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Hi people I am mostly on twitter these days ... you may join me over there for lot of interesting links.

My username is meghnaj

Brief History of Wireframes

It comes from Product Design as shown in the picture. Wireframes were a visual representation of 3D objects. Usually created through computer modelling but the above picture is a real life steel wireframes, really standing on the road.

It’s an actual full-scale three-dimensional wireframe model created by artist Benedict Radcliffe. It was comissioned by Japan’s Dentsu Inc. for an ad campaign in the Middle East. Each of Radcliffe’s models, which also include a Lambourghini, is painstakingly crafted from welded 10mm steel tubes.

What are Wireframes?

Wireframes is a grey-scale visual representation of the structure of application screens (or web pages).  It indicates the size, placement, layout, widgets of the elements on the screen. Although it does not have colors, it show to a large extent the visual hierarchy of the page. Wireframes can be built using paper or computer apps like visio and powerpoint.

see Amazing Paper Wireframes

Change Quickie

Small irritants become a big pain when it comes to high productivity applications. The more someone believes and appreciates this the better will life be for the end user.

Its a nice challenge to convince someone why the items in the list should act on a single click vs. a double click. Or why should the space allocated to a list of choices should be bigger by 20%. So why should anyone care about these small issues?

Well looks like someone did...

At the supermarket the other day, while i was getting change from the cashier I noticed that the screen showed the possible choices of amount that the customer would have paid. So all the cashier had to do was touch the correct choice and look at the change to give back. How cool is that!!

Ushaka Sea World

The 9x Effect

9x effect is about a HBR article - Eager buyers and Stoney Sellers. 

Ownership effect says that we value something more the moment we begin owning it. And the more we own it, the more we value it. This is a cognitive bias.

A buyer thinks that what he owns has a greater value than what he doesn't own. A seller thinks that what he sells has a greater value than what others sell.

Studies say that a buyer values his product 3 times more that what its value is. Same for the seller. So together there is a 3*3x or 9x disparity between the product that you own and the one 

someone it trying to sell it to you. This is why selling is so darn hard.

According to the above theory, changing products is not a rational decision but an emotional one. 

So not only the seller needs to present a rational case but rather an emotional case to convince the buyer.

Can't get over it :D

( MJ be serious...blog babee blog!!)

Welcome to Durban!

All the best for IPL!

Art Work as a Teenager

Art is like meditation. It requires patience and extreme concentration. What results is sheer pleasure and peace to self. I advice all small kids to get into art all the time. Considering shrinking (anorexic) attention spans, art helps to keep your faith in patience and perseverence.

The Cliffhanger Effect

Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik first studied the phenomenon after her professor, Gestalt psychologist Kurt Lewin, noticed that a waiter had better recollections of still undelivered orders.

Also known as Zeigarnik Effect, this phenomenon happens because the mind has a natural tendency to remember open or unfinished thoughts.

Even students are advised to leave certain learning incomplete when taking breaks from studying, because doing so will result in better retention.

Ektaa's K-series always ends with a feeling of wanting more of it in its next episode. She ends with an element of surprise without revealing what that could be.

Currently the advertisers are making a full use of it. Here's how - "When you get good at it, you can identify your prospect’s problem, tease them mercilessly by alluding to the solution, then lead them to sweet release only when they are sufficiently worked up into a buying frenzy."

UX designations in India

In the beginning in India, there were just artists. With the advent of computers artists started working on GUIs. These people made skins for UIs and gradually they were in large numbers and called themselves Graphic Artists.

So, the more posh of them who studied from posh schools abroad actually understood the difference between design and art distinguished themselves as graphic designers. These graphic designers were all over, making brochures, cards and soon Logos.

With the internet boom in India, the smarter graphic designers started providing services in making websites where they created Logos, banners and templates pages with the HTML work. The promoted their designation to web designers.

With the IT boom in India, many web-designers were hired by IT companies to work not on websites but web applications. They did the same stuff though but got lot more money and so got promoted to UI designers.

Then there were UI designers who worked as web designers earlier. This means they know how the UI actually worked and not just looked. These people provided the service of creating the entire front-end. They not only made the visuals but also gave you the HTMLs for it. And so, UI designers meant one knew html as well.

At that time some people began to study a thing called usability from abroad. They presumed they were smarter and posher than a UI designer because they could make the s/w easier to use. So they started calling themselves usability engineers.

Usability engineers needed the money to pay for the MS education loans so they decided to directly jump one position over UI designers. They began to give the UI to UI designers who would go ahead and develop it.

Some visually inclined usability engineers and usability inclined UI designers merged the roles between the two and called themselves then interaction designers.

By this time there were postings in forums for usability engineers, interaction designers and UI designers. Slowly companies had a whole division dedicated to such people. So there where hierarchies built as in any other division. Then there were posting for senior interaction UI designers. designers, principle designers, evangelists. Now the last category for interesting. In order to survive as a division in a company you need to generate revenue. So, the evangelists where the people who specialized in brainwashing. Well, they convinced the organization for usability and got more projects.

All companies pretty much delivered the same quality work - good or bad dunno. Well, how could they then pitch for work differently. Well there are names just like this post. They called themselves all different things like User Experience Groups, Consumer Experience Group, Communication Design Group, Art Department, Usability Group, Design Group, etc. But pretty much they all did the same work.

Soon, more quality work started to happen in these departments thanks to all the convincing. So came newer positions like usability analysts. They did something called expert review. Expert reviews was a way to showcase talents in the company. You could get more work through expert reviews.

The departments became richer and realized that they could now afford a usability lab. "This is one thing that all westerners have and also makes us look more professional" they said. So the newest posting of a user researcher. Plus of course the money.

Well this is pretty much the story of UX in India.

Awesome Samsung Ad

Selling Vaastu .. lol!

This is a fun thing I did a while ago. I posed as the wife of a Vaastu obsessed husband and went around hunting for a perfect Vaastucompatible house. Don't ask me the reason but just listen to what happened. What i want to exhibit through the conversation is to what extent the brokers sell vaastu with their half baked knowledge. 

Me: Bhaiya, is this house Vaastu compliant?

Broker: Absolutely madam!! Take it and go

Me: How can you say its Vaastu compliant?

Broker: Madam the entrance is north facing which is best in vaastu.

Me: Since my husband and I are manglik, we want south facing entrance. 

Broker: It is south facing madam...

Me:...but just now you said its north facing

Broker: No madam you are standing opposite to me no.. so its south facing for you.

Me:(perplexed .. :~ ..wtf!!) Do you have a compass to prove?

Broker: (is compass a thing to carry:-)) Madam, what are saying..i have been working here for past 10 years i know this house?

Me: So you havn't sold this house for the past 10 years!!

Broker: He he.. not this one, I am refering to other houses in building..

Me: How do I know that this is a south facing entrance?

Broker: You can ask the neighbours

(So we go out and there is noone in sight except for some construction guys)

Broker: (shouts at them) Raise you hand and tell madam that it is a south facing entrance

(Unanimouslythey all pick up their hands and tell me that it is a south facing entrance..arghh! Is there anyway to beat this guy!!)

Me: There is a garbage waste outside the building entrance... this is inauspicious.. you cannot have such a thing according to vaastu

Broker: No madam, vaastu says there should be no waste on the same side of the road as of the building.. the waste you saw is on opposite of the road madam... its fine!

Me: (phew) Why is the bathroom right in front when you enter house?

Broker: It signifies that you discard harmful substances right at the entrance and then enter the house in pure form.

Me: (i need to nail him down ...) According to vaastu the bedroom should be in the south east...but this one is not so?? (got him!!)

Broker: No Madam, remember you just asked for a south facing entrance no.. the bedroom then should rightfully be in the north-west, it is there madam..

So finally convinced (but not convinced) I made an excuse and went out fuming with disbelief.

A Mallu Party

I have decided to be more visual than literary. This is how I expressed myself when my mother asked me to think of getting married into a mallu family. After seeing this poster she suggested it no more. 

Learnability vs. Likeability

For one of my recent projects I had to supervise graphic design work. This was the first of its kind of experience. My whole career was UI/Interaction design centric. Frankly it was a different world all together. Here is what i felt differently

When I make a UI, I use the design scenarios to test its usability with users. So the user walks through it, while I watch him using the interface. Its like water flowing. As a rock comes by, it obstructs the flow and one can notice it and correct it. But when it comes to graphics, what the hell do I test and how?? What do I say.. do you like it? Why don't you like it?? (don't you know how much time we have spent in coming up with this 'not seen before' graphics and you don't have the taste to appreciate it??) 

Well unlike UI there is nothing to learn here.. You can make the user learn something but you cannot make him like something!! This is a big challenge. I cannot say that "oh sure he will like it over a period of time". If he doesn't like, he doesn't like it. Simple. Get on with work and make more alternatives..phew!!

Another challenge is how does one decide what is best for the user. This is tricky because even if you ask him if you like this and he says yes and then ask him why do you like it and the user is shut up. He never seems to know why he likes or doesn't like something. It's a feeling, how does he explain it?? Well, to get over this problem we researched on how coke and pepsi are tested with end users. We then designed a test to efficiently and indirectly test the graphics with the users. It gave us the user's needs, wants and desires that he wants fulfilled. Something that gives him what he wants to feel about it. 

This experience was certainly an eye-opener towards visual design and how hard it is to get it right. I can now appreciate the rigour of what graphic designers go through.