“This was one of the clips shown in Nathan Shedroff & Chris Noessel’s talk on SciFi and UI design at Dconstruct’09. They’ve published the talk notes here [18MB PDF].

If you haven’t already seen it, you may also want to check out this Pixar short film on alien abductions and bad UI design.”

via 90 Percent of Everything

Who wants that? As a researcher, we get excited about any sort of insight. But to our clients, we want them to say: “YES! You’re right! That’s what we need to do!”

The video below is an example of this excitement regarding how the Millennial generation, or otherwise known as Generation Y, will be in power as consumers, decision makers, and leaders of our nation. While this is a marketing video, it’s nothing new. But the message they communicated was clear, meaningful, and factually true. It’s on the future of voting and the motivations that will lead to their decision making. Very timely, but more importantly, was that it came from their voice. In some ways, when doing the research and uncovering answers to “why” questions, I think that it’s fair to have them present their message in a compelling way like below.

Generation WE: The Movement Begins… from Generation We on Vimeo.

Even though this may be a marketing video, the things they say are presumable a result of the interviews, and analysis conducted in the field. The message remains the same with the statistical facts threaded throughout the screens. The difference here is that instead of trying to make some kind of production with footage from a lab study (that always has horrible audio), putting extra effort into the pitch of why the things studied are so important will come off as a much more important argument.

I don’t believe there is any bias in the way it is filmed either. All the things they said are true. It’s no different than having us, as experts, provide a bulleted list of recommendations on a PowerPoint deck. Instead, why not craft the presentation in a way that still comes from the people?

My hope is that more research can be presented in this way because so much of this stuff is lost in the piles of white papers. We can appeal to a broader audience who can help make these changes we are recommending once we put it in a way that really resonates with them. The cost of production is getting lower with cheaper video cameras, adapters that allow us to achieve cinematic aesthetic, and free software to stitch it all together. It’s time to shake things up some more.

Have a good morning!

Just wanted to see the likelihood of posting this way out of sheer novelty. Definitely not mature enough.

internets is a bunch of tubes

If you don’t get it, then please refer to the old favorite YouTube video of Ted Stevens expressing his deep understanding of the World Wide Web:

The complete opposite to the new law recently in effect on sending SMS text messages while operating a motor vehicle. Simply astounding.

Lots of changes are happening around here. Not physically, but here on the web. After overcoming my denial with how broken the experience was around the site, I finally got off my ass to consolidate my pages within Wordpress. After a healthy update to the admin interface, I am now on my way to unified bliss. I must say that the new v2.5+ WP update is a huge improvement. Plus, I’m diggin’ the orange highlights. I digress. In any case, there might be some hiccups along the way, so I’d be great to get your feedback when something looks or smells funny. In terms of visual design, that’s not my forte, so using themes is the way to go! Weee!

How this is going to work:

The root directory of kvwong.com is now the main featured posting page. No longer a blog, per se, but a journal of thoughts that I find interesting both online and in the real world. Thus, I’ve called it Fieldnotes. A record keeping medium of all the work-arounds, unique uses, or exciting examples of people interacting with technology. This is going to be pretty raw and lightly processed. My goal is to two fold:

1) Improve my critical observation skills
2) Incorporate more media, like photography and video, into my work in interesting ways

Within Fieldnotes, you will still find the usual suspects like contact information, general background about myself, the curriculum vitae and lastly, my ever aging portfolio – not metaphorical to wine.

Now here’s the tricky part: I’ve recently begun planning KVW Studios. I will soon be launching my official photography portfolio to the masses separate from Flickr. There I start my path towards small business endeavors. What that entails is still a bit fuzzy, but exciting none the less. The other critical component to KVW Studios is the educational component. While there are plenty of sites that help people get off the ground with photo 101 stuff, I hope to bring something of value too.

Suggestions and ideas are warmly welcome. I’m big on collaboration, and working together. So, hopefully thing will be more of a partnership than anything else.

Cheers,
Kevin

Because they are a cycle or two behind. While they are catching up with features and throwing in an extra bit or two (see 3G and GPS), companies like Nokia and Apple are already testing their next revisions for the next release that elegantly solves major issues and more.

So a whole bunch of news is trickling down the pipes with new phones coming out of every mobile handset carrier. The ones getting most attention are the ones with touch screen, 3G, television, music, fashion something, blah blah blah. However, a lot of these kinds of ambitious handsets came out post-iPhone (speaking more to the marketing than actual technology/implementation). What I’m trying to say is that without companies like Apple and Nokia taking a leap in design, consumers wouldn’t have these kinds of wonderful interaction models for another several product cycles. But ever since big names like Apple entered the market, the whole house goes crazy with finger flicking interfaces and tiled buttons. Yes, these are great products, and they are designed and developed by smart people, but the business side didn’t get it until someone else did it first. What does that say about the whole vertical (in America)? Do you believe you will get the same kind of awe inspiring experience daily from such a thing? I question that.

Japan is way ahead of us because of their bold steps to try something different or created a handset that was for a very specific niche. What’s nice is that they get to try out very interesting and immersive user experience models that could inspire new ways to do mobile for the regular joe. These companies are the same ones thinking about the future and are positioning themselves for success with multiple product/service deployments for the next several years. Game changing models. Not the, “well people want 3G so lets give it to them, or and a 10 megapixel camera too! too expensive? okay make that 5.” WTF would you do with 5 fucking mega pixels on a lens smaller than your IQ? Wonder why you couldn’t get that night shot of that Justin Timberlake picture with your phone? because you fell for the marketing. 3G? why do you think the Black Jack comes with two batteries?

My point is not to say my needs are your needs, because their not and you have every right to want certain things. However, you should think about the details: the interaction you have with your phone on a day to day basis. Is it fun to use all the time? Is it easy to get to where you want to do? Do you feel delighted to have such a product? How do you talk about it with your friends? What kinds of words do you use to describe it? Are you even excited about it when you talk about it?

Those “Wow” features are only Wow-tastic if it really does enable something greater, like saving me time and frustration by finally letting me listen to voicemails in any order I want and stop and play as I want. Or show me text in a way that acts like a conversation (IM) thread as opposed to an ugly list of text where I need to click in and out of screens to read the messages from the same person within the same conversation! Form and Features (should) follow Function.

What does your phone really enable you? Notice the commercials Apple used to show off the iPhone. They didn’t talk about features, they told stories about how those features affected your life beyond the phone. That’s a forward thinking product. That’s a design thinking company. That’s the kind of company I can trust in making sure I enjoy what I buy, even if it cost me $600.