Rod Motta - User Experience Visual Designer » behaviour

An intuitive design is…

Rod Motta — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 00:28:44 +0000

Recently, I had the opportunity to watch Jared Spool’s great talk on First Use Experience. In his talk, he argued that an intuitive design is:

When the user is focused on their objective and not on the actual interface itself
Invisible (user only pay attention to something intuitive when it’s actually not intuitive. What makes something intuitive is actually something personal. We have to know something about the people we are building for
When Current Knowledge and Target Knowledge are at the same place. There are two ways to accomplish this: Raise Current Knowledge to meet Target Knowledge (Training), or reduce Target Knowledge to meet Current Knowledge (Simplifying)
Is all about focuses on experience. Trend/ Pattern we see over and over again: Technology > Features > Experience
Is a result of constant team critique, and critiques are essential to creating intuitive designs.

Japan: Looking ahead to brighter days

Rod Motta — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 05:13:43 +0000

Does the earthquake came at the “worst time” as Japan struggles to reduce its massive debt?

Japan might well benefit from any shakeup that encourages entrepreneurship from the ground up, increases competitiveness and imposes change on the decidedly change-resistant bureaucrats who really run the nation. For years, pundits said only a major crisis will bring about change in Japan. March 11 provided the shock; leaders just need to act accordingly.

Yet in this time of devastation and uncertainty, Japan has shown it runs well on many levels in spite of its government. This is a moment for sorrow and reflection, yes. It’s also a time to look ahead to brighter days. They could indeed be on the way.

My thoughts and prayers for the Japanese people.

The power of personas – a fun cartoon explanation

Rod Motta — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:10:59 +0000

Check out this awesome job of explaining user personas through a fun comic created by Brad Colbow. Some topics are more easily understood when presented this way. (at least for me). The comic style brings what is essentially a “slightly” dry subject to life.

A list of more resources about user personas and mental models are listed at the end of the post.

But seriously, we need more ponies on our websites ;-P

Quick thought on Web vs Desktop design process

Rod Motta — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:39:32 +0000

There is a world of differences to consider when designing for web or designing for desktop applications:

From fundamental interactions to keyboard driven navigational paradigms to accessibility issues to screen layout to basic behavior and reaction of buttons, links, etc…we have to consider that a product with a rich client and a web client are two completely separate applications striving to assist the user in meeting the same goals. Of course, it is a little more complicated than that but perhaps it get us going in the right direction.

Corporate Websites and Social Media

Rod Motta — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:29:03 +0000

As the dynamics of the Web 2.0 continue to evolve, we will see more and more consumers not only expecting, but demanding, to interact with companies and products. Corporate websites can sometimes be less than compelling… Perhaps a shift will come where corporate websites will become the forum for interaction rather than outside social networking sites…just a thought…

Do you see a shift at some point in the future where corporate websites will become arenas for that amount of dialog? Couldn’t it only be beneficial if that interaction was done on the corporate website? For example, rather than fans dialoguing on Facebook and commenting on the Wall there, do you see a point where a corporate website will have fan profiles and a corporate Wall? If so, do you think that would be detrimental to the company’s overall reach for exposure? It is interesting to see how social media forces the evolution of corporate behavior.

I personally love learning more about a company by hearing from its “fans” and consumers through social media rather than having a company website tell me who they are. On facebook, there are many ways to tell that story about your brand or company.

I noticed that VW ran a commercial with their facebook.com/vw website on the bottom right of that commercial. That was awesome!

Neat visual nav

Rod Motta — Wed, 06 May 2009 05:08:54 +0000

Neat visual nav at Stylous.com. Check it out in action to see how it works.

Have you figured out how to market in the new age of conversation and community?

Rod Motta — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:42:16 +0000

The new marketing reality is all about relationships and according to the new marketing reality article, it’s impossible to create relationships from outside the circle.

Shouting your message to your audience in the traditional advertising way is still relevant but declining. Now it’s about getting involved in the conversation that your audience is having. Shouting is a one way conversation, talking is two-way and provides so much more value to your customers.

Your brand needs to join the party: be part of the conversation, listen, learn, contribute. Maybe even inspire and mobilize. But only if you’re there.

Is your brand in the new circle?

Mega Drop Down Navigation

Rod Motta — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:28:18 +0000

Here’s a study on how mega drop-downs overcome the downsides of regular drop-downs: Mega Drop Down Navigation Menus Work Well By Jacob Nielsen

Here’s a screenshot of a great example not listed in the article above:

Quote: Psychological and economic theories

Rod Motta — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:33:26 +0000

“Psychological and economic theories suggest that humans seek to minimize costs and maximize gains. Increasing the perceived benefit/cost ratio increases a person’s motivation to engage in the behavior.”

- B.J. Fogg