Web Design and Psychology - The Design of Everyday Things

What is one of the most informative and inspirational books I've ever read and one that helped me when thinking about website design, usability and architecture? It's not what you would think. No, it wasn't an XML for Dummies or a Wordpress 101 book.

It was The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman.

This is the book that I recommend to anyone involved in design, especially interactive design and programming. The reason for this is because the online space is, or should be, all about the user experience.

As we discussed in Session 2 on 10.28, before you go down the path of developing your site you need to think carefully about what the site will be about, how will consumers interact with it, and what is the story it will tell. It's easy to forget that the consumer is alone without guidance and trying to figure out how to accomplish what they need to do at your site. It's important to make it easy for them to do so, especially when there could be multiple reasons to be there.

What I love about this book is that it opened my eyes to the psychology of design - which is what the user experience is all about. Here is an example: Think about walking up to a door. If the handle is horizontal, what do you do? Push, right? And if the handle is vertical? You know (or have been trained) to pull it towards you.

But have you ever walked up to a door and the door doesn't act the way you expected? People generally blame themselves for the mistake but in reality it's the door's designer or installer who is wrong, not you. They didn't think about the way we've been trained to interact with the door.

There are cues for websites too. An icon in the upper left (typically a logo) is usually clickable to go back to the home page. When it isn't you get frustrated. And you typically don't equate that with wanting to come back.

This book will resensitize you to the parameters you live with in. To quote: It could forever change how you experience and interact with your physical surroundings, open your eyes to the perversity of bad design and the desirability of good design, and raise your expectations about how things should be designed

Listening and Learning from your Customers - Twittovation

As reported by Reveries - Cool News of the Day:

There was a time when Twitter's founders objected to users referring to their posts as "Tweets," reports @claireCM in the New York Times (10/26/09). Those days ended just a few months ago, when Twitter "applied for a trademark on the term." That's just one of the many ways in which Twitter has followed its followers. "Twitter's smart enough, or lucky enough, to say, 'Gee, let's not try to compete with our users ... let's outsource design to them," says Eric von Hippel, author of Democratizing Innovation.

Twitter ceo Evan Williams agrees: "Most companies or services on the web start with wrong assumptions about what they are and what they're for," he says. "Twitter struck an interesting balance of flexibility and malleability that allowed users to invent uses for it that weren't anticipated." Among other things, Twitter users invented the idea of putting the @ symbol before their user names (e.g., @cool_news). They also picked up the idea of using the # symbol to categorize topics -- another innovation Twitter initially resisted.

The # idea came from open-source advocate @chrismessina, who says Twitter thought the # concept was too nerdy for mass appeal. Well, now Twitter "hyperlinks the hash tags so readers can click and see all the other posts on a topic." Twitter is now also about to formalize the RT, or "retweet," feature, which users have long used to "send a post by another Twitter user to their own set of followers." Evan Williams says Twitter's plan is to keep following its followers. "You get a bunch of users interacting and it's hard to predict what they're going to do," he says. "We say, 'Why are people using this and how could we make that better?'"

Always Something New

As Brad mentioned in our first class, what you learn today will be changed or new or even obsolete very soon in the future.

We will be learning more about Twitter in our Social Media session, but I wanted to share a "so-new-it's not-even-fully-available" feature called Twitter Lists.

Twitter lists is a new feature currently being rolled out over the Twitter-verse which will let people "curate" the real time web. People will be able to make lists of Twitter users into the categories they choose.

There is even a site created for sharing these lists already created called Listorious.

Listorious aims to make finding these lists easier. The lists will be an interesting look at what a person you follow finds relevant too.

I'm sure Google and Bing will also be very excited to see how users index Twitter users and their content.

Make sure to follow DMBootcamp on Twitter and connect with our speakers via Twitter as well.

Current Events Week of October 28, 2009

• ALL THINGS DIGITAL: On the heels of its deal to incorporate Twitter data into its search results, Google on Monday announced an experimental Labs feature that searches the social Web. Called Google Social Search, the new offering is intended to make search results more relevant by enhancing them with personalized social data. Continue Reading.
• MEDIA POST: Paris-based Publicis Groupe, which currently boasts that 25% of its revenues are derived from digital advertising and media services, ultimately plans to become an "all-digital agency," its Chairman-CEO Maurice Levy said in an interview following the release of its third quarter earnings this morning. Continue Reading.
  
• NPR: Where Does Your Phone Say You Are? Cell phones location used to be vague, based only on the location of the nearest cell tower. But the advent of GPS in mobile phones has changed that. To test just how precise the new phones are, we took two phones — one with GPS and one without — on a tour of Los Angeles landmarks and compared their accuracy with Google Latitude, an application that allows you to share your phone location with friends via the Web or smart phone. Listen to the full story.
  
• NEWS & RECORD: (Courtesy of a class member) Raleigh-area 8th grader leads Facebook revolt. He is a leader to more than 1.4 million people angry about recent changes to the Facebook Web site. But when he wants to turn on the computer, Jonathan Woodlief has to ask his mother. Jonathan, an eighth-grader at Lufkin Road Middle School, took over the "CHANGE FACEBOOK BACK TO NORMAL!!" group Saturday after someone else created it but quit the administrative duties. Jonathan noticed the admin spot was open, clicked a button and was instantly in charge of those worldwide who hate the site's latest reconfiguration. Continue Reading.

Have any current event topics you come across in the news and would like to share? Post a link in the comment section below or on our Facebook Page.

Reasons to have a Website

Reasons to have a website shared from attendees at today's Jumpstart:

• Communications
• Visibility
  
• Information
• Selling products
• Selling services
• Discover-ability
  
• Credibility
  
• Gather RFPs
• Sharing files
• Avoid Meetings
• Research
• Sharing capabilities
  
• Fame & Fortune
  
• No reason or need at all
• Public Service
• Education
• Product Differentiation
• Virtual Business Card
• "I'm alive"
  
• Branding
  
• Get people to come to brick & mortar
• Avoid being "used car"
  
• Economies of scale
• Tell a story
  
• Building community
  

Websites can do a lot! If we can leave today's Jumpstart with one idea, ask yourself one question "what do you want to do with your website?" Evaluate your needs and figure out the purpose of having a website before spending the time, energy, money, etc building your site and building your brand, community, etc.

Here's our website! What do you think it does? Leave your comments below.

A Better Way to Discover Twitter Apps

In today's Jumpstart session of the Digital Marketing Bootcamp, someone asked for a list of twitter resources. We asked via twitter for recommendations and someone suggested we check out oneforty.com and we now suggest it to you! oneforty.com (the name comes from the # of characters allowed in twitter, 140) claims to have "tons of resources for all things Twitter" and Currently tracking 1890 apps that make Twitter even better. Happy Tweeting!

Live From the Digital Marketing Bootcamp Jumpstart

With Bruce Carlisle, CEO of Digital Axe, in the middle of a great discussion with the group at the Digital Marketing Bootcamp Jumpstart.

You can still register for the rest of the Bootcamp sessions!

Digital Markeing JumpStart: Website Newsletters to Review

In our session today, Saturday, October 24, Bruce recommended a few websites with newsletters that can be helpful.

They are:

www.MediaPost.com

www.Adotas.com

www.SearchEngineStrategies.com

Check them out!

Boot Camp Jumpstart This Saturday

Join us Saturday, October 24 from 9am-12pm at the Campus of North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro for our Boot Camp Jumpstart session.

It's an overview of course topics of interest to CEO’s, managers and those involved with marketing processes, covering the digital marketing basics in one half-day session.

Cost: $99

Space is limited, so enroll today.