Archive for August, 2009

Android Remote • August 29th, 2009

Android Remote ConceptAs a Windows Media Center user, I thought that it would be really great if my Android phone could control my TV. It’s the perfect remote. It has a responsive touch screen that could be used like a track pad. It has a hard keyboard, and the ability for a soft keyboard for typing in search words into Netflix. And, it has Bluetooth, which could allow it to connect to my, already Bluetooth enabled, computer over HID.

The application would have three states. The states would be mouse/trackpad, keyboard, and remote. There would be a hard control on the top, letting you know what state you’re currently in.

The mouse/trackpad would operate the mouse. Sliding your finger over the screen would move the mouse some distance in the same direction. Tapping the screen would result in a click. Long-pressing the screen would result in a right click.

The keyboard could work two ways. The first, would be to submit each keystroke as they are typed out. The other would be to buffer what the user types in some way, and send it perhaps when the space is struck, or a state is changed. That way, you could take advantage of Android’s type correction.

The last state, the remote, would simply be a series of buttons. The windows logo button would launch, or return the user to the Media Center home screen. The rest of the button are pretty self explanatory.

It’s clear that I need to give the remote more thought. The highly used “back” button isn’t displayed. Also, I’m not loving the location of the record button in relation to the other playback buttons. Still, I think it’s a successful application idea, which fulfills my guidelines for one of the 52.

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Presentation Zen • August 25th, 2009

Presentation Zen, by: Garr ReynoldsI finished reading the book Presentation Zen this morning, by Garr Reynolds. Garr, is the blogger who runs presentationzen.com, a site I frequent and subscribe to. Garr’s book compiles much of the tips, tricks, styles, and suggestions you’ll find reading though the many posts on his blog. It’s an easy read, concise, picturesque, and informative.

As an interaction designer, I find myself presenting more and more. One reason, is that the company I work for doesn’t have design and usability fully integrated into the development process of our products. Bringing in new ideas, concepts, and work flows is best done via presentation and discussion.

There is a lot that can be learned, as an Interaction Designer, from presenting. It forces you to think objectively about how to engage and audience. It teaches you voice, pace, and concentration. It allows you instant feedback from your audience, as you watch their body language and hear their questions. It’s also an exercise in flow, story, and simplifying complex ideas into simple forms.

We should all learn to present, and Garr’s book is a wonderful first step.

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G1 Template • August 22nd, 2009

Whenever I start designing interfaces, I do it with paper and pencil. There’s something about stepping away from the computer that frees up my mind, and allows me to experiment more. Also, I find drawing a lot quicker than even my best skills in Photoshop at mocking up interfaces.

HTC G1 TemplateWhen designing applications for the HTC G1, I like to have a template from which to work from. It saves a lot of time not having to redraw the device over and over as I create each screen. I thought that my template might help many of you, so I’m including it in this post.

Download (g1_template.psd)

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Developer Underpants • August 22nd, 2009

Two years ago, I went to the NNG Useability Conference. While I was there, I had the opportunity to see a session with John Pruitt and Tamara Adlin on the Persona Lifecycle. Ever since that session, I’ve been a big fan of Tamara’s, and had followed her blog “Corporate Underpants” (which has since moved here).

Corporate Underpants was a great idea for looking at how website content is organized. Basically, whenever you see content of a site organized in such a way that it reflects the internal structure of a company, you’re seeing the company’s “Corporate Underpants.” No one cares about your “Products Division,” “Service Division,” or “Human Resources.” They want to “buy a product,” “get help”, or “get a job.” Tamara argues, that a site’s content should be organized as to reflect the goals of your audience. Applying Tamara’s concepts to application, we can start thinking of user interfaces in the form of, Developer Underpants.

Developers are inherently lazy when it comes to the user interface design. It’s not their fault, their goals are just different. Developers live and breath logic and algorithms, they deal with absolutes. Developers don’t care where a button needs to go. If a button is needed, they make a button. Where do they put it, wherever there is space. In the end, applications become confusing, bloated with UI elements, and inconsistent experiences. They show their Developer Underpants.

I’m going continually add posts to this category discussing bad UI decisions. I’ll deal with Mobile Platforms. Mainly because I find it the most fun, and mainly because I think this fledgling landscape is ripe with abuse! We have the iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm WebOS, and Blackberry all competing to become king. As developers scramble to get their applications out to the greatest audience, they will be porting programs from one platform to another with disastrous results.

Time will tell what kind of trouble this category will bring.

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CRISTAL • August 18th, 2009

This is a great video of a new interface for homes called, Control of Remotely Interacted Systems using Touch-based Actions in Living spaces (CRISTAL).

In the demo they’re using an overhead projector, but I could just as easily see this working well with Microsoft Surface. Regardless, it’s an amazing idea of interacting with objects by mapping their interfaces directly.

I really like these ideas. This type of design is not limited by hardware, or engineering. They’re merely experimenting with possibilities, and seeing how far they can take an interaction.

Some things they could add to this would be:

  • A kitchen camera, so you can see that you’re water is over boiling while watch the game in the other room. Then turn down the stove.
  • The time remaining on the microwave letting you know that you’re reheated breakfast burrito is done, and you missed the audio feedback. Or, add a minute to the counter.
  • A way for adjusting your heat/air conditioning
  • Outdoor cam, for who’s knocking at the door, with intercom interface.

Learn more »

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Google Voice Widget • August 18th, 2009

This is the first application I dreamed up, and I meant to post it Monday.

[Figure 1] Google Voice ShortcutOn of the problems with the Google Voice application for Android, is that the only way you can toggle when Google Voice gets used, is either the Home screen short cut (Fig. 1), or by launching the application and opening it’s settings.

The Home screen shortcut is inherently a bad UI. It’s a single button that toggles between four states. There’s no indication of the current state the button is in. When you click the button, the only way you know what new state the application has entered is by a “toast” notification at the bottom of the screen. This notification is often wordy, and vanishes before it can be fully read.

[Figure 2] Google Voice WidgetThe Google Voice Widget would solve these issues (Fig. 2). Here, we have a Home screen widget that displays the current state. The radio buttons indicate that there is only one choice. It’s large, and easily hittable (Fitts Law). And, it visibly displays what the new state becomes when pressed.

There are caveats to this UI of course. The icon that indicates what the widget is for, isn’t as understandable than text would be. You’re also loosing a lot of screen real estate with such a large widget. Last, the text for each state is abbreviated, and may not be as clear as the full text found in the application’s settings.

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Mapping • August 13th, 2009

One of the design principles Donald Norman covered in his book, was mapping. Mapping, being the creation of interfaces that directly relate to their physical locations.

For instance, placing knobs on a stove that directly relate to the layout of the burners. In the book, Donald had created a wall mounted room map, with light switches that directly correlated to the location of the lights you’re turning on.

Bowie Blacksox Public Fields SignIn Bowie, Maryland, I walked by this sign at the Bowie Blacksox public baseball fields. It’s a great example of mapping. The fields are laid out like a four leaf clover, and the sign maps you to the field you’re looking for. The only way this sign could be more direct, is if it was parallel to the ground, instead of perpendicular.

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The Start • August 7th, 2009

I’ve learned that I’m incredibly poor at blogging. I constantly find other things to occupy my time, other than think of meaningful thoughts about interaction to put on my blog. This has not been helping me practice my craft.

A few months ago, I discovered Rachel Hinman’s, “90 Mobiles In 90 Days” blog. I like this idea very much. It’s an ambitious goal, forcing a lot of creativity, and an uncertain outcome. It also has a clear set of rules, and a simple goal.

So, starting Monday, I am going to start a post series called, “52 Apps 52 Weeks.” I plan to blog one phone application idea every week for a year. I’m constantly thinking of them, and have a few in the bag already, which I plan to share, but no where near 52 of them. I’m sure this will be hard, but my goal is set.

Hope I do well.

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