Working on an open-source project captures the imagination. It taps straight into an emotional desire to make the world a better place. What an amazing, brave and inspiring idea! What a huge pool of energy and enthusiasm!?? All that energy and within moments a casual idea can turn into committed code and a feature - KAPPOW!
Dream or nightmare? How do we make sure that energetic, enthusiastic, intelligent, talented people direct their energy into applications, features and functions that people want to use?Who is this mythical end-user who bends to our will and is eager to invite all our fantastic features into their life? Are they a bug squished into the punch-card of our ideal development process or a valuable tool that will help us make applications that are loved by millions? We have to start thinking about target users. Who are they? What do they care about? How do we find out and how do we keep that central to our design and development processes? From Paper Cuts to UX Advocates what are they and why should you care about them.
*Please note that these slides were for a presentation so may make little sense without me be highly amusing and informative at the same time as you are looking at them.
1. Kiss the end-user goodbye curbing design by enthusiasm Ivanka Majić [email_address] www.canonical.com September 2010
2. Kiss the end-user goodbye This session Background Who am I and what have I got against the end-user Exercising constraint Who is this end-user? We need target users. We need to curb design by enthusiasm. Tools Research, Personas, paper cuts, UX advocates, communication. Limits. Freedom and responsibilities. Skipping, bicycles and vitamin habits.
5. Background Introductions Who am I? People. Design. Technology. Where am I? design.canonical.com Ivankamajic.com What do I do? Creative Strategy Lead, Canonical Design. Open-source. Ubuntu.
8. Making Linux Sexy: connecting with your end users Background Much more recent
9. For Linux, and open source, to achieve "total world domination," open source needs to follow Apple's lead and focus on interface design as much as infrastructure architecture. This session will address ways that open-source communities can keep the end-user in mind, without sacrificing ideals like freedom. Abstract
13. For Linux, and open source, to achieve "total world domination," open source needs to create GREAT* apps. This session will address ways that open-source communities can think about and work with their users to create GREAT apps; without sacrificing ideals like freedom. *Emphasis from comment by Matthew Spellman ( http://thoughtlounge.squarespace.com/ ) on Ginger Coons' ( http://adaptstudio.ca/ ) presentation at LGM Abstract
14. Background What I do http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxtongue/4381819572
23. Exercising constraint Do one thing and do it well Open-source and Unix "Doug McIlroy, the inventor of Unix pipes and one of the founders of the Unix tradition, summarized the philosophy as follows: This is the Unix philosophy: Write programs that do one thing and do it well. Write programs to work together. Write programs to handle text streams, because that is a universal interface. This is usually abridged to "Write programs that do one thing and do it well.”” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
29. Exercising constraint Target users Personas and scenarios Be clear about who your target audience is. Get to know them. Really understand what they need. Understand the context of use and scenario for the product. Understand the context of use for the feature.
32. “ If you are unsure of any Brand Guidelines issues in your presentation please ask a member of the design team.” Exercising constraint Goals. Users. Technology. Ivanka Majic Creative Strategy Lead Goals Be clear about what the project aims to achieve. Users Design for a specific target user. Know them. Understand the context of use and prioritise. Technology Build it well.
36. Let's take a moment to remember end-users for what they were. A very poor tool used to perpetuate discussion rather than make GREAT things. http://www.flickr.com/photos/to-steve/196143919/
40. How do we make sure engineers and designers are on the same page ? Understand Understand how we can create a bridge between designers and engineers in this context. UX Advocates Assign and support a mediator. A user-representative. An expert. Communicate Language. Tools. Behaviour.. More laughing.
43. Kiss the end-user goodbye Conclusions Design in open-source Open-source is more than technology. Design roles are being created and we going to have to work on new ways of collaborating. Design integrity Clarify your project goals and stay true to those. Be honest. Be clear. Know and understand your target audience. Tools Communicate. Work together.