Every other weekend or so I take a trip to my local Target store to stock up on necessities. Let me start by saying this: I love Target. For the most part I have a wonderful experience there…well, except for one section: the toiletries area. For some reason, I can never find the things I’m looking for in this section. Yesterday it was shampoo. I looked for minutes and could not locate my Pert Plus. The visit before it was my face wash. And before that it was the soap that I like.

My question is, does anyone else have this problem in this area of Target? Or is it just me? If it’s not just me, then perhaps Target is ready for a little reorganization.

Assuming it is a problem others have as well, it wouldn’t be all that difficult to reorganize this section of the store based on the needs of shoppers. First, I would want to do some user research, likely by bringing people into the store and asking them to find the things that they would normally buy. This would yield a few different results:

1. We would confirm whether others can find the products they’re looking for, and assuming it is still an issue
2. This would shed light on navigation patterns through the aisles
3. So that we could restructure the contents of the aisles

In effect, this is a little like what I do every day. Of course, I’m sure the people at Target work hard to make sure items are as easy to find as possible. I just wonder if they’re doing any contextual research to find solutions. It’s important to see people in the act of finding items…be they real items, or links on a webpage. Otherwise the solutions are based simply on theory. And when I’m desperately trying to find my Pert Plus, that’s not good enough.

It is truly one of my favorite design “tools:” A good notebook. Personally, I like the full size Moleskine models, but whatever you can manage to carry around will work best. I carry mine everywhere with me, always with a pencil attached.

Check out these notes, if you dare, which preceded my recent talk with Jeff Patton at Interaction08.

Here’s a first page of general notes about what could happen during the talk.

The crux of my thoughts here is that many Designers, Interaction Designers included, don’t really tend to think about software development methodologies in their day-to-day life. Thus, they may need a little brush-up on what a development methodology is, with some examples.

Still, it’s important for IxDers to understand why software is developed the way it is in their organization, and to be a stakeholder in this process.

The prevalent development methodology in use today is waterfall. It should probably look familiar to most designers & developers.

With Agile Methodologies, we have the opportunity to get our software working, and out in the real world quickly. This allows our concepts to see the light of day, so that they can be improved upon. Of course, these methods do have their drawbacks…

Some snapshots of what agile methods look like.

So, the big question is whether Interaction Design methods can fit within the Agile Context, or vice versa. The answer to this is complex, but I think the talk covered the topic well.

Back to the point — Sketching really helped me sort out these topics in my head. Sure, it took longer than just bullet-pointing out a PowerPoint…but I was able to visualize my thoughts, and look at them later with clarity, and pass them on to others to digest. Visualizing my thoughts really helps my process, and maybe it’ll help yours too.

How do you visualize your thoughts?

The greatest lesson I learned at Interaction08 last weekend was from Bill Buxton, during his keynote talk. Here’s his list of things that, as a designer, you must know:

1. What makes you distinct.
2. Your value lies in your distinctiveness.
3. That makes you a minority.
4. There will be pressure to conform.
5. Your value is lost in assimilation.

Also, he made sure to counter Don Norman’s feeling by saying emphatically, Everybody is not a designer.

Great stuff. Can’t agree more.

As I’ve mentioned before, election night is one of my favorite nights of the year. All the big media outlets pull out their infographic design “big guns.”

One of my favorites for the Super Tuesday 2008 Primary results is at the New York Times:

It simply describes the current situation in the largest states that vote on Super Tuesday. I can quickly tell what percent of precincts are reporting, and know instantly which results should remain stable. One thing that I find a bit strange about this graphic, however, is the fact that the states are laid out in alphabetical order, rather than a more informative order. My preferred order would probably be a descending order starting with the state with the most delegates. The alphabetical order has led me to ask myself the question, “Why didn’t Obama focus more on the states following ‘I’ in the alphabet? And likewise, how come Hillary focused on ‘M’ through ‘Z’?” Strange coincidence.

Now, for a little compare and contrast, check out the live results from CNN.com’s homepage:

This graphic just seems to be lacking a whole lot of substance. Unlike the NYTimes graphic, it’s hard to abstract the big picture. We don’t know as much without looking a little deeper at the numbers. They even went out of their way to include a legend in the bottom right, as if we didn’t know what the check stands for. There is also very little contrast between the state abbreviations and candidate names. The state abbreviation is only one pixel larger than the candidate name, certainly not enough to denote a difference in meaning (most people won’t notice they are different sizes at all).

Finally, just for good measure, let’s have a look at NPR.org’s entry:

The information that NPR adds here is the closing time for the polls in each state. I don’t know if this is really all that important. Really, what most people want from a graphic like this is to find out who is winning in each state. A nice addition is the number of delegates committed from each state. I would have liked to see these numbers tallied up at the bottom, because that’s what this race is really all about. Also, this graphic makes it somewhat difficult to tell if there is a clear winner on either side. For all I know, McCain and Huckabee might be neck-and-neck (which they’re not). Overall, not bad.

My personal fav is the NYTimes graphic, but judge for yourself. I’d love to hear (and see) your favorite Super Tuesday infographics. Send me a link in the comments.

It’s a really nice bathroom sign. It really is. But seriously, can we do something about the air dryers in this country?

I appreciate the fact paper towels are a complete and total waste of resources, but the hand dryer situation is…well…out of hand. If those things could blow just 2 or 3 times harder, then they might actually work as intended.

My point is simply that signs on walls are all well and good, but its the design of the experience that determines success of a campaign. A huge proportion of people would indeed use air dryers, if they just did their job as expected.

Who’s with me? And who’s ready to build a new air dryer?

Apparently, my battery is dying. As you can see in the photo, my computer is proudly displaying the fact that my battery is “reaching the end of its usable life.” I’m not sure what that means, but boy would I like to know more.

Unfortunately, when I click on that little weird box that does not look like any other information dialog on my computer, it simply disappears. Is this Dell warning me that something really bad is about to happen to my battery, or are they just giving a simple nudge that maybe the support team at work should ship me a new one, on the double? Alternatively, is this a sign of malicious activity on my machine?

Well I just don’t know. Weird little non-modal appear-at-random-times popup friend, who are you? And what do you really mean to tell me?

You know how it feels when a song just sort of hits you? You’ve liked the band for a while, listen to their music frequently, but then all of a sudden you’re completely struck by a particular song? That happened to me tonight.

Perhaps I’m just tired from the holidays, work, and life, but I don’t think that’s it. The song I’m speaking of is Civil Twilight by The Weakerthans, my Canadian band of the moment.

What I love about the song is the story it tells. As I listen, I suddenly picture myself in the shoes of this every day bus driver. Just a regular Joe…who notices every day, normal things. Of course, he’s also dealing with a breakup throughout the song. The parts I really appreciate are when he remarks about his experiences on the bus, like how the song starts:

My confusion corner commuters are cursing the cold away
As December tries to dissemble the length of their working day
And they bite their mitts off to show me transfers, deposit change

I love the description. I can really see the people biting their mitts off. I do that. Check out this part where they describe the driver’s ordinary thoughts:

For the most part I think about golfing and constantly calculate
all the seconds left in the minutes, and so on, etcetera
Or recite the names of provinces and Hollywood actors;
Oh, Ontario! Oh, Jennifer Jason Leigh!
This part of the day bewilders me

I wonder if I could write a song like this. Part of my job is to observe ordinary people doing ordinary things, and then design for the problems & inefficiencies I see. I’m sure it wouldn’t be as poetic, but maybe one day I’ll write a song about a guy named Rob and his experiences and problems as an Insurance Underwriter. Or a gal named Lisa and her rituals as a Hotel Manager.

Could be a fun way to document my findings, no? One day…

Check out Civil Twilight, by the Weakerthans.

I’m giving Hulu a shot. So far it’s pretty sweet. Don’t be mistaken, the success of a service like Hulu is greatly dependent on one thing: the programming. And I don’t mean software programming. It’s all about the shows, baby.

When it comes to programming, Hulu’s got a great start. There’s a bunch of shows on there that I like a lot, and a few I’ve been wanting to try out. They even have a few movies.

The interface is pretty seamless as well. I was pleasantly surprised when one episode of The Office ended, the next one started up automatically. Now, you might think this isn’t a big deal, but really it is when I’m sitting on my keyster and the computer is plugged into the TV all the way on the other side of the room.

The one thing that they haven’t figured out is the advertising. Perhaps I’m not hip to the ad game, but I’d say playing the same ad over and over every 10 minutes is bad form. In fact, if I see that Cisco ad one more time I think I’ll scream.

They allow you to create custom clips to share with others, a pretty cool idea. So if you want to send that 2 minute segment of an hour-long show, it’s no problem…just create a custom clip.

Frankly, I think Hulu should be just about there in terms of features. If you want to give it a try, go get yourself an invite, on the main page.

Update: Hmm…just noticed they do a bit of censoring…at least for the movies. Strange.

The Story of Stuff video is incredible. So much learning packed in to 20 minutes. You have to see it. Now.

I’ve long held the opinion that it’s important to think long and hard before upgrading to new technologies. Often a single technology purchase causes a daisy-chain of purchases, as illustrated below:

Nintendo Wii > Big, giant, flat TV > Cable > Premium Channels (Total upgrade cost = $250 + $1,000 + $60/mo + $10/mo = More than $1,300, plus a contract with the cable company…)
or

Apple Macbook > New Case + Parallels + Windows Vista > Software for both operating systems (Total upgrade cost = $1,600 + $40 + $80 + $200 + $500 = ~$2,500)
and my current quandary:

Blackberry Pearl > Bluetooth headset (& other devices) + Mobile Internet Subscription + Media Card

The thing is, I’ve had my current phone for more than 3 years. It’s getting dated, but it still works well and does pretty much everything I need it to. Well, at least it does everything I’ve become accustomed to needing. Other than weighing pure costs, the most important thing I do before buying a new technology is ask this simple question:

How will this technology change my life?

It’s important that I understand this, because if I don’t think about it then I risk throwing money away on crappy, needless technology. It’s more than just thinking about the technology’s features, but about how those features will impact my daily life. So, let’s run through this question, applied to the Blackberry Pearl. So, how will the Blackberry Pearl change my life?

Positives:

• No need for a separate iPod or similar device.
• The Pearl’s media card holds music, and my headphones will fit in the phone itself.
• No need for a separate digital camera.
• Well, that’s not entirely true, but the Pearl does have a 2 megapixel camera…which is good enough for most point and shoot needs. The real question is, will Verizon lock these pictures on to my camera, or allow me to easily and freely transfer them to my (or others’) computers?
• Email from anywhere
• I’ll be able to get my Gmail from anywhere…on the train or walking down the street, or even at a client site that doesn’t allow me to check personal mail on their network.
• Chat from anywhere
• Same as with email, but I’ll be able to chat with people from anywhere.
• Internet capable
• This could be life changing. If I can use the internet from anywhere then I can do tons of other things. I can check competitive prices while I shop at target, or blog from the street corner. This could make life very interesting.
• GPS directions mean I’m less likely to be lost
• I’m using up to date technology
• This might seem like a minor detail, but I think it’s pretty important for someone whose job it is to design experiences based on technology. It’s important for me to know the potential of the current devices and tools, and I have to admit that my old phone doesn’t really allow me to do that anymore.

Negatives:

• Who wants or needs to get email all the time?
• I certainly won’t be hooking this up to all my email accounts. The last thing I want is some device to vibrate for each email I receive all day…
• “Crackberry” potential
• I also don’t want to get hooked to this device. I’ve already got my face in front of a computer screen for a majority of the day…the last thing I need is to be addicted to another screen.
• It’s not an iPhone (or Google Phone).
• ‘Nuff said.
• I’m not sure if it will play nice with my mac…
• Can it sync up with my web-based stuff like Google Calendar? I guess maybe I can just view gCal from the browser?
• Big one: Once I advance to this technology, will I ever be able to go back to living life without? This has a little to do with addiction, and a lot to do with how the phone will change the way I do things. What if I’m at a point in my life where I can no longer afford to pay $80/mo for phone+internet service? Will I be able to go back?
• Extra $40/mo for mobile internet is pretty steep… (though work will cover it)

I’m sure there’s more, but for now I want to put this out into the world and see what you all think. Should I make the upgrade? Take the leap? Jump into the abyss? Or not?

Please weigh in in the comments…