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I’m going to be a tad geeky and kill a pet peeve all in one. After heading over to Engadget this morning, I come away with the sense that people are thinking about the UX world and truly bringing function to form. Specifically, Jeff Carter, who has created a wonderful twist (literally) on the power strip.
Introducing: Movable Power
Have a link to buy it online? Comment and let us know immediately!
We’ve all been wondering when the axe will fall at our next large, box down the street or our huge insurance conglomerate buddy on the corner of downtown. But in the face of adversity we should be planning for the recovery.
Those lucky enough to be left in the daily fight to take on more responsibilities and keep their positions should be driving towards a better tomorrow. And the fight needs to be taken online.
By selecting specific traditional advertising and marketing initiatives and bringing them online first, rather than the sometimes much more costly process of doing them in print, you can create a better and more responsible budget that allows for you to stay nimble and keep the energy levels up.
How nimble you become is all about process and the understanding of how online media is supposed to take shape. A solid strategy that reaches a wider audience and the ability to reuse information are the most immediate benefits you get when you create the right online campaign.
Online retail circulars still have to be designed and published in PDF and then converted to a Flash-based preview. However, if you were to take the same media and design elements you use for the circular and place them into a reusable environment (database feeding to XML, CSS, xHTML, Flash), you have a much more efficient process and one that creates a better user experience.
Another way to increase revenue is to start a small mobile effort. For small businesses, it’s easier to capitalize on the mobile market since their product lines are usually smaller and can be changed easily to meet new needs.
For example: A small business offering ten products should think about slowly taking their product line online and allowing for mobile purchases. It’s not the most inexpensive idea on the road map, but it could turn out to have the most positive financial impact.
Rethinking our plans amidst a struggling economy is what separates the success from the failure. Prepare for the recovery, don’t wallow in the recession. Take the time and the measures you need to be successful and create the environment you want.
Google has finally unleashed it’s own, not-as-sordid-as-Second-Life version of virtual reality called “Lively” and it currently only hearts PCs running Vista or XP.
We’ve been talking to a couple of beta users and have even taken a stroll around a couple of rooms and so far it’s still somewhat controlled. I keep wondering if currency and the adult content on Second Life will eventually make it throughout the new Lively experience.
Time will tell.
During the height of the Great Depression, Pierce-Arrow, known for producing cars for the high and mighty (including Presidents and dignitaries) offered a $10,000 car known as the Silver Arrow. It was the last car that Pierce-Arrow ever produced.
Today, Tesla rolls out the first production electric-powered car for a cool $109,000 (which can go up to a well-equipped $125,000).
The difference?
Tesla is fore fronting the next wave of political lobbyist haters by presenting something that, while no doubt priced to recoup $40 Million for the investors and R&D costs, will have a significant impact on the future of car production and fossil fuel dependency.
Or will it?
Many have tried, including the aforementioned Pierce-Arrow, to build a car that doesn’t follow standards. The new wave of “green” will offer chances for us to save our environment (if it’s not already too late) and give the consumer a reason to fight the sheer crutch that is fossil fuels.
In the next year, Tesla promises to begin production on a five passenger family sedan with enough of a charge to go about 200 miles before having to stop and get a “refill”. Experts say that’s enough to fuel a trip to work and back and possibly stop for some groceries.
Support or Death
The key to the success of Tesla and other like car companies will be in the country’s ability to build an infrastructure that can sustain and maintain a balance of outgoing (50 more years?) fossil fuel depots and electricity charge stations.
I hope that like other technologies, the advancement of electric transportation becomes affordable enough to make it a viable option in the near future. If Tesla is successful, expect every car company to force their hands in the market and also expect to see tens of thousands in production in the next 15 years.
May 5, 1961
One last note: The irony should not be lost on technologists, who will more than likely remember May 5, 1961, as the date Alan Shepard became the first U.S. man in space. His flight lasted only 15 minutes. Let’s hope the Tesla and its new brand have a much longer time line.
Speed: It can make you look like a rock star or a rock star’s discarded gig wear.
Mobile UX: It can make you a helpful, innovative leading-edge company or it can make you look like someone’s old Windows 3.1 application.
From a banking application to a quick Twitter session with your friends, I believe that speed and ease of use are the ultimate drivers for mobile applications. Web and application developers have been going through a growth path that includes the typical questions:
Years ago, the question surrounding the viability of mobile, image-less browsing was relegated to R&D and people with a great deal of time on their hands. These days, it’s becoming more and more a requirement in our proposals and presentations. Have you seen an increase? Do the requests make sense?
Trust Me
Trust is a key factor in many of the decisions our customers make as to whether or not they belong in the mobile community. My personal advice to any company who has a service or application that can be used in quick sessions (less than a three-minute transaction) is to go for it. Build the application using the latest and greatest security you can employ and create your mobile application as soon as possible.
Trust comes with time. Established in x year. Since xxxx. Time is a great way to generate trust to your audience. It isn’t going to carry you very far, but it’s a start and it’s something you won’t have if you don’t move now.
Again, Again!
Once you’ve gone through a comprehensive design for the mobile version of your offering, it’s critical to keep the ball bouncing. By standing still and keeping your early iterations in production, you’ll lose the edge.
Paying attention to new browser versions, the ability to incorporate time-saving development environments and keeping your application or service fresh is going to keep the customer alert and keep you on the right path.
Remember the Past
It’s a significant effort to produce the right UX for a mobile environment. It takes a deep understanding of your product, your staff and the design process for human factors and behavior.
Additionally, it takes time. Most often, we notice that failing mobile ux is a product of not taking enough time to sort out the business requirements. It’s not effective to take what you have and “re purpose” it. The mobile version should have the same care and feeding that was established with the big sister or big brother product.
In most situations, you’ll run into some nasty speed bumps such as
That last bullet is pretty important. Vanity can kill a mobile application. If the logo is too big, the first impression might be that the provider cares much more about themselves than they do about me. If it’s too small, or ignored altogether, the customer may feel that the provider isn’t being transparent.
Corporate vanity has a strong place in the mobile world: marketing materials, about pages and tasteful watermarks.
Conceive and Create
Use your product knowledge and your creative staff to work together. It’s an effort that can not be successfully carried out by one or the other. Both departments (or vendors) need to work in harmony to effectively produce your mobile application or service.