to a plan for the construction of an object while “to design” (verb) refers to making this plan. Design comes in many forms: • presentation • organization • purpose • efficiency • interaction • experience • patterns • systems • problem solving • branding
visual communication. Just as design is a response to a set of needs or problems, context shapes the design response. ! Without context there cannot be any real design; only art or decoration (neither of which amounts to design.) What is Design? Context
! Ease of use doesn’t happen by accident, but by design. Good design of IT products depends on an understanding of context, which is a combination of factors about the situation in which the product will be used, including: ! • The characteristics and experiences of the people who will use the products • Their tasks and goals • Their work environment • The capabilities and limitations of the technology • The goals of the organization. • When a product “fits” well into its context, it is easy to use.
resolution of problems or issues that looks for an improved future result. The design thinking process has seven stages: ! • Define • Research • Ideate • Prototype • Choose • Implement • Learn
Internet? • How does this impact out designs? The lines between computers, phones, browsers and operating systems are blurring. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the growth of the Smartphone market and the rapid rise of mobile consumption of the ‘real’ web – not the browsing of specialized, simplified sites watered-down for yesterday’s mobile phones, but the consumption of the mainstream Internet, on mobile computing platforms that are increasingly going toe-to-toe with our desktop PCs. Today’s Web What design problems does this pose?
110% in 2009 (Dec ’09 vs. Dec ’08) • Mobile Web growth has outpaced desktop Web growth 8x • Smartphone sales will pass PC sales in 2012 • Global mobile web consumption share up 148% in 2009 • Android supports over 12% of North American mobile web pageviews, overtaking RIM’s Blackberry • Huge growth in mobile Internet • Introducing new context of use • 3G + Social Networking + Video + VoIP + Impressive Mobile Devices
users to login to third-party websites using their Facebook identity. They can then feed their interactions with these sites back to their friends on Facebook.
Multiple design systems at work The difference: ! DIFFERENTIATE ATTRACT EMBODY THE BRAND SOCIAL One of the most common downfalls of new businesses is to invest months and months in building a website, redesigning it, optimising it and adding more buttons. ! On their site they just provide a few actions – receive deals by email, connect through Facebook, view latest deals and the option join their friend referral scheme. It’s an eyecatching site but it’s a tight user experience that importantly doesn’t require too much from the consumer to take part in the scheme.
moments ! Achieving great design means asking ourselves, What is it we want the user to do in this moment and how does the design encourage him/her to do this? When we made the move to the one-click Digg, activity went through the roof. It was just insane! Just the ease of the one-click and you're done made all the difference in the world." - Kevin Rose
! Who will be looking at it? How will they use it? What do we want them to come away with? ! Often the most creative solutions are the result of answering these questions.