Karl A L Smith

human knowledge belongs to the world

Usability

5 User Experience (Customer Journey) lies, damn lies and absolute myths

1. Anyone can do user experience, nope! I meet a lot of people claiming to do user experience, process and deliverables aside, they don’t have a usability background so they cannot do user experience. User experience is a solution capability based upon…

#Dependant on #dumb #data and is making #bad #choices? #Douglas #Adams

Data, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence Clients don’t understand their customers, they just think they do! It’s not for the lack of trying or spending millions on developing and building huge data systems, the problems are many but can be traced back…

#Cognition #Clash in the #IoT #SXSW

Thank you to everyone who attended our (Karl Smith and Thom Heslop) talk at SXSW, it’s the start of a long road into a really complex and contextual problem. But being silent in the crowd as the King walks by…

What is a #User in #Professional #UX?

What is a User in Professional UX? Below is a simple guide to find out if you have users involved in your project. A person who is part (employed or service team) of a contracted consultancy – IS NOT A USER A person…

British Airways security update stops ticket sales

I just logged into my BA account to book a ticket, but BA does not want my business because they have implemented new security without thinking about the impact on users. After making my selection I’m shown the page below…

#Agile #User #stories is a #UX #method

User stories is another name for a Cognitive Walkthrough I have been involved in Agile for a very long time, mainly because it uses methods from the human computer interaction scientific process (CHI/HCI). Organizational Agility and Business Agility Group (27,000…

5 #UX #lies, damn lies and absolute #myths

1. Anyone can do user experience, nope! I meet a lot of people claiming to do user experience, process and deliverables aside, they don’t have a usability background so they cannot do real user experience. User experience is a personal…

#User #Experience #UX #Process

The first step in user experience needs to be the recognition that every problem is different and will require a separate solution, in effect there is no quick fix or standard method.

Agile Human Centred Design (HCD) Information Architecture IA Usability User Experience (UX)

Karl Smith Fellow of the British Computer Society

I have just been confirmed as a Fellow of the British Computer Society. Thanks to all my supporters.

#UX #cognitive #interactions patterns for #IoT by #Gestalt

The psychology of visual location, shape and colour are critical to enable user to understand and interpret their location and expectations of use in any given area. Karl Smith’s research from 2002 defined additional aspects as ‘biographical templates’ that establish key perceptions and personal drivers which are linked to persona’s.

Website #help and #support systems should #avoid #FAQ

Websites conversely support users from every experience of life, who while focused on a product or service are not professionals in that product or service.

O2 Usability

O2 support has awful usability

On the O2 site you can tell it’s all user experience and no information architecture though, everything links so there are no dead ends, unfortunately the information being sought is missing it’s an annoying merry go round.

#Context matters in #Usability

While any kind of user testing is better than none, usability testing out of context is like testing a car on water, it gives some basic information and not a lot more. If performance and use are important at all, then testing should take place in an environment standard to the expected users.

#Definition of #User #Experience #UX

User experience (UX) is about how a person feels, appropriates, attributes and generally thinks about using a product, system or service. ‘Listen or well go elsewhere’, because we can and will seek our own needs before yours.