self-made

Being humble – human centered design

The best ux design is most of the time the work of a balanced kind empathic human, who spent enough time listening, observing, learning (anthropology design). When the privilege of having a usability study, where real people play with your designs and break them – be humble and don’t be angry if what you thought was cool is completely absurd for people trying to fulfill a specific task.
Learn.
Adjust.
Be kind.
We are all working for each other in this world.
Do a good job.
Clean.
Have people in mind, and not your ego.
It’s ok to make mistakes.
It’s not ok to think you are not suppose to make mistakes.
Listen.
Learn.
Adapt.

Anatomie d’une page Web

Voici une présentation que j’ai récemment fait pour mes clients.
C’est under creative commons, donc vous pouvez la remixer, la traduire. Tenez-moi au courant si vous le faite. Ça serait gentil (^_^) :
Anatomie d’une page Web by celinecelines is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Canada License.
Based on a work at www.slideshare.net.

Références:
http://www.christopherlaroche.com/web_sites/ui_stds_db/html-files/int/web/web_page_visual_lyout_int.htm
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/designmistakes.html
http://www.richardingram.co.uk/2010/03/get-a-grip-of-your-web-content/

Glitch on Google Map

http://bit.ly/9wxsYW

My sister is present

Realidad : aka the real world

After reading this article : What they don’t teach you in design school, by Paula Sher ,  the idea of the real world versus university world needs to me discussed further.

I want to tell a story…

I recently met the guy behind Levoir.ca ’s user testing. Although Le Voir’s layout sucks, and the content is all over the place. The man behind the user testing was a smart down-to-earth man, that I really enjoyed talking to. Hearing him advise the clients we both work for as consultants, made me realize that the last decision not only doesn’t belong to any designer, typographer, marketing expert, user experience lead or what not; but is held in the hands of a few men (generally men, yeah sorry) in their early or mid-fifties that decide whether or not the users will love it, use it, or hate it. These guys need help seeing the world. They hire us.

This story applies only in Montreal, so far, IMHE as a user experience consultant, and designer. The best advice I could give to young passionate designers living in Montreal is: own your work, have great communication skills. So far, the art of communication has served me well. Everything you need to communicate, and educate others, is simple: make a beautiful story with Keynote, illustrate your opinion, bring relevant data, and the common sense in people starts blossoming.

In Montreal, the decisions so far are still made with concept of power similar to the old media, such as television. Someone in charge, who usually never uses the internet, makes THE decision. I say, don’t give up, because in 2 yrs this person will be retired, and someone else will be able to either collaborate or dictate.

The real world so far has taught me almost everything I know. I also have learned from my personal mythology, books, teachers, people, bosses, peers. But all of these resources live in the real world. As rejon puts it: it’s REALIDAD . So as much as you think you’ve learned it all at school; in your masters, phd’s or what not; if you have no experience in the real world, practicing your profession in the real world, you still have a shit load to learn.

So, yes in conclusion, a kid at school could have done a better logo, a better website, or even a better magazine than what we have. So then, get in the real world and do these things! And face the obstacles and over come them! Come out and make stuff that makes you excited! The world needs young passionate people in the business making new innovative things that matters. Learn how to make it happen, and never give up.

Guerilla Human Research

Here are a few tips, or ideas that I use to help me understand people’s behavior towards a product that I happen to redesign, or towards a service that needs better strategy. The word: “user research”, or the expression doesn’t represent people. Users are not people. Post internet, the word user represented mostly drug addicts. It involved mostly people who were addicted.
I like using the expression human research, and my techniques are very much inspired of classic anthropology techniques. For example, to conduct a human research, go to people’s homes, and observe the way they behave with products, or services. Depending on what is the object of your research. I find it odd, and unnatural to bring people in, to a white antiseptic room with a computer that is not theirs, with a camera in front of their faces, in a way it reminds me of rat laboratories. It artificial.

Here are some tips you can do from home (or from the office place). When you find yourself you need to understand people’s behaviors, to identify behavior types in order to design for them.

First, I twitter search what people say about that product, or brand

Listening to people’s observation and experience around a product or service, can be very useful if quoted in a right way. I screen grab some of the quotes, and group them together around archetypal characteristics. This helps both the client, and the designer feeling for, and helps understand more what this people say, think about. It’s like radio people, it’s a great way to actually listen to their thoughts.

Use Google Adwords to see what words people use to search for things (around a product, or service).

What is the taxonomy commonly used to find things they are looking for. Reading the meta-data behind people’s actions can help a lot pull out good keywords that would help the client describe its services, or describe itself. Sometimes, these words are very surprising, as some clients have their own personal mythology, and come up with words and descriptions that are very far from the reality of everyday folks.

Quantcast offers a great approximate visualization of the demography of a product or service.

Quantcast is great when in the design process, you are about to use visualization to show the different behavior characteristic, and identify patterns while justifying them. This mind sound easier on paper then in reality. But the whole process to me must be very organic. After gathering quotes, words, observing heatmaps maybe as well, and looking at demographics, it seems easier to map different behaviors, and visualize them in a convincing way.

The documentary approach: mini video camera, sometimes cell phone camera can be great, a handy sound recorder, and a visit to people’s homes

The handy self-made anthropologist with a video camera is nothing more then the good old documentary techniques. Candid-eye, and observing behaviors inside people’s real lives. Not a failed attempt to recreate their natural environment in a white room under surveillance.

Montreal’s secret parties

Montreal, Friday, May 14

Invited to a secret loft party on St-Laurent.

In the stairs of the building, the higher we got, the more dense the air, and the less it was possible to breathe. All the windows were closed, a band was playing music, over 150 person was there sweating dancing, the temperature in the room was almost 47 degrees. Summertime in Montreal can only be experienced inside a secret loft party. Humidity. Yes, it felt like summertime parties on the beach in the middle of the afternoon. The music was awesome, we were there to see to Heart&Soul play. It was Beaver’s birthday, and he was covered in sweat and ladies, all happy, dancing. People screaming: “I love this weather!!” No air. We had to keep the party hidden, even if we all were screaming, and music was blasted.

At 1:45 am, the police showed up, they were 8 policemen and women, armed. Fuck. The party was shut off, they gave the girl who owns the loft a 400$ fine, for throwing an illegal party.

What’s an illegal party? We all left, an address was shared as a secret, and we all walked there. The police on the street on St-Laurent was so obnoxious. I mean you want some peace and quiet, go live in the suburbs! It should be totally legal to throw parties on St-Laurent. The police was just being an asshole with these young twenty something peoples. Police cars everywhere, as we all walk to the new address. It is an old Victorian house on St-Urbain. The house inside is destroyed and it feels like big kids are living there. Drugs are circulating, I think to myself “I feel old” never said that before. I realize this is the only parties that can still go on in Montreal. Where the police is hassling the youth to shut up and hide. They were quiet alright, although they were almost the same amount of people as the first loud party, this time they were all quiet and high. Is this the kind of parties a city would host on a Friday night? Zoom out a little and watch. Police on every street corner. The people walking were mostly Caucasians in their 20’s, a little intoxicated. Police were hassling them, to shut up, sometimes threatening them. I was horrified. It made me angry. I felt like breaking the law. WTF! I leave the Victorian silent drug party, as I don’t do drugs anymore, and I had nothing to live their, i wanted to dance. I walked home, going thru St-Denis, police everywhere again. Some youngsters are screaming laughing, the police goes like “Yomp Yomp” stops in front of them and orders them to shut up and hide. The houses were lit up, people were getting high. There are no other escapes allowed. It seems to me, as my common sense needs to say: it’s much more healthier to be loud and dance ourselves out on a Friday night, then to hide in some random house, with no furniture, but a functional bathroom and people get high. Escape. Le spleen quoi!

This is not right.

I might be an Utopian.

The city I imagine understands its youth

Lets people scream and dance

And allows parties to happen

Everything is forbidden

And Montreal is stagnating