SXSW Panel: Dogma Free Design
Posted in 2006, Design, SXSW, Web Design on Tuesday, March 14th, 2006.

Random notes from the panel which is still ongoing. Maybe I’ll liveblog!

1. Web design should be controlled by designers
2. AJAX is the future of the web
3. Every big company should have a usability lab
4. All web apps require ethnographic research
5. 99% of Flash is BAD

The above are all DOGMA. Forget it. Let’s talk about the direction we need to be going. –Dirk Knemeyer

Savant
Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service. –Steve Jobs, Apple

Scientific Method
Introduce cautious, well-measured changes and introductions of new features and products. […] UI is a science not an art. –Marissa Meyer, VP Product, Google

The above pair of quotes were presented on a slide

Hey, I’m am liveblogging [Update:]

Grossman is talking now: discussing how usability testing can be taken to extremes and become dogma. It reminded me of a common theme today for the smaller businesses that are creating beautiful products that work well. Amazingly they have product release cycles measured in days or, in some cases, hours! (I can’t even conceptualize that.)

They pointed out something that has been obvious to me for years: Amazon has a horrible interface. Yet they do a ton of usability testing and A/B testing for any change they make to their site. A/B testing is like comparing McDonald’s burgers with mayo to McDonald’s burgers with mustard (analogy stolen from one of the panelists). At some point a radical change is required to move forward with the design of the site or product or whatever.

Of course the example of good usability testing is the Apple iPod product line which also popped up on a slide.

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Conventions are a useful thing. Jakob Nielson is not. (That one is my own.)

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The Leadership Triumvirate

1. Ideation
2. Communication
3. Implementation

Design normally comes in at the implementation stage as the production part of the product assembly line. It should start after the initial idea stage (design as communication is a strategic value add).

“He who can define the problem can define the solution.” –Goto

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Really neat process map by Wroblewski:

http://www.gotomedia.com/goto/lifestyle/process/

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