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Monday 1 December 2008
Friday 21 November 2008
Amster dam exspensive
Last day! I have to say as insightful and interesting these seminars have been, I've had enough. I'm all learned out and pot less. Damn this place is expensive. Think its why its called Amsterdam, nothing to do with all the water its so Dam expensive - deliberate spelling mistake for all you sticklers out there. My final day involved Thinking by design, that wasn't what I did that's what it was called. I am gonna keep this one short cause my battery is dying and I have packed my plug converter things!
Picture the scene, I'm sitting in a back packers hostel at the bar. Thinkpad on my lap, music is pumping out some sort of drum and bass from the extremely loud music system they have hear and I'm surrounded by people who look like they need a good bath. Christian would love it!! I can hear him now, "er could you turn that down I can't concentrate and please don't smoke that cigarete next to me, oh its not a cigarette!"
There where three tutors for today - I also packed my notes so can't remember their names but I can tell you they all worked in very senior positions positions in their web design team. There was a very charming lady who looked like she would fit in on the set of desperate housewives and then a lady who looked like she would fit in as part of a little Britain sketch. Wont say which one but the words 'dust' spring to mind! Lastly was a Latin American chap, lacked a little charisma but very knowledgeable.
We looked at lots of case studies from work that they had done at Ebay and they work in a similar fashion to us, similar team set up, just bigger. They shared learning's on stuff they have experienced and where happy to offer their best practices. We looked at what they called their 'patterns' which were basically templates for every possible web page that would need designing/building and again offered tips on how to build sites efficiently and in a costly manner. Some of the tips where genius, others we already do.
We looked at how their site had evolved over the years and explained the rationale for why things happened. They also gave tips for how to get stakeholder buy in. One tip which did make me smile was using fear as a method to convince stakeholders. Not wave a gun in their face but explain what competitors do and how we need to be ahead of them as opposed to being reactive and falling behind. I still liked the idea of waving a gun at them! Down to 37% battery, move on Rob.
To surmise a good day - picked up lots of tips from a world leading organisation in online purchasing. Not everyday you get that insight.
Now off to the airport, looking forward to getting home and having some sort of normality back in my life. Who am I kidding, we have bloody loads of festive frolics booked for December! Hoping for a safe journey home with little delays, never flown on my own, this should be interesting. Passport, money, ticket, one out of three aint bad I guess!
How to sell a TV.
Yesterday's subject was Websites that Sell, though it should have been called How to Con People.
You work in Currys/Comet/QD and your job is to sell TV's. A couple come in and tell you that they are looing for a cheap second TV for the spare room in their house. So you offer 4 different TV's at various price points in the range. The prices are £250, £450, £650, and £1500. Which one do they buy?
Well in most cases it's the £650 one. The little step-ups in price from model to model is normally small enough for the salesman to overcome. However he has no intention of selling the £1500 model, but it's there so that the customers walk out of the shop thinking they have been prudent in saving £850, when in fact they have spent more than they initially anticipated.
Other tricks of the trade are to slightly loosen the ariel at the back of the cheaper TV so that when you give it a little tap the picture momentarily shakes, highlighting the effect of a lower aspect ratio. Also the contrast is turned down on the cheaper models so that the picture quality doesn't look as good. So make sure they are all set to midway before you compare.
You work in Currys/Comet/QD and your job is to sell TV's. A couple come in and tell you that they are looing for a cheap second TV for the spare room in their house. So you offer 4 different TV's at various price points in the range. The prices are £250, £450, £650, and £1500. Which one do they buy?
Well in most cases it's the £650 one. The little step-ups in price from model to model is normally small enough for the salesman to overcome. However he has no intention of selling the £1500 model, but it's there so that the customers walk out of the shop thinking they have been prudent in saving £850, when in fact they have spent more than they initially anticipated.
Other tricks of the trade are to slightly loosen the ariel at the back of the cheaper TV so that when you give it a little tap the picture momentarily shakes, highlighting the effect of a lower aspect ratio. Also the contrast is turned down on the cheaper models so that the picture quality doesn't look as good. So make sure they are all set to midway before you compare.
Thursday 20 November 2008
Shopping
Next to our hotel is a C&A, remember them? Rob's been in dreamland kitting out his wardrobe. Sorry Martel if you're reading this I may have spoiled your Christmas present too. So I googled C&A to find out why they suddenly vanished from the UK high street...
They are owned by a Dutch family (so no shareholders) who were notoriously secret in the way they ran their business. Not even senior management were aware of their financial reports until 1998, 3 years before they pulled out of the UK market. And outside their corridors of power no one was aware how the company was performing, especially shop staff. So after 75 years in the UK they finally gave up, losing £250m in their final year.
Something thing that's been rammed down our throat this week is not working in silos. And not just within a web department, but throughout Sales & Marketing too. If we're not talking to each other then just like C&A things can go pear-shaped. Now I know this is nothing new, and to be honest I think we are pretty at communicating across the business, but it's all I could think of that linked in with the C&A story.
I saw a exert from a usability study earlier. This is where you video record Joe Public trying to fulfil a task on a new website design, to see if it works as well as you anticipate. Well in this instance the site wasn't doing well at all and Joe was having real trouble finding his way around. So much so that the quote I liked from Joe was:
'Man, I just can't get this thing to work. This site is so poor. P.O.O.R. It's POO! R.'.
I'd seriously have to consider my career if someone called my site 'poo'.
They are owned by a Dutch family (so no shareholders) who were notoriously secret in the way they ran their business. Not even senior management were aware of their financial reports until 1998, 3 years before they pulled out of the UK market. And outside their corridors of power no one was aware how the company was performing, especially shop staff. So after 75 years in the UK they finally gave up, losing £250m in their final year.
Something thing that's been rammed down our throat this week is not working in silos. And not just within a web department, but throughout Sales & Marketing too. If we're not talking to each other then just like C&A things can go pear-shaped. Now I know this is nothing new, and to be honest I think we are pretty at communicating across the business, but it's all I could think of that linked in with the C&A story.
I saw a exert from a usability study earlier. This is where you video record Joe Public trying to fulfil a task on a new website design, to see if it works as well as you anticipate. Well in this instance the site wasn't doing well at all and Joe was having real trouble finding his way around. So much so that the quote I liked from Joe was:
'Man, I just can't get this thing to work. This site is so poor. P.O.O.R. It's POO! R.'.
I'd seriously have to consider my career if someone called my site 'poo'.
Test
The more I learn the more I hear keep it short. I find that mildly amusing cause everyone is 6foot 5 over here, even the women! Wrong context.
Day fours learning session was 'Visual design principles for effective websites'. What is a user Experience Architect doing on a course about design principles you may ask, good question. I think about it like this, how can you design a car if you have never driven, how can you cook a good steak if your a vegetarian. You need to experience these things in order to do something great.
I almost forgot that I spent five years of my life torturing myself around design principles at college so this session opened some old wounds.
I have listened to a lot about design principles that improve usability and we looked at some examples that ruin usability. Like an old married couple the two walk hand in hand, good usability comes out of good design. This session has made me appreciate how much their is to consider, do you left align? What resolution do you design for? How do you design banners that work? What emotions are evoked by what colours? I'm in danger of analysing everything I do! Its all very subjective though so loads of hands up at question time. One thing you can't argue with though is know your users and test the bloody thing!
Day fours learning session was 'Visual design principles for effective websites'. What is a user Experience Architect doing on a course about design principles you may ask, good question. I think about it like this, how can you design a car if you have never driven, how can you cook a good steak if your a vegetarian. You need to experience these things in order to do something great.
I almost forgot that I spent five years of my life torturing myself around design principles at college so this session opened some old wounds.
I have listened to a lot about design principles that improve usability and we looked at some examples that ruin usability. Like an old married couple the two walk hand in hand, good usability comes out of good design. This session has made me appreciate how much their is to consider, do you left align? What resolution do you design for? How do you design banners that work? What emotions are evoked by what colours? I'm in danger of analysing everything I do! Its all very subjective though so loads of hands up at question time. One thing you can't argue with though is know your users and test the bloody thing!
Wednesday 19 November 2008
Day 3 long live the sitemap or footprint
What a great day. Jen Cordello is brilliant. She really knows a lot about IA and she is a mum to be. I know this may seem a stupid point but to me it means she is real. When someone can be that good at her job and not be married to her job you have to take your hat off. I have met so many people who have no life outside there passion get them on a subject outside something like IA and they struggle to show any personality. Jen was different though, she knew her stuff and had a charming humbleness about hee that endeared you to her. Unlike Dan from the day before her material was excellent, the handouts where spot on and had context as well as being informative and the day seemed to go pretty quick.
I wrote the same amount of notes in the morning session as I did in the whole day yesterday. So much that I can’t even try to get it all on here. I’m just gonna throw down some highlights.
Yeah I tried to look at my highlights and even they will take me hours to blog about so im gonna write down what I highlighted in my notebook ..
There is loads of that as well. So possibly a few words?
Sitemaps are back – but they are now called footprints!
I wrote the same amount of notes in the morning session as I did in the whole day yesterday. So much that I can’t even try to get it all on here. I’m just gonna throw down some highlights.
Yeah I tried to look at my highlights and even they will take me hours to blog about so im gonna write down what I highlighted in my notebook ..
There is loads of that as well. So possibly a few words?
Sitemaps are back – but they are now called footprints!
Tuesday 18 November 2008
Short change
We're staying in the Swissotel. It's very nice. The Swiss are known for 2 things, chocolate and timepieces. Each evening I find a Toblerone has been left on my pillow, I don't think Rob gets one as he's staying in economy class. And each morning Rob is late (even though he has brought 5 watches with him), so the Swiss effect hasn't rubbed off on him yet.
However I've just got back to my room, and there was NO chocolate. I was not happy. It wouldn't normally bother me, but I had become use to it as a little treat for the long walk back from the conference hotel - it's nearly half an hour you know. So I moped about the room for a bit (not on one of these, but the grumpy type), and then thought I'd get a drink from the fridge (I don't think Rob has one of these either). And there I saw my Toblerone. Probably in the right place, keeping it nice and cold, but not where I thought it would be.
Of course I wouldn't be telling you this dull anecdote unless it had a connection with website design. I am now a repeat visitor to my room, I've been here 3 days. And I expect things to be in a certain place. If they are not then I get frustrated and feel a little down. Had this been my first night in the hotel (an infrequent visitor) I'd have no expectation, and would have been delighted when I found the chilled triangular choc. So what am I struggling to say here? Be careful of change for change sake. If you're going to revamp your site then make sure you have a good reason. Especially if you get a lot of repeat visitors. The rationale 'it looks tired' or 'it needs a refresh' is rarely true. Only because we look at the site every day do we have these thoughts - these are seldom shared by our customers.
However I've just got back to my room, and there was NO chocolate. I was not happy. It wouldn't normally bother me, but I had become use to it as a little treat for the long walk back from the conference hotel - it's nearly half an hour you know. So I moped about the room for a bit (not on one of these, but the grumpy type), and then thought I'd get a drink from the fridge (I don't think Rob has one of these either). And there I saw my Toblerone. Probably in the right place, keeping it nice and cold, but not where I thought it would be.
Of course I wouldn't be telling you this dull anecdote unless it had a connection with website design. I am now a repeat visitor to my room, I've been here 3 days. And I expect things to be in a certain place. If they are not then I get frustrated and feel a little down. Had this been my first night in the hotel (an infrequent visitor) I'd have no expectation, and would have been delighted when I found the chilled triangular choc. So what am I struggling to say here? Be careful of change for change sake. If you're going to revamp your site then make sure you have a good reason. Especially if you get a lot of repeat visitors. The rationale 'it looks tired' or 'it needs a refresh' is rarely true. Only because we look at the site every day do we have these thoughts - these are seldom shared by our customers.
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