Windows Phone Design Mistakes and How to Avoid them

David Crawford, User Experience Consultant at Microsoft, discusses the most common design hurdles facing Windows Phone developers, and provides tips and tricks to avoid common pitfalls. Crawford also discusses best practices for branding applications.

The Windows Phone Experience in Review

Bryan Agnetta, Senior User Experience (UX) PM Lead at Microsoft, gives a step-by-step review of the Windows Phone experience. Agnetta answers developers’ questions regarding developing for the Metro UI and Windows Phone devices.

Developing Applications Using Microsoft’s Metro for Windows Phone

Bryan Agnetta, Senior User Experience PM Lead at Microsoft, offers insight into developing applications using the Metro design language. Agnetta gives an overview of creating applications with Metro and discusses Microsoft’s efforts to integrate its various brands into this one innovative platform.

Adobe REFRESH 2012 will be taking place on the 24^th of February. It’s a half day event where you will get to hear the leading Adobe industry experts deliver the latest developments on creating websites and mobile applications for multiple platforms and screens. There’ll also be sneak peeks of upcoming solutions.

Date: 24 February 2012, Friday
Time: 8.30am to 12.30pm
Venue: NTUC Auditorium, Level 7, 1 Marina Boulevard, Singapore 018989

Find more more at http://www.adobe.com/sea/special/adoberefresh2012/.

Google is in the midst of the largest redesign in its history, with more changes to come. Many have wondered who let the designers out of their cage at Google and set them on the path of making Google’s products more focused, effortless, and elastic. You’ll be surprised at the answer (hint – who else?). Jon Wiley, lead of the user experience team from Google, shares what has changed with Google at UX Week 2011.

The Microsoft Surface 2.0 SDK makes it easy to create engaging experiences, using multitouch and object interaction, for the next generation device for Microsoft Surface – the Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface.

The Microsoft Surface 2.0 SDK is a set of controls, APIs, templates, tools, sample applications, and documentation for application developers.  Using the familiar .NET Framework 4.0, Windows Presentation Framework 4.0 (WPF) or XNA framework 4.0, and the Microsoft Surface 2.0 SDK, developers can create applications that take advantage of the new PixelSense technology delivered in the Surface 2.0 platform. The Microsoft Surface 2.0 SDK replaces the Surface Toolkit for Windows Touch beta that was released in 2010.

Application developers can now download the free Microsoft Surface 2.0 SDK and take advantage of training and resources at www.msdn.com/windows/surface

Sony recently announced and showcased their newest augmented reality technology, SmartAR, at the Sony Building in Ginza (Tokyo) and some of the possibilities to create rich virtual environments with no markers at all. What makes this unique over other AR implementations is it doesn’t need any markers to create a virtual environment, just any surface will do. A combination of AR, object-tracking, and maybe even facial recognition.

This video shows some of the possibilities of SmartAR by Sony using the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc phone.

I hope they release the SDK for everyone to use it. It will create an even more immersive  experience in the future, for interactive digital marketing and media, games, and many other possibilities.

What do you think? Possibilities? Amazing?

I highly recommend “Clean Up Your Mess” to everyone who has anything to do with conveying information visually to people, that includes but not limited to websites, brochures, advertisements, Powerpoint slides, resumes, party invitations, etc. It explains the basics of visual design to create a clean, mind-soothing design that everyone can appreciate.

The 5 basic information needs are:

1. Deciding relevance. Do I even care?
2. Getting an overview. What are the main ideas? What’s most important?
3. Basic comprehension. What text explains this chart?
4. Retrieving buried details. I remember something about an orangutan… where was that?
5. Finding actionable details. How do I get in touch?

The 3 basic visual features are:

• Size
• Proximity
• Alignment

which will also explain an important tool – elimination.

You have to read it – visualmess.com.

Andy pointed out 9 best practices:

1. Support the Social and Personal Nature of Mobile Use
   Attributes: staying connected, identity, entertainment
   Example: Reach out to various contacts without changing apps

2. Facilitate Quick Attention and Brief Interaction
   Attributes: convenience, rapid access
   Example: Overview of most important things for quick reference

3. Accommodate Interruption and Changing Context
   Attributes: availability, changing context
   Example: App properly saves states and returns to that context after a phone call

4. Provide for Carrying Out Actions Across Multiple Devices
   Attributes: interruption, input limitations
   Example: Create a new entry on the phone, and complete all the details on a desktop

5. Emphasize Primary Tasks and Reduce User Interface
   Attributes: small display, rapid access, brief interaction
   Example: Enter status updates without navigating, can act on objects directly, or drill down for more detail and choices

6. Accommodate Device Input Weaknesses and Strengths
   Attributes: display sizes, orientations, input methods
   Example: Reduce typing on a small keyboard and use camera input to share information

7. Exploit Unique Mobile Device Hardware Capabilities
   Attributes: sensors, interfaces
   Example: Buzz on alert of appointment

8. Be Mindful of Mobile Environment and Device Constraints
   Attributes: hardware, infrastructure, environment
   Example: App works offline so user is productive even when there’s no signal

9. Follow Platform and Device Guidelines Appropriately
   Attributes: user experience consistency
   Example: Apps use the in-app navigation style recommended by the device platform guidelines

Rapid Prototyping with Aza Raskin from Dan Braghis on Vimeo.

Aza Raskin, creative lead at Firefox, shares some tips and tricks about rapid prototyping at the Mozilla Drumbeat festival. It’s a very interesting presentation where Aza Raskin demonstrates of live rapid prototyping in front of everyone.

For those who do not want to sit through the 30-minutes romp and his rapid prototyping, here are the principals of prototyping that he explains fully in talk:

1. Your first try will be wrong. Budget and design for it.
2. Aim to finish a usable artifact in a day. This helps you focus and scope.
3. You are making a touchable sketch. Do not fill in all the lines.
4. You are iterating your solution as well as your understanding of the problem.
5. Treat your code as throw-away, but be ready to refactor.
6. Borrow liberally
7. Tell a story with your prototype. It isn’t just a set of features.

Here are the slides:

The new HP Global Design Center was opened in Singapore last week (3rd November). Located at 138 Depot Road, it’s the first of its kind that will be responsible for the design and development of inkjet and web solutions products that will be used worldwide. Based in Singapore, the center will ensure that HP’s industry leading designs are build to not only address the unique demands of Asia-Pacific but also cater to customers around the world. The HP Global Design Center is organized in 5 areas – User Experience Design, Interaction Design, Industrial Design, Visual Design, and Customer Education.

I’ve always emphasized on user experience and the need to educate both sides – education to the upper management about the need for great user experience, and the lower management to learn best practices creating great user experience. It is my hope that with this center and the attraction of more talents in this region, the awareness of design and experience will slowly gain traction in Singapore.

Photos

If you don’t want to read the long report, Jakob has written a summarized version of his findings – iPad Usability: First Findings From User Testing

Download the report:
Usability of iPad Apps and Websites: First Research Findings

Table of Contents:

1. Executive Summary
   • First studies
   • Wacky interfaces
   • Inconsistent interaction design
   • Crushing print metaphor
   • Card sharks vs. holy scrollers
   • Toward a better iPad user experience
2. Research Method
3. Websites on the iPad
   • Using full sites on the iPad
   • Using mobile sites on the iPad
   • iPad-specific website?
   • App or website?
4. Mental Models
   • Magazine mental models
   • Modeling a different app
5. Beautiful Images
6. The Touch Screen
   • Small target areas
   • Accidental tapping and the Back button
7. Lack of Affordances: Where Can I Tap?
   • Targets that do not look like targets
   • Invisible controls
   • No hyperlinks
8. Getting Lost in an Application
   • The home button
   • The search box
   • Tabs and the iPad’s tab bar
   • Navigation panel on the left
   • Carousels
9. Changing Orientation
10. An Abundance of Gestures
    • Gestures that are too complex
    • Memory for gestures
11. Multiple Panels
    • Small font size and crowded content
    • Lower working memory burden
    • Disconnect between action and feedback
12. Methodology