Very heavy gaming researcher/creator.
My takeaways - were pretty much one-off snippets of research
Average Usesr is below average.
Typical user always feels like an idtot.
Remember this lesson. Give the user ways to feel "confident"
Possible technique give the user leagues (beginning to expert)
Just as in anything - noone reads the manual!
In gaming, there are about 16 - 18 buttons on the control panel.
All of them integral to the gaming action. The great thing or interesting thing about that -
and as stated above, noone reads the manual. Yet, in gaming , the 16-18 buttons are understood - and noone HAS to read the manual.
Relates to Cignitive Psych
George Miller was the (guy) that said the human brain can't remember more than 7 words ( I'm not sure how relevant that still is, given the amount of information we all digest these days)
Here's the deal: Games make heavy use of affordances
-In real life, when you walk up to a door - and you see a sign that says "pull" Thats a backwards affordance.
affordances - when a thing does exactly what you expect it to do.
Compound that with...
Users expect when you do something once - that's how it operates throughout.
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There are significant differences in genders when applied to technology. But the anomoly is - Older men act like women.
Always look for the passion - Casual users can be hardcore.
Adaptive Difficulty has pitfalls
number one gripe against the game, Oblivion.
It's the same difficulty level as your level progresses. This is bad .
The fun comes from operating at the margin of your ability. If you want an engaging experience, you need to let people try something and fail at it (gee, isn't that the story of life?). This makess them feel, when they succeed, feel great- likea total badass.
Similarly or conversly, bottom-feeding is numbing, isn't fun.
Fun comes from operating at the margin of your ability.
Repetitive challenges/ tasks suck.
High R.O.I. is a bad word in interaction design. (not sure I'm getting this point)??
useless fact (for us) ut interesting:
women were found to use first person view more than men.
why - they found out that third person camera objectified other things.
Even when the third person view allowed them to be more effective care-takers. Peacekeepers of the entire situation.,
men - used third person more. Enjoyed omcbat more.
Enjoyed killing more.
THink about size of icons.
Avatars are filters.
Avatars represent aspect s of the people's own psychology that they wind up projecting outwards.
Personalitites leave room for tantilizing imagingation
iterative tit for tat.
comes out of game theory.
as long as there's an expectation of future interaction - people will treat each other well.
negaitve reputation systems always break out into chaos - it's been studied.
all core gamers HATE SimCity - but they bought it for their girlfriendss - who then became extremely addicted. Now that's marketing. Getting to the girlfriend though the geeky, gaming boyfriend.
Path to the mass market is always through the hardcore.
when you have a kickass lead user - make sure you destroy him.
they make the game miserable for everyone else - it sucks.
topple your kings.
OFT LESSON IN HERE ??
turn over every leader board. Meaning - keep it an accessible area for the loser - or not-so
/OFT LESSON IN HERE ??
Perfection is DULL!
Don't make it perfect
You want users to feel smart.
www.raphkoster.com
www.areae.net
slides will be posted!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Designing for Web 2.0: The Visual Ecosystem
Luke Wroblewski
Principal Designer, Yahoo! Social Media
Principles of good visual design have always been applicable to web design: balance, proportion, contrast, color, and typography. As a visual medium, the Web has always had its own set of unique attributes: screen resolution, browsers, platforms, and multiple devices. With Web 2.0, these attributes have expanded to include a new array of services to remix and distribute micro-content (APIs, RSS), as well as participatory content created by the community. How can visual design enhance user experience when your audience might be coming from a browser, an RSS feed, or a widget? How does visual design communicate your brand when your brand is created daily by your community?
In this two-part session, we'll show real-world strategies and techniques for designing your visual ecosystem through two case studies: one focusing on a redesign of an existing site; the other, a startup with a ground-up new UI and user experience design.
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Predominantly the way people make sense on the web, the way they actually scan information on a page (example of eye tracking shown) – is erratic, scurrying.
Visual design can help indicate actionable/not actionable elements.
It can help tell the user where they are, and how they‘re expected to interact with the environment.
Design Considerations:
presentation, interaction, organization
Presentation:
the presentation becomes the voice. It can help define the purpose of the site to the people of the site. It can help define the goal.
ex.
VideoEgg.com
goal: the ezest way to get your video online
(that's what they want the user to do - that's the first copy the user sees)
Changes in web from 1.0 to 2.0
- Locomotion
- Conversation
- Manipulation
Locomotion: movement in space
In 2.0, with the help of new technologies (AJAX, FLEX)
users move around the pages less and less.
Vs. early years - it was about moving from place to place -or page to page.
Converasation is communication. (i.e. Terry Winegrad at Stanford )
enabled conversations:
display services (flickr)
content creation (wordpress)
aggregation services (digg)
Entertainment destinations: (YouTube)
(stat: .16% of those who go to YouTube actually contribute/ upload a video)
Comparisons to RealWorld Packaging
Certain aspects of Packaging design can actually be applied to the online world.
Meaningful shouting.
Having the appropriate and distinct personality that makes people take a look
Back of packaging concept
“back of pack stories " on package design – it’s what tells you what this thing is and why should you care.
Consider the experience of unpacking.
(Examples of unpacking experience)
i.e. Unpacking the macbook - one of the first things you see is a rolodex-type card. The card has a silhouette shape suggesting that YOU belong here, this. Suggesting, “hey take a picture of yourself with the onboard camera, because, you can”.
Online, on a website, What's the first thing the user gets when they're interested.
Example, Yahoo Videos - They get a form – registration form.
Okay. A bit of a "boo" "boring"
BUT, what if it was a little more like unpacking the macbook? What if you could give the user a little more of a fun experience?
Examples: Jumpcut.com, Scrapblog.com
Right from the get-go it's "hey make a movie – right now." or "make your own scrapbook, right now"
Only after completed, when you decide you want to save or share - that you get a registration form,
etc.
They're all about the pleasant engagement /experience..
This “more fun” experience allows people to be drawn in. To be engaged. Get hooked.
Giving people an attractive and compelling experience plays an important role.
pages - are now rich content experiences.
with
Bill Scott Designing for
invitation/transition/feedback
----------
STAT ALERT:
Technorati:
100k new blogs everyday.
DIGG hit 1million registered users.
----------
content creation
content aggregators
display surfaces
Entertainment
High quality content experience vs, the low quality. What percentage of stuff is dedicated to overhead of site - or content the user is looking for. (Nytimes.com vs Chicago Tribune)
flickr.com/photos/bryce/(more stuff here)
Renkoo.com (in beta)
what is this thing.
why should i care
how do I use it
-----------------
Quote from Will Wright:
most user-created content is crappy. But as we create better tools, we'll increase the
value of the output of those tools.
----------------------
maybe it's about giving users the tools that make it easier to do the right thing.
if you give people the environment for personal expression - then accept it- it's open , they';ll do just that.
TAKE AWAYS:
treat web packaging the way we treat shelf space/product packaging
optimizing content experiences for that particular use.
Might actually engage folks rather than turn them away
www.lukew.com/ff
luke@lukew.com
drop him an email to upload slides.
Wednesday Keynote 4-18-07
Grocery store tagging video. Supermarket 2.0
Opening video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9MgHuitMwU
David weiner
Exec VP Yahoo Search Network Marketing
Connect consumers to what they value most and then work with their advertising division.
Different behavior – networked individualism. Individuals are part of the community. Connecting all their assets.
“Google is running circles around you” – we are within our expectations and happy with our performance.
Yahoo is the largest network on the web. The hit half a billion users on the web.
He talked often about “Panama” their new advertising platform they launched in January.
Rich Skrenta – CEO Topix
They didn’t set out to be local. But it was driving most of their growth.
They had advertising but not enough local news…
Go to the blogs? They didn’t pay enough attention to local news,
Could they create local news from the users? Yes. They set up forums for every town in America and let people discuss local news. They often went back and forth on issues. They content is often gossip or political oriented.
Opening video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9MgHuitMwU
David weiner
Exec VP Yahoo Search Network Marketing
Connect consumers to what they value most and then work with their advertising division.
Different behavior – networked individualism. Individuals are part of the community. Connecting all their assets.
“Google is running circles around you” – we are within our expectations and happy with our performance.
Yahoo is the largest network on the web. The hit half a billion users on the web.
He talked often about “Panama” their new advertising platform they launched in January.
Rich Skrenta – CEO Topix
They didn’t set out to be local. But it was driving most of their growth.
They had advertising but not enough local news…
Go to the blogs? They didn’t pay enough attention to local news,
Could they create local news from the users? Yes. They set up forums for every town in America and let people discuss local news. They often went back and forth on issues. They content is often gossip or political oriented.
High Performance Web pages
Excellent presentation! Steve Souders seems to be very knowledgeable and cool of Yahoo! to open up the community their work.
More details on their blog site:
http://yuiblog.com/blog/2007/04/11/performance-research-part-4/
The 14 [so far] best practices are as below-
* Rule 1 - Make Fewer HTTP Requests
* Rule 2 - Use a Content Delivery Network
* Rule 3 - Add an Expires Header
* Rule 4 - Gzip Components
* Rule 5 - Put CSS at the Top
* Rule 6 - Move Scripts to the Bottom
* Rule 7 - Avoid CSS Expressions
* Rule 8 - Make JavaScript and CSS External
* Rule 9 - Reduce DNS Lookups
* Rule 10 - Minify JavaScript
* Rule 11 - Avoid Redirects
* Rule 12 - Remove Duplicate Scripts
* Rule 13 - Turn Off ETags
* Rule 14 - Make AJAX Cacheable and Small
More details on Souders site:
http://www.stevesouders.com/examples/
They says in the loading of a webpage, ~5% of the time spend for HTML page -which will sum up the CGI processing- and rest of them are for images, css, javascript etc. If you manage to reduce 50% of time for the front end, it will result in 50% of the user response time which will be a great result.
I liked the tool they used to analyze the web page loading time. It is IBM page detailer could be expensive. Not sure if there is any freeware available.
Also was impressed by the Firefox extension yslow which ranks the page and suggests ways for improvement.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
More notes from the Widget session
Using Widget Syndication
for Online Marketing and Measurement
Ceo of Widgetbox – widgetizing the web.
Widgets – Why they work for marketing – They are contextual and personal, social, visual and interactive and viral.
The different types of Widget users with examples.
Self Expression – flickr widget
Site enhancement – google maps
Ads and Commerce – amazon.com (this type kicked off the widget craze) Widgets came about as part of advertising dynamically showing on pages.
Overview strategy for a Widget
Build – Distribute – Promote – Track – Monetize (business value)
How to Launch a widget
- Widget sites and SEO
- Cross Promotion
- Packaging
- Tap the Blogger and Social Network Power Users
- “In the Wild?” and just promoting it to your community.
Is Your Widget Successful?
- Pay Attention to widget metrics
- How many sites and domains
- What about unique users
- Content and context - What kind of page is the widget on?
Look at the services that Widgetbox offers to see if they can help us. Simon spoke with after their presentation.
Go to their site, search a widget that you would like to use, - edit the widget (content and design).
On a site that has one of their widgets - Click on add a widget (on the widget) enter site name that you would like to put it on, choose the section on site you would like it. It asks you for your Login and PW to your site and it ads it there without you having to cut and paste or even be on your site. Next time you go to your site it’s there. They did a few examples and this was very cool.
Birth of the Widgetshpere – is this here to stay? How to launch a strategy
Part of a fundamental change in the web
Other sites – Hi5, friendster, bebo, myspace,
Widget is a STAND ALONE product. Do not use it as a banner ad to drive people somewhere else.
Does your Widget have:
Shelf Life – like Television – “new content” just change the channel
Or flyer – short shelf life – less desirable
Promotion – be specific. Make sure they know you have widgets. Tell them the value, don’t lead with “We have widgets” because people don’t know what they are.
Measurement
Audience
- views
- domains
Engagement
- standard events
- custom events
Endorsement
- audience reception
- page location
- adoption path
- velocity
ADAPT
Update your widget!!!!
Widget creators
- standards
- metrics
- distribution
- security
- monetization
- portability
Look into clearspring
1 create
2 distribute
3 analyze
4 update
Clearspring.com
Widgify.com
for Online Marketing and Measurement
Ceo of Widgetbox – widgetizing the web.
Widgets – Why they work for marketing – They are contextual and personal, social, visual and interactive and viral.
The different types of Widget users with examples.
Self Expression – flickr widget
Site enhancement – google maps
Ads and Commerce – amazon.com (this type kicked off the widget craze) Widgets came about as part of advertising dynamically showing on pages.
Overview strategy for a Widget
Build – Distribute – Promote – Track – Monetize (business value)
How to Launch a widget
- Widget sites and SEO
- Cross Promotion
- Packaging
- Tap the Blogger and Social Network Power Users
- “In the Wild?” and just promoting it to your community.
Is Your Widget Successful?
- Pay Attention to widget metrics
- How many sites and domains
- What about unique users
- Content and context - What kind of page is the widget on?
Look at the services that Widgetbox offers to see if they can help us. Simon spoke with after their presentation.
Go to their site, search a widget that you would like to use, - edit the widget (content and design).
On a site that has one of their widgets - Click on add a widget (on the widget) enter site name that you would like to put it on, choose the section on site you would like it. It asks you for your Login and PW to your site and it ads it there without you having to cut and paste or even be on your site. Next time you go to your site it’s there. They did a few examples and this was very cool.
Birth of the Widgetshpere – is this here to stay? How to launch a strategy
Part of a fundamental change in the web
Other sites – Hi5, friendster, bebo, myspace,
Widget is a STAND ALONE product. Do not use it as a banner ad to drive people somewhere else.
Does your Widget have:
Shelf Life – like Television – “new content” just change the channel
Or flyer – short shelf life – less desirable
Promotion – be specific. Make sure they know you have widgets. Tell them the value, don’t lead with “We have widgets” because people don’t know what they are.
Measurement
Audience
- views
- domains
Engagement
- standard events
- custom events
Endorsement
- audience reception
- page location
- adoption path
- velocity
ADAPT
Update your widget!!!!
Widget creators
- standards
- metrics
- distribution
- security
- monetization
- portability
Look into clearspring
1 create
2 distribute
3 analyze
4 update
Clearspring.com
Widgify.com
Create your own widget
Check out Widget Box www.Widgetbox.com I love how seamlessly integrate there widgets in to MySpace and other social sites. It lets users choose or create there own custom widget that with in two clicks they can post it at one of there partners site or you could just take Java Scrip and include in to your own site.
Thumbs Up I like them.
Thumbs Up I like them.
Data storage at innovators' expense
Earlier I talked about how top innovators such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Yahoo and AOL are getting in to web hoisting business. What I want to add to this is the great opportunity they might be providing for small, mid level or large organizations that should not be overlooked.
Amazon is getting in to web and data storage business. For instance websites could be storing images on Amazon services and leverage there storage capabilities same goes for back up storage (Data Storage) this could provide very cheap solution for storing a data that you do not need to get to right the way in case there is an issue or archiving your data is the best.
I believe Microsoft will be getting in to this as well as other large leading companies quite soon. Amazon is starting to do that for physical products which they could full fill for you at any given time but storing this web archives might be very interesting solution.
Smugmug has been using Amazon’s S3 services for Storage and they are claming that they have been saving $500K per year.
Amazon is getting in to web and data storage business. For instance websites could be storing images on Amazon services and leverage there storage capabilities same goes for back up storage (Data Storage) this could provide very cheap solution for storing a data that you do not need to get to right the way in case there is an issue or archiving your data is the best.
I believe Microsoft will be getting in to this as well as other large leading companies quite soon. Amazon is starting to do that for physical products which they could full fill for you at any given time but storing this web archives might be very interesting solution.
Smugmug has been using Amazon’s S3 services for Storage and they are claming that they have been saving $500K per year.
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