The idea is to meet and talk with friends, colleagues and other inspirational characters who are linked to the London IA, UX, interaction design community at one of London’s excellent coffee shops – whether it be Cafe Brera, Taylor Street Baristas or Look mum no hands!. I want to share as much of the conversation as possible so I’m aiming to keep the editing to the lightest touch (but keeping focus on the most relevant bits).

I’m still finding my way with the structure and tone – so as I conduct more it hopefully will improve. Any suggestions welcome.

My first chat was with Nic Price (he tweets @nicprice) during a busy lunchtime in Cafe Brera at Cabot Square in Canary Wharf.

Nic Price – digital dust, writing and the South Bank Centre

Our chat obviously began with coffee and the explosion of boutique coffee shops – something we both agreed was fantastic news both for coffee culture – which in recent times has been corporatised by Pret, Starbucks et al – and quality. (There is a rumour that Starbucks are working on creating sub brand coffee shops to compete – if anyone has more detail on this please let me know – UPDATE thanks @byekick here’s a link.)

Brown sugar

What’s your earliest memories of coffee?

My first paid job was in 1986 when I was 16 building a database for DeLoitte’s in Lisbon. Our family lived in a place called Monte Estoril, West of Lisbon. My dad was working at Shell at the time and we would get up around 6am (sometimes I’d only have just got back from being out the night before) and drive up to Lisbon and prop up a bar and drink ‘uma bica’ espresso-style black coffee and eat pastries.

My earliest memory of coffee (and possibly my first coffee experience) was when I was 6 years old and my grandmother would give me strong black coffee with loads of brown sugar. I think I liked the taste of the sugar over the coffee. From that day my preference has been for espressos, though not always the ‘rule’ of single espressos. Occasionally I will have a cappuccino as a dessert.

When working in a corporate tower is it better to drink free machine coffee than pay money for marginally better muck from Starbucks?

Today someone bought me an espresso from Starbucks and I would have to say “might as well have got it from a machine”.

Conversation and writing

How do you approach writing?

I am much more comfortable in conversation than when I’m trying to write. I prefer the way conversation is structured. The freedom it affords. I enjoy the visual cues and mannerisms. This is why I like Twitter. Apart from the 140 characters, the non-structured sense of it (though it would be great if there were visual cues).

I also think more clearly in free flow conversation. Like millions of others, I think “oh, that would be great to write down and publish as a blog post”, but when i come to sit down to try and write it up, I dry up. I’m blocked. I cannot do it. I think of recording it, but I’m too self conscious. I just love talking but struggle to mould it to something to write down. My main concern with writing stuff down is that I don’t get my point and message across clearly. I immediately feel I’ve failed – and on so many levels. Communication is my game and my ability to communicate everything I say clearly to everyone is paramount. My job is about being understood fully by other people (and myself understanding too). It’s about sharing and learning. Understanding enough about the context of a product so everyone knows how to use it without having to think too much. When I’m talking I don’t want to be constricted by any formality, apart from grammar and syntax. I love stream of consciousness conversations.

South Bank Centre

Let’s talk about your time at the BBC working on its intranet

When I worked on the BBC intranet I needed to understand the problems associated with the digital workspace. So I decided to take the team I was working with on a day trip to the South Bank Centre to help explain an analogy for a physical digital space. To me the transformation of the South Bank Centre was very much like transforming the BBC’s intranet. by doing this exercise it felt that i didn’t have to explain myself too much. The action of the visit felt like the explanation itself. What we were trying to do at the BBC was exactly what was happening at the South Bank Centre. The secret was understanding that they were both eco systems.

The South Bank Centre is my favourite part of London. Everything about my life in London is somehow connected to it. All of them very personal and passionate, which greatly helped when explaining how it could help the BBC transform its intranet. The idea was to try and get the team away from thinking about an intranet as a digital workspace and get them thinking about a physical space with the movement of people going about their daily tasks, to find an analogy that we could use to tell the story of what we were trying to achieve. (By the way, the word intranet fills me with dread – intra this, intra that – nasty connotations, I prefer digital workspace.) I was undoubtedly motivated by the IDEO story of taking surgeons/operating theatre personnel to visit a NASCAR pit crew to assist in coming up with a more effective design for operating theaters.

When you visit the South Bank Centre you go there with a purpose. When it was being transformed, they didn’t just close it down, they worked on it bit by bit. They opened restaurants and shops at the front as welcoming windows to engage with visitors. Not to mask the renovation, but to engage at a time of upheaval and change. It worked. Footfall and engagement increased (and continued throughout the transformation and as far as I’m aware has continued to this day).

During the process the South Bank Centre consulted everyone in its audience – nearby residents, high frequency visitors, low frequency visitors, occasional – to find out what they thought and to ensure everyone was included and involved in the process. One of the most important things they did was retain the heart and the soul of the area: the skateboarders and second hand booksellers. They transformed with attention to feedback and a concern for the physical space.

Wayfinding

At the South Bank Centre it is much easier to build a relationship in regard to why you are there (the arts, library, coffee, rendezvous, concert, events etc). When you are at say somewhere like Canary Wharf it is more difficult. Apart from going to work in a corporate tower, it doesn’t seem to mean anything. Yes, there is shopping and restaurants but there only seems to be a sense of servitude. Think about the difference between these type of spaces where people live above (Barbican) and the spaces where people work above (Canary Wharf).

The signage in these places leaves a lot to be desired – also think about that John Lewis in Kingston

Yeah, wow that John Lewis is something else. I get a physical sensation just thinking about it. Really confusing space. I can’t believe that they (John Lewis) let it continue like that. Surely that level of non-signage in a building with a confusing layout can’t pay dividends. It’s the same at Canary Wharf. They haven’t managed to provide clear signage and a method of movement and flow for the occasional visitor. There is still too much focus on the corporate commuter who knows where he is going. The space is changing and requires a better balance. Next time you arrive at Canary Wharf DLR take a moment and think how you would react if you had arrived there for the first time. It is such an entry point, it needs to do better.

I’ve been there many times but I still have to take a moment to get my bearings

In terms of corporate work environments, the digital infrastructure invariably mirrors the physical infrastructure. The massive buildings clearly state “don’t come in” and that’s how they treat their digits too. The message is “this is the way it works for us” and investment (usually huge) in untested and unknown directions is very difficult to put in motion. And no, Sharepoint 2010 will not help you move forward. At some point corporations have to stop being backwards compatible (like Apple did) and move on. You’ll piss some people off but you don’t necessarily want to be like Microsoft who have always been backwards compatible – and look what’s happened to them (though it is evident they are making amends in some areas).

Why on earth do so many employers provide such crap digital workspace as well as crap physical workspaces for their employees – one can fix the other. There is no excuse – considering the amount of time they spend in them. Give users a positive reaction to spaces and take into account what’s already there.

Guerilla signage

I’m really bothered by how my local park (Peckham Rye) puts up the most confusing signs for the times the gates close (Nick shows me a photo of a quite confusing sign). I don’t want to create chart junk but it can be done better. You don’t need all the dates just the dates when it changes.

Education

What type of education serves someone in UX best?

I’ve got a communcation and design degree but I think curiosity is the best skill. The term ux designer fills me wiith dread. It’s used and abused and thrown around. Some people use the term correctly but many don’t. Sometimes I call myself an interaction designer but when I am working in e-learning I call myself an instructional designer (a training and development term). I find the whole job title thing a minefield and a bit of a nightmare. Web design as a term is not enough. If my grandmother asks me what i do I’m stumped. I find the best thing to do is to avoid too much focus on the job title but focus on the activities and services you as a UX designer will provide. The job description UX designer is still being professionalised, yet whatever you call yourself in the present climate you still need to associate yourself with the term UX design otherwise you do yourself a disservice.

Digital dust

This is the hype around technology, the excitement around technology, the stuff that gets in the way of people’s basic needs. When the digital dust settles we all have a basic set of needs and the desire to get things done. There is still a lot of digital dust floating about (to me it feels like the dust that surrounds Linus in Snoopy). For us to move on, a lot of it needs to settle. What I’m not sure about is whether this is my frustration with the world or what is actually going on. Maybe when the internet of things fully integrates with our daily lives – and the internet becomes a utlity – more of the dust will settle. Paradoxically, digital dust is where innovation occurs – but that is another conversation..

Film will only became an art when its materials are as inexpensive as pencil and paper

Adapted for wireframing:

Wireframing will only become truly useful when its tools are as inexpensive and accessible as pencil and paper

(Obviously pencil and paper are a wireframing tool but here we are talking about all related tools.)

I’m increasingly coming into contact with people who refer (with the nonchalant ease of those that rarely question their convictions) to interaction designers, information architects, experience architects &etc (there is plenty of froth already here) with the word/abbreviation/label (delete as you think appropriate) “UX”

What on earth do they mean?

UX isn’t a designer, it isn’t even an interaction designer, it isn’t an information architect or an experience architect or a usability consultant – it is none of these job titles.

It isn’t a job.

The simplest description is that it is the perception of a product, a service, a brand and the experience of interacting physically with any interface of said product, service, brand. It is not a vocation.

We have always been designers, we haven’t suddenly become the experience of the user.

Where has this come from?

Is it the propensity for (particularly) non-designers to brushstroke areas of expertise they struggle to comprehend in business areas where UX Design is new or being introduced and is often misunderstood. There seems to be a habit to sell in, particularly on Agile projects, this magic “UX” with the believe that somehow it will fix up poor design.

UX doesn’t fix anything, designers do.

As Milton Glaser said: “Can you imagine calling someone a creative?”

No one sketches enough (apart from maybe Eva-Lotta herself, Dave Gray and Mike Rohde) and many don’t sketch at all. (Can you call yourself a designer if you don’t sketch?) You have to do it, there is not an excuse in the world that is reasonable. There is no rhyme or reason that sketching won’t improve your design process and the work you produce. Thinking is easier, expression is easier, communication of ideas is easier – and best of all (and I can promise this) you will feel better, in fact you will feel great. There may well be an initial pain barrier to get through but persevere and it will be worth it. You will feel proud and a real sense of achievement. You may well begin feeling deeply unsatisfied staring at your efforts but sooner or later you will begin crafting stuff that you will be happy with and will be useful. And I can again promise that you will improve – how can you not?

No one is too big, important, or busy to sketch. This is important to remember.

I hope more agencies, companies, organisations (&etc) will take the initiative that UX designers at Lab49 have taken after attending last week. (Yes I do work there, yes I may have influenced them slightly, but no it is not my proposal). Straight away they have organised fortnightly sketching workshops for everyone in the UX team (they have made it compulsory). It is initially for just the UX team but the intention is to then include developers and all members of the agile teams. The thinking is that sketching will provide everyone with better communication skills. I say so.

I’m calling it sketchedelity

On 30 June London IA will host an evening at Sense Loft with the following talks and audience interactions. The evening is supported by Sense Loft (and the folk at Sense Worldwide) and Zebra People.

EVA-LOTTA LAMM Visual Note Taking

This session will give a quick introduction to the main principles and building blocks of visual notes, answer the question why sketchnoting is a great tool for designers and disperse all the reasons why not to pick it up.

There will be lots of examples and practical exercises that will help you to jump straight into taking you own visual notes.

CENNYDD BOWLES Emotional Lego

Movable, stackable Gestalt psychology fun. Ages 3 and up.

TYLER TATE Simple is not better

We’ve all had puzzling encounters with wristwatches, microwaves, and remote controls that leave us asking: “Why can’t they make it simple!?” But in areas where we’re experts (photography or investing, for instance), we desire the added complexity that puts us in complete control. We’ll consider two criteria for selecting the optimal level of complexity in a product.

Activity: You and your teammates will have the opportunity of a lifetime: sketch ideas for a new “As Seen on TV” kitchen utensil.

(follow @evalottchen)
(follow @cennydd)
(follow @tylertate)

It’s pretty jumbled together and sentences get cut off and some of it isn’t perfect sound quality (and some of it is a bit dark), but hey ho

PS There is quite a bit of an interesting chat about getting a better UX job with Jason Mesut and Marcvus Mustafa (the presentation is here)

And falling neatly into 10 categories…

UX is…

UX is ephemeral
UX only comes alive when someone interacts with your work. Only exists because of users. Doesn’t exist independent of use.
UX is human experience = outcome, human engagement = goal
UX is Perception, Cognition, Emotion, Action
UX is about synthesis – how you draw all the pieces together

Search is…

Search is among the most disruptive innovations of our time
The moment where users don’t search successfully is a teachable moment, if we design it well
Search is not an IT challenge, it’s a knowledge management challenge
Search should be giving answers not results (helping decision making)
Search: we can’t accept slow as an answer
Search is a hard but a satisfying problem (an unsolvable problem – never ending data expansion = more problems)

Metrics in Design is…

Never design in reaction to competition
Understand business objectives: don’t accept what you are told
Design: balance between intuition and evidence
No data is important but your own. If metrics aren’t actionable, they aren’t useful
Optimise in small steps, innovate with daring leaps
Careful who you copy from (as they may have copied it from elsewhere)

Improvisation is…

How can we create meaning and value for people we design for when they also contribute to the meaning? Frames. Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue – the Ultimate Frame
Designers need to help people make sense of the world as the present is in motion
Improvisation is the space in which the creator and the consumer overlap
Improvisation Patterns: Present – involves the audience. Detectable – requires no pre-knowledge. Additive – accepts all offers
Improvisation is relevant today because users are shifting from pure consumers/spectators to active creator/producer
Focus more on the use of design rather than the process of design
‘Music is the pleasurable overflow of information’ – Jonah Lehre

Seduction in design is…..

Show me suggestions don’t just ask me to fill a white space
Usability reduces friction, psychology increases motivation
Need to tap into our knowledge of how people think when we design
Brains pay attention to what brains care about not necessarily what the concious mind cares about
Dopplr: Design to respond to users
We’re afraid of change, we’re intensely self-centred, we respond to our name, we like to organise things
Scarcity is motivating

Story Telling is….

The space between the comic panels is where the story is told
We have to find ourselves in everything. We recognise facial expressions, we respond to them. Not taught.
The user is the author of its own experiences
The rhythm of give and take between artist and reader is unique
Filling the field of vision creates the world of an experience. Drop the vertical page metaphor
A story well told is a hard thing to do
Animation = art as a team sport
“Storyboarding is the art of story” reboarding John Lasseter
Making a movie in 3 easy steps: design the world, design the characters, create the story (Story is by far the hardest)
Great story writers always have another idea

Making people visibly better at their jobs is…

Quality is the best business plan John Lasseter
Pain is temporary, suck is forever Jay Shuster
Peer relationship between creative and technical is integral to success
When you encounter a problem, refer to previous step and repeat until done.
I want to fail as quickly as possible Andrew Stanton
Pixar: extreme prototyping at work. Essentially making the movie before making the movie
Get something up there as quick as possible so I can critique it (rather than critique you)
Timely doesn’t have to be early
Giving a good note. Give your feedback helpfully, constructively, and when there’s still time to fix it
‘When most people say ship it, Pixar disassemble it & rebuild the prototype’
Be the users hero. Save their day.
Beautiful well-crafted UIs and workflows make people happy and productive
You need to convince the top and bottom folks: the middle will follow.
The most important thing you can do is take tension out of a room
You need to be someone who is willing to take criticism as well as give criticism
Often, the best learning is done whilst playing with the tools
Technology serves the Art, and the Art inspires the Technology

Interviewing is…

Everyone has a story – effort for interviewee is to unlock them
Think before you ask a question (don’t think while asking a question)
“Let people speak in paragraphs” Steve Portigal
Interview people in context – allows interviewers to question in real time
When interviewing – be confident enough to pause (and allow interviewees to pause) (Learn by listening back to your pauses – be aware of how much noise you are making)
Keep questions open ended – curb conjectures, kill the trailling ellipses
Find the right amount of small talk
Build rapport, not establish friendships
Avoid talking about yourself
Your first interviews inform the rest of the interviews you conduct
Adopt the language of your interviewee
Stop interview if it’s not going well

Agile UX is…

Job is to build software RIGHT, not practice agile RIGHT
Process is a placebo – it doesn’t fix anything
Agile is not a process, it is a value system, a set of principles
Own your process, own the product outcome (not the design output), facilitate effective design practice
Process is a thin veneer over organisational culture
Products are hypothoses until shippable
One product owner is a disability, should be a multi function team (At scale it takes teams of teams to build products)
Processes are like haircuts, copying someone else’s rarely works
UX in agile are the Glube (keeping it together but lubricated)
User Stories are boundary objects: a concept to describe information used in different ways by different communities
User Stories: weakly structured in common use, but strongly structured in individual site use
Design and prototype in the lowest fidelity possible until the record becomes photographs
“Design by community is not design by committee” Leisa Reichelt

Good design faster is…

Artificial constraints can be an advantage to design process
Sketching allows ideas to become legible to others
Don’t hold back from writing notes on sketches
Sketchboards: a new buzzword for a blatantly obvious technique
Sketchboards: don’t be frightened to alter the flow if it doesn’t fit. Doesn’t have to be linear
Sketchboards: to keep a group together working on a sketchboard ensure that whoever is the leader draws in stragglers, drop backs. Important to include everyone
Sketchboard Week: MONDAY AM: Brain dump PM: Start Sketches TUESDAY AM: Assemble sketchboard PM: Share & review WEDNESDAY: Create higher fidelity designs THURSDAY AM: feedback PM: Refine FRIDAY AM: More refine PM: Complete

I will be attending as a representative of Lab49 and will be co-hosting with Jason Mesut a lunchtime discussion on the Friday. We will be talking about UX interviews and portfolios.

I will also be attempting to publish a #UXLondon Daily Newspaper using Paper.li. Not a 100% sure how it will go but worth a try. After last year’s attempt to capture all #UXLondon tweets in to one place, I’m looking for a tool that can help.

This is the poster for last year’s London IA UXLondon Redux event which aimed to capture an essence of the more popular tweets (onto the layout of the venue and the rooms the conference took place in).

It and more photos can be perused here

Schooloscope is a really nice idea brought together by some very clever people but misses one extremely relevant fact – that school reports rarely provide accurate information, beyond interpretations of official data, about what a school is really like for children to attend. How do they develop? What are the problems teachers are facing? What is the mood of parents? How big is the playground? Is there any green space for children to play on? The questions are endless.

The questions that attempt to understand what it is really like for a child to attend school X are not found in school reports but by meeting and talking with children and parents from the school. Visiting the school.

The data that Schooloscope ‘teases’ out of the ‘dry tables of statistics’ for my son’s school in no way portrays the real issues going on at the school. As you scroll you are searching for real stories.

For this project to really work it now needs to add real stories. Real stories that are updated. A conversation rather than interpretations of data.

Now that is a challenge (but not impossible) and it would turn Schooloscope into a fantastic living breathing tool

The project is an excellent beginning

You can trawl through the whole set on Flickr here

I planned to present but took photos instead. The presentation was based on my recent article for Johnny Holland ‘Learning from our Childhood’.