A slightly interesting article about innovation at Nokia is accompanied by some fun user-generated concept phones from their research.
Link: Nokia’s Dream Phones (businessweek.com)
Posts Tagged: users
14
Dec 06
Culturally sensitive design
BusinessWeek has just published a couple of interesting articles about designing across cultures. The first one looks at the challenges bringing OXO products to Japan, the second at design in India. I’ve discussed culturally sensitive design with several people over the last few years, and I feel these design challenges require an interesting balance of attention to the ideas that: “everyone’s the same” (usability, for example, is a fairly universal attribute) and “pay attention to the social cultural details” (understand how your design fits into people’s lives).
“”Most Westerners hold a spatula like a tennis racket when they stir, flip, or cook,” says Lee. “But the Japanese women we observed cooking all held it like a pen. Clearly the design of the tool had to be entirely rethought.” A set of six adjusted nylon server designs was released for the Japanese market only, along with precision tongs and angled measuring cups. Lee declines to share sales figures but says that the redesigns have “paid off nicely.”
Link: OXO, Remade in Japan (businessweek.com)
”...The glitzy façade did attract locals. But they were not comfortable in the bank’s space. The sari-clad women and their turbaned husbands who were at the bank were completely out of sync with the modern setting. While the women, with their heads covered, sat on the floor as a traditional mark of respect for their menfolk, the men—accustomed to squatting on the floor—curled up their feet on the sofa.”
Link: Designing for India’s Consumers (businessweek.com)
12
Oct 06
Imagining the products of the future
As the mobile technology space explodes, everyone’s always asking: how do we imagine the products of the future?
“There are many more examples of such products from the non-digital world—think of the clothing and movie industries. It’s hard to imagine UCD techniques would have uncovered a latent desire for newsprint-look dresses or subservient chickens. These were cases where the power of the designers’ vision created the demand, showing vision-driven design is sometimes the right approach. In such cases, the role of UCD is to help better the odds that a particular idea will resonate with a product’s target market and screen out those ideas that won’t, as I’ll discuss below.”
Link: Designing Breakthrough Products: Going Where No User Has Gone Before (uxmatters.com)
16
Jan 06
Targetted design
“It isn�t a design/usability tradeoff – it�s trying to find the best possible design for each individual, rather than a lowest common denominator suitable for everyone. I use a trackball at work, I find it much better than a mouse, but if anyone else tries to use my computer, they�re repelled. It took many tries to find it (including some ugly tablet moments), but it�s my ideal solution. I think you should be able to find your ideal solution in mobile phones, and all your other electronics. I�ve seen people fall in love with the 7280, and that makes me extremely happy. Surely you should be clamouring for Nokia to release your individually perfect mobile phone?”
Link: On mobile handset and usability design (ok-cancel.com)
