Avoiding Bullshit Personas

In case anyone is interested, here's the speaker deck from Avoiding Bullshit Personas from SXSW 2012 (by one of the designers involved in Lynda.com). There's no audio, but the slides are still pretty informative:
https://speakerdeck.com/boltpeters/avoiding-bullshit-personas

Mobile News This Week!

Harvard professor David Edwards has invented a small device which can transmit artificial smells from one user to another via a connection with a mobile phone interface. I thought this article might be of interest to our advertising students as Edwards plans to team up with coffee shops to make his invention "part of the consumer experience".  

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2014/01/27/267166229/youve-got-mail-and-it-smells-like-18th-century-paris

A new technology dubbed "Grip UI" has been developed which aims to alleviate problems with controlling mobile phones equipped with larger screen sizes. This is a hot topic as Apple's recent revenue report sparked controversy over its less than expected iPhone 5C sales (which some think have to do with Apple's lack of larger screen options). A technology like this could open up new avenues for UI designers. 

http://www.extremetech.com/electronics/137331-docomo-pressure-sensitive-grip-ui

Apple gives some insight into why its mobile and desktop operating systems are designed separately. In thinking about our conversation on convergence last week and felt this article pointed out some interesting differences between desktop and mobile devices. 

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/01/apple-execs-badmouth-touchscreens-os-convergence-on-the-macs-30th-birthday/

Interesting takeaway from CES about the next frontier for UX designers and home automation products. This article focuses on the idea that silos must be broken down between the physical and user experience design elements of products.

http://mashable.com/2013/02/27/home-automation-ux-design/

A new eye tracking system which allows users to to quickly select items on a screen without having to use a mouse. This video gives a good explanation for where and why their new technology is useful (something every UX/UI designer should ask themselves when creating).

http://mashable.com/2012/10/04/tobii-gaze-interface/

Design Critique

Nokia Lumia Mobile Interface

The Good Stuff
1) The main menu looks amazing. Big tabs.  Icons are Easily accessible. Colorful. Updates visible on the tab. No need to tap on it. It is really well designed I should say. And its different. Nothing like Android or iPhone menus. Good job!

It is easy to see that the designers have taken into account all the key aspects of a mobile interface.

Easy accessibility, Not too crowded, visibility. It hits the spot. The tiles are customizable as well. Any icon can be placed anywhere on the screen. There is an option to select tiny size icons for not so frequently used items and large icons/tiles for frequently used items.

2) Image rendering : This is where Lumia gets better. The images are rendered really well on the screen. Background images with text on them also look good.

Note the consistency in the theme. It derives from the tile based main menu. The sensitivity for zoom in, zoom out is perfect. +1 for feedback.  Works!

Welcome Students!

Hi Folks

Just a quick post to welcome everyone to the student blog and to encourage anyone to reach out with questions or concerns.

Cheers
Elizabeth