Design is about cultural invention

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Catriona Cornett • 0 Comments

“Design is about cultural invention. There are some people who want to reduce the domain of design to listable, knowable stuff, so it’s easy to talk about. Design is a glamorous, glittering world and this means they can engage without having to actually risk themselves on the outcome of their work. This is damaging. It turns design into something terrified of invention. Design is about risk. We all fear authentic public response to our work, but we have to be brave enough to overcome.” - Jack Schulze

“Design is about cultural invention. There are some people who want to reduce the domain of design to listable, knowable stuff, so it’s easy to talk about. Design is a glamorous, glittering world and this means they can engage without having to actually risk themselves on the outcome of their work. This is damaging. It turns design into something terrified of invention. Design is about risk. We all fear authentic public response to our work, but we have to be brave enough to overcome.” – Jack Schulze

Read more from Jack of Schulze & Webb in this interview from Kicker Studio.

Filed Under: Jack Schulze

Remarkable experiences leave a mark

Posted on May 11, 2009 by Catriona Cornett • 0 Comments

“Remarkable experiences leave a mark—whether the experience is remarkably good, or remarkably bad. These memories are mind-share, essentially brand equity, the capital of brands.” - Niko Nyman

“Remarkable experiences leave a mark—whether the experience is remarkably good, or remarkably bad. These memories are mind-share, essentially brand equity, the capital of brands.” – Niko Nyman

Read more from Niko in his presentation “The Value of User Experience” from the 2008 Web 2.0 Expo in Berlin.  View another quote from this presentation here.

Do you have a thought on how UX impacts people, businesses, and the world as a whole? If so, submit a quote and you may see it on inspireUX! It’s a great way to promote your name and ideas to inspireUX readers.

Filed Under: Niko Nyman

Solve problems by moving from data, to information, to knowledge, to wisdom

Posted on May 8, 2009 by Catriona Cornett • 0 Comments

"As the designer moves from data, to information, to knowledge and then to wisdom, the problem being solved changes from a single dimensional issue of aesthetics or organization to one of selective contextualization, and then to one of experience." - Jon Kolko"As the designer moves from data, to information, to knowledge and then to wisdom, the problem being solved changes from a single dimensional issue of aesthetics or organization to one of selective contextualization, and then to one of experience." - Jon Kolko

“As the designer moves from data, to information, to knowledge and then to wisdom, the problem being solved changes from a single dimensional issue of aesthetics or organization to one of selective contextualization, and then to one of experience.” – Jon Kolko

Read more about the process of “Design Synthesis” that helps us understand design problems in Jon’s article “Information Architecture and Design Strategy: The Importance of Synthesis during the Process of Design.”

Filed Under: Jon Kolko

Design strategy is about understanding and meeting needs and aspirations

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Catriona Cornett • 0 Comments

“Design strategy is about serving people... The real challenge is in trying to solve the human problem. It’s about understanding their needs, their aspirations, and then meeting them in some way. So we are serving them. But sometimes their needs are to be surprised and delighted, and they can’t tell us how to surprise and delight them. That has to come from us as creative people in our profession.” - Chris Hosmer

“Design strategy is about serving people… The real challenge is in trying to solve the human problem. It’s about understanding their needs, their aspirations, and then meeting them in some way. So we are serving them. But sometimes their needs are to be surprised and delighted, and they can’t tell us how to surprise and delight them. That has to come from us as creative people in our profession.” – Chris Hosmer

This quote is from the Design Strategy Group Continuum‘s excellent video on design strategy.

Thanks to a tweet from @tyeshasnow for sharing this video.

Filed Under: Chris Hosmer

Great design gives us something to relate to and to feel connected with

Posted on May 4, 2009 by Catriona Cornett • 0 Comments

“Great design in the end will give us something to relate to, to feel connected with, and to reinforce our humanity. Tapping that right balance between emotion and logic, chaos and control, analog and digital, is the key to this success. We can no longer rely on ‘form follows function.’ Form has to be parallel to function, as function is growing in commodity.” - David Malouf

“Great design in the end will give us something to relate to, to feel connected with, and to reinforce our humanity. Tapping that right balance between emotion and logic, chaos and control, analog and digital, is the key to this success. We can no longer rely on ‘form follows function.’ Form has to be parallel to function, as function is growing in commodity.” – David Malouf

Read David’s article “Move beyond function towards connection” for more on what it means for a user to be connected to a product. Also read Michael Angeles’ commentary on the article here.

Filed Under: David Malouf

Simply using Web 2.0 technologies does not guarantee an optimal experience

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Catriona Cornett • 2 Comments

“The Web 2.0 architecture still needs much work... As Spiderman’s Uncle Ben pointed out, ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ Just because we can do all these [Web 2.0] things doesn’t mean we should do them... [It is easy to] imagine designers going wild with the capabilities of this new technology and not using the restraint necessary to ensure they produce an optimal experience.” - Jared Spool

“The Web 2.0 architecture still needs much work… As Spiderman’s Uncle Ben pointed out, ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ Just because we can do all these [Web 2.0] things doesn’t mean we should do them… [It is easy to] imagine designers going wild with the capabilities of this new technology and not using the restraint necessary to ensure they produce an optimal experience.” – Jared Spool

This quote is from Jared’s article “Web 2.0: The Power Behind the Hype.” Quote submitted by my Vanguard coworker, Brian Nothacker.

Special thanks to Whitney Hess for including inspireUX in her blogs.com listing of the 10 Best UX (User Experience) Design Blogs! It is quite an honor to be included among so many excellent contributors to the field.

Filed Under: Jared Spool