And you thought statistics about social media are boring - not this time

If you are interested about the growth of social media, check this.
Socialnomics has made a video about the statistics of social media - and my hands go all goosebumped :P

Product features creating the user experience?

I was reading UXelements -blog, and that reminded me of one of my favorite Top Gear clip (below).

What the reviewer has is what so many corporate people (that design and build products) lack, he is passionate about the product (in this case cars).
This is what makes this review so funny and accurate, it shows so much of what is going on in product development where the essence of a product gets lost behind menus and ridicules decisions.

Note that the tone changes around 10 mins, but the beginning is the best part from the UX point of view ;D

Is the first Encore already too much?

This is a sight which makes me shake my head every time I see it.
-I really don't want any 'encore' to happen to my work papers..

Designed by: DESIGNER

Designers name starts to be almost as important investment as the design itself. This means that the Name is sometimes brutally forced into the design. This also creates contradiction to the designer. First option is to keep design clear and expect that a sticker will emerge and other one is to promote your own brand but possibly compromise the design into some extent.
Personally I don't like any kind of stickers, nor this kind of 'design features'. I'd rather keep the design clear and let it speak instead of milled letters..
In the picture you can see Origo light - designed by Eero Aarnio as you can clearly see..

Biodegradable plastic bags

I'm a fan of biodegradable plastic bags. Carrying my groceries home in such should basicly make biodegradable trashbags obsolete.
But there is a twist. Which might be because both bags are a manufactured in same company. Why cut down the sales of another milking cow, he you can have two. -The reason is that shops might end up Not having plastic bags available, which don't do a proper job either in holding up in one piece till you are home, nor containing your waste in it.
It is somewhat understandable that these bags need to decompose in relatively short period, but does it need to be under a week?! You would expect to have some plastic left when you carry you waste outside..
I made a bit of a field study on this and it seems that 3 months is the shortest period anybody considered the plastic should start decomposing. And most of the people don't work on their own composter..

Report a problem - Google style

Google has realized it. Keeping something up to date or in order requires continuous feedback. And for continuous feedback, reporting needs to be simple and Effortless.
-See the video from Google to see how they have succeeded to implement these two drivers.

Difficulty of simple

All complicated innovationsa are already done,
the simple ones are yet to be discovered.

TK

Against matrix organizations - Idealist Group

The anticipation what I had earlier about matrix organizations was that it helps in concentrating to the actual work. Having the full support from the other direction and you creating results to other direction. -Unfortunately it wasn't quite like that. As Jaakko Kievari below desrcibes, a lot of time goes into reporting to both ends, what you have been doing and selling your ideas to continue again your meetings interrupted effert to create something.
I hope all the good for Jaakko's new interesting company called IDEALIST GROUP.

Yritysten arjessa ideointi on usein heikoilla. "Ei ole niin vähäpätöistä asiaa, ettei se kiireessä ohita ideointia. Todella paljon energiasta jää kiinni rutiineihin. Matriiseissa iso osa ajasta menee sen hoitamiseen, että kerrot toisille, mitä teet", sanoo Jaakko Kievari, joka viisi viime vuotta työskenteli Nokia Software & Services yksikössä.

Jussi Jalkanen, Ajattele. Optio, 17.9.09.

Ravintokoodi.fi - try to sign in

I signed myself to Ravintokoodi.fi few months ago. I thought that it's a great service.

Not that there is anything wrong (quite the opposite) with the content, but after few months of trying it seems just annoying just because they didn't know how to make the sign in.

1) If all social web services (with confidential content) use cookies and allow Keep me signed in, why doesn't this obsolete service containing only my nutrition details?!
2) At least it could hold the username in place - after all I don't have a slightest clue how this service wanted it..
3) And finally, why do I need to go to a different site (www.pirkka.fi) to reset my password?!.
3.1) It would be nice if the link went straight to appropriate password reseting page instead of www.pirkka.fi mainapge to start the quest from.

Coffee cups

The world does not need a another coffee cup - but it does want another cup of coffee.

Christel Vaenerberg, Creative director, Iittala group

Send a postcard with your own photo from your mobile phone - Posti/Itella

Sending a postcard with your own photo from your mobile phone sounds like a great idea. -Heard about it from my friend and rushed into Posti (or Itella) site to download the Mobile Postcard (Mobiilipostikortti) application.
There's so many things wrong in the application that it's unbelievable that somewhere there is a Symbian coder, who is so unaware of basic principles.
You need to know about hidden and visible drives on your mobile to find your photos and know how to change seccurity settings to avoid  question about wheather application can access your data. -And finally, there's no preview the picture you are sending - at any point. -Not even thumbnails in the folder view. Which I managed to get visible only that one time I took the pictures below :/

-My god XP

 

 

 

How to connect Bluetooth device

I'm currently having my honeymoon moment on my sofa with my brand new wireless keyboard.
I cannot remember when I was this much exited. -After all, I think that consuming is buying possibilities. And this product enables so much for me =) Keyboard, integrated mouse, music controls, zooming, shortcuts and what's best. -The setup was filled with grace!

Check out the second bullet in the picture below: "Using your keyboard, type in the passkey. Passkey 3777"
You have the keyboard, other product provides the code - do you need to make it more complicated?

You could think finding number 51 would be a piece of case

You could think finding number 51 would be a piece of case.
But in this case there has definitely been 'something else' in the designers mind. -Standard paper size and/or some readymade mechanics might be the good guesses..
Definitely this is as far from user oriented design you can go. Infact it almost feels like it is deliberate internal joke, which ended into production..

*update 17.4.2010*
Now compare to This one:

Flight patterns by Charlie McCarthy

I'm back from holidays. And in these cases I usually refer that first week after holidays, you should not work/think too hard to avoid injuries ;)
For htat reason an enjoyable video from Vimeo by Charlie McCarthy =)

flight patterns from Charlie McCarthy on Vimeo.

Art critics

In the optimal situation art critics open up the backgrounds of the piece and the artist for the simple minded viewer. Sometimes they go deeper into the art than the artist would have ever anticipated. Sometimes they just tell a story of critics own life - or how limited it is.

As an example you can see below a part of Lost in Yellow by Nina Roos and a caption of introduction by Pia Timberg. Both loaned without permission, in the name of art criticism.

The installation concists of three oil paintings made on polycarbonate plates. All three plates present a yellow silhuet female figure. Figure is leaning forward, like out of the painting. There is also something weird in the figure. Behind the figure to both sides, there is paddle like forms sticking out and the figure seems to be holding some kind of sticks in her hands. Her ball shaped wide skirt makes annotations to past. To the time already lost, but still present in the form of this painting.

I might be biased to study this piece, but as I could easily spot the brand label from the "skirt" I first got interested is the bike Honda or Kawasaki and secondary what was the painting all about. But i have to recon, I just couldn't get past this critic to really think about it..

New H1N1 influenza spread graph by WHO

Earlier I have been complaining about the spread graphs released by WHO.
WHO illustrates A(H1N1) spreading - 3.6.09
Influenza A(H1N1) spread rate graph - 9.5.09

WHO has now released a new 'interactive timeline of all cases' worth visiting.

.

Oulu city sculptures -tool

Outdoor sculptures of Oulu city can be found easily from this tool.

Sculptures: "Välitä" and "Viesti"

These two sculptures are located in Oulu, in the the beginning of road where a great proportion of Nokia phones are being designed. Knowing this, the names Välitä = care and Viesti =message/relay can produce more interpretations.

Anni Rapinoja 2005, Concrete

Välitä




















Viesti

Sculptures under the topic Art - "Päivänvarjo"

I thought to ease my life and collect photos about interesting or nice scupltures from my hard drive to here alittle by little.
Heres the first one right next to my apartment in Oulu.

Päivänvarjo, Jaakko Pernu 2001 Wood, 620 x 720 x 850 cm

Photo tagging - a simple application needed

One thing what I have been looking for is the easy way of tagging pictures, instead of moving items into specific folders to be able to find photos later. By tagging I can add two totally different tags, like Art and Oulu into same photo, and by doing that, find the photo among art references and among the pictures of Oulu city.

Picasa provides rather simple possibility to edit and search IPTC tags. Few days ago I was glad to hear that even my favorite viewer IrfanView also provides a possibility to view and edit IPTC data of .jpg files with just a few klicks. -It could be easier, but it's sufficient.



The surprising thing is that applications use this powerfull and potentially delightfully simple tagging system so little or create a complicated system around it..
Somebody interested in creating a nice little viewer with intuitive and effective tagging possibilities would pobably make a huge impact on the scene!

Photo albums ease of use

So far I have been force to use Flickr web albums because of its appealing simple looks and UI. When lookin photos, you don't want anything extra to bee visible. Difference between Picasa and Flickr is evident at least to my eyes.

Not that selection of webgallery for an Average Joe would be based on one single interaction, but still this is something to consider: In my default PC viewer(IrfanView) next picture is selected by simply using arrow keys. Also Facebook and Picasa has the same functionality. When using Flickr I have to use my mouse to click a small thumbnail to get next picture..
-So of to Picasa I go, thaks for great time Flickr. Disadvantages in this change are the looks and complexity of Picasa but advantages are simple and intuitive use and the fact that now I have all my stuff behind one Google account :)

Realistic marketing

There's a healthy dose of realism in the marketing slogan of this regional newspaper: "Take a good fire starter with you."

Good guidance can patch bad design - into some extent

Bar Balls in Kajaani earns a honorary mention of this explanation how to get the hand dryer working. But the thing is that the design should either implicate the place of the sensor or the sensor should have been placed else where..

This carefully made guidance also tells a clear story how big problems products can create for the users and companies on service branch.

Celebrating tacit knowledge through service design

Even a simple service product or infrastructure -like rail transport- forms an information system including hidden knowledge and inbuilt need for learning.
It took me some 15 years of intensive railroad usage to learn that after the announcement "Train leaves from gate 2", there is exactly 3 minutes time. Today, after 18 years, I learned that there is a yellow color coding in the timetable posters for leaving trains in opposite to arriving.

These information bits are examples of tacit knowledge, which would be useful if know, but is either difficult or considered less important to communicate. In modern world, consumers do not necessarily have time or will to start learning. -Experience should be readily available in full extent.

One task for service design is to find ways to communicate these service and company specific information bits, celebrate those and build a better brand and user experience through those.

-After all, you would like the customer to see your product as excellent as you see it, wouldn't you?

Tivoli

This is one cornerstone for a ~30m high ferris-wheel. Some how it was comforting to see this After we took the ride.
-Scenery over Oulu was nice though.

WHO illustrates A(H1N1) spreading

WHO has taken new actions to improve the understanding of A(H1N1) influenza. They have created an interactive illustration about the spread.
http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/history_map/InfluenzaAH1N1_maps.html



-I cannot help but thinkin why in earth they made it this difficult?! And what's wrong in a regular line-diagram like the one I made earlier.

Recycle your Ariel

I saw this on my parents garden last weekend (you remember Laihia and the stingyness). My father had recycled a washing liquid bottle as a feeding automate for birds. Don't know about style, but a delightful sight anyway ;D

Influenza A(H1N1) spread rate graph

Since this time next week I should be drinking my first strawberry margharita in Mexico I have been quite interested about the spreading of H1N1 (swine influenza).
Since I didn't find a graph about the issue, I made my own. -I'll be updating this at least for next week. After that there's no point since I might my right there on the spot..

The graph is based on the information on WHO Influenza A(H1N1) site.




Update 10.5.09
Since I have the data -thanks to WHO- here's a graph about the H1N1 cases in three main countries.

New VR website - keeping the good shortcut to mobile web

VR -public railways of Finland is my all time favorite topic.. This time it was a pleasure to see a new fresh website design they have.

At first use I didn't head into any problems. I was even pleased to see that they had kept the link for the mobile-optimized webite in top left corner, where it is convenient to select in case of mobile browsing. Basically there is only two good ways to provide mobile web access:
- I appreciate most the approach that does not guide you directly to mobile website, but gives you an uncompromized experience with a freedom to choose visely if you wish.
- Second good approach is the one that Facebook is using. Guide user directly to mobile website and offer always a possibility to change into normal view, through a link at the bottom of the page.


Even the purchase of the tickets seemed to work better. Still there migt be the risk that you have start all over again if there is no places available.. ..don't want to try that again ;)

How much does Nordea value private customers

Web page design follows the same rules of placement priorization and click counts as mobile UI design does. For a bank web page, a netbank access might be the Most used feature for Most of the customers - which would mean that it should be highly visible and require only one click..

Todays example is from Nordea. If you try to find a netbank access from the front page of Nordea banking services, you can easily evaluate how important a private customer really is for Nordea.


Really. -Do find the right link from the first pic!

The second picture illustrates further, just How important you are..

Screenshots: Nordea website 14.4.2009

*Edit 15.4.2009*
As Nordea pointed out today, the site I'm referring is the business site as .com end should have told me.. Following picture illustrates how web access in private banking site (.fi) is shown. It still requires two actions..

iPod engravings cutting down the sales?

Already ten days ago I made an entry to Facebook that how difficult can it be to buy an iPod..

This time I didn't want to buy a black or aluminium, so I ended up having 7 more color to choose from. I some what decided that it should be the red. The red was only available through Apple store because it was a (RED) product buying from the webstore makes no problem but the webstore provided free engaving...

For me, born in the most stingy place in Finland it was way too hard to overlook the fact that I could get an FREE ENGRAVING, but didn't have a slightest idea what it should say!
For me it took ten days to figure out that it is perfectly alright to leave it without engraving. Finally I placed my order. And now I also have a bunch of interesting engravings for iPods in my notebook ;D

For more examples of engravings.

Quest after Jalas boots

I made a post earlier how my Jalas boots started to break in pieces after years of hard use. -It's only now when I realized that I really need to get those new boots.

I went to Jalas website, and tried to find the boots I've had. Result was that I lost my nerves with the product search and tried the product listing. List wasn't much better either. I know there's been good strive on marketing and R&D, but thistime the graphics designer should look into mirror. -Put a clear pictures of different shoe styles so that you can find your boots. And if you don't have photo to use, draw one.

"Do not ice-fish on the football field"

Probably one of the few places where a note like this is possible is Ukko-Halla in Hyrynsalmi.
Preparations for the annual snow football world championships is in contradiction with ice-fishers interests.

It would be interesting to know what kind of contradictions arise when the place is preparing for swamp football championships on summer..

BoConcept - conditions on delivery times and on items purchaced

1) After assembling tens of BoConcept pieces I understood how to manage a low priced-quality-brand.
2) After waiting my stools for 5 months my understanding got deeper.
3) After ccomparing my stools to the ones I ordered, I realized that I have been fucked up.
4) After sales manager informed me yesterday, that there's no way to get the stools in original design, I decided that Bo Concept is not a kind of company I want to be dealing with..
____________
Update:
BoConcept contacted 23rd Jan and denied they had any responsibility for this issue. -According to them the retailer should have known that the item is changed, and the original design should not be to be seen.

-Another story is that, was it during the 5 months that I waited these stools, when they found out that original design had problems, created a backup plan and shipped the orders?
Case closed. -Just need a little chat with the retailer.
____________

What do you think, can these item be considered as the same?
Original pictures from the store (solid wood):


The ones I received after paying over 100€/pc (mdf):

iTunes - billing errors (and improvements on DRM)

I've enjoyed using iTunes a lot and a happy news is that the music will be finally DRM free!

But I also spotted an annoying problem. If I happen to press Buy -button twice -or three times as I once did - it seems that I also get billed three times!

I'm sure nobody wants to buy same track several times and that the case wouldn't be hard to block. So the conclusion would be that it is left there to gain few dollars more.
Now I'm interested to see if billing really goes like this and will update this entry accordingly. -But anyhow having these doubts and worries in users minds isn't actually the best promotion for any kind of service.
____________
Update 1) 15.1.09
Yes, as I assumed 29,70€ charged instead of 9,90.
I have been Reporting a problem now for two weeks, without UI indicating that reporting feature would be working. -Next step is that I try to find some human contact from www.apple.fi

Update 2) An hour later
I managed to complete reporting after some search after a drop down menu mentioned in Apple support:To report an accidental purchase:
1. Locate the item in your Purchase history
2. Click the "Report a Problem" link
3. Select "I inadvertently purchased this item" from the drop down menu
4. Enter notes explaining the situation in the Comments section
Our support agents will review your request and get back to you as quickly as possible.

Update 3) (16.1.09)
During the same night I had received a corrective email from Apple. That was prompt!
The content was bit of an US. style service jargon, but still it pleaes:
Thank you for being valued iTunes customer and have a wonderful weekend, Perttu____________
Does it come to your mind pushing the Report a problem text here (pic)?! -At least I thought problem was marked already and pushed Done-button. -Well now I'm waiting for somebody to contact..

New Topic - Favorites

With this post I'm launching a new Topic to the right hand side menu.
Favorites will include many items from highlights but present more clearly my favorites.

In this case I want to recon that despite the somewhat artificial taste of Rainbow Strawberry jam, it's the best jam I've ever used on my delicate pancakes!

Christmas came again

Now I see the reason for the americans calling this a holiday Season.. Slightly before christmas I bought the best rally game available (and possibly ever made) Sega Rally and the christmas was early. (for X360 Colin McRay rally is available only as Dirt - waste of money I would say)
But, using those tiny controller sticks but an idea of force feedback wheel into my head. And I just had to go to the city..

The force feedback wheel makes the steering much harder, especially correction moves need much more effort and speed compared to sticks. But who said driving a WRC would be an easy job. Luckily I'm steadily gaining my usual speed back. -Great purchase!

Also I started a modification work on the controller. Despite the plasticy feeling the designers have done fairly good job on the usability and ergonomics side. You can hold wheel in your lap or on top of the stool or even attach it securely to the table. -How ever it could be smaller, and it could provide some features to make it conveniently storable.
-My choise seems to rely on removing excess plastic parts and turning one Ikea stool into a small WRC cockpit ;)

Hilarious MacBook parody

Added feature for dog flex

Carrying a poop-bag is supposed to be a natural and daily job for a dog owner. -Why not to ad a hook or holder for the poop-bag and get rid of tying or occupying the other hand? Even the ergonomy and balance would support adding a loop to the lowest point of the flex.

80's style christmas decorations - for the bold ones

I guess colorfull christmas lights have been a global hit in 80's? Fortunately the illumination boom has settled and colors generally been tuned down in Finland and for sure not reached disproportionate scale like american youTube video Wizards of Winter illustrates.
How ever, I have never spotted these color lights made out of fur before. -Definitely a future collector item! =)