UX Design and Consumer Markets

UX Design and Consumer Markets

On a recent episode of Exponent Ben Thompson made a statement concerning user experience that, as is typically true of Ben’s thinking, is spot on.1 He states:

“In consumer markets where the buyer is the user there is much more value placed on this kind of third axis, which is the user experience. And people are willing to pay for that.”

He is stating this as a potential reason why a company like Apple can have unparalleled success in the consumer market while defying so many of the other rules of business. As anecdotal evidence to his point, Apple’s focus on user experience is the primary reason I have stuck with Apple’s ecosystem since switching in 2007.

I think his argument also holds true in my field of instructional design and educational technology. Many of the designers and tools out there do amazing work, but quite often the overall user experience leaves something to be desired. An instructional designer that can offer an incredible user experience on top of communicating the necessary information is probably going to find themselves in high demand. To reiterate Ben’s point about this third axis of user experience, “people are willing to pay for that”

Ben’s perspective here is part of why I adore his podcast and website. He is able to break down and analytically consider the way businesses in the technology space function. I am incredibly interested in business but find most writing and discussion on the topic dry, uninspiring, and unwilling to consider new perspectives. Ben’s ability to write about business and technology in a way that is captivating and relatively unbiased is impressive. It is worth your time to give his site a visit and his show a listen.



  1. Although I state this about an episode of his show that contains something I disagree with. I am not aligned with his thoughts that Apple is “backing out” of iCloud at all.

Oliver Sacks: My Own Life

Oliver Sacks

Oliver Sacks published a piece today for The New York Times in which he discusses the discovery that he has terminal cancer. I am devastated by the news of his health. This is a man I admire for his ability to empathize with nearly everyone. One of his books, simply titled Migraine, has remained a vital text for me personally. Reading that book was the first time I ever felt a doctor was truly empathetic to the unique form of pain I deal with.[1]

In his article he wrote something that will stick with me and I wanted to share it here:

When people die, they cannot be replaced. They leave holes that cannot be filled, for it is the fate — the genetic and neural fate — of every human being to be a unique individual, to find his own path, to live his own life, to die his own death.



  1. The main way he seemed to show this empathy was by simply listening to and believing the patients he was writing about. It is unfortunate how many doctors lack this basic skill.  ↩

Oh, Twitter

Oh Twitter

Update: Twitter’s Investor Relation’s account has posted a response to criticism of the statement made on the call yesterday. They have admitted that blame is on their end and how they handled things around the update instead of the fault being on Apple’s OS. Kudos to them for making the correction.

Twitter is the only social network I have come to actively use. It keeps me in touch with like-minded friends, news, and celebrities, i.e., tech writers, podcasters, and Anna Kendrick It does so in a way that other platforms never could. It’s fantastic.

​However, I have come to develop two major complaints about the platform. Nothing is perfect, except maybe my favorite movie and everything could use improvement. I admit that, and Twitter has so many great things to offer that my complaints are really just whining. But here goes.

  1. The folks running Twitter don’t seem to know what made their platform so great, and as a result they keep damaging it through experiments. ​
  2. Third party developers, I feel, are a major contributor to their success and Twitter’s little bird ​has repeatedly been shitting all over them.

I won’t go into the first point right now. And if you want to read a better argument about the second point take a look at Marco Arment’s post on this.

​But I do want to add one thing about that second complaint. ​9to5Mac pointed out today that on Twitter’s earnings call they blamed Apple’s release of iOS 8 for a decrease in their active user numbers[1]. If this were actually true it would be a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Twitter changes their platform all the time in a way that damages third party developers, but when Apple changes their platform and it effects Twitter they suddenly think it’s worth whining about.

​However, the changes in iOS 8 are not really the issue. The “active users” they had lost were apparently from automatic fetching of links for Safari or users who forgot their passwords after updating to iOS 8 and never logged back in. I’m sorry, Twitter, but in neither case were those “active” users. Your previous data was just inaccurate and you should admit that. Instead your CFO opted to make an excuse for it by blaming another platform. This in turn does nothing more than make the company look like a hypocrite.

​Now that I’ve written that I’m going to go back to checking my Twitter feed.
_


  1. I admit I have not listened to the earnings call and I am trusting 9to5Mac’s reporting on this. ​
     ↩

Defend Your Design

William Horton (2011), an expert on e-learning design, writes “design is decision; development is construction” (p. 2). Many designers out there would say, “But of course,” and nod their heads

Unfortunately it is not common to see people execute in this way. Many designers, myself included, fall into the trap of starting with a rough idea and just diving in to development. In this instance did you make a decision? Did you go with the first idea you had or the second? Why? What about the third, fourth, or twentieth idea you had? A goal for myself this year is to establish a defense for my decision before I begin development. The first idea I have may have been the best choice. That comes with experience. Not understanding the reasoning behind my decision, on the other hand, is a sign of folly. 

I would argue that in the ADDIE model there needs to be another step between design and develop – defend. Design, Defend, Develop. If you design a strategy and cannot defend it you need to stop and reconsider the design before proceeding. This is not to suggest that you should get caught in the trap of over thinking. Your defense may have flaws that you cannot address, but if you have not considered the argument against your choice you are failing to give your product and it’s intended audience the respect they deserve.

References:

Horton, W. (2011). E-learning by design (2nd ed.). United Kingdom: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated.

All of the Above

So while I may perform magic as a hobby the disappearing act I have performed on this site isn't a very good trick. I wanted to take a moment to return to let everyone know I have been working on a podcast with two of my very dear friends, which is called All of the Above.

You can subscribe to us on iTunes or by searching in your favorite podcast client. It's a weekly show where we pick a major topic and look at it from the perspectives of a Full Stack Designer, an Instructional Designer (myself), and a Software Engineer. There are a lot of shenanigans and off the wall conversations amongst some very deep and serious talking points. We are still learning a lot, but we are really happy to be sharing this with everyone.

If there is ever a topic that you would like to hear us tackle please let us know. You can visit us at our website www.alloftheabove.audio.

alloftheabove

Minutiae

A few months ago I told an incredibly important person in my life that I needed to spend more time trying to understand what it is that makes me tick. Initially I felt that this meant finding out why I care so deeply about the things I already love like literature, education, and technology. If I can identify what the core components of my passions are then perhaps I will have a better grasp of who I am.

This lead to me trying find out what I love and enjoy about my own works. Sadly this has been a large struggle for me, because I have felt unproductive lately. 

In episode 8 of the Inquisitive podcast, Shawn Blanc makes a brilliant statement about celebrating the little things. He says that for many of us it has become "about how productive I am; never celebrating how productive I have been." Shawn is telling us that we really need to celebrate even the tiniest of accomplishments, because the never ending scrutiny we place on ourselves can suck the life out of us. Seriously, please take some time to listen to the podcast. Plus if you ever wondered what the sound of someone having an epiphany would be, just listen to Myke Hurley when Shawn brings this up.

What Drugs Are The Moto X Guys On?

Are you kidding me? I can't even begin to describe the insanity of this so I'll just let you watch the ridiculous announcement video from Motorola below. If they want to know a way to solve the issue well they should maybe look here for inspiration. Lord knows Samsung did so albeit poorly.

Also in this video they show Skip, which is actually better than this idea? Why mention the better idea before announcing a crappier one? And why even make the crappier idea in the first place? I'm legitimately flummoxed.

The Fight to be the Netflix of Ebooks

Amazon has joined companies such as Oyster and Scribd in the realm of subscription ebooks. The New York Times has pointed out that Amazon's service is missing a lot of important publishers. To some this is surprising, but if you are aware of the fight Amazon has had with Hachette it may not be. I'm curious to see if this feud will deter other publishers and severely limit Amazon's expansion of this service. Or, for the hopes of gaining more revenue, will publishers submit to Amazon's shady tactics and allow their books to be a part of this subscription service?

An interesting point in the New York Times article is when Alexandra Alter writes the following about the competition between Amazon, Oyster, and Scribd:

 

With similar pricing models, the competition among e-book subscription services could come down to content and what books and authors are included.

It could come down to that, but I also think there is more to it.  There is an interesting debate going on right now about whether or not e-books are as effective at communicating to the reader as physical books are. A lot of the issues concern the experience of reading a physical book versus a digital book. Additionally there is a concern about retention of knowledge, which is reportedly lessened when reading an e-book. So while the amount of content may be important now I think that down the line it will also come down to the experience. If you cannot address the issues with e-books through your apps and service and create an enjoyable experience then it doesn't matter how much content you have.

 

Use Cases - Pragmatic Podcast

John Chidgey's Pragmatic Podcast is one of the more interesting podcasts I have heard and it is not just because of his Australian accent. His show does a brilliant job of looking at the actual engineering behind the technology we use. In episode 29 he analyzes the Surface Pro 3 with the wonderful Myke Hurley.

The most interesting part of this episode was identifying that the Surface and iPad have different use cases. While the Surface appears to fail at it's own use case in terms of design it is interesting to consider what the ideal use case is. It also has me considering just how universal the iPad is starting to become and the wide variety of uses it has. Tim Cook recently stated (although I feel it was an exaggeration) that 80% of his work is accomplished on an iPad. Apple certainly seems to be aware of this universal nature of the iPad considering their Your Verse Campaign. Is the Surface limiting itself by focusing too much on being a "work" device?

Apple and IBM Enterprise Partnership

Apple and IBM are working together to offer even better enterprise solutions. Not only will this affect the tools available for  but it will also bring about changes to AppleCare. This is incredibly interesting and I'm looking forward to hearing people's thoughts on this. See the Apple Press Release here.