Tuesday October 24, 2006

Desktop app to cell phone app?

Its not that easy.

So another UE designer who works in the desktop area asked me how one moves a desktop application to a cell phone. What does one change in the user experience?

This of course prompted a reaction. Why "move" an application from the desktop to a mobile phone? It usually works far better to start from basics.

Why? Cell phones operate in a very different reality then a desktop machine, even one that is a laptop. Those reality shifts ripple through the entire user experience. Let me show you what I mean....

1. Cell phones are personal devices.

Consumers see them as an extension of themselves. Ask any teenager what three items they never leave home without. Then ask a soccer mom the same question. Cell phone is on both lists and pretty high up on the list too.

When a device becomes personal to this extent, one of the obvious implications is that the device must be robust and not crash. It has to be available 24 x 7. Thats all ok but it doesn't really get at the heart of what it means to be personal.

When a device becomes personal, it means the person depends upon it. What this means is somewhat open to discussion, however there are some aspects we can review here.

When someone gets a new phone, they will learn just enough to make the device useful to them. This is called the paradox of the active user. Over time people will also learn to adapt to the idiosyncrasies of the user experience of the device.

Depending on a cell phone means that people think of the phone as an extension of themselves. Over time, many people will start to get frustrated that the device doesn't adapt to them. The phone should remember how they use it. These users tell us that the device should remember where a person left off on a task, that they should not have to re-enter information, or, the phone should know where they are, and so on.

Your homework is to think about what it means to apply this idea of personal to how one creates a user experience for a cell phone and to a application on that cell phone.

[evil laugh]

Next post: 2. Cell phones are all about people communicating with people.

( Oct 24 2006, 11:31:31 AM PDT ) Permalink

Sunday October 15, 2006

Kids are...

Fearless.

Back from my vacation during which I did my little experiment with the younger set and PhotoBooth on my new mac. Three kids: 4, 4.75, and 6.75 years with a racing about 18 month old cramming himself in sideways periodically. Just opened up the laptop and fired up the app and then let the kids take over. One of them knew how to use it.

The 4 yr. old lost interest quickly - she was too busy racing about playing horses. The older two, girl and boy, stuck with it longer with the 18 month old poking in and getting a picture or two in. They lasted about 20 minutes. Less then I had predicted. Got correspondingly fewer photos - mostly singles not multiples. But they tried out most of the visual effects.

They did not need any adult help in figuring out how to use it. The adults were employed to extract the 18 month old when he became annoying.

What I observed was that the entertainment value of photobooth was not more or less then any other activity that day. Exploring around the perimeter of the rental house we were in or climbing on top of the big upside down canoe sans space rocket appeared to get as much or more bandwidth.

Somehow the interest level they showed relative to other activities made me feel better. Which is likely a truly scary thought.

[evil laugh]