Design experiences

Should businesses care about user experience ?

2006-03-13T10:26:00.000-08:00

Should business (shareholders) care about this "experience" fad ?

They should if it provides growth (in revenues and profitability). It is important that experience stuff is understood by people beyond the marketing department. CEO should know it for sure.

Why care for user experience beyond the sales booth :

a. Users as Marketeers - viral marketing !! A happy user will tell good stories about (or around) your product to his friends / family.
b. Loyal Customer - Everyone who cares for loyality (because new customer acquisition is costly), should worry about user experience beyond the sales booth.
c. Cross sell - a happy customer will try more products from you.
d. Avoid activitists - ensure that customers don't become activists against your company.
e. Market research - involved user would tell you about market need. What people want. The chepeast and most effective market research / feedback.

Can one influence the experience without control over the context ?

General concept in experience economy is that a well defined /designed context can provide a greater experience. But there are many more levers in the hands of a designer/CEO/ marketing/ Engineering to influence the user experience.

Product as commandos :Think of your products as commandos who infilterate user environment. Commodos should survive and accomplish mission(spread the goodword) independantly in uncontrollable territory.

One can segment products /services as :

1. Happily ever after - sell once, and buyer never comes back to you. (not to confuse with only-once-in-a-lifetime product).
2. See you soon - comeback because of wear and tear or boredom or new improved version.
3. Refill - comeback for refill
4. @ your service - continuous contact, else no service.

Is there an experience if you are not in contact with customer. Yes, because your product (even in 1 category) is interacting with him/ her beyond your shop.

Usually type 4 (@ your service) kind of businesses use the experience stuff (Disney park, Starbucks ...). But even category 1,2 businesses such as Harley Davidson, Apple.. are influencing user experience much beyond the sales desk. If context is the main lever, it is important that businesses create more interaction points / contexts for influencing user experience. Don't just have support department, everyone in the business has an interest in post sales interactions. itunes is a great place to interact with the users.

So how to reinvent products /services to use this theory ?

Think of relationships. Friends, family, spouse etc. That is understand the orbits of user experience.

What would you do to become a relation (friend or ...or spouse) - Use same principles in product /service design. Check this for parameters for reaching deeper levels of human experience orbits.

Technology doesn't know it is dealing with humans

2006-03-11T17:08:00.000-08:00

Walgreens has been calling my home (through an automatic message)reminding me to collect my photos., which I had already collected 3 months back. "Oh ! maybe our system didn't update it" excused the clerk, as if it is common occurance for her, when I went today to inform them of the harassing voice messages. She checked and confirmed that there were no photos pending on my name. Then she deleted the entry on computer.

If their computer system is smart enough to alert them of un-collected packages, why couldn't they tally with their inventory and update it ?

Using technology, they did create a automatic voice message system, but ignored that it could sometimes behave erratically and irritate me - the customer.
Do not rely too much on technology, customer is a human being and can get pissed off with simple errors in that.

Second experience at Walgreens

I picked up a shake-it-torchlight for my kid, along with other things. This was stocked near the cashier counter and had no price label.

"tell me how much this torch costs" I said.

"I don't know, have to check in the back shelves" he said " maybe $5 or $6... would you buy"

He catalyzed my decision not to buy that. A positive answer would have encouraged me to buy that for my kid.

You don't need technology for that. Big organizations rely on "human" / untrained humans, who fail to see the impact on customer experience.

Free is most abused word

2006-03-10T19:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I was offered a free chocolate box at RiteAID pharmacy.

Why ?

"I don't know... my manager told me to... it's free.." the clerk said.

I have no idea why they do that - not know why they give off a $7.25 box for free.

I did take the box suspicously. It neither made me thankful, nor grateful nor loyal to RiteAID.

In fact I grew suspicious of them.

Did "FREE-CHOCOLATE-BOX-SCHEME" designer imagine that it could have negative experential response?

Hugh Macleod offered to include my(anyone's) blog-rss on his bloglines.

Did you also think the same as I thought,

"what's the catch ?"

Sometimes we don't trust experts - when they try to sell

2006-03-10T17:47:00.000-08:00

Today I went for oil change @ Lube express.

The technician behaves like a doctor for my car. He tells me what I should do (meaning choose costlier service package). He warned me that if I don't do as he says, my car might breakdown. I was scared. Sitting inside, while he pulled so many tubes and filled many more liquids, I was wondering is this a good experience ?

Have you ever understood what they to each other
" we got this guy..hmmm $$$ ...let's party..." something to that effect.

I feel that every time I go for oil change, I am advised of so many things that I end up paying a hefty $$. Couple of observations :

1. I am amazed at the complexity of cars (even in this technological age). Do you how many liquids are your car ?( Petrol, injection fluid, oil, wiper fluid ...).

2. The technician knows everything about my car. He changes from being a doctor to a salesman.

3. I sit inside the car, while he does something in the bonnet and below the car.

4. After the session (once I paid big $$) I am always told that now I don't have to worry for long-long time.

5. But then, I get my car looked after while I enjoy my radio.

6. They show me lot of dirty parts out of my car to prove their point.

Do I trust them ? Does it matter if I don't ?

Wouldn't it better if they gave me a one year schedule, with all the costs for each session. That way I would know cost of maintainance. Lube express knows how to train technicians to be salesmen, but still raise lots of suspicion in the way they do their job.

I would love them, if they tell me for a specified $$ per year, they will ensure smooth running of my car. Then I would go back to them :
a. eventhough many others want to do offer me similar service
b. without any discount coupons.

Design for Experience -Google video :)

2006-03-07T15:38:00.000-08:00

'Remark-able' is not enough, become a story character

2006-03-06T16:43:00.000-08:00

Seth say's it brilliantly : make products - "Remark"able ( "Purple Cow", "Big M00").

So that people will remark (include in their stories) and spread the good word. In other words, leverage users /viewers to expand your reach. Best products are ones which intrinsically help connect to others.

I agree but think "remark"able is not enough.

Why not ?

I agree that users can be and should be leveraged (through their stories) to reach out to bigger audience.
Stories are better than remarks.
Remarks like comments are just passing. Stories are often told again and again. Moving stories involve the closest people to you (often yourself).
You pass a remark on a stranger, while you introduce a friend, involve a family member, relate to a lover, and tell a autobiography.
For more valueable introduction/involvement/ relation/ connection with the user and their world, one needs to do more than being remarkable.

Orbits of Experiences (how they can spread the word):

Remarkable (Sensory) - "Wow!! did you see that... you must "
Friendly (Interactive) - "Meet my best friend..."
Family (emotional) - "our new family member ..."
Lover (relate) - "my partner... she understands me."
Self (connect) - "that changed me...a turning point in my life"

The above effects not just marketeers. A designer, maker/developer, marketeer, business owner, user, all need to realize that we humans value the world according to these kind of orbits of experiences.

it's design not Technology

2006-03-03T14:27:00.000-08:00

Interesting !!

Being a technology professional I have become very interested in Design. Especially design for better human experiences.

This post suggests that

It seems engineers and programmers are discovering the importance of user experience and understanding the "invisibility" of technology:

Destruction is always sexier

2006-03-03T08:59:00.000-08:00

Which of these two images, attract your attention.

Quickly
Deeply
Longterm

This is the irony of our attention. Destruction is more sexier than construction. Maybe that is the reason why, TV Media shows so much more negative imagery.

Few comparisions :

Construction - is slow and messy, while destruction is flashy.
Destruction triggers our fight-or-flight response
Appreciation of construction needs healthy mind
Destruction wows everyone

The other attention grabbers are mystery, challenge, humor ...

It is very tempting for designers to use this affinity of our mind to the spectacular (often destructive) images. But then.. it is always easy to inspire humans to go for war (or terror), while it is very difficult to motivate them to be creative and build something valueable. Ask US Prez, how difficult it would be to realize energy independence (versus energy dominance).

As a designer of experiences, it is very essential to recognise the power of imagery and the responsibility of using it.

Passion but not addiction

2006-03-02T12:21:00.000-08:00

Salt to Taste - designers can give better guidance than that

2006-03-02T09:23:00.001-08:00

How does one decide how much of salt is good taste ?
Can a recipe designer guide better ?

Amount of salt is important part of taste of many foods. Yet all the recipes, come with a disclaimer - salt to taste !

Why ?

because salty taste depends on :

1. Salt sensitivity of individual tongue

2. What you eat along (and its saltiness) is dynamic

3. What you eat before and after also matters

This is a challenge for a designer of experiences. Some design parameters have dynamic impact on the final experience.

The following might help :

Offer multiple versions of design (like shampoo designers do)
Hire tasters with same sensitivity as end users (or designer him/herself becomes such a taster).
Allow some variations in dynamic design parameter (Salt) at the end user level.
Guide end user (by giving samples with corresponding salt levels) so that end user can take an average design to great levels on his/her own.

Designing for great experience requires one to understand the user at much deeper level.

We need fat-meter turning Red

2006-03-01T11:46:00.000-08:00

Ignore-if-you-don't-see-it attitude towards even critical things

2006-03-01T10:26:00.000-08:00

Seth's Blog: The problem with "global warming":

"Because you don't see your coal being burned (it accounts for 75% of US electricity) and because the stuff coming out of your car is invisible, and because you don't live near a glacier, it's all invisible."

Ignore-if-you-don't-see-it

This applies to bigger issues like global warming, as well to personal projects like reducing weight. If you start becoming fat, but don't notice much, you would probably do nothing about it. However one day some one comments or you realize how shockingly out of shape you became. That drives you to crash diets and morning walks.

Challenge in design is to understand this phenomenon, and still create experiences which are benefitial in long run (like reducing global warming - or "atmosphere cancer").

Most of fast food, furniture design, consumer electronics takes advantage of this phenomenon, while ignoring basic design issues.

Long is boring, short is in effective !!

2006-02-27T09:39:00.000-08:00

Seth says it much better !

Seth's Blog: Once more, but slowly

The paradox is that the long stuff gets skipped. The long stuff gets ignored. Short books sell better, short commercials get more viewers. So repetition becomes essential.

Isn't that a struggle for every artist, marketing guy, teacher ....

Attention is very scarce commodity, best poetry is one which makes a statement within that few moments of available attention from the reader /viewer.

My Design for experience video in vsocial

2006-02-25T20:42:00.000-08:00

Design for Human experience - my video

2006-02-25T20:25:00.000-08:00

Browser design - a diary of my online experiences

2006-02-21T18:08:00.000-08:00

Why can't my browser help me create such diaries ?

Capture life, re-imagine it ...

impressions, clips, notes, observations, friends, opinions, .....

Why are browsers not designed as a book ?

2006-02-21T14:46:00.000-08:00

Fantastic presentation - great experience

2006-02-17T09:01:00.000-08:00

OSCON 2005 Keynote - Identity 2.0

A fantastic presentation style.

It again teaches that presentations need to tell a story in a style to provide an interesting experience. Almost to a point that what is being said is not so much relevant. (which anyways is not for many of the audience).

Seth's Blog: What consumers want

2006-02-17T07:58:00.000-08:00

Good experience is what we all want from every product and service. Experience - impact on me - drives my buying behavior. It is a myth to think experience as a 'luxury' parameter.

So I would think good experience should be one more element to what seth has listed. Seth's Blog: What consumers want

You can insert this blog into your web page / blog

2006-02-15T14:36:00.000-08:00

In case you like what I write here, and would like to put it on your website, please feel free to do so.

Just leave me a email at madhutemp@gmail.com

Get Your Code Here

Google video - What I wish it had

2006-02-15T10:08:00.000-08:00

Google video is a great tool. However I think it is still at "friend" level of relationship with the reader.

Below are few examples I imagined, that could make it to "family" level.

1. Rating filter (PG, G, PG 13 etc)
2. XML to subscribe to the source
3. Opinions
4. Tagging
5. Saving (Which I think has been rolled by Google !!)

Can someone please inform Google !!

Parameters for deeper Human experience - orbits !!

2006-02-13T14:15:00.001-08:00

click to see clearer

Friendly product !! - what it takes to create one

2006-02-13T07:23:00.000-08:00

For products and services to be friendly, I suggest to do the same things that we do to be a friend with someone.

Below are my top parameters for being friendly.

Friendly parameters

Interactive - Interacts with me
No hassle - He /she is nice to me
Positive feeling - I feel happy to be with
Share environment - We have lots of common things to talk about
Playful - we play together
Safe - Feels safe with him/her
24x7 availability - Available anytime I want
Buddy connections - Connects me to other interesting friends
Supportive - I can reach out in need
Dependable - I can depend on him/her

We are very good at knowing a friendly face. Check this out ... Which of the below looks friendly to you. Bookmark each one with an appropriate (Friendly or Unfriendly) tag (del.icio.us or any other). If you tell me where you bookmarked, I can publish our collective opinion.

Which one is the friendly face ??

(I don't mean who is actually friendly or unfriendly, it is just the feeling from these photographs)

While researching for these pics, I figured that it is very easy to search for a friendly face by typing friend, friendly tags in flickr. But how does one find 'unfriendly' pics. There were very few with that tag and those were, were not impressive. "So dumb !!" you must be saying, "no one likes to take pictures of unfriendly faces !"

Which products generate friendly feeling even before we buy them ?

No one like unfriendly products - dumb !!

How to gain customers trust

2006-02-12T19:23:00.000-08:00

What should the business leaders do to get into the 'family' orbit of the customer's experience levels.

Emotion - Make the customer laugh

Check how a business program on radio does it. I love the way Kai ryssdal anchors 'marketplace'[mp3] an american NPR radio program.
Another gem is this program on car repair. How can anyone talk about car repair and generate so much fun. My favorite - cartalk on NPR.

Involve Music - Best way to reach hearts

iPod had many good things going for it. Best of all (I think) is that it is a platform of music. Naturally people connect emotionally to it.
Note the way movies use background music to involve the viewer at even deeper levels.

and

Know your customer's other family members
Integrate your product into users lifestyle
Integrate your product into users home environment
Make your product a gateway to other rich experiential environments for the user
Guide the user in their life
Become an art for the user to admire

Any examples that you have ... or maybe some other parameters !!

How to become a 'family' member of the customer

2006-02-11T19:41:00.000-08:00

While most of the businesses generate "I like it" feeling. And many also reach to "is My friend" status.

But it is very difficult to become a 'family member' of the customer, user, reader ...

If a stranger wants to become part of our family and gain our trust, what do we look for in him /her.

Below are 10 reasons we trust someone.

Because that person :

won't harm us
would protect us
has never failed us
is part of our family
we compete with, but never at cost of our relationship
guides us
is one we respect
has cried in our grief
we have an emotional bond
is present in all my main life events

What can businesses learn from this. I want to explore with examples, what some businesses are doing to gain customer trust. I would also be looking at Walmart's of the world to analyse what they could be doing to get our trust and not just friendship.

Why apple doesn't sell preloaded iPods

2006-02-10T12:08:00.000-08:00

"Other recommendations for you... by Apple"

When I checked out an iPod, I didn't see any option to preload it.

Wouldn't that be a great value add. It would also help if they can get discounts on preloaded albums. Maybe they should start -

'Bryan Adams iPod Shuffle' - Has all the albums of Bryan adams
'U2 iPod' - all the albums of U2
'Jazz iPod' - top 100 Jazz music songs
.... etc

This would add to the emotional impact on the user experience. Family orbit of AIEUO !!

Want to engrave your iPod

2006-02-10T11:58:00.000-08:00

WOW !!! these people understand the human experience so well.

This is best way to personalize it. Emotional impact of ones own name is so high. This helps ipod to become what I call the Self-extension orbit of Human experience.

This is real. You know if you bought an iPod.

iPod with a Microphone

2006-02-10T11:37:00.000-08:00

iPod with a Microphone !

It is so helpful in being a partner. It helps record my meetings. iPod is no more my entertainment device. It is a life partner.

That's what I call a Lover orbit of human experience.

[ obviously it is my wish not a reality ]

What makes a blog, Great !! - a human experience view

2006-02-09T09:25:00.000-08:00

“Aieuo” 5 orbits of human experience. (background)

How can one provide the best human experience to the blog reader. It is not just how many you connect with, but also how deep is your relationship with them.

All of us understand what a star, a friend, a family,a lover mean to us.
Can a blog become part of these human orbits ?

Here is what I think are the characters of a blog that can help us get into the reader's inner orbits.

A Attractive like a star

Sexier the better . Can someone notice it from far. Great templates, fonts, styles etc.
- Draw a toon (click this to see great example), add a pic. Anything that ads to the visual drama.
- Shout !! one liners – Put interesting title, which can fit the RSS readers
- Timeout !! attention lost.. – who reads for >5 min on a post. Short readable post.
- A guide to blog design

I Interactive like a friend

- “Please talk to me” – Comments, corrections, advice… anything

- Participate in bigger discussion. Links to other places. See how this master does it.

- So far am I walking the talk ? Maybe I don’t know how to ask questions. But Qs are great triggers of conversations.

- World is boring … promote childlike playful nature …But don’t overdo.

E Emotional like a family member

√ Tell stories passionately. Humans are not computers absorbing facts. Audio, video …??
√ Trust worthy. I am not selling anything. I have an idea to share.
√ Liars should be banned. Truthfulness is a big virtue.
√ Organized thoughts are valuable. Theme based, not random runts.
√ RSS – Great tool for long term relationships with the reader.

U Understanding like a lover

Connect with the human inside. Desires, ambitions …et al.
Motivate, make life more positive.
Invite to share the platform. Co Author with the user.
Skype invite .. invite to have one-one chat.

O Own-able become part of the user’s identify

The ultimate experience is when users can extend themselves through you. Please quote me if you like. Maybe my cartoon is useful. Or this one page for sharing with friends. … if you like them, you are welcome. Now that I have your attention, I can just chat freely. I hope we can together make better human experiences. By sharing my ideas, I hope it helps someone change the world.

Do you have examples that fits this world view ? Pls. feel free to put in comments.

AIEUO are not just string of jumbled vowels. I think every aspect of our living can be analysed, designed and lived through this. I intend to explore this further in my blogs here. I look forward to my friends to join me in this journey.

Parameters of Human Experience

2006-02-09T02:58:00.000-08:00

Parameters for experience

Visual - How it looks
Functional - How smoothly it functions
Interactive - How much it connects through interaction
Emotional - How much it generate emotions, deeper impacts
Relationship - How it helps in relating to others
Life style - Impact on the life style.

Experience economy is not just customer experiences. Owner /Shareholder, Worker /employee and Customer /user all are influenced by these.

This needs to be used for designing, operating and life styles.

Circles of Influence on Human Experience

2006-02-08T14:31:00.000-08:00

We get experiences from other humans as well as non-humans (life forms and non-life).

A human to human relationship is much more matured and understood concept than human to object relationship. In order to design objects that would be good for humans, a model of human to human relationships could be a guide.

Learning from Human Relationships

Outside the orbits - Attractive (model, beautiful person) - see once in a while; sensory feel - visual, audio ...;

Friends orbit - Interacting - talk to fewtimes in a week; interactive, two-way communication

Family orbit - Relation - Emotional bonding;part of bigger group, we-are-together feeling

Lover orbit - Love - partner; grows, lives together

Self extension - part of - identification, extension of self

Products can be designed to go deeper in to the orbits. Closer to the human, more valueable it is. Sometimes, a product starts at the higher orbits and goes deeper with time. While it is also feasible that a product starts at a deeper level at the beginning.

''What can be done to deepen the product relationship with the human users. ''

hexperience

A single google interface for email + chat

2006-02-08T14:30:00.000-08:00

Few days back I wrote about need for a single interface for email and chat
and google is coming out with Gmail + gtalk WOW !!! It surely feels good.

Why is early retirement not the ideal goal of life

2006-02-01T10:28:00.000-08:00

A early rich retiree should be the happiest of all. He doesn't have to work. He has all the money he needs. He can do what he likes (as long as it is legal and appropriate).

We all are stuck in web of relationships and needs.
You have responsibilities towards yourself, kids, spouse, family, society ...
Your body(and mind) needs food, clothes, shelter, entertainment...

Why are you here? Because your parents decided to have you. While it is very tempting to investigate any other reason for your existence, this might be the only real reason.

No there must be some bigger reason
If you believe in God, he intended to create earth and all the life on it. With all the related philosophical reasoning. If you don't want to believe, it might be that life happened and as a series of cause and effects you arrived.

Anyways now that you are alive, is there a script you need to follow? ("What should I do in life").

There might not be anything that one "has-to" do. It is just that you are part of this universe with planets, life et al. There is no "perfect" reason for existence. Though there are million reasons that humans came up with. You can either agree with one or many of those reasons (religions !) or come-out with own reason or live with a possibility that there is no big reason for existence.

First in the line of responsibilities is yourself. Then comes kids, spouse, family, society, life, universe etc.
For yourself you need to keep yourself alive, entertained, growing, painfree, happy...At the same time you are to address other responsibilities.

Somewhere embedded in all this is your job.

Job is just a part of life (with pains and pleasures). Job contributes to both pain & pleasure. Often only the 'job' contributes to much of pleasure (and pain). So in a sense job makes you alive (active).

You can choose to become inactive (retired) or change the activity beyond (and possibly in place of) job.

While no one really dictates that you be alive, the best thing for you, family, society, universe ...is that you be alive. As long and as much as possible.

So retirement is not ideal goal, finding ways to be fully alive is. Maybe that is "Nirvana".

email + chat through single interface

2006-01-31T12:42:00.000-08:00

While chat is an online conversational tool, email is offline messaging tool. Fundamentally both are text messaging tools (SMS being other) with two different delivery mechanism. I am exploring the possibilities and benefits of combining both. What I am asking for is a very simple mechanism. Emails and Chats have become very common across the world. Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and many others have rolled out products in both these categories. However none of these provide the seamless integration.

Chat

You select a friend.
Check if he is online.
If online, type hello to him.
if he is really online (not just his PC), he would return the hello.
Then you are off to exchanging text messages.
History is not recorded - unless you save the text seperately in a file

You select a friend
Assume that he is not online
type a message
Send to him
he reads at his convenience
then he responds back.
There is natural history recording

Current Integration

Go to chat
check if he is online
if not send an email (through email client).

What I want

I look for a friend
if online, type message
if not type message.
send the message.
if offline message gets replied later
if online message is replied immediately
you retain the history, thread, search capability in both cases

So when you want to look for what was said before, you check either the offline messages (email) or the online messaging (chats). This includes the attachments alongwith the two.

Addition of voice is similar.

While email systems have been around and stable for long time now, good integration needs chat as the base system. Instead of choosing online or offline, online as default choice and offline as a second option.

Chat applications have been driven towards simplicity. small window, fast response, for fast communication (fastfood kind). email meanwhile has taken the gourmet route, for detailed preparation, for remembering for long.

So in a way, I am looking for fastfood integrated with gourmet food.

Say you go for lunch. You go to fast food centre. however you don't get what you want, then you order a gourmet food. or say you sit on the table, either you can order a quick lunch (ready to be served, which you pickup from counter, eat in disposable plates, sit on high stools) or sit down for a three course meal (order personalized meal, combination of different defined recipes, sit in sofa, enjoy the ambience, listen to the music, pay higher).

The seperate restuarants for the two type of food are justifiable. But is it needed for communication. Unlike restaurants, software can switch modes instantly. You reach the door, look for ready to eat meals, either choose that or sit down and eat gourmet. the restaurant would instantly morph into the kind you want.

what if most of the day you just eat in restaurants. Some fast food, some slow. what if you cannot switch restaurants because it wastes time. what if you sit at the same location, continuosly eating (either kind at anytime). and the surrounding morphs with you accordingly.

So is the case with messaging. you communicate continuosly. either online, two way, synchronous or offline, long written, asynchronous.

The communication need not be limited to two persons, many can join in a conversation. each one in his own mode.

Gillette 5 blades - cuts more wallet than beard

2005-09-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

http://www.gillette.com/men/index_fusion.htm
Gillette release 5 blade razor.

Assumption - 5 blades can solve what 3 blades couldnot.

Problem -
When I shave with 3 blades, it takes more strokes to cleanly cut the stubs. or worse some show up above the skin (not a clean shave).

Why ?

blade can't reach low enough on stub (otherwise it might cut skin)
blade is at angle to the stub (hair stubs grow in multi directions)
blade didn't pass over the area (curves of jaw /skin)

So...

Put another blade following the first one. As the first blade cuts and lifts the hair stub, second blade cuts the extra stub that peeps out of the skin.
Good logic. But why have 3 rather than 2. Because 3 is better than 2. and 5 is better than 3. Didn't we learn our Maths!!

But ...
That doesnot solve the problem due to 2 & 3 reasons for bad shave listed above.

Is Gillette solving the problem any better with 5 blades than 3 blades. If not, why should anyone pay more money because Gillette R&D's ineffectiveness.

Does most of the "New" versions from these big companies solve the problems any better than they did earlier.

Self Image(s) - best practices of life

2005-08-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

Wires are creating a snakepit in my room

2005-06-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

I am fed up with wires all over my place. My room looks like a snake pit. I am looking for elegant solutions. Wires are undesirable side effects of technology. Though wireless is talk of the town, wires aren’t going away anytime soon. It is no more a irritant but a major visual / logistical problem

“Why do wires come in black and grey ?”

I searched for a solution to the wires problem. In fact I found some design solutions. But none of it suits my need. Cable turtle is good, but costs very high $7 per piece.

Google can only take words, dumb thing cannot understand what I am looking for. Google is like an alien who can’t understand that these words have abstract meaning for us humans, that they are just indicators of the meaning. I want someone who can understand my need and show me answers. Any takers !!

Though there are many possible categorizations fro wires, such as power v/s communication, stiff v/s flexible etc., one I like is

Wall wires (W-wires) - connecting devices to wall for power
Device Wires (D-wires) - interconnecting devices (mostly for information exchange)

Each device requires one W-wire
Increase in no of boxes, increases no of D-wires
When devices are portable – all D-wires and W-wire should automatically adjust to that.
Each device has many kinds of D-wire ports, increasing complexity

For instance I have

27 devices with 31 W-wires and 24 D-wires. Many (15) W-wires need to be mobile.

Which means

41 Movable wires
14 Fixed wires

Movable wires should be flexible, while fixed wires can be semi flexible. Fixed wires can be tucked behind (most often), but movable wires are the snakes.

Position and connections of each device are the drivers of confusion. Before designers solve universality problem, I have to solve my wires problem. Though few dos /don’ts can be thought about device positions and connection processes.

Movable wires should be :

As long as I want (not an inch more not an inch less)
Mix well with the background (ground, table, kitchen platform …)
Bundled for look but separate to de-plug.

Keeping existing wires as is, easiest solution is sleeves.

Sleeves should :

Hide extra length
Match background color
Easy to bundle /un-bundle wires
Cheap / reusable (can’t be more than $1 per sleeve !!)
One kind fits all
Plastic or rubber
Helps to loop better

In addition to wires, there is problem of converters (AC to DC). Some stick to wall, some are free (becoming one more device).

All that wire designers thought of are Velcro tags. So loop your wire and wrap it with a Velcro tag.

Is there a better solution to this problem. Isn't this a big business opportunity for someone !!

My image in others

2005-06-10T07:25:00.000-07:00

I categorize people – friend, teacher, saint, fighter, father, child, joker …
This is easier way to understand world. Similarly others would be imaging me as one of those kinds. What image do I have among others … What image I want to have…

I want to be an ideator – someone who lives to generate ideas.

So, I would not like to be seen as

Saint – who is beyond daily life.
Teacher – who helps understand world as it exists
Father – Treats others as children who need to be looked after
Joker – no one takes seriously
Child – very imaginative, but immature to know the world
Businessman – profiting from the world

I want to be seen as a Tree

Growing fruits (ideas)
Exhaling Oxygen (optimism)
Photosynthesizing sun energy to food (abstract thought to reality)
Inspiration to artists and poets (other ideators )

Product design to inspire user stories

2005-06-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

I have a story in me

All advertisements tell stories.

But how many products can inspire user stories ...

When a product or service makes me feel good
-LOVED, DESIRED, PROUD, WINNER, HERO, MUSICIAN,
I get a story in me..

I want to express that story to others ...

So the ultimate in product / service design is to inspire stories in the users ...

My story line
is to inspire a "Eureka" "I-discovered-it" story in you ...the reader

If I could inspire ... you would love my product ... this story and therefore you would stick with me .. and make my day. But then how many can inspire a story in the readers

Write to me if you figured out the products that inspired these images .. stories.

Future of human inventions

2004-08-07T20:39:00.000-07:00

What would be shape of the human inventions in future. Most of the Future predictions define what might happen in next ten years or next 20 years. My interest is in taking a field and extending it beyond into infinity. If scientists can think of end of universe, I can surely enjoy thinking of future direction of each human invention. My goal is not lofty. I am not trying to predict what might be invented that is not yet thought of. As a user / human being I am just wondering what could be my best dream. There are no limits in this. However I would like to dream of things that I would pay for or use. Not somethings that can be made.

Take for instance, communication. Telephone enabled human beings to communicate despite the distances. Postal service did the same with lesser cost. Cellular phone has brought the possibility of continuous communication. I can be reached anytime anywhere. One aspect of this would be reducing the size of instrument - mobile. The other would be multimedia communication. What if I can see, touch smell, speak other people I like to. There would be a virtual family. Location would not matter. However I would keep the choice to speak to someone. It is like being with so many people in a room, but not speaking with anyone. If someone wants to speak to me, they can ring me. I will present my self in front of them.

Similarly I wanted to take each field and take it to the extreme. May be like a future target for the inventors of the world. My interest would be to comeout the scenarios logically. More my predictions come true and faster, more I would feel happy. "

Blogging in future

2004-08-07T19:47:00.000-07:00

We humans are unique in the animal kingdom. Each one of us forms a model of the world within his/ her own brain. We percieve every sensory input with respect to this model of world. Each one of us has a defination of "Me" and "World". These models are not monolithic representations of the reality. Our brains keep layers and layers of abstractive representation of reality.

We form these models from the sensory inputs we receive from outside world. But in addition to responding to the raw inputs from the outside, we receive and process second hand inputs. Among the raw inputs from the real world are the second hand inputs from other humans. We process what others say, write, paint, sing. When anyone writes or paints, he /she is expressing a part of his/ her model of the world. We read the news, and we read comments about the news. Because comments provide a different, sometimes better perspective of the real news. We see stories (our relationships, office politics ...) and we read stories told by others. We see beautiful scene in nature and we see a beautiful scene photographed by someone.

There is a social give and take of experience. Poets, authors, painters, bloggers all express their experiences. In olden days, if you wanted to express your experience in a social give away, you had to give your artifacts to the marketeers (editors, publishers..). These people made it possible to take your experiences to the wide world viewers, readers and listeners. You had to depend on these marketeers, unless you didnot want to grow your audience beyond your family and friends.

Each one of us wants to express our thoughts, experiences, fears, joys... because it feels good to share these. Also becuase expressing shapes ones thoughts. Sometimes, it also pays. It is sad that the world of money drives the major part of this phenomenon. I write because I want to earn money. I paint because I want sell and become famous. I want to express because someone will pay me for that.

Blogging is different. You don't need to write for earning. Because you don't need to spend to write. Blogging provides the democratic platform for each one of us to express. Collectively our thoughts would shape our world. More connected, more social animals we become. That is why we are unique in animal kingdom. We have capacity to form a world view /model from the collective wisdom of each one of us. It is not just the power of our brain, it is the power of joining other brains in a parallel computing world.

Common opinions forms groups. In future a nation would not be geographical entity defined by a border, it would be a bigger group of humans who have common world models. There would therefore be millions of nation. Each group is formed because there are common thoughts. no group needs to be homogenious or constant. I would be part of number of groups at any given time. I would change large number of group enrollments in my life time. Tomorrow's leaders would be those who can form a large groups such as this. Legends would be those who could lead groups to sustain with their thoughts and ideas. It deosnot matter if you express by writing, signing, preaching or painting. You can be a leader if you have thougths / ideas which can bring together large no of people.

Blogging in future could redefine many areas of our lives. Scientists, Lawyers, writers, teachers all can be more effective in groups. In groups which are defined only by democratic traditions of blogging. But blogging requires to grow to take my expressions in all forms. I should be able to blog when I speak, or when I paint or when I sing.

Internet , alongwith concept of social interactions such as blogging would redefine everything we know in this world. May be my kid would not understand why we used to publish our poems and put our paintings in galleries. And why we had to satisfy few people before others could see us. Why each one of us strived to turn every expression into money. Maybe I will be part of that world. Where I express because I want to and feel good about. I express because that creates the world for me and many other human beings.