http://www.di8it.com/index.php © Di8it, 2010 info@di8it.com ZeroWorks CMS v1.5 1440 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=di8it_news&cmpnewid=12 Di8it will be presenting a research paper at the iEnter - Workshop on Interactive Audiovisual Entertainment next 28th and 29th of February 2008 in Barcelona. iEnter is an event designed as a forum for the analysis of interactive entertainment. The main aim is to promote progress in the comprehension of the communicational relations that are established for purposes of entertainment by the different participants in audiovisual systems (the interactors, the machine, the application and the content). News Wed, 16 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=di8it_news&cmpnewid=13 Use8 – the Brighton based User Experience Society launched its first event called “Beyond the screen” last Friday 30th of November to explore how people experience Interactive Outdoor Technologies. “Beyond the screen” was part of the Brighton Digital Festival. The festival, runned throughout November and offered new and exciting opportunities for artists, designers and technologists to examine their converging worlds by collaborating, sharing and showcasing their talent. Our event was a success with over 80 people – students, academics and professionals – sharing knowledge. Speakers from leading digital companies presented their current research, technology and case studies on how to engage users in an outdoor interactive campaign, the role that external environment plays in creating user experience, and relative marketing implications. The Society has been founded by di8it with the collaboration of Beepurple – the business services from the University of Brighton. Use8 aims are to promote user experience design and to bring together people who are interested in this discipline. For further information please visit www.use8.net News Sat, 01 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=di8it_news&cmpnewid=14 Di8it was invited to present the company in the Reality Cheque event - as part of the celebrations for National Enterprise Week 2007- hold last 14th of November 2007 at Cockroft building at the University of Brighton. 6 successful entrepreneurs presented their companies explaining their experiences in setting up a business. All the speakers were graduates from the University of Brighton running business in the retail, fashion, e-commerce, digital media and events management sectors. News Sat, 17 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=di8it_news&cmpnewid=26 Di8it is speaking and exhibiting at the Collaboration Nation event next 31st of March 2010. Di8it will be presenting the results of the feasibility study: “Deskslice – moving your desk into the Cloud”. Di8it’s project DeskSlice aims to support Voluntary and Community Organisations (VCOs) working in the Third Sector providing an intuitive virtual desktop that interfaces an enterprise cloud computing platform - embedding a “web oriented” model for sharing into the centre of the desktop experience. Collaboration Nation: Inspiring Innovations for a Digital Britain is a new and inspiring event showcasing innovative technology projects and companies - winners of the Technology Strategy Board's Digital Britain feasibility study competition - bringing them together with open innovators and the funding community to collaborate and bring new ideas to market. The Collaboration Nation event concept brings together in one place the people behind the winning projects from the Technology Strategy Board's Digital Britain feasibility study funding competition, focused on the specific technology areas of: Access to public services and public services data, enabling technologies for the internet, online application and services, and the deployment and operation of digital infrastructure. News Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=di8it_news&cmpnewid=19 On the 7th of March di8it and use8 will host "Anywhere; Anytime" an event that will explore user experience aspects of delivering applications and services to the mobile phone platform. The event will focus on themes of marketing, content provision, application development and service delivery and will be focused to business, professionals and students. Confirmed speakers from leading mobile phone companies will present their experience, research projects or use cases in these areas.Expected to speaker are David Tisserand: Head of Orange Lab, James Chaytor: Principal of Sprung Studios, Ron bird an independent IT architect and steve O'Connor, lead of Consumer Experience practice at IDEO. If you would like to get further information or register for this event  please visit www.use8.net News Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=di8it_news&cmpnewid=18 Di8it has partnered with Beepurple – the business services of the University of Brighton – to launch a Brighton based User Experience Society.   The Use8 society aims to bring together students, professionals, academics and industry that are interested in the User Experience design discipline. This relatively new field has its root in the HCI discipline but it draws from a wide range of other disciplines that include: cognitive psychology, behavioral science, anthropological studies, ergonomics, product design, psychology and marketing. Almost any discipline, that must consider the user or human per¬spective, is applicable. The society establishes a rich knowledge commons through organising events that bridges the gaps between these communities and disciplines. Creating opportunities for the exchange of ideas, collaboration and innovation is what use8 is all about. News Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=di8it_news&cmpnewid=20 Next 23rd of May Di8it and Use8- The User Experience Society presents: Broadband TV 2.0 Broadband TV 2.0 will explore this new medium of delivery and the user experience considerations for designing new digital TV services for users. Speaking: CADinteractive - "BT Vision Service. A case study" Open TV - "Evolving the user interface for Television" Pushbutton - "Designing the ESPN experience" Panel: "The future of broadband TV 3.0" Brighton University Brightcove Brunel University Global Digital Broadcast TV The event is free! Get more information and book your place now at www.use8.net See you there! News Tue, 13 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=di8it_news&cmpnewid=21   Next 29th of August at 5.30 pm di8it and Use8 - The User Experience Society present "PLAY" PLAY will go beyond simple usability issues exploring different dimensions of User Experience that make games enjojable. Speaking:  - Serco Games Research"Playability and enjoyment of game development" - Blast! Entertainment "UX Video Games Design for the young audience" - BlackRock Studio "PURE and the demands of a mass-market audience"   Open panel discussion: University of Sussex, Portsmouth University, Blast Theory, Relentless    Showcases: - Locomatrix: Locomatrix, the platform that let you play games using GPS on your mobile phone, aims to redesign the mobile games industry by making it possible to play games on screen by moving around in real-life. - Pure: Developed by Black Rock Studio, Disney Interactive Studios' award-winning development studio in Brighton, England, Pure takes off-road racing to a new level. - C-shock: Developed by Black Rock Studio, Disney Interactive Studios' award-winning development studio in Brighton, England, Pure takes off-road racing to a new level. Use8 events are informal and tend to create an open atmosphere conducive to discussion and networking. A good mix of creative businesses, professionals and students are expected to attend. You can get more information and book your place now at www.use8.net     News Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=di8it_news&cmpnewid=22 Last 19 of November Di8it took part in the Reality Cheque event organised by Beepurple – the University of Brighton Entrepreneur Network – as part of the National Enterprise Week. Di8it presented the company, our vision and recent activity along with other 3 Brighton based companies: Ophelia Fancy, Huitalk and Julie Angel. News Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=di8it_news&cmpnewid=23 Use8 – The User Experience Society is supporting the University of Brighton’s “Connecting Innovation” event that will take place next 26th of March in Brighton, UK. Today creativity and innovation have become the driving forces of our economy and society. Innovation can be considered as the creative output of an ongoing process that develops and applies new knowledge to work, life, product and services. A new field is emerging for innovation where economic, technological, social and cultural trends move more closely. This new field is not located in distinct domains but is situated at the intersection and crossover where different knowledge domains, institutions and people connect and engage. Connecting Innovation is an event that will explore this new field of innovation investigating the interplay between diverse disciplines and exploring new innovation strategies for the knowledge based society. What are the advantages of an open approach to innovation? Why are multidisciplinary team more effective? What role does culture play in innovation? These are some of the topic that Connecting Innovation will explore. Confirmed speakers include: Charles Leadbeater, a leading authority on innovation and creativity and the author of “We-think: the power of mass creativity”, which charts the rise of mass, participative approaches to innovation from science and open source software, to computer games and political campaigning. Ken Thompson, an expert practitioner in the area of swarming, virtual enterprise networks, virtual professional communities and virtual teams and has published two landmark books: “Bioteams: High Performance Teams Based on Nature's Best Designs” and “The Networked Enterprise: Competing for the future through Virtual Enterprise Networks” Visit an exhibition of local artists, companies and organisations supporting the creative and digital industries   News Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=di8it_news&cmpnewid=24 Di8it is sponsoring Use8's New Frontiers in Social Media that will take place next 12th of February 2009 in Brighton, UK. Web 2.0 has brought a new generation of online tools that enable users to network, share resources and participate in discussions on a global scale. This growth in social media is indicative of its entry into mainstream culture and its integration into the daily lives of many. Even in its infancy,social media is having a profound effect on its audience, by offering them new and varied ways to communicate and create - changing their status from user to 'produsers'; breaking the traditional, more closed structure of mass media. New Frontiers in Social Media is an event that will explore how social media will influence our lives in the future. The event will bring together a mix of thought leaders, professionals and academics to answer the questions - How will these technologies evolve? How will they create new experiences for users? and how will they impact social changes? Please visit www.use8.net for further information News Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=di8it_news&cmpnewid=25 Ana Hulshof  presented “Designing iTV Interfaces for Preschool Children” at the Euro ITV conference that took place last 3rd, 4th and 5th of June in Leuen, Belgium. EuroITV2009 is a forum for professionals not only from Europe, but from all over the world who are interested in, work with and do research on all aspects of interactive television. The theme of this year conference was “Networked Television”. Interactive television is becoming one piece in a bigger puzzle of different interconnected devices. This not only has technical implications, but also impacts users and television viewers. Viewers use their cell phones to send text messages to broadcasters, they use their PC to download movies that can then be watched on the big television screen, social networks are including TV content and iTV is including social network features, secondary screens can be used to control the content on television, etc. Instead of an age of device convergence, we see that in practice we’re heading towards device divergence. Euro ITV presentations are available here. News Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=di8it_news&cmpnewid=27 To stimulate innovation in business models, applications, services and technologies in support of the Government’s vision of a Digital Britain, the Technology Strategy Board allocated £2m for Feasibility Studies. The competition was open to all companies, whether alone or in collaboration with other companies. The Technology Strategy Board awarded grants of 75% of the total cost of the Feasibility Study (up to around £25,000) to suitable proposals. 580 project proposals were submitted to a panel of assessors - deskSlice - Moving your deskspace into the Cloud - a project proposal from di8it was selected for funding. DeskSlice aims to support Voluntary and Community Organisations (VCOs) working in the Third Sector providing an intuitive virtual desktop that interfaces an enterprise cloud computing platform - embedding a “web oriented” model for sharing into the centre of the desktop experience. News Sat, 10 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=di8it_news&cmpnewid=28 Index Book’s new publication called “Basic Logos” included our di8it logo designed by Raúl Gil in their typography category. Index Book is a leading publisher of targeted publications that feature logos, packaging, typography, advertising and graphic design. The Basic series covers the basic disciplines in graphic design. The first volume is about logos, classified into three categories: Graphics, Typography and Illustration. Basic Logos features a variety of logos developed by designers from around the world, showcasing a broad range of styles that enhance the book and make it both a compendium of visual input and a great source of inspiration. News Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=insight_blog&cmppost=5 Some of us attended the Nielsen Norman Group Conference "User Experience 2007" in Barcelona from the 4th to the 9th of November. Leading usability experts such as Jackob Nielsen, Hoa Loranger, Tog, Dan Brown, John Pruitt and Tamara Aldin shared their knowledge in the usability week with outstanding professionals from well known companies like BBC, La Caixa, Atrapalo and some prestigious user labs in Europe. Blog 5 Sat, 17 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=insight_blog&cmppost=7 It won’t be long before you hear this sentence. In fact, some success stories from big TV dating sites such as Koopid or Friends Reunited Dating guarantee this. Love is not only in the air, but in your TV now. There is no doubt that the love market is a growing market on the Internet. From the social perspective, we can find several reasons why online dating has become a cultural phenomenon. For example, because of work and stressful jobs people do not have time to look for a partner so the number of singles is increasing day by day. According to Net Rating, online dating and personal websites attract more than 3.5 million people every month in the UK. Also, according to Jupiter Research Centre (2005), income from the most important dating sites in Europe increased from 160 to 350 million Euros during 2006. New technologies create new ways to cover this social need and Interactive TV is one of them. One of the most successful dating sites on TV is Koopid, offering their services on Sky Active and the Internet. Both platforms share a database so users from TV can communicate with users coming from the Internet and vice versa. Koopid has attracted more then 130 000 users from its launching in 2002 and more than 7000 users say they have met somebody on Koopid. If you don’t have Sky at home, you just can have a look at this video to see how it works. It’s great fun! :-) Blog 7 Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=insight_blog&cmppost=8   Broadband TV 2.0 was a very interesting event held by Use8 at Jurys Inn Hotel, on 23rd May 2008. The event’s main discussion was towards new ways to apply the usabilities principles and guidelines to the digital television media. It started with OpenTV presentation, followed by PushButton’s case study and finished with a discussion panel.   The presentations started with Matthew Huntington, VP Solutions Marketing of OpenTV, who gave an interesting speech about “Evolving the user interface for Television”.  Firstly, he discussed how viewers’ behaviour is changing, not only because of the inversion of mass media economics and the threat to TV ads, but also due to the recently explosion of content on digital television. Then, after affirming that a new approach is needed, he showed the solutions based on researches that have been carried out by OpenTV. A video demonstration of their Electronic Programme Guide presented those solutions: new ways to navigate and to display programmes’ information based on small screens rather than text, and the media card feature which presents recommendation and enable the viewers to save the content into a library, which can be accessed whenever they want.  Sequentially, Paula Byrne, Managing Director of PushButton, was the second to present. She introduced the case study on “Designing the ESPN experience”. The case was based on the development of ESPN360.com, a broadband network for live sports programming. According to Paula, the challenge was to create something for direct users. Working closely with ESPN marketing department, they aimed to achieve the correct look and feel based on the brand guidelines, in order to provide the best user experience, motivating their users to return and access the system again. However, the speaker emphasized that, although everybody believes and aims to create a clean and easy-to-use interface for interactive applications, the reality is completely different. When working with brands, it is always necessary to provide room to everyone. Even trying to do your best to improve the user experience, the fact that there is a sponsor waiting to be exposed and seen can never be forgotten. For this reason, she believes that the integration between design and sponsorship will become better and better in the nearly future.  After a break, when refreshments were served and the innovative BITe prototype was displayed, the discussion panel started with the introduction of a question by the panel chair, Richard Griffiths, Programme Leader for the Postgraduate Programme in Interactive Technologies at the University of Brighton: what are the challenges to create services to enhance the user experience on digital television? According to Nicholas Timon, Business Development Director for Brightoncove EMEA, the most important point is the content. The best way to provide a good user experience is by understanding the content, knowing how to identify what is relevant, how it can be displayed and the best environment to be presented. However, for Owen Daly-Jones, Director for Serco Usability Services, the challenges continue the same as years ago: understand the user needs, understand what everybody wants from television. He believes that television was always interactive, and continues being the big window in the middle of our living rooms. He affirmed that he does not buy the idea of social television, regarding sharing and others recommendations; neither the idea of the success of emerging services. Sharing the same opinion, Dr Emmanuel Tseklevesis, Lecturer of Brunel University, said that we need to put the technology aspects aside and focus on what the user needs. By letting the user to lead the ideas, the best solutions are going to be found. Besides, a short discussion about the different generations of viewers and how they influence the usability of television was held. According to David Wray, Co Founder of Global Digital Broadcast TV, a way to overcome the differences amongst users is by checking the specificities of their profiles and making the necessary arrangements in order to attend their needs. And the conversation ended with a brief overview on what the speakers considered ‘hot’ regarding Broadband TV. In Nicholas Timon’s point of view, the interesting fact would be the real connection of TV and PC. For David Wray, it is relevant to emphasize that more important than thinking about the future of technology, would be to find ways to explore the current technology in order to make profit now. On the other hand, Owen Daly-Jones said that he believes in the game consoles’ potential to substitute set-top boxes, while Dr Emmanuel Tseklevesis focused on the changes in how we experience TV, mainly with the possibility of people creating their own network and with the development of 3D TV. It was a very nice evening, not only for all the relevant points that were brought up and discussed, but also for the possibility of sharing your views and expectations with academics, young and experienced professionals. Indeed, a perfect environment for growing ideas and building up networks.  Renata Yumi Shimabukuro University of Brighton renatayumi.s@gmail.com Supported by the Programme Alban, the European Union Programme of High Level Scholarships for Latin America, scholarship no. E07M402467BR. Blog 8 Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=insight_blog&cmppost=9 Introduction On the 29th of August, during Play: Exploring the UX Dimensions of Video Games Design, Jason Avent from Black Rock studio (part of Disney Interactive) talked about how applying same simple usability techniques on PURE, their new racing game, enhanced the players experience in playing the video game. Since its acquisition by Disney Interactive, Black Rock Studio has been focusing on higher quality production for games more than mere ROI; all these efforts striving for higher standards got them two 9 out of 10 reviews on PS3 Magazine and Xbox magazine.   I think Jason's talk was a very good insight on what the video games industry is facing in the next few years in terms of usability and user experience studies. All the points that he touched on are essential to built the ultimate user experience for games players. There is already a vast research on user psychology and patterns for user interfaces; however these researches are mostly carried out by Microsoft so it is impressive to see Black Rock Studio catching up so quickly.Their commitment to user test their video games and to closely work with University of Sussex will bring to further development in the video games research field. On the down side though, it will be very difficult for smaller companies to be able to catch up and offer such high quality products. The field looks like beginnig to be a dominated environemnt of big entertainment conglomerates that will be able to rely on expensive research and resouces; leaving small producers far behind of the game.Read on to see what Jason from Black Rock Studio had to say! Methodology Jason talked of two different type of testing: •    Blind Testing •    Group Testing The blind testers are users that have never played the game and they get tested using three methods: •    Free Flow, The player plays as it was a normal set and there are no constrains on what they can do or go. •    Narrow-Specific, the player is asked to play specific bits of the game such as one specific level •    Broad Specific, The player plays the game with no restriction but the observer exactly know the points he wants to focus on. The group testing is made of 8 players playing at the same time in the same room. The group helps observers getting the ‘feedback mood’ of the players; you can always tell if people are having fun, get frustrated, smile and laugh. In terms of data logging, at Black Rock Studio they don’t use video because it’s too labor intensive and they gave up note taking because it not always gives accurate data. The main data logging system comes from the game itself logging some of the aspects of the playing time. 1.    Start-restart time 2.    Lap time 3.    Best results These there type of information are genre specific, what it means is that Black Rock build racing games that means that the start restart time, best lap time and time laps in general are essential to create an engaging game. The player has to be able to restart the game in the less amount of time possible and it needs to complete one lap in the fastest time possible. Also these sets of data allow to better understand the learning curve of the player (never too difficult, never too easy). The group testing is not just a way to get useful data on performance and learning curve. It also gives the opportunity to make users talk to each other and come up with improvements for the game. It ends to be an involuntary non-structured focus group where participants are able to feedback on good and bad parts of the game. The Benefits of usability testing: 1.    Removing the blockers, if the users keep pressing the wrong button, you change the button. 2.    It’s a non subjective way to make decisions regarding design and development changes. 3.    Bring new and creative ideas. For example, to get racing in Pure, the player has to qualify; this qualification is a tutorial that teaches the player tricks and tools to be used during the racing. If you don’t qualify you can’t race. The problem was that not everyone had the same problems performing all the tricks, 10% of the players might have problem with trick A and onother 10% problems with trick B; The solution ws to come up with a contestual intelligent help system that could help each player solve their specific problems. In other words, instead of going over and over again through the same tutorial “qualification”, the player was just getting help for some of the trick and not for others. 4.    Usability studies helped Black Rock to perfectly balance the learning curve to make the video game more interesting. Future developments: Black Rock is pretty much pleased with the results the obtained from the usability study, so in the future they will: 1.    Start the process right at the beginning of the development 2.    More research on the players’ Psychology 3.    Games User Interfaces 4.    More equipment and set up Blog 9 Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=insight_blog&cmppost=11 Introduction With the emergence of digital technologies there has been a promotion and a sort of appropriation of the word and underlying concept behind “interactivity”; as it relates to art and media. Interactivity has been promoted as a distinctive feature of new media. Janet Murray  identifies it as the combination of two properties of digital media: Procedural (exhibit behaviour based on programming rules) and Participatory (allows the interactor to elicit these behaviours). According to Murray once these two things are experienced they create agency (the affective response to interactivity), “the satisfying power to take meaningful action and see the results of our decisions and choices”. Murray’s definition, as it relates to digital media, encapsulates a physical form of interactivity. However, there is also a cerebral dimension of interactivity, in the sense of the interplay between artist and viewer, the process of traversing the mental models of artist and viewer (through internal dialogue) embodied in the artefact. This is similar to the process Duchamp describes in his essay the “creative act”   , “All in all, the creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act.” In his paper “On Totalitarian Interactivity” Manovich proposes that, “all classical, and even more so modern art was already "interactive", requiring a viewer to fill in missing information (for instance, ellipses in literary narration) as well as to move his / her eyes (composition in painting and cinema) or the whole body (in experiencing sculpture and architecture). According to Manovich digital media takes "interaction" strictly literally by equating it with physical interaction between a user and an artefact. New media artefacts direct the user to click on an image on the screen, or a button, in order to go to another image on the screen, and so on. The viewer is required to identify with somebody else’s mental structure (model) instead of following their own private associations to other images, memories, ideas. This is physical interaction for the sake of psychological / cerebral interaction. This report explores the work of various contemporary artists and designers with a view to investigate their explicit and implicit approaches to incorporating “interactivity” into their work. My strategy for writing this report was to construct and follow a design trail i.e. to visit three diverse design exhibitions. Each showcase was selected based on its potential to contribute to a wider dialogue on interaction design - once examined from the whole. The Digital WellBeing Labs The Digital WellBeing Showroom The first exhibition on my design trail was the Digital Wellbeing Showroom; it was promoted as the first of a new kind of retail environment for digital lifestyle products and services. The idea was conceived and launched by Priya Prakash and Alexander Grünsteidl founders of the Digital Wellbeing Labs (DWB Labs).DWB Labs is a design agency, “that believe in reducing choice in the market place whilst injecting personality into the collection that they present”. The prototype showroom was held at “the shop” at Blue bird, King’s Road, Chelsea which created a great environment to host such a showcase. Blue birds’ approach to fashion and retail  is innovative, the shop promotes itself as an evolving concept - what it sells varies from clothing to furniture to books - how it sells varies wildly from season to season, month to month and day to day. The Showroom presented a selection of exclusive digital appliances that included software and internet services, customized products, consumer electronics and fashion. At the heart of the exhibition was an exploration into approaches to interaction design applied across various disciplines which included product design, fashion, software development and art. This created a good platform to encourage a greater understanding and promotion of interaction design principles and the interactive media arts in general. The chosen theme for the show was “Black&White” and according to Alex (founder and lead interaction designer) the theme was chosen to be consistent with the latest fashion trend analysis and anthropological study – next season predicted fashion hues. The various disciplines were loosely organised into four categories forming sub-themes for the exhibition  -Conversations, Fashion, Memories and Music; each exploring a particular area where interaction design was implemented as a design strategy to enhance user experience in everyday lifestyle products. I felt this was very intuitive as interaction design implies the involvement of human characters and behaviour, each of these sub-themes convey human activities and qualities. According to Alex, “the philosophy behind DWB labs and the exhibition itself is that a designer can design the perfect product, conduct anthropological research and trend analysis, focus the process through user-centred design - involving prototyping and user tests, develop the technology to support it and formulate marketing plans and brand strategies but if in the end - the product is placed incorrectly in the retail environment within a poor customer experience, and the sales person cannot effectively communicate the benefit beyond the features of the product in comparison to others, the product will fail in the market place”. This is a compelling insight that addresses a concern beyond good design, the user centred approach, and designing for interaction. In fact it addresses the need for designers to have awareness and understanding of the environment in which the end user / consumer will come into contact with the interactive product. It raises certain issues – must interactive products be designed to fit their points of sale in existing retail environments? Should this concern be incorporated into part of the design process? Does this mean we must design new retail experiences for these products?  This insight was of course subtly extended and reinforced in the choice of the environment and location chosen for the exhibition. The flexible environment of “the shop” showcased a prototype. Many of the prototypes experimented with using interactivity as a strategy to create personalised experiences, or collaborative experiences. These prototypes appeal to wants mostly identified with the technologically savvy and what Florida  loosely identifies as “the creative class”. Essentially, the products in this exhibition would not easily be placed alongside other mainstream products and would most likely appeal to niche audiences and markets closer to the end of the long tail as described by Anderson . Most of us want more than just what is available in the mainstream. In fact, everyone's taste departs from the mainstream at some point, and the more we explore alternatives, the more we are drawn to them. This exhibiton hints that as products become more personalised, adaptable, networked and designed for the user to be integrated into their specific lifestyle; design for retail experience and that initial communication space between the user and product will need to be considered and possibly revised.   Chelsea FutureSpace:Escaping Space The second exhibition I attended was the Escaping Space exhibition, a new collababorative exhibition from three alumi of Chelsea College of Art and Design. The theme of the exhibition invited the three artists Andy Briggs, Stef Willis and Corado Morgana to explore three very different interpretations of space. Each artist worked with a different medium representing their interpretation of the theme, provoking thoughts on the space around us and questioning the boundaries that exist between ourselves and the world around us. Andy Briggs is a painter and uses modern spray-painting technology to create highly finished paintings of spacious landscapes, which contain both representational and abstract elements. Choosing to juxtapose representational elements with abstract elements engages the viewer to question the natural boundaries of the real and virtual spaces. The work is seductive creating ambiguity and sometimes conflict as abstraction posing as reality, and as reality posing as abstraction. Corrado Morgana is a digital artist working with performance video, virtual reality and live collaborative works. His work examines how notions of space are manifested through environments created in videogames, technology and digital media. Corrado’s work essentially uses gaming formats to create virtual spaces; the play activity characterized by user interactions is removed and the pieces are seemingly transformed from game environments to virtual space. These animated representations invite the viewer to focus on the aesthetic and detail of the constructed environment. His work illustrates how environments initially labelled as virtual are in fact real, no different to the space we occupy. The work presented by both of these artist do engage the user while employing some very explicit tones and gestures of cognitive “interactive” strategy. However, for the purpose of this report I will focus on the work of Stef Willis as I believe his work best encapsulates the essense of the theme of the exhibition and contributes directly to the wider dialogue that this report is investigating. Stef builds architectural models, his work takes a look at the influences that constructed environment have upon users, examing the way that these environments shape our character and actions. Stef’s work models miniture figurines into imaginary constructed environments, that is, void of the infrastructure of the environment. The figurines are captured and suspended in this “deconstructed” space and positions, posture, placement and poses are examined in these micro representations. There is something intimately human and even idealist (in the sense of the philosophy that argues that the only real things are mental entities, not physical things)about Stefs work. The micro view of these human characters cast in extraordinary detail and framed into ordinary everyday senarios is pure strategy. We are deliberately forced to question the surrounding space and the constructed elements within it.  To question space is to question our place in it and how we interact with it. The way we interact with the space around us is natural, organic, processed on a subconcious level. Our understanding of it is intuitive and to attempt to embody our understanding or sense of space in any representation is to directly provoke and force the viewer to confront his relationship with it. Stef does this impressively, the miniture human sculptures even manipulate physical reaction and interactions as well, forcing the viewer to physcially adapt his posture and stance inorder to engage with the artefact. The viewer must tilt forward, couch, even bow to have a closer look - the viewer must maneuver around these micro installations holding abnormal form in order to discern detail, to interpret the suspended form of the figurines and to conjecture the circumstances of the human sculptures in this “spaceless environment”. These works raise the awareness of just how much interactions occurs on a subconscious level with the space that embodies us. Movement, even on a subatomic level, happens in some sort of space, even if the boundary of that space is unclear. Interaction designers work in both 2D and 3D space, analogue and digital spaces; whether that space is a digital screen or the analog – paintings, models etc;physical space is something we all inhabit. London PrintWork Trust Departure: New Explorations in Print The third and final exhibition on my design trail promotes itself as “a highly interactive experience exploring new relationships between people, print and material”. “It aims to challenge one’s preconceptions about printed textiles.”  This description of the exhibition was a very accurate portrayal even though very few pieces on display were digital in nature or required the viewer to engage with any screen based media. Collectively the artists produced work that came together to create a space that encourage viewers to touch, shape, wear, imagine, move and play. At first this carte blanche freedom in an art gallery setting is confusing, initial engagement with the pieces are from an uncertain stance, as no details or instructions are provided and the sensation of an inverted art gallery space pervades. Once curiosity is embraced over uncertainty the playful nature of the exhibition comes into fruition. During the exhibition you can take part in a variety of different interactive experiences. Rhian Solomon’s work engages you in an exercise to determine your dress size. She makes wearable work that examines women’s obsession with their body weight, her work comments on the difference between the actual size and the viewer’s ideal one. Action Time Vision’s imaginary royal dinner party allows viewers to simulate a virtual dinner party delivered through a complex technology that the view accesses in a simple and intuitive way. Linda Florence’s work allows viewers to dance on an icing sugar patterned floor, visitors can dance and stroll through the intricate patterns making new ones at they go … or wear down a wallpaper pattern to reveal ever-changing patterns in this collaborative work. Simon Elvin’s work explores the relationship between sound and print. One of his pieces “FM radio map” allows visitors to tune into local radio stations by moving a pin onto one of the dots on a two dimensional paper map This “please touch” model as oppose to the “look but don’t touch” model is central to the idea of the exhibition and I believe justifies the theme of the exhibition itself “Departure – New Exploration in Print”. Print by nature is a medium you can touch and feel, it is tangible; it can invoke basic sensations. However it is also a medium that by nature is married to the “text” it presents. Print on a page isn’t malleable, doesn’t allow the user to change the form and is linear, unlike new media the viewer and the creator are not engaged in a dialogue. In a sense this is one of the essential differences between new media and old media. Print is confined to its analogue form, limited in creating opportunities that allow the user to choose his or her own paths of experience through a “text” or to rearrange the format of the text. However, this exhibition makes a pronounced statement as to exactly how interactive the analogue old media can be. I personally felt that some of the pieces rejoiced their analogue form and defied any implied sense or notion of “interactive” naivety. The pieces presented in the exhibition redefined and extended the print form. A lot of the work seemed to be incorporating the qualities or aesthetics of digital models of interaction to the print medium, where touch and interaction leads to changing form and some sense of agency experience by the visitor; beyond linearity or narrative. This is an observation I would like to support by a position advanced by Bolter & Grushin  that to me sheds lights on the relationship between old and new media and media in general, “a medium is that which remediates. It is that which appropriates the techniques, forms, and social significance of other media and attempts to rival or refashion them in the name of the real. A medium in our culture can never operate in isolation, because it must enter into relationships of respect and rivalry with other media.” Conclusion My journey on the design trail was an informative, inspiring and thought provoking exploration into diverse approaches, perceptions and perspectives on “interactivity”. I felt that each exhibition, when applied to my investigative framework, presented a particular strand to the wider dialogue on interaction design. In my option, interaction designers work to develop effective and graceful interaction between people and information and between people and their technologies. The subject may have emerged in response to developments in digital technologies; however, interaction design also suggests a new more holistic and human centred approach to design; taking into consideration the cognitive process that is equally applicable to existing media and communication technologies For me, this was the most important insight gained i.e. that the philosophy of “interaction design” is dualism. Interactivity is dualistic in nature and designers must consider both the physical and mental dimensions. Any interaction model or strategy should consider both the medium the user must interact with and the mental model of the user. In the case of the medium the affordance of the particular device could shape and guide the physical attributes of designing for interaction. Also to be considered is that most often, interaction design involves a combination of physical and analog spaces e.g  you make a gesture in physical, analog space - for instance, turning a knob on your stereo - and you see the results on its digital display screen (the reverse can be true as well).In the case of the mental model of the user, interaction designers should be aware and guided by the users’ needs, the affective aspects, and creating rich user experiences. On the whole, good interaction designer must adopt a holistic approach. Blog 11 Tue, 09 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=insight_blog&cmppost=12 Social media has arrived and the Facebook generation is much more aware about privacy issues and rights regarding personal data. Just think about the recent uproar caused when Facebook tried to update its privacy policy; a decision it had to swiftly recant, removing the controversial clause.The truth is privacy on the web is a big deal but not only in the case of Facebook and other similar social networking sites. In fact many other companies capture and have access to our data, including the usual suspects - email providers, search engines, photo sharing sites etc. If you are paranoid about your privacy then now is a good time to reassess exactly what information is private to you, because the boundaries might soon shift. Researchers Nitesh Dhanjani and Akshay Aggarwal have been researching how your online persona and activity can actually be used to hack into your psyche for intelligence-gathering and even as a way to influence your behaviour. The two researchers are developing a “proof of concept” prototype that will be able to collect feeds from your online presence. It will extract “emotionally rich” data from the various social media tools you use and display all that information in a single dashboard interface - forming a type of “emotional dashboard”. Just think how often you update your Facebook profile, feed blogger, or Tweet? Every time you engage with social media tools you communicate information about yourself to others. A lot of the times this information is meant to be shared with friends and close acquaintances, it is informal, personal, and expressive. All this information is rich with emotion detail and context that can be extracted, correlated and extrapolated to construct your psychological/emotional profile.  It is the aggregation of all the emotional clues and traces you leave behind, mapped over time, within a particular period, that is used to paint the picture of your emotional present. Let me give you a senario, if a user twitters, “9.45 still raining dogs! bored numbless considered suicide but lack motivation to carry it out effectively” certain keywords in your tweet will be extracted and referenced to your active data stream. The proof of concept dash board may interpret this information and display a grey hue (or dark purple if you are an artist type) or some othe signifier, to project your current emotional state. Colour is an effective way to display emotion and mood, in fact one of the inspirations for the proof of concept is WeFeelFine.org , a project that explored human emotion through a data collection engine that manually assigned over 200 “feeling colours” that loosely correspond to the tone of feeling. The prototype concept will be based on Microsoft’s Silverlight Media - a programmable web browser plugin that enables features such as animation, vector graphics and audio-video playback. This will allow the dashboard to display dynamic rich data, and color variations, with real time mood and emotion updates. There are obvious implications for a psychological analysis dashboard. In fact, I believe that red would be the most visible colour on the net, painted with people`s outrage, apprehension and privacy concerns.  However, if we are able to sidetrack the obvious privacy, criminal, moral, ethical, social and safety issues - there may be some interesting user experience implications that I can imagine would enhance a range of communication technologies, interfaces and devices. Currently, most communication tools - IM, chat or VOIP application only offer basic functionality to communicate presence. For the user the entire range of expression is condensed to the stereotypical emoticon options. On the other hand, a tool that could accurately (within a yard stick or two) calculate you emotional state and project your mood in a dynamic, visually and engaging way to others, can communicate your presence in a more natural, emotionally rich way. Of course, I can also envisage the “annoyance factor” or the "TIVO intelligence" but imagine again the computer engaging with your accurate mood data, becoming emotion-aware and perhaps responding to your mood and in an attempt to appease you - entertain you directly from your media collection. If mood is hunger related it might even go further and order you a pizza with your favourite “crisis” toppings. There are also some practical considerations for UX professions i.e. the potential to use such a tool to capture rich qualitative information from users. Designing experience is closely linked to understanding emotions of potential users and a tool like this may be able to shed some light on how users may feel. Remote behaviour analysis can be used to create personality profiles for predicting the targeted user’s state of mind; the data can be used to construct more enhanced personas of potential users; invariably enriching persona analysis methodologies. Of course i’m well aware of bio metric methods that use more precise technologies to do this, but these are often available only in state of the art lab facilities. The potential here is to yield very large and universal data sets that could allow us to understand more intimately peoples` relationship with media, technology and the products they use. Would you be willing to give up some privacy for a little user experience? Blog 12 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=insight_blog&cmppost=13 This week Google released http://www.chromeexperiments.com/ a collection of Javascript-based experiments designed to show off the speed of the Google Chrome browser. The site displays 15 games, apps, and visualizations - designed to specifically push JavaScript to its limits and display the capabilities of Chrome. One of the core developments and efficiencies of the Chrome browser is V8, Google's open source, high performance JavaScript engine. According to, Ben Goodger, tech lead for Chrome development at Google: “It's a completely new approach to the JavaScript engine," “It generates native machine code that runs on your machine in the same way that compiled code runs natively on your computer. The code is not interpreted. There is no intermediate representation, so it runs at greater speed." Google approached a handful of renowned Web designers and JavaScript developers with the task to develop JavaScript application to showcase what the engine and the browser can do. The designers include the likes of REAS, Mr. Doob, Ryan Alexander, Josh Nimoy, and Toxi among others. The results of their experimentation have been great, with each project turning the browser window into an interactive application, a game, or even a piece of art. One of the experiments called "TWITCH" created by artist Casey Reas takes advantage of Chrome's feature to launch each window or tab as a separate process on a computer; allowing multiple windows to function as if they were separate applications. Essentially,TWITCH is a series of miminal games happening within small windows, each game is a puzzle based on moving a ball from one side of the window to the other. Each game only responds to clicking; mouse position and keyboard are ignored. A new window opens everytime the user achieves his task and skillfully navigates the ball to the other side of the window; the ball jumps seamlessly over to the next window and a new game begins. Another interesting experiment,"Browser Ball" by Mark Mahoney begins with one open window open and a beach ball, the user can move the ball around using the mouse. The user can also launch new windows and drag the ball between them. According to Mahoney, "Browser Ball attempts to allow the configuration of a seemingly endless array of continuous spaces using multiple overlapping browser windows. Within this multivariate space, users are invited to toss a beach ball both hither and yon". It is quite a simple proposition but the effect teases our normal conventions about desktop windows, the space within them and boundries. My personal favourite is “Google gravity” designed by the talented Mr Doobod of London based design Studio HI-Res!  I find the visual concept of the effect to be uplifting!  -  the Google webpage interface, as we know it, disintegrates and succumbs to the forces of gravity. All the elements on the page become heavy and drift to the bottom of the browser. Mr Doobod  quotes "Everything that goes up must come down. But there comes a time when not everything that's down can come up." “George Burns couldn't probably imagine that his quote would eventually also be applied to Google's main page.” I don`t know but I think there is a little bit of subtext here! ALL AROUND THE WEB: External Links     To download chrome http://www.google.co.uk/chrome Interesting articles: Will Chrome Kill Innovation Google Blog http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/chrome-experiments-are-here.html Web designer and Developers http://www.reas.com/ http://www.mrdoob.com/ http://onecm.com/ http://www.jtnimoy.net/ http://postspectacular.com/ Blog 13 Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=insight_blog&cmppost=14 Design as communication, Design as conversation : A semiotic investigation This article was written as an introduction to semiotic engineering – a theory of HCI that uses concepts from semiotics and computer science to focus on the communication between designers and users during interaction time.The article attempts to capture some of the crucial elements of the theory reflected in Clarisse De souza`s seminal book “The Semiotic Engineering of Human-Computer Interaction” Design as Communication Semiotics is interested in the relationship between things, thoughts, and signs - a sign being a discrete unit of meaning. Signification is the process through which certain systems of signs are established by virtue of social and cultural conventions adopted by the users; who are the interpreters and producers of such signs. Semiotics can be defined as the study of signs, signification processes, and how signs and signification take part in communication. Semiotic engineering proposes an account of Human Computer Interaction HCI that draws on theories and concepts from the field of semiotics and computer science. The synthesis of these fields of study is an attempt to bring together semiotics and HCI in a concise and consistent way; creating a new framework for investigating the relationship between a designer and a user of an artefact. This framework we can refer  to as “Design as Communication”. The essence of semiotic engineering is in the communication that occurs between the designer and the user; it models design as a form of communication between these two actors. Clarisse de Souza describes, “…both designers and users are interlocutors in an overall communication process that takes place through an interface of words, graphics, and behaviour. Designers must tell users what they mean by the artefact they have created, and users must understand and respond to what they are being told …”[1] In order for design to be effective this communication must contain a message(s) which will be mediated through the interface of the artefact. The message(s) must be clear and in some way targeted to the user’s requirements, enabling them to decode and understand it. This interaction forms a meta-communication i.e. an act of communication between two agents that also communicates something about the communication itself, or about the relationship between the two actors, or both. To elaborate, the communication is initiated by the designer; he must first envision and construct a conceptual model of how the system functions and how it is likely to be used. If the designer is aware and perceptive he will consider the potential users of the system (archetypical users) and the context of usage (scenarios of how the system will be used by the users). This approach can lead him to identify the user requirements more accurately, helping him to interpret the users’ problems and to precisely define the “problem space”. The designer must somehow be present in the interface, at the point of interaction, to tell the user how to use the signs that make up a system. The designer does this by mapping his conceptual model of the system onto a physical artefact. The designer’s conceptual model will be projected to the user at the point of interaction with the artefact. In a software system the designer might create a graphic user interface GUI which will allow him to map his conceptual model. When the user enters the design communication, he is the receiver / interpreter and he performs his role with a preconceived, preconditioned model of how the artefact works. This “mental model” is an internal scale-model representation of an external reality. Norman describes, “In interacting with the environment, with others, and with the artefacts of technology, people form internal, mental models of themselves and of the things with which they are interacting. These models provide predictive and explanatory power for understanding the interaction” [3] For the user to successfully use the artefact, characterized by positive utility and a good user experience, the user must have a similar mental model (the user's model) to that of the designer (the conceptual model). The ultimate challenge for the designer will be to narrow the gap between the conceptual model of the system and the mental model of the user; while trading-off against constraints. There are three significant advantages to adopting the Design as Communication approach. The first is that it focuses the researcher’s attention on signs, in a sense once we begin to conceptualize design as a system of signs, in a meta-communication, between two actors and artefacts & interfaces become media - the entire design process becomes expanded but more intuitive. The second is that Design as Communication provides a somewhat rational system for the analysis of communication and design problems. HCI naturally considers the contributions from the fields of computer science and psychology. Computer science focuses on the machine and does not adequately account for the human mind, while psychology focuses on the mind and does not adequately represent its study algorithmically. Design as Communication mediates this divide by building a bridge between mind and machine. In effect, by using this framework a researcher can qualify and quantify design criteria as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ based on its ability to effectively and efficiently communicate the embedded messages of the design; which should ultimately convey positive utility and user experience for the user. Any difficulties and confusion experienced by the user is evaluated as a breakdown in the design communication. This is to say, the designer’s choice of signs fails to convey the intended message to the user effectively. Design and evaluation techniques in semiotic engineering thus involve identifying and preventing design communication breakdowns. The Thrid advantage is that designers are reappointed to a role of significance in the design process, this is contrary to the prevailing logic of user-centred design which assigns user requirements a more prominent role. Within the semiotic engineering framework designers and users are assigned to the same role. According to De Souza semiotic engineering, “… brings designers onto the stage of HCI processes and assigns them an ontological position as important as that of the users”. [1] Design as Conversation Marcel Duchamp in his essay the “creative act” describes a metaphysical relationship between the artist and the spectator. He interprets that “All in all, the creative act is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative act …” [2] Of course, art and design are two different things that operate differently with alternative objectives. Design is often viewed as a more rigorous form of art, or art with a clearly defined purpose. However, in both mediums the relationship between the actors are the same and they communicate with each other in a meta-communication. From Duchamp’s description we can extract two important insights. First, we can identify that an interplay or dialogue exists between the spectator / user and the artist / designer and that both are actively involved in the creative act. This interplay is analogous to a conversation, in the sense that it requires input from both actors and the path is indeterminate. Ultimately, the process is negotiated by the needs and the intent of the actors involved, which makes it both a cooperative and a reciprocal process. Secondly, we can deduce that the spectator / user enters the conversation not naively but conditioned by his environment and experience and bring this to bear on artefact. From a design viewpoint (where communication is deliberate and intentional in order to induce interpretation) the context of how a user enters this meta-communication - his precondition and his perception becomes a very important consideration. The context is defined by all the circumstances that bear upon the situation at the point of interaction between the user and the artefact. The context has the power to change the meaning of a message - it is a snapshot of the environment framed by the user’s psychology. It is defined by the user’s first person perspective of reality which is conditioned by experience, knowledge, perception, culture, media etc. In terms of interface design it is defined by the user’s conception and understanding of the media and his engagement with technology in the digital environment. It is from this context and history that the user shapes the formation of his mental model about a particular artefact and related artefacts. By introducing new technologies into the environment the designer changes the environment and re-condition the user context e.g. ipod, iphone, blackberry. According to Winograd and Flores, “The new design adapts to the context of the world that has previously existed and is now changed by the innovation”[4] “By creating a new artefact, the researcher sets the stage for new conversations, connections and communications” (winograd and flores, 1984). Conceiving design as conversation allows for a flexible approach to redefining the conventions and definitions of context; which will ultimately be negotiated through design. Design as Conversation also reveals to designers the understanding that the value of their work depends not only on the intention and the vision they put into their representation but also the interpretation of that work from the people who experience it. Meaning is not simply encoded, transmitted and decoded; it is actively created and negotiated according to a complex interplay of sign systems of which designers are generally unaware. According to Roman Jacobson, “meaning resides in the total act of communication. It is not a stable, predetermined entity which passes, untrammeled, from sender to receiver”. Once designers understand that meaning isn’t fix and something that must be negotiated; they can become aware that their work has an unstable meaning outside the complex set of factors that define it i.e. in the sense, “nothing is a sign unless it is interpreted as a sign” Pierce. According to De Souza, “… in a semiotic perspective, there is no room for a purely objective and stable account of meaning, whether the designers’ or the users’ …” [1]. This inexactness and instability in the design process is one of the inherent constraints of prevailing predictive methodologies that attempt to precisely identify, understand and predict information about what users want and need. The inherent subjectivity of “meaning determination” questions whether the user’s context, mental models and interactions with the artifact could be accurately captured by a researcher. Predictive and Empirical approaches attempt to calculate a sort of “certainty” in an indeterminate process - whether this approach alone is efficient is questionable. These methods do add value to the design process, the main objective of usability testing is to improve the design of interfaces. However, when we approach design as conversation these models fall short and only focus on the user side of the design conversation. Because the designer’s voice is absent these models are at best complimentary and not absolute. Too often prescriptive approaches minimize or neglect the creative process required in designing innovation. The designer must input into the conversation, his voice announcing innovation; in an open dialogue with the user. In this dialogue the user is empowered to discover the new features of the artefact, learn the system easily and derive positive utility and experience from usage. According to Erich Fromm, “The quest for certainty blocks the search for meaning. Uncertainty is the very condition to impel man to unfold his powers. Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties”. [12]In effect, Designers should embrace an open situation that is not certain, that is conversational and that may lead to inspiration and serendipity. References 1.    Clarisse Sieckenius de Souza, The Semiotic Engineering of Human-Computer Interaction, The MIT Press (March 1, 2005) 2.    Delivered at the convention of the American Federation of Arts, Houston, Tex, in April 1957, and published in Robert Lebel, Marcel Duchamp, New York, Grove Press, 1959. 3.    Gentner, Stevens, Mental Models (Cognitive Science Series), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 1 edition (May 1, 1983) 4.Winograd, T. and Flores, F. Understanding Computer sand Cognition: A New Foundation for Design,Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA. 1986 5.Read, S. J. & L. C.Miller (1995). Stories are fundamental to meaning and memory: For social lcreatures, could it be otherwise? In R. S. Wyer, (Ed.), Knowledge and Memory: the RealStory (pp. 139–152). Hillsdale, N J: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 6.    Stamper R (2001)Organisational Semiotics: Informatics without the computer? In: Liu K, Clarke R, Andersen P, Stamper R (eds) Informa-tion, Organisation and Technology: Studies in Organisational Semiotics. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston, MA, pp 115–171 7. Shannon, C., Weaver, W.: The Mathematical Theory of Communication. MIT Press, Cambridge.MA, 1949 8. Lakoff, G. (1993). The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor. In A. Ortony (ed.) Metaphors and Thought Cambridge University Press 9. Jodi Forlizzi, Understanding Experience in Interactive Systems,HCII and School of Design Carnegie Mellon University 10.Michael Mateas,Narrative Intelligence,Computer Science Department, Carnegie Mellon University 11. José Cordeiro and Joaquim Filipe, The Semiotic Pentagram Framework A perspective on the use of Semiotics within Organisational Semiotics 12.Erich Fromm - internationally renowned Jewish-German-American social psychologist, psychoanalyst, and humanistic philosopher. 13. Quote, Naomi Klein, author of,  No Logo, Flamingo; New Ed edition (15 Jan 2001) Blog 14 Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=1 The overall experience, in general or specifics, a user, customer, or audience member has with a product, service, or event. In the Usability field, this experience is usually defined in terms of ease-of-use. However, the experience encompasses more than merely function and flow, but the understanding compiled through all of the senses."User experience" encompasses all aspects of the end-user's interaction with your company, its services, and its products. FAQ 1 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=2 Di8it is the name of our company and also the name of our innovative workflow process.  di8it© is an eight phase workflow that integrates user experience methodologies into an iterative development cycle; allowing our team, or your team to effectively incorporate inputs from representative end-users at various stages in the project life cycle. Please visit our Workflow section for further information. FAQ 2 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=3 If you wonder why di8it… we give you 8 reasons why di8it FAQ 3 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=4 We at Di8it believe that to design effectively we must adopt a holistic and organic approach to design - one that considers both form and function equally.  Many companies provide usability testing without design expertise to inform their recommendations, while many design firms provide interface elements that look good but are not usable.  In our approach we believe that form and function should have a symbiotic relationship that only has user experience in mind. Taking into consideration the harmony of form and function only helps us as user experience designers to achieve the ultimate goal; to provide you with the ideal user experience that conveys the intended message and envisioned idea - achieved through focused balanced design. FAQ 4 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=5 Of course, we offer design and development services for Interactive Television, Internet and Mobile Devices from a user centered approach. If you are interested in any of these services please Contact us or visit our Work section. FAQ 5 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=6 Yes, Di8it provides independent interactive design and development for interactive television applications. Designing for television requires a solid expertise and our interactive and visual designers are specialists on creating and delivering interfaces for television. We also have several partners for development depending on the country the interactive application is going to be distributed. If you are interested on this service please Contact us for further information FAQ 6 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=7 Yes, of course. We can work with your team directly, collaborating either on a project related basis to enhance your clients' products and services or on an ongoing basis to develop a compelling user experience for your organisation's product or services. If you are interested on this service please Contact us for further information. FAQ 7 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=8 We recommend testing a site at various point during the design process. It is dependant on the project's shedule and budget. Generally, the best time to test a site is before the backend technology has been built. That way, the inevitable changes you'll want to make will be easier and less costly. FAQ 8 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=9 Yes, we have several partners to conduct professional user testing on Interactive TV, Internet and Mobile applications. All our testings are conducted in usability labs. Some of our partners include the University of Brighton (UK), Universitat La Salle (Barcelona) and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. FAQ 9 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=10 Allowing an independent third party company like di8it to consult on the development of your interactive application is a good idea because we can offer unbiased and objective advice, constructive feedback and discussion and bring fresh inputs and new ideas.  FAQ 10 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=11 Yes, we offer training services and professional courses tailored to your business needs in the UK and internationally. We have several media experts in many different areas including user experience and interactive television. Training and workshops include bespoke deliverables and further support beyond the course. Get in touch to discuss this further. FAQ 11 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=12 Our projects range from pure e-start-ups, to local business, to global brands. Our prices try to accommodate your possibilities ensuring at the same time the quality of our work.  If you would like to get a free quote for your project, please Contact us and we will work to give you the solution that suits you the best. FAQ 12 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=13 We are passionate about digital technologies from a user experience approach and we transmit this passion in whatever we do.  But don’t take our word of it, see what some clients say about us. FAQ 13 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=14 User-centered design (UCD) is an approach for employing usability. It is a structured product development methodology that involves users throughout all stages of Web site development, in order to create a Web site that meets users' needs. This approach considers an organization's business objectives and the user's needs, limitations, and preferences. FAQ 14 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=15 If your Web site is not useful to users, it will never be used. In order for your Web site to be successful, users must visit the site to find information or accomplish tasks. No matter what objectives you have set for your Web site, it must carefully balance the needs of users and the needs of your organization. If users don't find your Web site helpful, they will not use it, which will, in turn, prevent you from meeting your organization's objectives.From the business side, you can lower operating and redevelopment costs by developing a product, such as a Web site, correctly the first time around. FAQ 15 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=16 A positive user experience is critical to the success of your business. Improving the user experience of your company’s products and services is an effective business strategy. A solution that satisfies your users' objectives and delivers a great user experience can help you increase your return on investment. Such solutions can dramatically improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, giving you increased revenue and competitive advantage. A good user experience can enhance your brand while a frustrating one can cause brand damage. Understanding why users do certain things and how they wish to do them makes it possible to create designs that reduce complexity and increase task efficiency, thereby making your users both happier and more productive FAQ 16 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=17 It's never too early to begin thinking about usability. By including usability at the beginning of the project, you are more likely to identify usability issues at an early stage when it is still easy to make changes, whereas, usability problems found later in the development lifecycle are usually much more time-consuming and expensive to fix. FAQ 17 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=18 User centred design can reduce development time and costs and ensure the early detection of problems, avoiding expensive rework. Problems detected earlier or before the product introduction to the market can be less costly to fix than if they were detected later in the development cycle User centred design can also help you reduce support costs, significantly reduce user error, and reduce the time and cost of user adoption, including training. FAQ 18 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=19 The following is a list of ways that you can measure the ROI of usability in your organization:   User Effectiveness increase success ratereduce user errorsincrease productivityimprove ease of useincrease ease of learningincrease trust in systemsimprove user satisfactionincrease job satisfactiondecrease support costsreduce training costsDevelopment Costs save development costssave development timereduce maintenance costssave redesign costsRevenueincrease revenueincrease transactions/purchasesincrease product salesincrease trafficretain customersattract more customersincrease market share FAQ 19 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=20 Every aspect of your users' interactions with your organization needs to be optimized for success. The actual use of your product or service is only one important factor contributing to your user's overall impression of your business. This impression is formed by everything that your users see and touch - by every contact with your product or company, through any channel, and for the entire life cycle of your product. FAQ 20 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=21 Business objectives, including user satisfaction objectives, must drive the development of your products. If you do not regularly measure customer and user satisfaction, then you cannot be sure that you are delivering the user experience that will create success. Since users' perceptions, expectations, desires, and alternatives are constantly evolving, you must continue to measure satisfaction over the life of your product. FAQ 21 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=22 People expect things to simply work - no prior reading and certainly no training. Either they can gain immediate value, or they will move on. So it's win or lose, based on the initial user experience, and for many organizations, this user experience is directly mapped to business success. Users have increasing choice, and can easily evaluate alternatives to satisfy their expectations. They can use the Web to get information, make comparisons and obtain the best offering. At every stage they are influenced by their experience and with a click of the mouse, cast judgment. FAQ 22 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800 http://www.di8it.com/index.php?zwshow=0800_&cmpfaqid=23 The design of your product or service impacts on your brand. A good experience can enhance your brand image while a frustrating experience can cause brand damage. Easy-to-use solutions result from designing the solution with frequent and extensive user involvement. They become supporters, even references, when the product is made available. Studies show that there is a very strong correlation between customer satisfaction and loyalty. Users with low satisfaction will be lost. Those with medium satisfaction are always open to a better proposition. Only those customers who are highly satisfied will remain faithful to your business. FAQ 23 Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 -0800