2013

article thumbnail

Optimizing UI icons for faster recognition

Boxes and Arrows

'What makes an icon a valuable addition to the interface, rather than a mere decorative element? Intuitiveness, aesthetic value, memorability, intercultural perception? While an effective icon would combine many of those characteristics, I’d like to focus on one measure–speed of recognition, or how fast a specific icon can be discovered and identified.

article thumbnail

Piloting Into the Future: Solar Impulse

Bill Fischer

'The future has often been built by those who are a bit out ahead of the rest of us; not afraid to dream, and perseverant enough to ensure that their dreams are realized. In the process, we all move forward as well. This is how change occurs, and this has been particularly well-illustrated in the accomplishment of man''s dreams of flying, as seen in the successes of such larger than life characters as: the Wright brothers; Billy Mitchell; Eddie Rickenbacker; Frenchman Louis Blériot (1872-1936,

Change 88
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Government is a service

Xplaner

'The purpose of government is to serve the people. Thomas Jefferson and Mao Zedong may not agree on much, but they do agree on this. “The purpose of government is to enable the people of a nation to live in safety and happiness. Government exists for the interests of the governed, not for the governors.” ~ Thomas Jefferson. “We serve the people… If, in the interests of the people, we persist in doing what is right and correct what is wrong, our ranks will surely thrive. ~ Mao Zedong.

56
article thumbnail

Innovating When Opportunity Knocks

Technology Created

“Too often, the opportunity knocks, but by the time you push back the chain, push back the bolt, unhook the two locks and shut off the burglar alarm, it’s too late.” – Rita Coolidge. Being a technologist is all about solutions. OK, it’s about a lot more than that. It’s also about timing, effectiveness, innovation and using the right blend of technology to address the specific problem space.

article thumbnail

Peak Performance: Continuous Testing & Evaluation of LLM-Based Applications

Speaker: Aarushi Kansal, AI Leader & Author and Tony Karrer, Founder & CTO at Aggregage

Software leaders who are building applications based on Large Language Models (LLMs) often find it a challenge to achieve reliability. It’s no surprise given the non-deterministic nature of LLMs. To effectively create reliable LLM-based (often with RAG) applications, extensive testing and evaluation processes are crucial. This often ends up involving meticulous adjustments to prompts.

article thumbnail

Survey Results: How Does Your Organization Stack Up?

Innovation Leader

We asked innovation executives about the innovation function at their organizations. Results cover topics like metrics, reporting to the board, and internal versus external focus.

Survey 40
article thumbnail

Wings: Remastered and Revisited

CorporateIntel

A few decades back, before I became a software and media executive and long before I returned to writing, I wrote the “screenplay” for a succesful computer game called Wings. That “interactive movie” — as it was marketed — was a World War I flight simulation that followed the lives of the very first fighter pilots, trying to make combat sense of fragile biplanes curiously equipped with machine guns.

More Trending

article thumbnail

A Stakeholder Interview Checklist

Boxes and Arrows

This is an excerpt from from Kim Goodwin’s excellent Designing for the Digital Age. It is quite long, so we’ve broken it into several sections. Many thanks to Ms. Goodwin and Wiley for allowing us to share this with our readers. Understanding the Business. The General Stakeholder Interview. The Marketing Stakeholder Interview. The Engineering Stakeholder Interview.

Project 106
article thumbnail

Is the iPad mobile?

Boxes and Arrows

'My Android phone died on the train when I was several stops away from my destination. I should have remembered where I was supposed to get off, but, like everyone else, I rely on technology to offload cognitive processes when I should be using my brain. Wait, I thought, I have both my iPad and my laptop in my backpack. I felt ridiculously conspicuous pulling out either just to check Google Maps.

Design 102
article thumbnail

An Open Letter to Project Managers

Boxes and Arrows

'Dear Project Managers, It has been a very enjoyable experience working with everyone over the last couple of months and sharing our ideas on UX design. The various discussions about user interface, product usability, and user engagement have been an enlightening experience for me as well, and it is very positive to see that everyone involved in the product thinks so highly about improving the user experience.

Project 98
article thumbnail

Conceptual Models in a Nutshell

Boxes and Arrows

This article explains what conceptual models are and describes the value of developing a conceptual model of a software application before designing its user interface. Conceptual Model: a Model for Users’ Mental Model. A conceptual model of an application is the model of the application that the designers want users to understand. By using the application, talking with other users, and reading the documentation, users build a model in their minds of how to use the application.

article thumbnail

How Mature Companies Are Scaling Transformational New Businesses

Scaling transformational innovations in large companies is challenging due to ‘Company Fit’ issues, which arise when the resources, processes, and priorities (RPPs) of the core business are not aligned with the needs of the new business. Many companies have learned how ambidexterity—the ability to both ‘exploit the present and explore the future,’ can help them address these issues for ideation and incubation of new innovations, but scaling transformative business innovations remains a challenge

article thumbnail

Context matters

Boxes and Arrows

'What makes a marketing e-mail or newsletter efficient? One can judge, for instance, by the number of users that opened the message or clicked on a specified element representing primary action, such as a product link or button. Those indicators measure user engagement precisely; however, they are limited to the last phase of interaction with e-mail or newsletter.

Study 91
article thumbnail

Your Boss Works for You

Boxes and Arrows

'This past June, I stood on the brink of achieving a major professional goal. The UX apprenticeship program I’d been working so hard on was going to begin on Monday. It was Thursday. On my desk lay a curious stack of paper labeled “Manager’s Onboarding Kit.”. Of all the things I’d planned for and anticipated about the apprenticeship program, becoming a manager was something I hadn’t even considered.

Design 89
article thumbnail

The Power of Collaboration

Boxes and Arrows

A quote that I stumbled on during grad school stuck with me. From the story of the elder’s box as told by Eber Hampton, it sums up my philosophy of working and teaching: “How many sides do you see?”. “One,” I said. He pulled the box towards his chest and turned it so one corner faced me. “Now how many do you see?”. “Now I see three sides.”. He stepped back and extended the box, one corner towards him and one towards me.

article thumbnail

Information Architecture’s Teenage Dilemma

Boxes and Arrows

'Imagine if you will information architecture as a pimply-faced, malcontent teenager. IA is eager to express and redefine itself. It wants to be an individual yet accepted by its peers. It is simultaneously aggravated and apathetic about its parents, mentors, and role-models. It is a bit of a mess, but a wonderful, beautiful mess with endless opportunity and potential.

article thumbnail

How Automation is Driving Efficiency Through the Last Mile of Reporting

Speaker: Jamie Eagan

As organizations strive for agility and efficiency, it's imperative for finance leaders to embrace innovative technologies and redefine traditional processes. Join us as we explore the pivotal role of digitalization and automation in reshaping what is commonly referred to as the “last mile of reporting”. We’ll deep-dive into why digitalization is no longer a choice, but a necessity for finance departments to stay competitive in a fast-paced environment touching on: 2024 trends for the Office of

article thumbnail

Researching User Experience: A Knowledge Ecology Model

Boxes and Arrows

'When we think of learning environments, we think of books, lectures, databases perhaps. But in my recent research, I discovered that the interactions we have with people in our networks play an even more important role in what we learn and how we turn information into actionable knowledge. All of the people in my study were learning how to be lecturers and how to progress their careers after spending considerable amounts of time as practitioners in a variety of industries such as business and m

article thumbnail

Are You Going Soft?

Boxes and Arrows

When was the last time you read your resume? Go ahead and give it a look. Read your last job description. It’s impressive, right? Chances are, you emphasize your accomplishments, your ability to create stunning deliverables, and your extensive knowledge of the user experience practice. Now, think back to your last project. But, ignore the deliverables and design ideas.

article thumbnail

Evolving a Creative Workplace: Step 1

Boxes and Arrows

'When a company or team experiences rapid growth, it’s exciting. But more often than not, that success comes with a price. Behind the scenes, leadership is faced with the challenge of frantically filling positions to meet the escalating client demand, teams are asked to gel quickly and work around the clock to hit client deadlines, and ultimately the quality of deliverables suffers.

article thumbnail

An Answer to the Pains of Integrating Agile and UX

Boxes and Arrows

'I recently attended UXPA 2013 in D.C. Although I was attending as a sponsor/exhibitor for Indigo Studio, I did manage to break away to go to the “There’s more than one way to skin a cat: Integrating UX into an Agile environment” session. It tied in quite nicely with the book I’m reviewing here. As sometime director of Design at Infragistics, I personally have had first hand experience trying to integrate UX into an existing, established Agile engineering process with large-ish teams.

Agile 80
article thumbnail

The Big Payoff of Application Analytics

Outdated or absent analytics won’t cut it in today’s data-driven applications – not for your end users, your development team, or your business. That’s what drove the five companies in this e-book to change their approach to analytics. Download this e-book to learn about the unique problems each company faced and how they achieved huge returns beyond expectation by embedding analytics into applications.

article thumbnail

Going Beyond “Yes – and…”

Boxes and Arrows

'My first experience in improvisational comedy was in 1989. I was a freshman at Texas A&M University. Some of the students in the theater department decided to get an improv troupe started and somehow talked me into joining them. In the beginning, I was petrified to perform without a script. Looking back now, I can see just how much improv has taught me and how it informs the decisions I make when working with a project team to create a cohesive user experience.

Project 80
article thumbnail

Clicking Fast and Slow

Boxes and Arrows

'Through social psychology and cognitive science, we now know a great deal about our own frailties in the way that we seek, use, and understand information and data. On the web, user interface design may work to either exacerbate or counteract these biases. This article will give a brief overview of the science then look at possible ways that design and implementation can be employed to support better judgements.

article thumbnail

Drilling Into Lean UX

Boxes and Arrows

'Overall I found Lean UX to be an incredibly insightful and helpful compilation of principles and suggestions for practice/improving process and collaboration as outlined in my review of the book. As I was reading, though, I had some questions come up that I felt weren’t answered–or maybe I missed the answer. Since others may have these same questions, we appreciate Jeff Gothelf agreeing to answer them for Boxes and Arrows.

LEAN 78
article thumbnail

Becoming More Innovative in 2014

Bill Fischer

Organizations don't innovate, people do. Organizations that are admired for being especially innovative don't hire genetically different people than are available to the rest of us, they just make different managerial choices that allow their people to be more innovative. Leadership does this (or, doesn't), and, as a result, innovative [.

article thumbnail

Mapping Digital Transformation: Retail’s Strategic Shift

Speaker: Jennifer Wright, Michael Scholz, Jasmin Guthmann, and Scott Canney

Digital transformation in retail is so much more than new technology. You need to get your whole organization, from entry-level workers to executives, on board with the new tech, new skills, and culture changes that digital transformation brings. Leading this mindset shift can be a daunting task… but that’s where this webinar comes in! Join our panel of experts as they guide you through the challenges of digital transformation, preparing you to avoid common mistakes and make the most of incredib

article thumbnail

Becoming More Innovative in 2014

Bill Fischer

Organizations don't innovate, people do. Organizations that are admired for being especially innovative don't hire genetically different people than are available to the rest of us, they just make different managerial choices that allow their people to be more innovative. Leadership does this (or, doesn't), and, as a result, innovative [.

article thumbnail

The Shallow Dive

Boxes and Arrows

'At a recent job, my department faced large budget cuts. When the dust had cleared, I found I had become a UX group of one. This didn’t come with a corresponding slowdown in work – in fact, following a major rewrite of our call center application, our department was already struggling to keep pace with a backload of business initiatives.

Design 72
article thumbnail

Evolving a Creative Workplace: Step 5

Boxes and Arrows

'In this ongoing discussion about growing creative teams organically, I’ve shared how to prepare your organization for successful expansion, how to plant the right elements into the mix, how to “ water ” for sustainable growth, and then how adding fertilizer can take your group’s motivation to the next level. Tilling and experimenting follow once everything’s been humming along smoothly for a while.

article thumbnail

Evolving a Creative Workplace: Step 2

Boxes and Arrows

'In my last installment , I shared how Greg, Tim, and I prepared Intuitive Company for success by focusing on creating an open work environment in every sense of the term. Planting , or placing the right elements into the mix, was our next step. We wanted every aspect of our environment to be a positive influence and encourage great work. You can’t achieve that without first having the right people.

article thumbnail

How to Achieve Product-Market Fit

Speaker: Dan Olsen - Product Management Trainer and Consultant, Author, and Speaker

Everyone working on a product is trying to achieve the same goal: product-market fit. But most products fail to do so. In this webinar, product management expert Dan Olsen will share his simple but effective framework for achieving product-market fit from his book The Lean Product Playbook. He will explain his Product-Market Fit Pyramid and The Lean Product Process, a 6-step methodology that guides you through how to: Determine your target customer Identify underserved customer needs Define your

article thumbnail

How Big Are Your Dreams?

Bill Fischer

London Street Art, May 2013 When President Obama recently dared graduates at Ohio State University to be better, to do better, to reject cynicism, he was inviting them to dream bigger, as well. Organizations that dream bigger than others, innovate better than others. A few years ago, I was involved in [.

article thumbnail

How Big Are Your Dreams?

Bill Fischer

London Street Art, May 2013 When President Obama recently dared graduates at Ohio State University to be better, to do better, to reject cynicism, he was inviting them to dream bigger, as well. Organizations that dream bigger than others, innovate better than others. A few years ago, I was involved in [.

article thumbnail

Evolving a Creative Workplace: Step 3

Boxes and Arrows

'In my last two installments, I shared how Greg, Tim, and I prepared Intuitive Company for success by creating an open work environment and then “ planting ” the right people into our culture. Watering is next—and it’s critical. After a team of senior professionals were in place and had formed a strong foundation for Intuitive Company, we had to set them up for success to ensure things kept running smoothly so that our culture and growth wouldn’t wither.

article thumbnail

2013 User Experience Awards

Boxes and Arrows

'The 2013 User Experience Awards were presented Tuesday, May 21, 2013, at Parson’s Tischman Auditorium in New York. The host and organizer of the ceremony was Beverly May, Founder and President of Oxford Technology Ventures. A keynote address was given by Robyn Peterson, CTO of Mashable. Before introducing the jurors, Beverly spoke about the mission of the UX Awards, which is “not just to celebrate the winners, but to determine what great, award-winning UX is.” After messages f

article thumbnail

Software Composition Analysis: The New Armor for Your Cybersecurity

Speaker: Blackberry, OSS Consultants, & Revenera

Software is complex, which makes threats to the software supply chain more real every day. 64% of organizations have been impacted by a software supply chain attack and 60% of data breaches are due to unpatched software vulnerabilities. In the U.S. alone, cyber losses totaled $10.3 billion in 2022. All of these stats beg the question, “Do you know what’s in your software?