My wife, who is far better at writing than me (good job as she's our copy writer and content strategist), wrote about our standard client questionnaire which we ask clients to complete when they come to us to talk about a project. I should have written about it myself but as I say, she's much better at it than me - tell us your thoughts, both clients and fellow designers opinions welcomed!
Apple have released IOS5 (and a new phone, you may have heard of it), much will be written about new features, the notification centre, the ground breaking ability to take a photo by pressing an actual physical button - but I don't have the time or inclination to write a 5,000 word review. I do have the inclination to write about the "Newsstand" however, or as I shall call it from now on "The Last Spasms Of A Dying Business Model" TLSOADBM for short. Specifically I am writing about the new Guardian iPad app - the shiniest, yet most backwards looking piece of software associated with TLSOADBM (alright, Newstand). What's great. Initially at least, the app is good looking and easy to use. It's clear, fast, responsive to touches and swipes. Full screen photography (in both landscape and portrait) is included with many articles, inline hyperlinks have been inserted leading off site for more info.
What's terrible. Leaving the elephant in the room for a moment -
The worst thing they have done, and it's unforgivable - the paper is out of date by the time you download it. The app is a literal representation of that days paper with all of the major drawbacks that that implies. A new edition is available at 6AM UK time, if a plane flew into the houses of parliament at 6:01, this app would't tell you about it. Integration with the up to date, regularly visited website is tacked on to the side of some articles as if they knew there should be something but were't quite sure what to do.
There's also a "On The Website" link as the final piece of the main navigation, which loads up new stories of the day - as if being up to date is something you may want to opt out of.
A simple responsive design for the Guardians existing website would have solved all of the problems, and for a fraction of the cost of this app. They could have offered the option of a paid subscription (for the very reasonable price of £9.99 a month) which would not show me any adverts. For people unwilling or unable to pay - the adverts stay the way they are on the current site. I don't think I'm new with this idea, ah what's this? The Boston Globe did it just the other day to massive international acclaim.
I should add, that the competition on Newsstand is broadly just as bad and generally worse than The Guardian iPad app. The Metro is an embarrassment of press release regurgitation in the physical world already, their iPad implementation is laughable. You're forced into landscape (despite the splash screen starting in portrait?), it's typographically hideous, text is uninteractive, calls to action do not look touchable, lazy, dull navigation dominates the top of the screen and it also uses the "daily issue" metaphor we so soundly threw away the day the internet invented blogs.
The Guardian app is a step backwards not forwards, it is trying to fit an old media paradigm (the daily print) into a world where days don't really exist, into a world where we can update things as they happen, in a world where you can write an article about a terrorist attack as soon as it happens in 6 words, extend it to 6 paragraphs an hour later and extend that to a 6 section in depth analysis. None of the possibilities and advantages of working with a fast, constantly connected smart media device are used, even when doing so would be cheaper.
Newststand will never be the success iTunes or the App Store have been, it will probably find a market for those who haven't yet moved away from the monthly publishing model (I admit I obsessively collect SFX magazine (also available on iPad)), but for anyone who has got used to a stream of articles rather than chunks handed out at the discretion of publishers - it's a bit pointless.
You fail Guardian, you fail totally and utterly in a way I did not expect you to. This endeavour deserves to die a quick painless death, and although I'm sure it will die, I sadly think it will be long and drawn out, over shadowing what will come next. I want to pay for your content, I want to access it in a timely manner, I don't want adverts and I want to access your content on the device of my choosing, why don't you want my money?
A short blog this week, but I am trying to force myself to write more so instead of just clicking "complete" and not actually posting - I'll tell you quickly about Pomodoro Technique (PT) for concentrating your time and getting better at planning. I'm terrible at staying focussed - I don't seem to be able to fix the problem so instead I use tools to help me better deal with it. The best tool I have come across is Getting Things Done by David Allen, you all already know and practice good GTD though right? The PT however is a simple mind trick you can learn in a day, that helps you really focus on the actual things you need to get done. You don't need any shiny software, all you need is a kitchen timer (or other timing device) and a pen and paper. I use an app I got from the App Store, but you really could use anything.
At it's heart, PD divides your day into 25 minute work sessions and 5 minute break periods, along with larger breaks throughout the day (and lunch ofc!) concentrating, uninterrupted on a given task for that entire 25 minutes and being very strict about keeping distraction clear from your minds eye view.
The PT has genuinely helped me map my days out better, and to be realistic about what I can and can't get done in a given time, try it out, at most you have 25 minutes to lose :)
I hear that some people read their entire twitter stream. The whole thing. Without ever giving up and saying "sod this for a game of soldiers" and scrolling to the top. I know I "need" twitter, like it or loathe it, it's taken over from mailing lists and RSS feeds as the fastest way to stay up to date with the web dev world, after all we invented the web, not surprising we use it more than anyone else.
I currently follow 227 people, after one of my monthly culls. I estimate I read/skim about 10% of the stream, and from what I do read, 1% is relevant, 99% is crap. And I really mean crap. Insights into the personal lives of people I don't know is just noise, the link to the interesting and helpful article about responsive design? That's signal.
The day someone invents a usefulness filter and sticks it on Twitter I'll be a happy man.
Oh and if I could figure out how to remove all the spammy followers, I'd probably follow more people, as I'd follow back the interesting people who follow me, but who get lost in a sea of media drones, marketing bots and special deal tweeting machines for countries I don;t even live in.
Sort it out Twitter :)
One of the big projects I have on right now is a Shopify based shop for a client who sells hand made baby clothes, crystals and other related items. She was in fact the impetus for my HTML5 Boilerplate for Shopify site. My client, and she won't mind me describing her as this as she's an old friend - is terrified of computers. Where I spend 8-10 hours a day directly online, and never further than 5 feet from a connected device, she checks her email once a week. Where I use a top of the range Macbook Pro linked to a 27inch screen, she has a basic version of Windows 7 on a 12inch sub notebook. Our experience of computers & the internet is totally and utterly different.
Learning to empathise with your clients is essential, it's the same skill you should be using to empathise with the users of the sites that you create. Presuming the same level, or even a similar level of technical experience and know how will lead to disaster. I have worked in many a team where we trot out the old "Users are stupid" line. But it's not true is it? They aren't "stupid" they just aren't as knowledgable in our field as we are. It is our job as good designers, as good UX creators to think how other people feel and to design to fit them not to fit us.
Why did I mention this client? Well - she had to copy a lot of data into Shopify when she started adding her products. Shopify does have a CSV upload option but given the technical nature of the upload - we decided to go with the straight web interface instead. When we did the training to show her how to insert copy, well let's just say even I was surprised.
Apparently the best thing I have taught her so far is that CMD-C copies whatever you selected, CMD-V pastes it and CMD-Z is a magic undo. She's now very very happy.
Do not treat your clients or users as stupid, they are not. They are just not you. We spend our lives so deep inside Twitter, or Facebook or Tumblr or any one of a dozen other places, we have smart phones, iPads, Kindels and the sort of technology that ten years ago would have looked like magic, most people do not.
Be kind, be understanding, do not get frustrated. lacking experience is not stupidity.