DESIGNING *for humans

How will the metaverse be designed as it disrupts design?

Much is being written about the potential impact of the metaverse on consumers & businesses, but little about how it will affect those creating it – the researchers, designers, & developers who will define these new experiences. While emerging roles, skills & tools will make design management more complex & critical, human-centered methods remain at the core. 

Published on EY.com - https://www.ey.com/en_us/consulting/how-will-metaverse-be-designed-as-it-disrupts-design

 

"U. I. Joe" and "The Journey (Map) is Not the Reward"

 

Long time no see here over at the blog. I've been remiss in sharing updates, one from last week, and two from last year:

• U. I. Joe - A Real Experience Hero covers President Biden's recent executive order to improve customer experience across federal agencies. I discuss the impact of the order, but also how the order itself can be a model for documenting experience design goals.
  
  
• The journey (map) is not the reward from last year discusses the challenges organizations face when creating journey maps, and recommendations for better researching and managing the process.
  
  
• Digital Multipliers - Bridging the Digitial Divide Locally covers our efforts here in Philadelphia to address the technology gap in the context of education.

Comparative Global Design Law

I had the opportunity to review the recently published Comparative Global Design Law, edited by Elizabeth D. Ferrill. The book provides an overview of international design intellectual property law and then dives into the details for the major IP jurisdictions, including China, the European Union, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

This is a great book from the perspectives of either an educational read straight-through or referencing a particular chapter/geography as needed. I appreciated the clarity, and especially the consistency across regions, which is sometimes lacking when there are multiple contributors.

What was most valuable to me was the specific attention given to graphical user interfaces (GUIs) both in the content and the annotated illustrations. For example, the illustrations above are excerpts of how a representative user interface is specified within a design patent (in this example, within Japan). A similar approach is used to convey how physical product designs are documented across jurisdictions.

The one limitation with a work like this is currency, as design laws will change over time, albeit gradually. But it stands as a comprehensive and accessible reference for the state of the art as of 2020.

How design can increase adoption of COVID-19 exposure notification apps

I have a new post on EY.com discussing the unique user experience challenges of COVID-19 exposure notification apps.

In brief:

• Lack of awareness, trust and understanding impact the use of COVID-19 exposure notification apps.
• User-centered design methods can identify and proactively address issues of understanding and usability.
• Ongoing user feedback is essential to adapt and improve these apps as conditions and perceptions change over time.

 

Can you see my screen?

New post on the EY Design Studio blog:

When we conduct usability research, we listen for feedback about where people might be facing challenges interacting with their digital tools. With online meeting applications, users are verbalizing their struggles, nonstop.

I’m willing to bet a lot of money that you’ve heard one or more of these statements on a recent web meeting:

• “You’re on mute!”
• “Can you hear me?”
• “Who’s in the meeting so far?”

What these example statements have in common is a lack of situational awareness — a technical way of saying that people have limited understanding of what is going on with respect to their (virtual) environments....

read the full blog post, Can you see my screen?