Usability Testing is generally reserved for the usability of an Interactive thing, device, interface, etc. We all know that User Experience goes beyond just the experience of using a thing, device, interface or whatever. User Experience draws from all things user Related. This includes Brand Identification or Logo usage within the elements a user experiences. A Brand ID should be used everywhere a user goes, Identifying the Brand every step of the way. So, it is safe to say the usability of the Brand ID must be tested in possible environments it may exist within the users journey.
The image below depicts a redesign of a current brand. You can see the previous Brand ID and the newly redesigned mark with tagline. A simple change, but with this change problems that existed in the previous mark were identified in color and usage and corrected.
The swoosh used a transparensy mask that needed help. This caused the swoosh to appear in a complete circle when placed on certain colors and requiring tweaking of the mask to achieve certain required results. The color chosen to represent the swoosh was set at 40 percent opacity which in some cases the swoosh simply blended into the background and was lost. I fixed the mask and placed the opacity at 100 percent to ensure the swoosh would appear strong in all usage within print and multimedia.
The images below the new brand show the color choices and the effectiveness of the Grey chosen on both white and black backgrounds. This is simply usability testing
In my design practice I have placed particular focus on what I used to call "Human Interaction" for the past 15 years. The terms now used - User Interfacing and User Experience are nothing new as the name may have changed but the practice has not. Many clients and job descriptions now call for this terminology exclusively as they have figured out the value to good UI/UX, ultimately enhancing the User Experience by requesting the practice of good UI/UX efforts. So the question you ask and what the search engine found and brought you here was "What is the purpose of UI/UX?"
Does UI make things prettier? Will UX create more sales? Does UI/UX make clients love my product? Can I use UI/UX to remove stains and unsightly horror from my badly designed website or app? The answer to any of these questions is YES!... sort of. How each of these play out and the actual effect they have in your business is all relative to how you design your UX and your committment to it.
You can't not communicate, there is no way a user is not going to perceive something on your web, mobile, app or interactive mechanism, whatever it may be. The goal is to get them to experience something great rather than something ...not so great. All design work that goes into the project affects the User Experience - the first rule to UX.
User Experience is the sum of all the interaction a person has with your Brand, your Branding efforts, your product, your company, your website, your communications, your phone conversations, your advertising, social media, everything! The course of time a person spends amidst your company or your stuff and the total of all the interactions will equal the user experience taking all things into consideration as they occur.
So purposefully, user experience considerations can make things prettier, create more sales, help people to love your product and remove the horror that was your website when you apply a fresh new approach to your outlook on user experience. To truly create a good user experience though, we must consider the things beyond just our website or mobile communications, we must consider the Brand Campaign as a whole and go even further, stretching beyond just advertising and marketing perceptions clients may have of you. How far you go is up to you.
I get it........, clients get excited when they find someone who can design for Web, build websites, create functional Flash media and Interactive stuff that looks and works, Shoot Video, Edit Video, create 3D and 2D Animation and Compositing, generate a Brand ID along with a Branding Campaign, Ads for their Advertising Campaign, Trade Show booth, displays, Large Format Printing, Mobile Apps, E-commerce Applications, etc.............. and tie it all together, while working with their staff to reach a high level of success. But......... lets set our expectations of the people we hire and their ability to achieve greatness before we sit down behind the computer and begin the creative process.
I love a good challenge, I do. When I saw this image (above) it said a lot to me and reminded me of many projects I have been involved in. I also love collaborating on a vision and finding that one great thing that makes a project greater as I have often found myself to be the guy in this image with his hand on the mouse.
The take away here........ Get Excited, please, I love that, but set your expectations and your decision makers and pull the trigger. If you love great design & Interactive that trancends and you need a studio that can bring new life to your marketing or Branding world, no matter where you are, Tampa, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, Colorado or Mars, call 21C DIGITAL at 727-461-4555 and let us help you set a new expectation.
Funny, no matter how we try, not everything works in every browser, it is just simple basic fact, but we try anyway and most times succeed......it is somewhat rare to not succeed or to at least modify your efforts or functionality and succeed differently. But........Not everyone in the browser game is going to do everything the same no matter how many standards are set. Period! So the question remains, "Do you use Mulitiple Browsers"?!
I ask because even tho Browsers can be different and we are successful at making things work correctly, there is always the gap of the Mysterious non working browser report. Dah, Dah, Dahhhhhhhhhhhh!
So, Clients continue to demand HTML5 type functionality with pixel perfect results everytime from every browser including the extremely obscure OPERA browser. Let's see now, there is still Internet Explorer, version 9 now, Safari, FireFox, Chrome, Opera, BlackBird, and a few mobile browsers that may not make life so hard as they dont have huge following, unless you are speaking of the firefox mobile version.
So let me take a look for us at why I am ranting about this right now. The other day I was doing a bit of surfing and file downloading and such, when I realized Internet Explorer just would not do what I needed it to do or at least it wasn't doing it, something was keeping it locked up, so I switched........ Yes people I SWITCHED, on the spot, in the moment, on a whim and even with a Wing and a Prayer, I just close IE and opened SAFARI ....... Done!
How hard was that, I mean seriously, within seconds I was up and running and doing what I intended on doing. So Why oh Why do I have battles with people over things not working when it may just be someones browser version, there Computing setup or some unforeseen I dont know what type thing, when we should not really be complicating these websites as much as we are anyway.
The TAKE AWAY here, browsers are FREE and plentiful, so if you are going to ask for complex functionality (I have no problem with that, I can even cope with making it work in all browsers within reason) expect that peoples computers are not always and exactly the same and people are willing to switch browsers understanding that sometimes you just have to. Just because I can make things work on my Virus Free, updated, Core i7 or Apple i7 workstations does not mean they are going to work on the rubble out there that people call computers.
By CAROLYN THOMPSON, Associated Press – Sun Apr 24, 3:35 pm ET
BUFFALO, N.Y. – Lying on his family room floor with assault weapons trained on him, shouts of "pedophile!" and "pornographer!" stinging like his fresh cuts and bruises, the Buffalo homeowner didn't need long to figure out the reason for the early morning wake-up call from a swarm of federal agents.
That new wireless router. He'd gotten fed up trying to set a password. Someone must have used his Internet connection, he thought.
"We know who you are! You downloaded thousands of images at 11:30 last night," the man's lawyer, Barry Covert, recounted the agents saying. They referred to a screen name, "Doldrum."
"No, I didn't," he insisted. "Somebody else could have but I didn't do anything like that."
"You're a creep ... just admit it," they said.
Law enforcement officials say the case is a cautionary tale. Their advice: Password-protect your wireless router.
Plenty of others would agree. The Sarasota, Fla. man, for example, who got a similar visit from the FBI last year after someone on a boat docked in a marina outside his building used a potato chip can as an antenna to boost his wireless signal and download an astounding 10 million images of child porn, or the North Syracuse, N.Y., man who in December 2009 opened his door to police who'd been following an electronic trail of illegal videos and images. The man's neighbor pleaded guilty April 12.
For two hours that March morning in Buffalo, agents tapped away at the homeowner's desktop computer, eventually taking it with them, along with his and his wife's iPads and iPhones.
Within three days, investigators determined the homeowner had been telling the truth: If someone was downloading child pornography through his wireless signal, it wasn't him. About a week later, agents arrested a 25-year-old neighbor and charged him with distribution of child pornography. The case is pending in federal court.
This article is still stuck in my head, and altho I do really like my MAC, not as much as all the fanatics out there, I must have peace. So..... I will write this soon.
Have you seen the little people that walk out at the bottom or top of your screen, when you visit a website. I am curious how well these talking puppets project a message or how many people click the off button as soon as they can?
This brings up another topic also, Automatic video or audio playback upon entry of a website homepage. How many times have you not realized your volume was up louder than normal and you had the bejeebers scared out of you because of auto play multimedia. It happens to me all the time. I either have headphones on or have my volume set high when editing video, then I go to a website and BAM! I get hit by something that makes my heart jump.
I do not believe the Internet is completely ready to become TV yet, but the biggest factor in Internet viewing of media is the On Demand aspect. On Demand Video, On Demand Audio, On Demand Volume, On Demand Play button!!! This is truly why the Intenet is the Coup 'De Gras' of Interactive platforms and the home of "Let me choose what and how I want to Interact".
Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
I said it many years ago, I really did. What was it I said, you ask?
Well, I said, "All popular industries eventually get diluted, even the ones that require high levels of skill and technology." With the numbers of people in the workforce and the "Get rich quick" mentality that seems to exist everywhere, it is bound to happen, over and over again.
Let me explain. Take the Technology boom that hit years ago. Every person and business now having access to computers at somewhat reasonable prices, wanted to get in. And, with the advent of Operating Systems that did not require an extreme level of tech minded savvy, the road to computing was easier to travel than ever. From the ashes of this burning trail came all the IT folks and Computer stores and on and on until this new found tech world became a used car lot, full of the mish mash of people that may or may not have deserved to be there. Why were they there?
They arrived at this place as opportunists, as we all have a tendency to be, from time to time. The promise of new offerings to sell and quick loot to be made is too much for some to resist. As businesses added more computing to their office floors, they realized they needed more people to manage these computers, hence came the IT zombies. A small percentage of which actually new what they were doing, but they came in droves. Also came the computer shops, and corporate america got on board and so on and so on.
Ever ask your self what happened to all those computer stores like Comp USA and EggHead, not to mention the mom and pop shops that were everywhere? Diluted Industry is the answer my friend. So where did all those people go? They all began building websites until the net supposedly crashed, then they sold real estate or (God forbid) Mortgages and you know what happened there, I wont even revisit that one. Now they all sell reverse mortgages or are looking for the next big promise of wealth. Sheeesh! I remember a story of a Police Officer, 20 year man, wanting to leave the force to build websites, this was not even in his same line of work, not that someone can't retrain themselves, but it did seem a bit out of place.
Ok, lets get to the bottom line here. I get a phone call from a company selling websites with "no up front cost", just a monthly fee and all the bells and whistles no one really needs to promote their company. Then I receive a phone call from a property manager stating that they were takling over the management of a property we built a website for and have been maintaining for some time. This person tells me they will no longer be needing our service as "They offer this service INHOUSE". I could barely keep from laughing out loud. I asked for more info, thinking that they hire an outside firm to do this, but the person on the phone, not trying to be snooty but still coming off abrasive, said she was sure they wont need the service as they actually offer this service and do it themselves.
I was beside myself. They would ditch what we do for them, which is a nicely done website and some of the fastest bandwidth Florida has to offer for what I can only imagine will be a less than perfect solution emanating from INHOUSE. Has the Internet become such a wasteland that now property managers have INHOUSE web departments? Again, Sheeeesh!
Did I mention that with the dilution of Industry comes Education. And with education come Educational facilities which seem now like vocational ambulance chasers. The traditional schools have to compete with vocational schools and (Oh God!) online schools that may or may not exist other than in cyberspace. I am sure some of you will remember when there was no school for things like Real Estate, selling Mortgages, building websites, etc, but only traditional type colleges that taught traditional type stuff.
nuff said for now, but mark my words, dilution comes in all popular industries. The key: get in early, make your cash and then decide your next move. Stay and play or look for the next opportunity, or look for an industry that welcomes dilution, they are out there, I know of one and just maybe I will share it with you.........we'll see!
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