via our streaming capability.

The ‘In the Wild’ testing is one of our favorite methods. Recently our client, Yahoo!, and I presented a case study at the UPA conference of an interesting method for understanding user behavior in context of using Yahoo! Go / OneSearch. For this study, we wanted to uncover the basic scenarios in which users would choose to search in Yahoo! Go and any user experience issues as a result. So, we sent 9 typical users ‘into the wild’ to experience Yahoo! Go for a month. They answered daily surveys via SMS, carried around a pocket-sized questionnaire (laminated like a credit card) and called a voice mailbox repeatedly throughout the month to answer questions about their experience searching. They also sent photos of their surroundings to help us better understand the context of where they were and what they were doing when they used search. We received photos ranging from Fry’s Electronics store (shopping usage scenario) to airplanes on the tarmac (travel usage scenario). The findings had deep business impact for Yahoo!, as they informed improvement of search results relevancy, better product differentiation, and opportunities to drive distribution partnerships. 

BH: What kinds of tasks are you giving participants?

AB: It really depends on the research method. For more ‘in the wild’ studies, participants develop their own tasks. They use the product however they normally would in real life. In this case, we’re trying to learn more about what the tasks would be – how are people trying to use the product and why? It helps us understand the possible use cases.

For lab-based studies, a typical session starts with either downloading an app or accessing the WAP site, followed by an open-explore task to see where users naturally gravitate and whether they understand the value proposition of the product. After the more open tasks, we move on to directed tasks to explore the usability of specific features and functions. Of course, the more directed tasks really vary by the type of site or app. As you can imagine, a financial services site will have dramatically different tasks than a consumer package goods recipe app designed for in-store usage.

BH: Are there re-occurring mobile usability issues that you have identified as a pattern?

AB: Definitely. The most common issue I’ve noticed is that WAP sites often break basic navigation conventions.  This month on Facebook and Twitter, AnswerLab is doing a series on mobile usability tips based on issues we’ve identified across studies. Here are a few:

1) Users’ expectations for mobile web browsing are heavily influenced by computer-based browsing. New conventions only confuse users.

2) Icons should be used sparingly, and if it is absolutely necessary to use them, stick to universal symbols.

3) Real estate is limited, but including a clickable breadcrumb is a pretty good investment. Find more tips at www.facebook.com/answerlab.

BH: Currently, what are the most and least usable mobile devices out there?

AB: Our recent testing has been primarily focused on a WAP site or app vs. the specific devices. However, in the process of testing, we’ve definitely uncovered devices that tend to ‘get in the way’ more than ‘aid’ in navigation. Clamshell phones tend to pose the most user experience problems when users attempt to navigate WAP sites. Of course, users seem to breeze through the iPhone. However, only 2% of the population currently has one.

BH: What device(s) do you own?

AB: Ahhh. . .you don’t want to know. I’m a very loyal Verizon Wireless subscriber. With my travel schedule, I need reliable access everywhere.  I also prefer the phone functions to be separate from the keyboard – and for the keyboard to be tactile. These requirements seriously limit the choices. My current phone is a Verizon SMT. It crashes, has horrible battery life, and is generally way uncool. I’m holding out for the Palm Pre on Verizon, which should be available in 6 months.

BH: Got to Love the Pre!  Where do you see mobile interfaces 10 years from now?

AB: Interfaces are only as good as the device. I hope we see much more convergence and standardization across mobile devices so that mobile interfaces will be more easily built and tested. Some folks talk about the growth of touch and voice-enabled commands; those seem like very near-term advancements. Thinking further in the future, our team believes mobile devices will become almost as small as a bottle cap with projection capabilities. Imagine a full-sized keyboard projected onto the table and a screen projected onto the wall. The mobile device will then become the hub for all your communications – home HVAC, keyless entry, burglar alarms, work, shopping, social networking, you name it.  Now that would be a dream come true – everything controlled by a single device in the palm of your hand – and no more black, leather laptop bags!

About Amy Buckner
Amy has been helping Fortune 500 companies improve customer experiences for over 12 years. In 2004, Amy co-founded AnswerLab, which conducts custom user experience research to improve websites, software, and mobile applications. At AnswerLab, Amy is responsible for the company’s professional services and finance. She speaks frequently at conferences such as UPA, iMedia, and the AMA – and has special expertise in mobile user experience research.

Prior to founding AnswerLab, Amy served as Director of Professional Services at Vividence Corporation (now Keynote Systems), a provider of online research products and services. In her tenure, Amy developed the company’s automotive vertical in addition to building and managing the West Coast research team. Before Vividence, Amy was a manager at SmartPlanet, an e-learning company founded by Ziff-Davis, where she was responsible for user experience research and representing the “voice of the customer” internally. Prior to SmartPlanet, Amy managed website development for a boutique management consulting firm and consulted with the Japanese Ministry of Education for three years in Hokkaido, Japan

Amy graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from Vanderbilt University with a degree in English and East Asian Studies. She is fluent in Japanese.

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Refocus Imaging, Inc. is an early-stage company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Refocus is taking the next big step in photography, transforming the camera into a powerful computational platform.

A Refocus camera can do things that have been considered impossible since the invention of photography. The ability to focus a picture after you take the shot is one striking example, and only the tip of the iceberg.

The device captures the entire light field entering the lens, which can be compared to a three-dimensional CT scan, enabling doctors to effectively look at the interior of a person from any direction.  This technique has several possible advantages. For one thing, being able to focus images after the fact means that cameras could take a picture sooner without waiting for an auto-focus mechanism to lock in. For another, because the depth of field also is adjustable along with focus, a pro photographer could fine-tune a picture to properly blur a background or get just the right amount of a subject in focus.

Refocus Imaging’s approach has produced revolutionary results. Refocus Imaging is redefining photography. Computational imaging is the future.

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Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die | By Chip Heath and Dan Heath
Drawing extensively on psychosocial studies on memory, emotion and motivation, their study is couched in terms of “stickiness”—that is, the art of making ideas unforgettable. They start by relating the gruesome urban legend about a man who succumbs to a barroom flirtation only to wake up in a tub of ice, victim of an organ-harvesting ring. What makes such stories memorable and ensures their spread around the globe? The authors credit six key principles: simplicity, unexpectedness, concreteness, credibility, emotions and stories.

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future | By Daniel H. Pink
With visionary flare, Pink argues that business and everyday life will soon be dominated by right-brain thinkers. He identifies the roots and implications of transitioning from a society dominated by left-brain thinkers into something entirely different—although at times, he seems to be exhorting rather than observing the trend. As a narrator, Pink delivers in a well executed manner, with occasional hints of enthusiasm.

Technique for Producing Ideas | By James Young
Since its publication in 1965, A Technique for Producing Ideas has helped thousands of advertising copywriters smash through internal barriers to unleash their creativity. Professionals from poets and painters to scientists and engineers have also used the techniques in this concise, powerful book to generate exciting ideas on demand, at any time, on any subject. Now let James Webb Young’s unique insights help you look inside yourself to find that big, elusive idea–and once and for all lift the veil of mystery from the creative process.

How to Get Ideas | By Jack Foster
How To Get Ideas answers the basic questions of where do ideas come from, why do some people get so many of them, and is there some secret technique to getting more of them. How To Get Ideas answers these questions and demonstrates that any reader, regardless of age or skill, employment or training, can come up with more ideas, faster and easier than ever before in his or her life. Author Jack Foster shows how to condition the mind and become “idea-prone”; how to make the child within us and our sense of humor work for us; how to develop our curiosity, visualize our goals, rethinking our thinking, combine different ideas, and overcome our fear of rejection

IdeaSpotting: How to Find Your Next Great Idea | By Sam Harrison
How do you unleash bursts of creativity, increase occurrences of spontaneity and ultimately find great ideas? Through anecdotes, interviews, quotes, tips, creative exercises and success stories from the biggest corporations in the country, author Sam Harrison shows you how to think outside the box—then throw away the box for good.

 
Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques | By Michael Michalko
Tinkertoys  will teach you how to generate new ideas for businesses, markets, sales techniques, and products and product extensions. Packed with fun and practical tools and exercises, it outlines 30 practical linear and intuitive techniques that can be used by individuals or groups to tackle and solve business problems in fresh, creative ways. An updated edition of the best-selling business creativity book, with more than 30 brainstorming techniques and hundreds of creative-thinking tips and tricks. Revision includes new techniques, examples, and sections on group brainstorming and endgames.

A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative  | By Roger von Oech
Now Roger von Oech’s fully illustrated and updated volume is filled with even more provocative puzzles, anecdotes, exercises, metaphors, cartoons, questions, quotations, stories, and tips designed to systematically break through your mental blocks and unlock your mind for creative thinking. This new edition will attract an entire new generation of readers with updated and mind-stretching material.

 
Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius | By Michael Michalko
What exactly is creativity? Why do some people seem to have so much of it? Can their secrets be learned? In this trail-blazing book, internationally renowned business creativity expert Michael Michalko answers these questions and more, bringing life-changing techniques into everyone’s reach. Michalko has researched and analyzed over 100 of history’s greatest thinkers-from Leonardo da Vinci to Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison to Walt Disney-to show readers how creative people think and how to put their secrets to use.

Caffeine for the Creative Mind | By Stefan Mumaw
For any designer or creative type who wants to quickly limber up their imagination on a daily basis, Wired helps readers get into the creative zone, from which all their best work springs. Packed with 15-minute simple and conceptual exercises, this guide will have readers reaching for markers, pencils, digital cameras, and more in order to develop a working and productive creative mindset.

Zing!: Five Steps and 101 Tips for Creativity On Command | By Sam Harrison
A five-step process for generating big ideas in business, personal, and professional contexts is outlined in this high-energy guide to the creative process. Real-world anecdotes and inspirational messages complement the straightforward discussions of exploring, being free, pausing, embracing, and enjoying life. These five steps cover issues such as how to use observation to uncover fresh ideas, how potential ideas are stymied, and how incubation allows the subconscious to find solutions.

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The Kickbee is a stretchable band with attached sensors, and is worn by a pregnant mother over her stomach. A microcontroller in the band then captures the movement of the baby kicking, and transmits the signals wirelessly to an application on a nearby computer. The computer in turn broadcasts short messages of “I kicked Mommy!” on Twitter, which can be shared with family and friends. 

The device is not yet available for purchase, but you can follow the Kickbee on Twitter.

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1. Recruiting Unsuitable Participants
It’s vital that you validate a design through the eyes of your user. But who are your users? Work with marketing folks to understand your target audience, and screen potential participants accordingly.  If you have recruited participants that are too advanced, they might not uncover usability issues that a more typical user might experience.  Regardless of how good the moderator might be, if you don’t have suitable and relevant participants, you won’t be getting an accurate usability assessment.

2. Not identifying the Critical Tasks
Have you identified the primary use cases and goal-oriented tasks?  Really think critically here, and focus on the  most important ones only. Hopefully you have already designed the user interface around these tasks, so bring them into the test. Write a test script that includes a moderator guide, and provide context to the tasks. Make users feel like they are in a real-life situation by telling them a story.E.g. “It’s 5 days before Christmas and you need to buy your nephew in Germany a Nintendo Wii”. Critical tasks are not only a usability concern, they’re equally impactful on the business. 

3. Testing Too Much For Too Long
Don’t feel like you have to test every single aspect of a user interface, nor every single possible task. Focus on what’s critical and if necessary, break the test into multiple phases. After 45 minutes or so, most users will tire and will have trouble focusing. So keep the sessions to under an hour if possible.

4. Allowing Participants to be Designers
As a general rule of thumb, you should be looking for what participants DO more than what they say. It’s OK to ask what their impressions are, especially when comparing a new design against an old one. Just be careful about taking their feedback literally.  E.g. A user may have a personal preference for red, and suggest that all buttons should be red and flashing. Now, taking this feedback literally could actually introduce usability issues. Observe, filter and interpret.

5. Asking Too Many Questions
Keep in mind that a usability test should be focused primarily on task completion, navigation, comprehension, and interaction. While it’s OK to ask some questions to understand how satisfied they are with the experience, most of the findings should be derived through observation and not questioning.

While these are what I consider the top 5 mistakes made, there are many more to consider. What other common mistakes would you add to this list?

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2. Usability Study suggests Bing topples Google?
3. 20 User Experience Books you should own