Update 9/10/2014
What a difference a day makes! Yesterday during Apple’s announcement of the Apple Watch, they went on and on about how the screen wasn’t obstructed by our fat fingers because they invented the “digital crown”—a phrase so pretentious I can only use it with an eye roll.
I don’t know about you but I’m completely over arguing with developers about correctly implementing the company’s branding. This is coming from someone who used to be a creative director and responsible for creating and enforcing the company’s brand standards. Don’t get me wrong, those arguments still need to happen. I just don’t want to be the one having them anymore.
Recruiters cold contact me every week about positions I’m not qualified for, don’t want, or that really shouldn’t exist, like a UX Designer/Developer. Sometimes I tell them, I’m not a developer. Sometimes I remind them that unicorns don’t exist. If I’m in a really bad mood, I just delete the emails/voicemails and don’t respond at all. For repeat offenders who clearly have no idea about my qualifications, I’ve even been known to mark as SPAM.
Any UXer knows that part of the job in user experience is to delight the end-user.
Step 1. Create a usable interface and flow.
Step 2. Delight the user.
It sounds pretty simple on paper but it’s fraught with pitfalls over the course of a project. The biggest problem I see time and time again is that the project team forgets who they’re supposed to delight. They delight themselves with sparkly gimmicks that add no real value and then pat themselves on the back when they succeed (in delighting themselves). By the time the end-user weighs in, the team is dispersed into new projects and all too often insulated from criticism.
Designing for a touch screen kiosk ≠ designing for a touch screen phone/tablet
Hey! This isn’t that kind of blog.
Last week, we discussed location issues in touch screen kiosk design. This week we’ll talk about how frequency of use impacts the user’s needs.
Designing for a touch screen kiosk ≠ designing for a touch screen phone/tablet
Just because a kiosk has a touchscreen, do not mistake it for an over-sized smart phone or tablet. The user experience and usability issues are vastly different. This is the first in a series of articles discussing the user persona differences you need to keep in mind when designing for a kiosk interface versus a mobile interface.