SXSWi 2006 - Day 1
Web Design • March 15th, 2006These are some notes I took while attending SXSW Interactive 2006. I hope this post serves me as reminder of some the thoughts and ideas that energized me during the conference.
Traditional Design and New Technology
The main point of this discussion was expressed by Mark Boulton: In print design it’s all about aesthetics. You don’t need to worry about navigation and such. It’s easy to see the content. So, it’s really all about making the presentation of content look nice.
For the most part, web design is lacking this. It lacks emotional attachment, feeling. On the web, we usually don’t push to create an emotional response from users.
Of course a big reason to explain this are the constraints present in the web medium (e.g. above/below the fold, need for navigation, experience and skills of web users, etc.) In reality, I can’t imagine pushing too hard to solve this with a corporate web design, but still, the point is a great reminder to try to create real beauty in addition to function and usability whenever it’s possible.
How to Be a Web Design Superhero
Not much I didn’t know already, but what a cool presentation by Andy Clarke and Andy Budd.
The traits I do need to remember about web superheroes: They share information freely just to make the web a better place, I’m not at this point yet… I don’t feel I have enough knowledge, fame, or innovative breakthroughs to share anything with the community. Web Design Superheroes empathyze with users, not with clients (hard to do, but…) Superheroes anticipate new trends and push them in new projects.
Some random comments:
- Where are the women on web design? More women should blog – So, I’m starting.
- The days of the “jack of all trades” are gone – This puts intimidating job postings in perspective.
- Andy Budd’s most memorable victory: Getting to a point where clients actually respect his opinion, and listen to him. – This is an implied goal in my plan… Some day I may feel I’m there.
Jim Coudal and Jason Fried Keynote
The curious will inherit the earth.
On entrepreneurship:
- Start with a side project
- Fail in obscurity
- Create simpler better products than the competition. Don’t attempt to outdo them on quantity.
- Less is good: Less time to work on the project makes you more efficient. Less planning lets your create more. Less money -your money- is better invested. Less features are easier to support.
- Adding features later is better than starting with too many and then taking them away.
- Don’t build smart software that gets on the way. People can solve their own problems.
- Use the product as you build it: Don’t make decisions before you have the info. What is really needed, do now. What’s nice to have, do later.
How to Increase Creativity at Work
The brain frequencies:
- In beta the world is shit, and you need to watch out.
- In alpha you feel safe. This is when creativity can occur.
- In theta you are dreaming and you experience uncontrolled creativity. Or, your mind is unfocused, you’re taking a shower, and genius suddenly strikes.
Charles MacInerney, showed us a few ways how yoga can help us become energized while keeping our mind calm:
- The cat stretch
- A back stretch energizes
- The head down calms
- Breathing… And yogateacher proceeded to show us an impressive inhalation and exhalation that took what felt like several minutes.
- Posing and exhaling like a warrior
- Posing like a king: chest up, graceful hand gestures.
For more info and techniques, MacInerney suggested visiting this site.
How to Create Passionate Users
An excellent presentation by Kathy Sierra.
People are passionate about things they’re good at. If you want users to be passionate about your product, you need to help them move up on the learning curve.
The first hurdle to pass is the brain’s crap filter. One vital function of the brain is to forget anything that is not critical, otherwise we’d go crazy with so much information.
In order to pass the crap filter, we need to give the brain something to care about… something unusual… threatening… something that the brain will be forced to bring into our consciousness. For instance, brains care about faces, about stuff unresolved, confusing, unexpected, scary, beautiful, funny, or overly cute and innocent. Also, conversational language gets more attention from the brain than formal language.
You are in flow when time flies while you’re doing something. You keep on working on a challenging activity because you believe you have the skills and knowledge needed to conquer the challenge, and because you truly believe you are almost there.
Initially, while you suck at something, your brain is ok working to pass that phase only if the future outcome is compelling enough, and if there is a clear path for how to get there (i.e. steps). So, to help people get up on the learning curve, you need to keep them on this cycle: Get attention – Build attention – Do challenging activity – Get payoff. If the final payoff is too difficult, you need to move people gradually on levels.
Give meaning to users. Give them something they can identify with. People are tribal by nature. They want to belong… So silly things like t-shirts, stickers and other collateral stuff from your brand play that function.
In the end, it’s not about you, your product, your company, your awards and testimonials. It’s about how your users feel about themselves. You need to give them an “I RULE!” experience. You’ve got to help them get in flow.
