A New Formula for Quantitative UX Decision Making

Imagine a formula that would allow you to take data from a very small pool of users (often as few as 8; possibly as few as 3) and figure out why, for instance, Autodesk customers are calling support, whether Budget.com visitors can rent a car in under a minute, or why cardholders were reluctant to use a mobile payment site.

Such a formula exists, and it’s not some abstract “formula for success” in management strategy or adesign technique. We’re talking about a mathematical formula that’s easy to use but can transform the way you measure and manage the user experience.

The formula is called the Adjusted-Wald Binomial Confidence Interval (“Adjusted-Wald Interval” for short), but its name isn’t as important as what it can do. Its power is in helping estimate the behavior of an entire user population, even when the sample size is small. It does this by taking a simple proportion as input and producing a confidence interval. For example, suppose 10 users have attempted a task and 7 completed it successfully. The simple successful completion rate is 70%. But, given such a small sample size, how can you have any faith in the result? Would it be reasonable to expect to get exactly 7,000 successes if the sample size was 10,000? Probably not, but how far off might it be?

.: Jesse James Garrett: The Elements of User Experience

datalogblog:

“On the web, user experience becomes even more important than it is for other kinds of products” (p.11)

“a website is a “self-service” product. There is no instruction manual to read before hand…There is only the user, facing the site alone with only her wits and experience to guide her.”(p.11)

“user experience is not about how the product works on the inside…User experience is about how it works on the outside, where a person comes into contact with it and has to work with it” (p.10)

Sliced: 13 Tenets of User Experience

rhjr:

A list of 13 beliefs on the value of user experience strategy, design, and designers:

  1. User experience is the net sum of every interaction a person has with a company, be it marketing collateral, a customer service call, or the product or service itself. It is affected by the company’s vision and…
joshbyard: A Reality-Based Look at the City of the (Near) Future By 2050, seven out of every ten people on Earth will live in cities. Compared to the beginning of the 20th century, when just 20 percent lived in urban settings, the increase is staggering. This rapid urbanization coupled with the population explosion that will see 8.9 billion people living on the planet in 2050 presents the challenge of more total humans and a higher percentage of them flocking to cities to find a better life. So, what is the city of the future and what is the future of cities? Txchnologist asked a few leading thinkers to give their impression of what future cities in 50-100 years will be like. (via Bye Bye, Jetsons: Engineers and Consultants Offer A Reality-Based Future | Txchnologist) (ht futurist.com, ht The Futures Agency) High-res

joshbyard:

A Reality-Based Look at the City of the (Near) Future

By 2050, seven out of every ten people on Earth will live in cities. Compared to the beginning of the 20th century, when just 20 percent lived in urban settings, the increase is staggering.

This rapid urbanization coupled with the population explosion that will see 8.9 billion people living on the planet in 2050 presents the challenge of more total humans and a higher percentage of them flocking to cities to find a better life. So, what is the city of the future and what is the future of cities?

Txchnologist asked a few leading thinkers to give their impression of what future cities in 50-100 years will be like.

(via Bye Bye, Jetsons: Engineers and Consultants Offer A Reality-Based Future | Txchnologist)

(ht futurist.com, ht The Futures Agency)

(via georgevaldes)

The 15 Coolest Cases of Biomimicry

etoy:

Those who are inspired by a model other than Nature, a mistress above all masters, are laboring in vain. - Leonardo Da Vinci

Biomimicry - The practice of developing sustainable human technologies inspired by nature. Sometimes called Biomimetics or Bionics, it’s basically biologically inspired engineering.

biomimicry - velcrobiomimicry - termites

via architerials

ethos-diseno-blog:

Textiles: Eco-Design (by ChannelPumpkin)

Meet Finisterre! Tom and Debbie are on a mission to make the most eco-friendly surf-wear brand in the world. Tom compares the Finisterre approach to that of high fashion, but says it’s distinct because they consistently work in an environmental context, embracing concepts of biomimicry and fabric innovation. If you like Finisterre check out Patagonia, Prana and The North Circular.

xoxo,

The Ethical Fashion Missionary

yaelalkalay:

The DMI Bunch

In collaboration with Jeremy Sherman

The following image is composed of the portraits of the DMI students. It was part of the Fresh Media Show 2012, Boston.

The image changes by motion, or lack of motion, detected from the built in camera. The processing script, detects where the movement is and determines what image should be displayed. The movement of the eyes corresponds to the motion detected from the built in camera.