• Federal Express Zap Mail - a product failure
  Before fax went ubiquitous, FedEx put high performance fax machines in their local offices. They went big, but it failed bad.
• ZapMail video on YouTube - part 1
  Slow moving corporate history video, but you can see the product in action
• ZapMail video on YouTube - part 2
• 1977 - Polaroid’s Polavision
  Late to market and didn’t perform as it needed to; led to massive financial problems and the resignation of the founder, Edwin Land.

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Tracked down a resume from the mid-80s when I was in high school. Check out that education and work experience! I liked to write computer programs and play video games!

Cool artwork at 111 Minna makes for an exciting backdrop for presentations

Steve and I recently attended an event hosted by Microsoft, called Express Yourself. It was a party/networking gathering focused around a “design contest” in which four prominent Bay Area software design firms presented the work they had done to “solve a real-world design problem” that Microsoft had posed a few days beforehand. As they promoted it:

Are you a User Experience Rockstar? Are you a Master UI Coder? Do you know how to work together? Want to network, drink and learn with 100 of your finest peers in San Francisco?

Please join Microsoft and four leading software design firms in the Bay Area as they compete head to head to solve a real-world design problem… Contestants will receive their design problem three days ahead, and the day of the party will compete to finish and present their solutions using Microsoft’s new Silverlight technology and Expression Suite of design tools. Attendees watch the solutions come to life, comment and party until the awards ceremony.

To begin with, it was a great party–a beautiful venue in downtown San Francisco, open bar, excellent food. Balancing a Martini glass in one hand and a half-spherical bowl of Pho and chopsticks in the other, I contemplated the usability of flatware.

The design problem Microsoft had posed to the firms was to create a “safe” social networking environment for a teenage girl. Microsoft had supplied the firms with personas representing the girl, her mother, and her “quasi-bad-ass” friend.

Update: the contest’s problem statement, rules, and evaluation criteria are now posted here.

The presentations all shared what seemed to us (and to many of the people in the audience around us, judging by an almost non-stop flow of derisive commentary) as a common and almost complete lack of thought or even lay-knowledge about the culture of users for whom this environment was being designed.

Update: details (including screenshots) of the different submissions, and the winner are posted on organizer Will Tschumy’s blog (7/2/07 and 7/3/07).

This apparent lack of consideration for the consumer/end user’s culture and needs/wants stirred a reaction and raised some questions for us.

Dan: None of these (contest entries) look like they’re for teenagers. I mean, it seems so obvious to me that the place you would start would be figuring out what the person you’re designing this thing for would find exciting.

Steve: The most exciting moment (leading to spontaneous applause) was for a interface widget that created this very Web2.0 mosaic of media, kind of like a tag cloud of images and movies. Completely unusable since you couldn’t see what was in the teeny pictures, and very adult in its visual. The audience applauded for something they would like.

In the presentations, I really wanted to see one of the teams consider a definition of what it meant to be safe. That is a very loaded word and it needed to be unpacked. Until you know what safe is, you can’t design for it.

Dan: If I was a kid, the last thing I would want would be any kind of web thing that my parents were involved in.

Steve: If any of these designs get published, I’d like to see someone compare them with Imbee, an actual site that that just launched, aiming to address this same need. Will those appeal to teens? Have they found a way to navigate the tension between “safe” and “parental involvement”?

I’m not being a research snob here. I understand the timeline didn’t support the teams doing their own research. But Microsoft supplied personas. Aren’t personas proxies for research? Or, are they, (as I’ve said before) simply user-centered bullshit. For all the power they are supposed to have with design teams to keep them focused on designing for the user, they didn’t help at all in this case.

Dan: People have all these tools, but they have no idea what needs to be built.

Steve: And maybe the focus of the event was purely on the building. But then Microsoft should have framed it differently. Distributing personas and judging solutions would suggest that it was about building the right thing. But Microsoft’s tool is to help you build better; perhaps their assumption was that the designers would bring the process and MSFT would bring the tool?

Dan: I wonder what Microsoft wanted to find out from doing this, and whether they found it out?

Steve: That’s a good question. I assume they were doing it more as a way to create a splash and be seen as a real player in the design community.

Dan: Then they should have done a challenge that was geared to the strength of the people they had competing. Plus, this was about using their software, right? So why focus on research results as the way to get people into the task? I think they went too far towards the front end of the “project.” They should have given more of a creative brief, and let people go at it.

To me, this whole thing really shows how a lot of people still don’t acknowledge (or don’t fully get) how much work has to be done to actually turn research into design decisions. I think this bodes really well for the work we do.

Steve: I’m relieved you think that. I felt the opposite, actually. I felt depressed about the opportunities for our approach. It’s kind of depressing that in 2007 the “top” software design firms are so locked into distinguishing themselves with shiny shiny and no thinky thinky. [Assuming these were in fact the top players in their firms and not the B Ark].

If making use of real tangible understandings of real users isn’t even on the table for a lot of these folks, then where do we find people to play with? To inform or collaborate with? Maybe that’s not even the point though. Maybe those designers should be working for us rather than the frequent reversal.

Dan: I totally agree—the needs and desires determine what will really work for people and be successful. Then the design should be executed within those constraints. Context, not content, is king, right?

Are we having fun yet?

Friday night in San Francisco, I heard the following conversation (reported here verbatim) as I walked by the wondrous doorway pictured above:

Guy: (walking a few steps into entryway)
Look at how cool this place is.

Girl: (standing on sidewalk outside entryway) There’s no one in there. What you need to understand is it doesn’t matter how cool it is if there’s no one there.

A few years back in Osaka, I was talking to some Japanese friends about the phenomenally busy “Yogrian Tabby” frozen yogurt shop that had just opened up in the Umeda underground shopping area. They told me that sometimes in Japan, new shops will hire people to show up en masse, creating lines, which attract customers, who then attract other customers, and so on . . .

• Microsoft building the second largest parking garage (underground, Western hemisphere)
  We seem to love these stories about unbelievably massive infrastructure, but are they good PR or bad PR for companies like MSFT or GOOG? How do we extend the story of their hugeness to our perception of their capability, desirability, or even inevitability?
• McCain Smiles - potato face snack
  Umm, why not?

CatCam was making the rounds recently. It’s nice to see this finally realized as a product, even with a good measure of humor. At my old firm, we delivered a concept that was very similar to this. It seemed like a “good” idea but in hindsight it’s not clear how it really connected to any of our research or was appropriate for the client. Ah, youth.

The pet-mounted camera would randomly snap pics throughout the day, when you got to the images, you’d see what s/he had been up to while you were at work. We called it Dog Day Afternoon and we were quite proud of that.

I’ve been holding this post til I dug up the drawing I did (something I was quite proud of, with my lack of training in illustration) but it’s not in my archives. But seeing that Nicolas Nova blogged about another pet camera (Wonderful Shot) I guess this will have to do.

A while back, Steve posted regarding the oddness of the Ask.com Algorithm ad campaign. Last night, I finally had the camera handy and snapped this shot of the company’s latest TV ad:

For anyone who hasn’t seen it, the spot features a William Hurt-esque everyman doing a Busby Berkeley number, as he celebrates the success of a search he has just done for “Chicks With Swords.”

Does this seem like a really odd choice of content to anyone else? The ad has me wondering: how would you parse the factors that separate “offbeat and interesting” from just plain “out there?”

• How does the process of making a purchase decision vary when the deadline varies?
  “Under a time constraint, consumers are more motivated to purchase a product that helps achieve the minimal goal of preventing a negative outcome than they are to purchase a product that helps achieve the maximum goal of promoting a positive outcome”
• “Research Attack” - bad questions asked poorly
  Sad-but-frequently-true story of how some people approach asking questions. Nice to hear from the answerer’s perspective. This crap doesn’t work, folks.
• Audrey Carr » The Use of Design Research in the Creative Process
  Nice straightforward piece about different goals for “design research” and thus the different outcomes. 1. Research as context, 2. Research as stimulus, 3. Research as evaluation.
• Taking aim at Japan’s washroom wonders
  From December, a few “new” products from the Asian toilet and toilet accessories scene (although some are not new at all)
• The Flusher King
  From last October, a Toronto Star article (now seemingly expired) about the process of testing the flushing power of toilets. Thrill to the details of how they make fake poo out of various other substances, and then try flushing it.
• Doblin bought by Monitor Group
  “Since May 2007, Doblin has been proud to be a part of Monitor Group, one of the world’s premier professional advisory firms.” Interesting.
• Driving directions, the Indian way
  Fantastic example of cultural differences in Param’s post about a new website that gives the “right” kind of navigational info for its Indian customers.

A new commercial for Trojan condoms depicts

women in a bar are surrounded by anthropomorphized, cellphone-toting pigs. One shuffles to the men’s room, where, after procuring a condom from a vending machine, he is transformed into a head-turner in his 20s. When he returns to the bar, a fetching blond who had been indifferent now smiles at him invitingly.

CBS and Fox rejected the ad.

A 2001 report about condom advertising by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that, “Some networks draw a strong line between messages about disease prevention — which may be allowed — and those about pregnancy prevention, which may be considered controversial for religious and moral reasons.”

Good example of cultural construction. A product provides a basic set of functionality, but the meaning associated with that functionality rests outside the product itself. The users, and to a large part, society in general, construct that meaning. And so the stories we are allowed to tell about the product are determined along those lines.

I also liked this part of the story:

“With a 75 percent share of the market, we can prioritize growing the category and increasing overall condom usage,” Mr. Daniels said. “Right now in the U.S. only one in four sex acts involves using a condom. That’s dramatically below usage rates in other developed countries. Our goal is to dramatically increase use.”

We know what stomach share is, but what do the marketers at Trojan call their version?

As diners, an online reservation service like OpenTable has obvious conveniences. But as the NYT explains, “The other end, however, is where the service has real benefit.”

The reservations that pop up on the restaurants’ computer screens, especially those made by regulars, are accompanied by an important tidbit or two.

Doug Washington, a co-owner of Town Hall, said the notes were not just helpful, they are occasionally indispensable. Next to the name of one regular, who has a habit of bringing in women he is not married to, is an instruction to make sure the man’s wife has not booked a separate table for the same day.

Another frequent guest asks the restaurant to send over dessert compliments of the chef but to put the charge on the guest’s bill. Of another, who takes many of his first dates to Town Hall, the instructions read, “Do not treat like a regular!”

Cool to think about the other interfaces into a system and the other tasks being supported.

I’ve used this image before to talk about Unconsumption. This semi-space between the formerly binary states of garbage and non-garbage is an interesting cultural innovation. And now it’s been formalized as a movement called replate - a way to prevent unwanted leftovers from going to waste by placing them on top of a trash can.

Very cool.

Seen in the window of a jewelry store in a very respectable normal mall in downtown Seattle. What a collision of imagery and meaning here! Glamor meets rebellion meets underground meets punk meets opulence meets bling.

Not to mention, that necklace/pendant is huge. Look at the size of the skull ring for a bit of scale.

Alter Ego: Avatars and Their Creators is a recent book that presents photos of (online role playing) gamers alongside their online representations (or avatars). The NYT has excerpted images here and the BBC features smaller images (some overlap) but more narrative info here.

Man, am I late to the party. I only just read “Blink” but it was more than 2 years ago when PeterMe wrote Everything You Need to Know About “Blink” Boiled Down Into 9 Words.

Snap judgments are valuable. Except when they are not.

I’d add 6 qualifying words: Hindsight is 20-20 in determining which.

Steve recently taught a seminar about user research to visiting designers from the Taiwan Design Center.

• Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, a 2005 Albert Brooks film
  Brooks goes to India on a gov’t project to understand what makes Muslims laugh. Best part is the Brooks-level-of-awkwardness as he tries to stop people on the street and ask them what makes them laugh. Hilarious skewering of market research that reveals why intercepts suck.

Disappointing if revealing nuggets from this article about the TV series Jericho, recently brought back by CBS in response to demanding fans.

Mr. James, the actor, said he believed the revival of “Jericho” would cement the idea that the traditional Nielsen ratings “are going to become a more and more old-fashioned notion of monitoring television.”

CBS executives, however, are not so certain. Ms. Tassler’s message was more of forming “a marketing partnership” with online viewers and fans who record the show, one that would result in their “bringing more eyeballs to the network” and its traditional broadcasts.

Last week in Seattle I checked out of the hotel, loaded up the rental Jeep and as I turned onto the main road, I saw this crazy advertruck

As I gawked and fumbled for the camera, the ads in the windows rolled up to reveal the world’s largest carbo-cholestero-monster lurking within

Seconds later, as I pulled alongside, a message appeared on my cellphone, asking if I would accept a Bluetooth connection from KFC-something-something. I declined, but whoah.

I was watching them, and they were watching me. I guess this is the sort of thing you read about, but to see it deployed and actually happening right in front of me, that was quite intense.

Last year McDonald’s set up a panel of high-profile over-achieving moms. Their latest version appears to be drawing from the ranks of the everyday customer.

In a bid to convince health-conscious moms that its food is nutritious, McDonald’s says it will bring the group of mothers fully inside the company. The moms will visit restaurants, processing plants, orchards and test kitchens.

Beginning June 20, the moms will keep an online journal for roughly three months about what they see — and how they feel about it. The journal will be posted on the McDonald’s website and, the company hopes, read by other moms. McDonald’s insists it will have no input on what the women write.

…

McDonald’s dubbed the program Mom’s Quality Correspondents. The moms were picked from 4,000 applicants by Arc Worldwide, a promotions specialist.

They aren’t being paid, though McDonald’s pays for their travel. They got laptop computers for the program that they will be allowed to keep.
…

The women will be journaling — not blogging — says Starmann, meaning consumer responses to their comments will not be posted on the site. But the six mothers are free to respond to consumers or to post comments on other blogs, she says. They also will appear in videos at www.mcdonaldsmom.com.

Update: AdAge article here. They don’t know the size of the panel, it seems, but still refer to it as an “army.” Pretty lame reporting, folks.

There’s a really interesting public discourse going on in Gilbert, Arizona, regarding the Perry Branch Library’s decision to do away with the Dewey Decimal System in favor of a bookstore-like system of organization. Peruse the comments below the article for 3 pages of heated, fascinating dialogue!

Here’s one of my favorite excerpts from the discussion:

And also with RFID, who is going to bother searching for a book when they can look up the book on a wiki, hit a button and get a robot to bring it to them where ever they are sitting.

• 2007 Ford Fusion on Yahoo! Autos
  A new Ford TV ad uses extensive quotes from this consumer review site. Are consumers the new endorsers? No JD Power, no Car and Driver, but the posters (not the expert industry types) from Yahoo Autos.

• How Japan Sees America
  A parodic map from a videogame, but a grain of cultural truth?

I’m here in Richmond, VA for another few days of fieldwork. I haven’t quite processed the time in Seattle (and let alone the photos from KC) and here I am on the road again, turn the page. Our hotel is in a combination of industrial and motel strip, directly across from the economy lot for the airport. The main floor of the hotel smells like humid flatulence.

And here’s a closed 7-11, as I pulled in, the local cops were there flashing lights and getting out to talk to someone in another car. There are two Waffle Houses within sight of each other. Interesting area.

Meanwhile, I’ve got a free day tomorrow, so I’ll be off to explore the city. I am entirely unprepared for that, of course, since I planned to be busy minute by minute. We’ll see how it goes.

• Restaurant theme: birth control
  “Cabbages and Condoms” is a small chain of restaurants in Bangkok that funds AIDS awareness, population control and other spermy causes. In lieu of after-dinner mints, they offer rubbers.

One of the highlights of Kansas City was the chance to check out Cabela’s, a hunting/fishing/camping superstore. Although it’s chock full of animal killing products (and animal killing accessories), it manages to (in that way that the hunting community has always done) reframe this as pseudo-conservation and love for animals. The awe-inspiring amount of taxidermical displays feels like a trip to the national history museum, but the outdoor grill right next to one of the displays reveals the true nature of the endeavor. Lots of surprise and general challenges to my own perspectives made for a fun visit.

Here is a flickr set of my photos.

A couple of little cultural tidbits about cars and car users in India. Param writes

the cup holder, that’s now there almost by default in the newer Indian cars, is hardly used for keeping coffee or any other drink for that matter. This is one of those classic examples of how you blindly re-use a concept from the West and include it in your design it in a different country. And what people actually end up using it for in India is, keeping some currency/change or keeping your mobile phone.

and USATODAY tells us that

the head of BMW Asia says the defining characteristic of Indian consumers is their desire to buy every available feature.

“What the Indian consumer wants is the latest technology, and in the premium car segment, they’re looking for a fully loaded car,” Linus Schmeckel says. “They don’t like to be seen as second-class consumers.”