Helping others 'get' it

Migrating to my other blog

2010-01-16T19:06:00.000+08:00

I will continue blogging, but on another platform: Free the Random Thoughts.

I have been running the two blogs in parallel with different themes:

This blog: Technical Commuication
The other blog: Life in Taipei + personal interests

At first it looked like the two could safely co-exist. But then I realized most of my interests are concentrated in either technology or communication (including miscommunication). The difference between the two blogs quickly became blurry.

Despite being a technical writer for several years, I haven't much thought about blogging on technical communication area, until I had started this blog. Probably it was because of my fixed idea that writing about one's job is boring. But talking about one's job (boring, end of discussion) and writing about it are two different issues and I have found the latter to be highly fulfilling, both for myself and hopefully my readers.

Since I spend at least eight hours during weekdays doing or thinking technical communication-related stuff, I found that my personal life (= life outside my workplace) already revolved around the big two concept: technology and communication. I decided to shift my blogging to more technical communication oriented style.

Also, I found that writing at the intersection of two seemingly separated concept (such as advertisement and technology) is more interesting than sticking inside one. I decided to fuse my interest under one umbrella topic (technical communication in Asia) to see what chemical reaction will occur in my blog.

Then why move to the other blog, not the other way around? The simple answer is that the other blog has been running for years with a small but (hopefully) growing number of readers. As a blogger, I am also interested in establishing my personal branding, if that is possible.

I would like to express sincere gratitude to people who have been reading this blog. Like I mentioned above, the blogging continues and will even be enhanced, adding a twist of cultural (mis)understanding and more humor, if possible.

All existing content in this blog will remain as they are. From now on, see you at Free the Random Thoughts.

We are all becoming editors - really?

2010-01-14T18:42:00.000+08:00

Liz Danzico at Interactions Magazine says we are all becoming editors.

As the Information Age barrels forward, a new role has emerged. While new platforms-from Facebook to Twitter to Tumblr-have turned consumers into creators, they’ve given way to more writers, more content, and (as we painfully know) more choices. But there’s something else. Content creators are not passing content through traditional editorial channels, nor should they be. The cost of filtering content has passed from the pocket of the publisher way downstream to the pocket of the consumer. As a result, we as consumers are left in the position of having to decide what is worth our time. Whom should we pay attention to? Whom should we ignore? Who decides which content is exceptional and what to tune out?

Whether we like it or not, we’ve been given a new role. This promotion came about without warning, without training, without org charts or manuals. In addition to our current positions, let’s face it, now we’re all “editors.”

I have always thought information overload is making us harsher critics because we are constantly exposed to the best in any area of expertise, which explains why we do not feel any better about ourselves by knowing more. Even when we think of something totally mundane like making a gun using redundant rubber bands, a quick search on Youtube reveals something like this:

I agree with the idea of ourselves taking the editor's role, if it means "screening others." Filtering out redundant information, or picking up the essential part, is the first thing we do when we meet a new source of information. That is why almost everybody encourages writing "scannable" resumé and using tags for web pages to make sure a piece of information stands out.

But are we getting any better at editing in a broader context, which is editing ourselves? Or to rephrase it, becoming a better critic of our own work? Penelope Trunk (again) lists the reason why she works with an editor for whatever she writes in public:

Start strong - cut boring introduction
Be short - and be brave
Have a genuine connection - write stuff that matters to the readers
Be passionate - write stuff that matters to you
Have one good piece of research - back your idea up

They have one thing in common: difficult to do on our own. Even the "be passionate" advice tend to be ignored under the pressure to write something, or mistaking blog as a substitute of diary. I do not think the onslaught of information helps; it teaches us to be hard on others but it doesn't force ourselves to be more disciplined. I might even think that we are getting sloppy at editing ourselves because everything is becoming easier. For example, I do believe we will be more careful and disciplined if we are forced to write on a typewriter.

Therefore my take on the editing issue is that we all need editors, or editing skills, more than ever. Getting better at judging others doesn't mean we know more about ourselves.

Google is going to own total user experience?

2010-01-12T18:52:00.000+08:00

MG Siegler disses Google for announcing its own Android phone merely a couple months later Motorola brought the Droid phone out, saying Google is undermining their reputation and killing each other inside its ecosystem rather than shooting iPhone off the top spot. But he still thinks in the end Google had made the right decision. Why?

The single biggest reason that the iPhone is great is because Apple is in nearly complete control of it. In fact, the only thing they’re not in control of, AT&T’s network, is its greatest weakness. Before the iPhone, no device manufacturer, let alone software manufacturer, had anywhere near the type of control that Apple does over a mobile device. With Nexus One, Google is moving in that direction too. And that’s the right call.

We have seen outrageous success stories of companies having complete control of their device's hardware and software.

Nintendo has created Wii with its revolutionary motion control but everybody agrees that they couldn't have pulled off the game so brilliantly without the bundled killer title, Wii Sports.
Amazon is enjoying a great success with its Kindle e-reader. Again, they own the hardware, software, and even the network - downloading is allowed only through Amazon's proprietary channel.

On the other hand, we have seen companies which made fantastical flops even with total control. What the following two companies have in common: bureaucratized corporate structure and inconsistent decision making.

Microsoft creating Zune
Sony creating Playstation 3 (compared to Wii and Playstation 2)

Drawing lessons from the above-mentioned examples, it looks like the shortcut to having a revolutionary hardware is to:

Have control on both hardware and software.
Have integrity in what you do.

Google has it both. Although they are technically not in charge of the hardware (HTC is), the two have worked closely from the dawn of the Android OS (HTC Dream was the world's first Android smartphone). In addition, there are only three decision makers in Google - Schmidt, Larry, Sergey - with two of them (the founders) having greater power to veto decisions made against their will.

Therefore my verdict is that the new Googlephone will not suck, in fact it should be great, and I will be having one as soon as it comes out legally or illegally. Sometimes it really sucks that the latest mobile phones do not always reach Taiwan immediately, even though they are likely manufactured by a Taiwanese company.

No one reads manual

2010-01-10T18:46:00.001+08:00

In the thoughtful blog I'd Rather Be Writing, Tom Johnson says:

Not many (technical) writers consider the positive aspects of users not reading the manual. If you do a lousy job on the manual, or if some SME (Subject Matter Expert) discovers typos and inaccuracies, you can just laugh it off by saying no one really reads the manual anyway.

But consider the opposite scenario where everyone reads the manual. Is this a scenario you want? No. Because if everyone has to read the manual to figure out the product, it means the product is so unintuitive and user hostile it’s probably going to tank on the market and you’ll soon be out of a job anyway.

Also, if so many people are consulting the help, you probably aren’t contributing enough on the design/usability side of your technical writing role. Remember that you’re part of a team building a solution to a problem. You want the user interface to be simple and intuitive enough to not require a manual. So if only 10 percent have to consult the manual to figure out the product, that’s a good thing.

It is an eternal dilemma for technical writers. The better we are at our job, we have less to show as the result of our work. How? Let's take a look at the process of writing a user manual for example.

Start writing.
See potential pitfalls users might fall into.
Write about how to avoid them.

That's it, if our job is to "write", it ends here. It's probably 90% of the cases. But as Tom says above, we are part of a team trying to present better "solutions" to the users, right? So if we really care about our goal and users, we should continue our work like this.
Go tell the developer that the product ~~sucks~~ can transform into the next iPhone and you know how.
Work with him to fix the product.
Product becomes one step closer to iPhone, users have thinner manual, less dead tree consumed.

(In reality things go differently, especially when we use the deleted word which is also 90% of the cases, but that's the subject for another entry.)

Sounds like a win-win situation for everybody, except for technical writers. Like any other writers, we want our works to be read. Just look for the technical writer in your office (yes, that grumpy guy that you tried not to notice subconsciously) and tell him that you think he writes really well. You just got a loyal buddy (though it might be a creepy one-way affair, it won't hurt to get one).
Note: yours truly does not fall into this category :) But I appreciate encouragement.

Good technical writers switch their mindset/career so that they become "solution providers" than mere writers - as long as the users are happy, they are happy. Some funnel their creative energy into another media (such as a blog on technical communication :). Some solace themselves by looking up to fellow martyrs; look at the cops, what they try to achieve is a society that does not need them. We constantly battle this internal conflict: no one wants to read what we write, including ourselves.

If there is someone reading this entry considering technical writer as a writing gig, especially a creative one, be ware: you need to redefine your idea of creativity--providing better solution is nothing but creative work, for example. If you think otherwise, name any instruction manual that won a Pulitzer. There are award-winning books that have been used as instruction manuals, such as From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas Friedman. But it's not going to work the other way around.

Social media harassment from Scheduletwitterposts.com and Twitter scheduling service

2010-01-08T18:06:00.001+08:00

I signed up for scheduletwitterposts, a Twitter update service, and paid a minor but very irritating price for it. Without letting me know, they tweeted a post advertising themselves under my name (see the below post). I forbid them from accessing my Twitter account, and issued a statement telling my friends that the last post was a hoax (see the top post).*

* I made a mistake of including their URL again - any public relation is a good public relation, especially to a budding startup. Also, in their marketing pitch "Now I can tweet even I am asleep, so awesome!!!" there are three too many exclamation marks. And the word awesome is redundant. And all the rest.

Now that "create once, broadcast multiple times" is getting much easier thanks to these aggregation services, we need to be careful of being over-generous with our account name and password. This entire blog entry is for warning everybody of scheduletwitterposts and nasty tactics (+ my own stupidity).

That problematic company allow us to schedule Twitter postings, as its name suggests. That function itself worked fine (though you cannot edit a queued Twitter posting). But if you want a scheduled broadcasting, I recommend using Hootsuite instead. I am kicking myself over why I did not use Hootsuite in the first place. Hootsuite's benefit includes:

Editable queued Twitter posts
Create once, broadcast in multiple formats including Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin
Tabbed screen works also for Twitter/Facebook update viewing application
Absolutely free and web-based
URL shortening service included (you can use it for other places!)

Re-releasing books online

2010-01-06T18:02:00.000+08:00

Kevin Kelly has been releasing contents of his book written a decade ago on his website as a series of blog postings.

The book itself has always been available online as free, so he is not offering it ( = paid content) free on the web for the first time. The difference between the past online offerings (PDF, website...) and this case is that as a blog, he is encouraging readers to participate in making it better.

There are many places in New Rules that I know could be updated with more current examples: I'll leave those to you, the collective readers, to do -- as I say in the book, no one is as smart as everyone.

Kevin Kelly is expecting more of an update rather than error corrections, as he says that the original book, written 10 years ago (a lifetime in the age of Internet), is "as pertinent today as a decade ago." I am wondering, what if an author, especially non-fiction writer, posts his earlier works on the web and let everybody scrutinize their contents? Did his message stood the test of time? Or if the author has changed his mind, found better ideas, admitted his mistakes, he can post them too alongside his readers.

Most authors won't touch that subject (that's why some of them keep churning out the book version of the X-men films), but I am thinking maybe that is the only way to let a book live its life for more than a couple of years. Sadly, nowadays whenever I buy any book dealing with current affairs, the first thing I do is to check the last publication date.

2009: Certified fresh. Might be sour.
2008: Ripe.
2007: Getting dry, but sometimes that's not a bad taste either.
2006: Need to check the smell before trying it out. (Won't buy it unless the Search Inside! option is not available in Amazon)
2005 and before: Certified rotten.

I think I am not going to change my habit, like, forever. We have electronic readers and online subscriptions: why not go one more step and allow live-update publications with user inputs? It's not just about data corrections. One of my favorite books of the past decade is What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson. It is a fantastic collection of stories from people who were trying to find a path when they were lost without direction in their lives. The first thing I thought when I finished reading the book, and what I still do, is "I want to read more." If an "update" service becomes standard, my wishes might be met more easily from help both by the author and the readers who themselves have stories to tell.*

* There is a famous author who is already trying the "update" approach, although still based on printed publication: it is Thomas L. Friedman with his recent two books.

Microsoft's lost decade

2010-01-04T18:26:00.000+08:00

CrunchGear published the biggest product flops of the decade (according to them). Unsurprisingly, Windows Vista OS won the cup. I am actually feeling sorry for Vista and its development team after so many bashing they have had to suffer. So here is my message to those hard-working people. Go to hell, then you'll be able to rest in peace.

The article has kinder words about Microsoft itself:

Microsoft has had a hard decade. They made billions, sure, but they haven’t led in mindshare since Windows NT. Geeks flocked to Linux in the early aughts and LAMP now rules the roost when it comes to web servers. Their mobile offerings are roundly and regularly panned and their incremental fixes to products have frustrated users.

They definitely had the worst decade in their entire history. There is a good news, though; at the end of 2019, the first decade of the 21st century would be regarded as one of the better era for them -- compared to this decade which has just started. One of my favorite bloggers, Dan Kogai, shares similar sentiment (in Japanese) that Microsoft did suck great in the past year, if not ten. His idea is that it was about their marketing mindset, not necessarily about their products.

(Translated from the original website) Considering how they are marketing, not how they developed, Windows 7 (such as preparing the totally redundant 32bit version), I cannot say Microsoft really understands what fundamentally is wrong with them. It reminds me of the Japanese society in the 90s, the so-called "lost decade." Worried people just stood by, watching the ongoing crisis pretending things would go back to "normal" soon. I hope Microsoft will not fall into the same trap as Japan did.

I think Microsoft has already accomplished its mission: to bring computers to every household. The problem is that they are still clinging to the same mission, trying to believe they are the challengers broadening the technological horizon for the masses. We are already enlightened, Microsoft. We do owe you a big deal, but we live in a different world. Why don't you go look for something else?

Note: This banner is on the Official Windows Vista Home Page. Who said Microsoft doesn't have a sense of humor?

From private to public

2010-01-02T18:42:00.000+08:00

Eric Schonfeld declares in TechCruch that now we online-nomads live ~~celebrity~~ public life, revealing our private and social life to the public's eye, and denying that fact has no point at all. He is spot-on.

It takes some getting used to the idea of living in public. As I discussed several hours ago with Andrew Keen, in public on Twitter, instead of making the private public, we will make the public private.” When public is the default, you deliberately select what to keep private instead of the other way around.

It’s not that privacy disappears. But it becomes more a matter of emphasis and a conscious decision.

Now it is getting more clear to me why folks in Facebook decided to take a gamble by making all user information public by default. They knew we as users were already accustomed to the public life. Some people understandably got infuriated, but I think this time Facebook will win. After all, they created Facebook in the first place, so they must be running ahead of most of us when it comes to understanding what social media and its trend are about.

I also see others signs of this "from privacy to public" trend affecting our life--we are getting used to it.

A famous blogger describes her private life in her blog as-a-matter-of-factly and readers (including myself) admire her because of, not in spite of
Keeping in touch with your ex-spouse-girlfriend-colleagues on Facebook, but not on offline, is getting norm
Twitter, of course, makes everything we say public by default

There were days that we had to work our ass off to show part of ourselves to the world. No more. What needs work from now is to keep our privacy. Another TechCrunch article suggested a gimmick that perfectly suits this trend: Web2.0 Suicide Machine. It's job is to eliminate your profile from social media, notably Facebook and Twitter.

The interesting fact, according to the Web2.0 Suicide Machine team, is that it takes nearly 10 hours to delete yourself from the public's eyes. Which is a great amount of work that will never be complete, since Facebook is notorious for keeping its user data to themselves.

Considering our amazing adaptability, we might eventually (or already) find a way to live as public figures. Will the celebrity tabloid go away, because they are no more different than us? Will we be having better/worse online dating because the "screening" process works much better thanks to the past history records?

Apple tablet: more than a tablet

2009-12-28T05:20:00.007+08:00

No more than a week passes without seeing rumors of the coming Apple tablet device. Some say it is going to save the media from the doldrums they are in, some say Amazon Kindle and its competitors will all be doomed, realizing they were just frogs in slow-boiling water along the way. And yet some say it's yet another tablet device, nothing more.

I agree with this TechCrunch article.

Conventional wisdom suggests that Apple will not be able to succeed where so many others have failed. But Apple makes billions defying conventional wisdom.

As for me, I vowed I will stick with Thinkpad through the rest of my life, until a couple of years ago. And here I am typing this entry on my new MacBook Pro. I love it as much as my first Thinkpad, 535. It's not that Thinkpad had lost its appeal (it did a bit, though) nor Windows OS is sucking everybody down. Apple makes awesome products, that's it.

So what will the new tablet be? My prediction is that Apple will come with a big trick or two, especially in the application area. It's not the CPU horsepower or battery time (which even the latest MacBook sucks). It's the usage.

iPod taught us that we can bring the entire jukebox on the road. iPhone finally showed what that PDA/Palm potential was about. The tablet might not be the "third revolution", but that's pointless - it's about making us realize a new way of re-framing our digital life. Even the supposedly failed Apple TV showed the glimpse of life without traditional TV (another TechCrunch article says it will do that, after all).

We are waiting for Apple to make the world "tablet" sexy for the first time in history, free from being associated with Charlton Heston. Apple's supposedly competitors are doing that too, I guess.

How to be a better blogger

2009-12-24T07:02:00.001+08:00

Penelope Trunk, one of my favorite bloggers, held a webinar (web + seminar) on her 3rd startup, Brazen Careerist. becoming a better blogger. The following five points were the key messages, followed by her summary and my comments.

Have a topic.
Penelope: Topic is a contract between readers. Surprise them sometimes, but keep the promise as much as you can.

I reluctantly agree with Penelope. Although I like my aimless writing style, I am also learning that it does not bring me too far as a writer. I have two blogs: this, and a Typepad blog. This blog has a topic: technical communication. The other one doesn't. But it is the other blog I have more fun writing. It is a mashup of everything that stimulated my curiosity in my life. And yet the word "everything" suggests that I cannot describe what that blog is about. It is more of an excuse for not having a topic.
I don't think we should force ourselves to limit the blogging topic to one or two categories. Rather, we can re-read what we have written to find an underlying theme that constantly emerges, and make a topic out of it.

Write at the edge of the topic.
Penelope: Don't write the obvious (such as 5 ways to screw your design). Write something about the intersection between topics you are familiar with. Whatever is mainstream, it is already done.

Learn.
Penelope: No one likes know-at-all. Write what you have discovered. If you don't, it gets boring.

"Write what you know" used to be the mantra back in our school days and in our worklife. It does not work anymore, at least in blogging, because no one cares about what we already know (even us) - it's all there in Wikipedia. The act of writing is for the author, but the manuscript ultimately belongs to the readers. We cannot bore them.
The new mantra should be "Write what only you can." It is not about making things up: it is about pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone and write about something new as we explore a new territory, such as urban life + gardening. Or Geisha + Steampunk. I don't know.

Be interesting and short.
Penelope: Anything more than 600 words is over-indulgent.

I checked the word count; it has already surpassed 700. Over-indulgent. I dodge this accusation by pretending that the Q&A list tucked behind the main text body should be treated as a pseudo-separate entry. It's optional. How is that?

You have to care.
Penelope: About your topic/community. Write with the community in your mind. Remember, a blog is a conversation.

Am I caring? Am I engaged in a conversation? No. So far, my blog consists mainly of my monologue. If the subject is aptly defined, that works.

-------------- The Q&A session --------------------

Q: What about Pioneer Woman? Boing Boing? They don't seem to have topic.
A: Pioneer Woman is HOUSEWIFE PORN. (Isn't that a topic?) Many topicless blog started at the early age of blogging. Nowadays you won't get traction being topicless.

Q: What if I cannot find a good topic?
A: Write what you are curious about. You will naturally hit a topic.

Q: Isn't topic limiting?
A: No. Look at how much stuff I, Boing Boing, TechCrunch can put in.

Q: What is the hook to keep people coming?
A: Be honest. Trust who you are (no matter how messy your life looks) and write about things that are bothering you.

Q: How can I avoid being boring?
A: Think of what you say at a cocktail party.

Q: How can you learn while showing yourself as know-it-all?
A: Nobody cares what you know.

Q: How should I promote my blog?
A: (Ryan Paugh) You really need to reach out to other people on the blog. Get involved in a community. We have seen great writers who did not reach out to many people thus did not gain many readers, but saw that situation change when they started being involved in Brazen Careerist.

Q: How do I know I am doing well?
A: Don't use the traffic as the sign. Good signs are: Do you keep going? Did you get a job?

Q: What if you hit a wall?
A: Write! Be an adult, get up every day, do it! Force yourself to sit down!

Q: What if I want to take back what I have written?
A: Why would you do so? Learn from your own stupidity!

Q: Can I write stream of conscience?
A: No, you need to edit heavily. I edit several times to make it a "good" stream of conscience.

Reflections on my growth as a blogger

2009-12-13T00:47:00.000+08:00

It has been almost three months since I have started this Technical Communication blog. I have been wondering what exactly I am supposed to write here, thinking while writing all along. I would like to take a moment of reflection through having a small Q&A session with myself. To view the evolution of this blog from the visual design point of view, see this entry.

Each question starts with: "Does each of my blog entries..."

Has interesting title which attracts readers?

I don't think so. For most of the entries, titles are something that is slapped at the very beginning of the drafting process. And I admit it is the most inappropriate time to name an article - the first rule of blogging is to name the title at the end. The second rule of blogging is to name the title at the END.
I checked the title of this entry, "Reflections on my growth as a blogger" which was of course there from the beginning. Not particularly interesting, but should be fine for readers looking for a lifehack-type entries.

Follows standards of professional English?

Being a technical writer with four years of experience under my belt, I proudly answer: I have been doing what I could do ( = No. Obviously). The built-in spell checker in Blogger has been my single best ally (and archenemy) so far. I haven't paid enough attention to the rewriting/editing process, which is supposed to be the real writing stage following the brainstorming stage under the name of first drafting.

Addresses all the criteria of the given topic?

Again, no. I tend to focus on the subject which interests me most, not paying enough attention to the criteria outside that narrow scope. I have found that I can be focused when the topic is presented beforehand in small chunks (like in this entry). Probably from now on, I should list all the criteria beforehand and make them as a list or subheadings.

Incorporates hyperlinks to additional sources appropriately?

Finally a question that I can answer yes came in. I believe I have kept a reasonable record of incorporating hyperlinks for both related entries in this blog and web pages in general. I think I can site additional sources more often than I had done, not to make my entries more "authentic" (though I cannot deny it) but to force myself to learn more about the topic by looking for those information.

Uses images appropriately to illustrate and add visual design appeal?

The design appeal...I haven't paid much attention to this area. As previously mentioned, much of my design work consisted of selecting different template for the blog and embedding images and videos in the entries. Advanced visual editing such as adding visual elements and modifying CSS was nonexistent.
Does visual design matters for a blog which is supposed to be the outlet for my voice? Absolutely yes. A blog is the place to express my whole self, not just texts; ignoring visual aspects of it is like walking blindsighted.

Gives consideration to the (copy)rights attached to any images used?

For this blog, I have been careful not to violate any terms of usage for copyrighted images. I used my own images (photos and screen snapshots) whenever possible, and for copyrighted photos I always mentioned clearly where they were from. For my other (casual) blog, not so much...

Shows evidence of my application of information learned from my readings?

My answer to this question is similar to that for the "criteria" question above; yes, for subjects I was interested in. I am not sure if I should show my application of information which I did not digest enough. While organizing and writing entries this blog belongs to me; however, once an entry is published, it belongs to the readers. I think I can safely omit half-baked applications from the final draft.

Includes references (via quotes or hyperlinks) to additional information?

Yes, I have tried to include quotes whenever I found a good passage. Hyperlinks are better for leading the readers to explore other materials on his own, but if it is appropriate to stay him attached to this blog or to point out the most important part in the additional information, quotes have worked better. No I didn't use quotes to jack up the amount of texts. At least not all the time.

Includes original thought?

This is the area where I aspired to be good, if not great. I have always tried to find my own point of view for a given topic and express it clearly and succintly. But I must admit that probably the person who most benefited from this attitude is myself. By following the weak but almost tangible thread of thinking, I have understood far more about my thinking and interest than I had expected. Adding another layer of self-knowledge has an addictive effect.

Additional thoughts...

Writing is almost equal to (self) discovery and this blog has taught me more about that simple truth than my other blog, probably because I had to write longer and more in-depth articles. Pushing myself to think hard was painful at times, but the result was well worth it. A blog, especially a technical blog like this one, is always a part of the author's portfolio not because the blog teaches the readers about specific subjects but because the blog reveals who the author is.
One of my favorite bloggers, Penelope Trunk at Brazen Careerist says blogging is one of the most important tool one can master as a professional. I wholeheartedly agree.

Proposal for defero: consulting on new media

2009-12-12T19:57:00.001+08:00

I have done a consulting project for a media company, defero (small d, yes). I will chronicle how the project started and proceeded in today's entry. Here is the outline.

Understanding what defero is about and its objectives
Defining the platform for delivering the project
Defining the suggestions
Building the platform
Filling the suggestions
Afterthought

Understanding what defero is about and its objectives

defero is a startup communications firm made up of individuals from "old media" (journalism, TV, publishing...) who are looking to use their skills in the 2.0 world to which they are digital immigrants. In fact, all they have at this moment is the company name. They do not have corporate identity, not even a website yet.

Defero needed a proposal for how they can launch their new company in mid-2010 and utilize a wide range of social media - from the obvious (a website) to wikis, podcasts, blogs - and perhaps even into less established platforms such as social networks.

What I needed to do was creating a convincing strategies for them to "win" the bloody 2.0 media wars by using the very same tools that drove their old industries to near-extinction.

Defining the platform for delivering the project

I was supposed to have a variety of choice for the method of delivery for the strategic planning, but in this case there was only one option in my head: to use a Web2.0 armored website. What is the point of encouraging people on the fence to jump on the new technology bandwagon without using the very "new technology" as the delivery medium?

In the old world (or old media for my client) the consultant and the client sat facing each other, being in the same environment but living in different worlds. We no longer live in that era. The consultant and the client sit side by side, using the same tools and watching over each others' shoulder.

Members of defero needed to learn the Web2.0 ropes from the scratch. Accessing the strategies in a modern website would be the beginning. Therefore, I decided to create a website (almost) dedicated to the defero project. My existing websites comprised of blogs and portfolios; not exactly suitable for convincing defero.

To create an effective website without ~~wasting~~ spending too much time in DreamWeaver, I picked up a free web-hosting framework, Google Sites. I had already created a website on that platform and it worked flawlessly (functionally, not necessary aesthetically). Its development process was also documented here.

Defining the suggestions

So, what would the suggestions be? Simply teach them the tricks of using Web2.0 tools (Twitter, Youtube, Facebook...) in exchange for a hefty (in my imaginations) consultation fee? After all, isn't that what everybody is doing these days? Teach the clients How, but never Why, because the consultants do not know any better.

That would have been acceptable, but never effective. I could do little more than making Wikipedia entries visually noisy. Something more than that, something that goes beyond Web 2.0 was necessary. This was also an issue that was bugging me whenever I thought about the whole Web 2.0 promise and its real effect on our economy and culture. Where should we go from there?

I remembered writing my opinions about the post-2.0 era and looked it up. A paragraph hooked my attention: I wrote this paragraph not only as my observation but also as a question to myself.

Free is the beginning and the end: What happened to the "how to make money" discussion? None of the social networks are charging money to users who only access to basic functionality. They charge money to users who want to do something extra; in other words, the "collect money from everybody (eventually)" mantra has been replaced by "collect money from heavy users (encourage everybody to become them, eventually)."

I decided to expand my suggestions for defero from the monetizing point. We all blindly accept that things will remain free for the foreseeable future. Is that so? We can do better than that (after all, we still need to pay for our living expenses). I myself particularly do not support paying scheme (my news subscription always occurs on Google News free of charge) but wanted to explore the possibilities.

Building the platform

Building the website nowadays starts from selecting online templates rather than holding a pencil and an open sketchpad. I know it is a cop-out, but for this project what mattered was effectiveness, not originality...

The Google Site had several business-like templates including the Professional Site Template which I eventually chose. It had a classic sidebar structure with various "widgets" for me to play with: testimonials, recent updates, calendar, search, RSS sindication, and download corner.

Visually, I stripped most of its color variations which was grabbing too much attention for my taste. I added my own banner and tweaked some of the fonts and page structure.

Then I modified the texts not directly related to the proposal for defero: company information, staff information, recent announcements, testimonials, an educational video, and calendar. The "entry" to the proposal was ready.

Filling the suggestions

Now, the meaty part. I have scribbled down my thoughts into a text file and organized them: soon it became apparent that I was delivering not only as a presentation but also a story that starts from the old media era, goes through the current situation and extends into the future. Forcing the defero members to read the entire story at once is going to be a tough ordeal, and also it was so Web 1.0. Separating the proposal into two parts was the logical conclusion: the summary and the details.

I usually outlines my thought in a presentation file. Since it looked also fine as a summary, I decided to refine it and embed it into the website as a starting point. The clients would first view the presentation file to grasp the higher level concept, and then can go down into more details described elsewhere in the web.

Fortunately, Google Site works quite well with embedded versions of Google Docs presentations, complete with playback controls (a trick I learned when building my previous website). The summary presentation, shown below, was embedded in the introduction page of the proposal.

I built the rest of the details into the subpages below the introduction. Using real-life examples and articles from the web, I focused on summarizing the concept for easy understanding rather than showcasing how to use the tools by themselves.

Afterthought

The process was hugely rewarding because I have found what I was really thinking regarding the Web 2.0 monetizing topic during the drafting stage. I hope my learning process would also be communicated to the clients. Below are other findings from this project:

Shaping an existing template into my own taste was fun and I was quite satisfied with the result. A well-designed template works reasonably well even when it is being tweaked many times.
Separating the proposal into two stages (summary presentation and detailed pages) also worked effectively, at least for me. For strategical theme, grasping higher concept at early stages is critical for reducing misunderstandings and I think I will be using this technique for similar projects from now.
I could have stepped deeper into suggesting visual designs for defero. Designs are such a vital part of a company's identity, my proposal might have not been taken by them but it should have shown them one possibility of their future. Although getting into too much details has the risk of losing the overall perspective, having a concrete example might have worked well for further discussions and inspirations.

Project Collaboration: Using Google Wave

2009-12-06T10:10:00.004+08:00

My Grad School classmate Lauren Rodan thought of collaboratively writing on Google Wave, and I jumped the wagon. The result is embedded at the bottom of this entry. Unfortunately you must have a Google Wave account to view it properly and there aren't too many people with a Wave account now, so please view the pasted transcript and imagine what it looks like.

When I started to use Google Wave (less than a week ago) I felt like I was using a glorified chat. But once we started the collaboration writing, it worked more like a face-to-face conversation than a cramped thread of aimless thoughts. What is shown below is an edited version so the real interaction went a bit more chaotically - the original colored thread looked like a piece of lego building rather than layered conversation we see here. But I believe we did generate a coherent piece of thought.

So, is Wave an effective tool for collaboration? Yes. And probably not only for collaboration. We could express ourselves freely without getting derailed from the topic. And the result I believe is greater than the sum of our individual thoughts. Both of us found interesting and refreshing perspectives in each other. Of course, proper initiative (Lauren) and mutual respect made the process successful but what made Wave special was that it stayed in the background all the time, never interrupting the writing process. Google Wave might be a revolutionary tool but no matter how big its potential is, it is still a tool that helps us do what we want. It was an extremely useful, transparent helping hand. I am glad Google and its engineers understand this point well (as opposed to... let's say MacroHard).

The transcript:

Conversation color-coded as follows:
Lauren
Isao
PROJECT COLLABORATION

Collaboration was not "required" as part of the assignment - Did you collaborate with anyone else on the team? Whether you did or not, why?

I did not have the chance to collaborate with anyone else on the team. I made an attempt to do so by sharing a logo, but I did not receive any comments on it. I misunderstood Lauren's intention as a pure example, not an opportunity to collaborate. I got too used to think in "solo" mode (though the professor encourged collaboration all along) I think people may have been so far along with their projects at that point that my logo did not fit into their plans. I agree on this point, and I am also thinking - maybe a majority of us work in independent work style? At least I am. Personally, I am an independent worker. But part of the reason I appreciate the program I am in so much is that it takes me out of my comfort zone. I have had to collaborate with my classmates, people I've never met, online. It is a great challenge. I regret that this project did not lend itself to that kind of collaboration. Maybe collaboration is something that can become a course on its own. It is such a huge thing. Isao, I think it should be part of every course. I think the course was built so that students can choose either or not to collaborate. To facilitate collaboration more, I think the course can even force students to work together. Unless the students know each other from past semesters, getting to know each other itself usually take some time, and one semester only has 15 weeks - a "pushing" mechanism might work. I'm not sure I agree with you on the collaboration front. I don't think we have to know each other. The thing that gets us talking and working together is the fact that we are all studying the same topics, and we more or less all have similar (or related) interests. We do have similar interests - but the working or studying style might differ a lot. I see you are more comfortable taking initiative and collaborating and I am on the opposite side of the spectrum - self-starting and prefer to complete things on my own. I see what you mean. The funny thing is I am more like you in real life - independent and prefer to work on my own. Taking a course online makes me different for some reason. The course topic unites us students all, but collaboration is about our style (or even personalities) and an encouragement can work well, otherwise we tend to fall back on our favorite learning (or working) styles.The way I feel about collaboration in distance learning is this - if I didn't want to be involved in a learning environment (which I define as one of interaction with professors and students alike), I could have just bought a load of books and not taken any classes. I think collaboration is important in higher education. I learn a lot from my classmates. As Lauren pointed out, learning materials are everywhere. The key to attend a grad school is to be with people with similar goals and interact with them. Now, if this was a non-distance learning course, the fact that students sit together naturally creates friendship and collaboration. Distance learning can take extra measures to create that natural bonding which can be the essense of higher education.

How was the collaboration initiated?

I think we've expressed that collaboration was initiated as a bunch of false starts. I recently saw people posting logos and other collaborative efforts in Moodle. At this point, I don't think I could take anyone else's work and combine it with my own unless I did a lot of work to make it fit. If there were collaborations, they certainly occurred indirectly - for example, reading other students' comments and building on top of them, or looking at their courseworks inspired me and forced me to think in different ways. You are right, Isao. I didn't think of that. There were posts in forums that people responded to that helped me gain direction. It does not sound as much, but it is indeed deeper than merely watching "examples" online to get inspirations - the fact that the other students were looking at the same topic as I did made it more real and substantial than merely scanning the web. I could gaze into an alternative universe and see many different possibilities. Unsynchronized brainstorming, that's how I describe them. Terrific description. I like that - unsynchronized brainstorming! Then what would you call our conversation here on Wave? Synchronized brainstorming? The Wave encourages adding comments - exactly what brainstorming is about. No judgement, only contribution.

How did it affect your own project work?

My project probably could have been better with collaboration. I know my classmates are all very talented in different ways, and my project probably could have been better had we pooled our resources. I totally agree that the classmates are all talented in different ways. For me, this course had the highest level of professionals than any other projects I have done. I must say I was intimidated at first, which probably discouraged me a bit from speaking out on collaboration. I am wondering, if we were asked to create a single project together, what might have happened? I am not merely suggesting it could have been better - it might have gone the other way. The sum of individuals can be much bigger or much smaller than expected.For the final project of a class I took last semester, students formed two groups - one to develop the core values for a company, one to develop more of a sales and marketing focus. It was intense! We had to put all of our work onto a single wiki. It was hard organizing around everyone, but I think it came out pretty well in the end. Do you think similar projects can be done in this course topic (design)? I think we might need to add some twist to make it effective if we do so here - my company excels in industrial design but there is little collaboration. The boss decides almost everything, but the result is stunning, which made me think hard - I have always believed in the power of horizontal partnerships but there are some topics that do not suit them well. The most well-known example is Apple (Steve Jobs (not a fair example - he is brilliant!) decides everything). That's an interesting and unusual perspective. I think your boss is probably really talented and intelligent. That's probably why the dictatorship (yikes!) works. I agree with you about the power of horizontal partnerships. I mean, look at all of the open source platforms that have been gaining ground. One person does not do all the work for any of those. It is the work of many people, and many other people who correct and refine the work of their predecessors. It is true - I once heard the reason why Linux and other open-source platform worked well was because the original model was incomplete - people saw there were holes, and they volunteered to fill them in. Regarding my own course work, if I have joined a joint project, I could have volunteered for the role of "patcher" - to do what's left.For myself, I would have volunteered to do a lot of the design work. I am no expert, but I love following new trends and tutorials.

The embedded version:
(Sorry I couldn't make the Wave appear inside the entry; the embedded version appears outside the main blog entry area, at the bottom of the screen. For clear view, the copy&pasted version above should be better.)

Evolution of visual design: Helping others 'get' it

2009-12-05T22:01:00.001+08:00

This blog started in September 2009 as a base station for my technical communication-oriented thoughts and experiments. I have made some changes in visual design - admittedly within the range of Google template. I would like to look back on its evolution and see how I can move on, considering the lessons learned.

Initial Design

Theme:

The skin, shown below, was taken almost directly from a Blogger template called Snapshot, created by Dave Shea. The overall tone of the skin looked futuristic (the top banner was filled with a pseudo-landscape of buildings) without being too intrusive (the main content area was almost blank). I wanted to have a serious tone but not too barren, so that template worked well. I also secretly hoped I had avoided the "Standard Blogger" look by picking minor theme.

Visual Design:

The bright green color at the top right provided a visual "hook". The horizontal lines between the title and content for each text block guided the eyes naturally to each visual element, separated them, and created consistency. One unexpected effect was the profile image in the About Me corner. The image was larger than I had expected, therefore could have worked as the visual hook instead of the green patch at the top.

Text:

I chose the two-column layout, main text on the left (so that readers first catch the main text, not the side bar). The text width was chosen to include 60-80 characters per line, the optimum horizontal length considering the eyeball movement. If I wrote this blog in Japanese, I would have chosen to place the sidebar to the left because in Japanese context the action starts from the right and then to the left. This difference in the direction of action (West: left to right, East: right to left to roughly summarize) is a topic that can be studied more deeply.

1st Revision

I decided to have an experiment: what if I do the opposite of what I had always preferred in terms of visual design and stick with it for a while? In the end I stuck with it for too long but I did reconfirm what I disliked about document/blog design.

Theme:

I chose the most commonly used Blogger template, the default design called Minima, created by Douglas Bowman. Although I liked its minimalistic approach with no background color and no "ornament", I always considered it too traditionally looking for my taste.

Visual Design:

No visual design at all - this is largely due to my laziness I must admit. If I wanted to go against my taste, I should have filled the background with colors and added extra symbols and icons all over the place, to make it visually crowded.

Text:

To go against my taste, I stretched the main column to screen width and tucked the original sidebar content to the bottom of the page. Therefore, unless the visitor has no intention other than reading the text content, he might have a hard time figuring out what to do. I also chose a serif font instead of sans serif. The horizontally stretched paragraph would be harder to read and more formal than the initial design.

Conclusion:

After a while, I still disliked the design and had a hard time reading the blog entries myself as well. The design did, however, made the blog look like a formal report. I never thought of making the blog look like a printed report but it worked nicely. Maybe in the future if I need to make a blog printer-friendly (without falling back on providing a PDF version), the one-column design might work fine.

Bonus: I changed the background color to see how hideous it might have looked.

2nd Revision

Taking lessons from the 1st revision, I decided to go back to the previous style - simple, two-column layout. Still I wanted to make an experiment: what if I stripped off all visual design? After all, wasn't simplistic design my preference? I still liked the barrenness in the 1st revision.

Theme:

I chose a theme called Tekka created by Evhead Glish, which offered the least amount of visual elements in all templates. I found it cold and hostile; here I realized I wanted more warmth in the overall tone.

Visual Design:

Almost nothing existed here, only the texts remained. Result: I still liked not having complex image or photo, but it was too stripped. No taste at all does not lead to better design. I clearly needed a visual variety. If that came from the content I would have stuck with this template; unfortunately the entries mainly consist of text paragraphs.

Text:

I changed the layout back to the original two-column structure to provide easy navigation and also to limit the width of the paragraphs in the main area. Going back to the original style worked.

3rd Revision (current)

After going to the extremes, I sorted out what worked and what did not, and picked up a template that works: Rounders by Douglas Bowman.

What works (vs. what does not work):

Two-column layout (vs. single layout with sidebar items tucked to the bottom)
No complicated images (vs. photos or images)
Plain background colors (vs. colored background)
Clear separation among each visual element (vs. unified content)
Warm tone (vs. cold and formal tone)

Shown below is the result. Still not a satisfactory design, but at least it reflects my personal taste sufficiently.

Re-designing a usability testing plan

2009-11-29T15:08:00.002+08:00

Usability testing for a website measures how easy it is to use, how accessible it is, and how accurately it reflects the users' expectations through a series of questions and tasks, followed by a close observation. The biggest difference between the traditional questionnaire is that in usability testing, the tester carefully watches how the user actually, er, uses the website. Observing the real behavior as opposed to listening to how the user thinks he or she behaves, provides truly useful data.

Here I examine the first draft of usability testing plan for the NJIT website (a technology university based on New Jersey) and makes suggestions for the plan. The testing plan is structured in two parts: the procedure part and the question/task part. I will also examine how the testing plan can be applied to other commercial sites, such as Amazon.com.

The Procedure: Before

Meet participant, introduce yourself, and thank them for their participation.
Record demographic data.
Briefly explain the purpose of the session.
Ask participant to fill out the Participant Consent form.
Start the interview with general questions.
Ask specific questions from the NJIT Usability Testing Questions document.
After the last question is answered, thank the participant.
Escort the participant out of the testing room.

The Procedure: After

Conduct the following four tasks even before the usability test takes place.

Introduce yourself.
Ask participant about his demographic data.
Ask general questions.
Ask him to fill out the participant consent form.

Meet participant and thank them for their participation.
Ask specific questions from the NJIT Usability Testing Questions document.
After the last question is answered, thank the participant and escort him or her out of the testing room.

Summary of changes in the Procedure

The point of the above changes is to save time, and to make the experiment more spontaneous.
Saving time does not need explanation - we all have equally 24 hours, and spending a participant’s precious on-site time for “fixed” information is a waste - they should be completed even before the usability testing occurs, together with the consent form agreement and in the participant’s leisure time.

Making the experiment more spontaneous is to collect genuine response from the participant. If he or she spends longer pre-test time in the usability testing room filling out forms and answering questions, he or she might absorb expectations and might even have an insight about how the website is constructed. Needless to say, the most accurate responses are collected when the participant’s attention level is still high (unless the test’s purpose is to measure the website’s performance toward people with fatigue).

The testing questions: Before

Opening questions

Feedback on the big photo image(s) on the homepage
Feedback on the news & events shown on the homepage
Feedback on the special-interest features
Feedback on the general mix of content on the page
Feedback on use of colors, and visual “balance” of design elements
What they would expect to find behind each Primary Nav links

Tasks

Apply online
Find a list of available majors
Find information about NJIT academic focus (what makes NJIT different from other schools in the region)
Find out about the student body; would they fit in at NJIT?
Find directions to NJIT
Find information on student clubs
Schedule a visit to NJIT
Find information on financial aid and tuition cost
Find a list of places to go and things to do in Newark/NYC region

Closing questions

From an internal page: How would you get back to the homepage?
Is the breadcrumb navigation apparent? Is it clear how to use it?
Do you have any other observations about the NJIT website?

The testing questions: After

Opening questions

Feedback on visual appeal and design
Feedback on the news & events
Feedback on the special-interest features
Feedback on the general mix of content on the page
What they would expect to find behind each Primary Nav links
Feedback on navigation including menu and breadcrumbs

Tasks

Apply online
Find a list of available majors
Find out about the student body; would they fit in at NJIT?
Find directions to NJIT
Find information on student clubs
Schedule a visit to NJIT
Find information on financial aid and tuition cost
Find a list of places to go and things to do in Newark/NYC region

Other observations

Do you have any other observations about the NJIT website or any other issue?

Summary of the changes in the testing questions structure

I will change the three-part structure into a two-part structure plus one closing question (Do you have any other observations?). Unless absolutely necessary, all questions should be asked at the beginning when the participant is highly alerted. The exception is the observations request, and it does not have to be limited to the website design. The participant might have some opinions about other issues such as the usability testing scheme, tester’s attitude, and university website in general. Any of these information would be useful for both the website and the usability testing.

I added a feedback on navigation and merged the breadcrumb question from the original “Closing questions” in it.

Also, I deleted the academic focus question which sounds impressive but is ultimately pointless: how many people read organization policies to find out how unique the university truly is? Instead, more attention should be paid to where the users actually go to find out their true interest.

Applying the usability test documents to a commercial site

All the previous suggestions were made for a university website, but most of the items also apply to commercial website as well. Therefore I would not change the overall structure, but will add the following items in the Tasks corner. Of course, each question or task should be modified according to the actual information in the commercial website.

Complete a purchase of a randomly selected product
Enter a user comment/review
Reach customer support desk and ask imaginary questions

The completion of the purchase is about testing the e-commerce functionality thoroughly. Unlike university, customer are likely to complete the purchase in a single action, and when they cannot do that, they are far more likely to abandon the website and look for alternative options.

Entering a user comment/review is to test how much the website encourages collaboration with and input from the users. Everybody say they treat users as collaborators, not just buyers, but do they live up to that hype?

Reaching customer support desk is one of the most important factors in improving customer satisfaction. Here, time is the critical factor - when observing the time, the testers should count the time the participant took to complete each transaction (this is especially true for reaching out for the support desk, where real customers likely have low tolerance). A commercial website is about helping customers get what they want as fast as possible.

Google site: How it has evolved

2009-11-07T01:24:00.000+08:00

I have a new website built on Google sites service: free (as usual), simple, stable, and also flexible enough to allow creating surprisingly decent website. One such "example" website is Steegle - a website offering tips for building Google sites on which itself is built. The author not only contributes frequently to Google Support forum and offers free tips but also provides paid service for advanced consulting. Many features in my own websites were taken from Steegle's tips.

My website, 5-minute courses, offers insights into Asian (mainly Japanese) cultures, especially their "peculiar" aspects which baffle people who are not familiar with them.

The course is offered as a small presentation, with comment facilitation at the bottom. The right side bar provides site structure, search box, contact information, and RSS link. The top logo also serves as the link to the home page, and the buttons below the logo offers shortcuts to major sections. Below is the original blueprint of the website as I planned in September.

The goal of the original plan was to provide a web-based training system for an imaginary global consulting company with the following traits:

Visual-based: non-verbal and reflective learning rather than verbal and active learning
Concept-driven: theories and concepts rather than examples and linear steps
Optimized for global team: can be taken anytime, anywhere

Is the current website meeting the original goals (or even exceeding them)? I will examine the effects and see what was accomplished and what is being left.

Features
Some features have stayed the same and some did not. Here are the quick summary of features, realized or not.

Realized: Course title, Course content, Controls, User comments, Search button, What's new, Course structure
Not realized: Login information, Ratings

A majority of the functions were realized. I did not include the Login function in the website and instead chose to make it more "open" to end users, by allowing anybody with Google account to comment. Originally commenting in Google sites were allowed only to "collaborators" registered by the web master, which could have worked as a pseudo-login system. The user rating function is something that wasn't realized due to lack of technical expertise or knowledge - by default Google sites does not offer such function (yet).

Design aspects

Let's take a look at each of the realized element and see how it was designed and how effective (or ineffective) it might be.

Template design

I took the Solitude: Olive template shown to the right, took the header background off, and left the green color for texts. I also changed all font into Trebuchet. I wanted a bare-bone design with minimum shades of green (nicely realized in the original template). Although the target users are visual-oriented, I eliminated the background color to let them focus more on the content - too much design element, if not placed carefully, might lead to visual noise.

Logo & Menu design

The logo and menu are clickable image texts. They are designed to match the bare-boness of the website and its color. Functional-wise they work fine, but unfortunately the image color does not exactly match the text color (see below: icon color and title color). The logo/icon font does not match the main content either, but that is intended. Other colors and textures were not added to avoid visual noise, as in the background color: future revision should add more design variations without adding noises.

The menu icon was added also to offer a quick high-level site map for the target users who prefer to have an overview of the situation before going into details.

Main content design

The presentation was created in Google Document (Presentation) because it offered (1) easy integration with Google site and (2) Came with embedded playback control and (3) modifying the original presentation gets reflected to the Google site in real time. Presentation / Video sharing sites such as Slideshare offered similar embedding function, but none could offer the (3) real-time option. Below is the close-up of the embedded control playback.
The content itself -- presentations -- are text-based, which seems not fit the visual-oriented target users, but are designed so that each presentation only contains a handful of words. The presentations are structured so that the main argument (concept) is presented first, followed by examples.

Comment design
Google sites is by default equipped by commenting function but it is not open to anyone who visits the website: the web administrator need to give permission as "collaborators" of the web. This might work well in educational usage (commenting can only be done by students) or internal training as proposed in the original plan. This time, to (1) encourage more people to comment and to (2) test an "unorthodox" comment field mechanism introduced in the aforementioned Steegle website, a more open (anybody with Google account can comment) field is embedded as a widget. As shown in the snapshot below, when a user is logged in to his or her Google account, the profile image automatically shows up, creating an instant identity field. This feature should work especially well with the target users -- visual-oriented and international -- where identifying people by photos is considered much easier than names in texts (example: it is very hard for people from U.S. to identify the sex of the Chinese name Bai Ling).

Search design

Google site by default offers a search box. I have modified the option to add a normal Google search option in addition to the default site search (see right). This is a decision that made the original design more complicated (thus less "visual-oriented") in return of increased convenience.

What's new design

Google site by default offers a page template that can be used for posting news and updates. The What's new page offers a quick overview of what is going on in the website -- it suits the target customers who prefer to grasp the "high concept" before going into the details.

(Bonus) About author design

The About corner, the author's page was also meant to experiment with page design. Instead of the default two-column, I used three-column design with equal width, and embedded a Google map showing my address. The gorilla mask was added to add a fun element for visual-oriented target users.

Images replace words

2009-10-29T09:50:00.000+08:00

A picture is worth a thousand words. In general, images are more powerful than words when it comes to clarifying parts of our communication. Maybe ALL of our communication -- this can be the subject of another topic -- but since we have relied so much of our communication on words (spoken or written), here I will take a stance that words and images are both essential and compensate each other.

I will use two examples to illustrate how images effectively replaces words to make the whole communication shorter and clearer. One is a presentation slide from Garr Reynolds, a presentation guru and the author of the bestselling book, Presentation Zen. It shows the power of pictorial aspects of images ( = photos and illustrations). Another is an informative map from Information Architects, a Tokyo-based interaction design firm. Their informative maps show the symbolic aspects of images ( = patterned symbols and icons)

Presentation Zen
Presentation Zen is an impractical advice about making practical presentation (Sorry Garr, your advice is so sweet and motivative that it almost sounds like music, but is hard to follow to me). Nevertheless, being a guru, his presentations are highly aesthetic and easy to understand. Let's break one of his presentations down and see how images are used.

Presentation Zen

View more documents from Fabian Crabus.

Slide No.1: Seduction. Come on, it's gonna taste like a raw sushi. What does a sushi image has to do with presentation? Nothing. But it has a loose connection with the word "Zen" (both are from Japan) and anyhow, most of us love sushi, or have heard it is delicious.
Slide No.2: Example. This is how you reduce clutter. Here, a series of stones shows what it means to reduce clutter. By showing a set of stones built on fragile balance and making it more stable step by step, Reynolds effectively demonstrates both the definition of reduction and the effects behind it.
Slide No.3: Catalyst. Open up your heart, now. We all have different ideas about abstract words such as emotions, as used in this slide. What shall we do to demonstrate such words? The answer: let the audience come up with their own definitions. A beautiful image of a nature always work well for this purpose.
Slide No.4, 7, and 8: Focus. Read the words. In these slides, Reynolds uses the lack of image to guide users to focus on the texts (which is the default usage of presentation slides) but since his previous images were so effective, users also notice that something is missing, which also enhances his "less is more" philosophy (slide No. 7).
Slide No.5: Humor. I know how you feel. Reynolds shows his sense of humor and humiliation by laughing at his own expense (presentation IS boring, isn't it?). This image shows the power of visual clearance; unlike verbal humor, we don't need to think hard (sometimes) what the punchline is.
Slide No.6: Future. This is where you can apply what you have learned today. The image shows the future (or current) possibility -- where the presentation philosophy can be applied in our real life.
Slide No.9: Switch. That's it, thank you ladies and gentlemen. The image demonstrates clearly that the slide is over (we all know that it is not always that clear), with grace and appreciation. What works better than an image of a theater curtain?

Information Architects
Based in Japan but originated in Europe, the members of the design firm Information Architects organizes information (especially that related to the web) in a series of 3D-like interactive maps. Titled Web Trend Map, users not only understand the "big picture" but also dive into each of the presented website easily. The unique part? They map information on real locations. The following is such map for Infographics web sphere, mapped over geographics of Manhattan, New York. Let's see what makes this map effective, in terms of graphical symbols and wayfinding.

Icon: graphical icons makes it easier to identify the website because the real profile photos are copied from the original websites. It is not only easier than creating original icons for each website, it is also more effective.
Symbol:all information is presented according to a set of design rules (including icons). Even the title texts are presented in icon-like manner, making the whole presentation a collection of symbols. Once users get used to the rules, identifying information becomes easy because even text search turns into graphical (symbol) search which requires less brain power.
Wayfinding: I know -- even though the map is based on Manhattan, aside from landscape there is nothing that resembles the real location. Nevertheless, mapping websites onto a pseudo-location works well for wayfinding, because we are wired to memorize a particular place (in this case, a website) with regard to its surrounding markings. Isn't it easy to memorize a location when it is presented like "cross the Brooklyn bridge, turn to the left, walk two blocks"?

Bonus: Why not have a gigantic web trend map covering the whole web sphere, based on Tokyo's rail system (which is arguably as complex and 1/100th as convenient as the Internet)?

Social bookmark, taxonomy

2009-10-22T10:53:00.002+08:00

I have started to use Delicious.com (former Del.icio.us, I guess) to keep my design/writing/inspiration related bookmarks in one place. I was nervous: I have never used a social bookmarking service before and I rarely bookmark a website even in the browser in my computer. Here is the link.

Setting up an account in Delicious and bookmarking the first website were completed in 5 minutes. No Help, User Forum, "Expert" Blog was necessary. This is what I LOVE about Web2.0 services. Good-bye to my days of tap-dancing at installation step No.3 for hours, filling my stomach with rage and barely suppressing the desire to grab a hammer.

Sometimes we only realize our behavioral patterns when they are laid in front of us. The screenshot on the right shows the top 10 tags of my bookmark. Do I see any pattern here? (Aside from the top two tags "msptc605" and "design", which basically are titles of this bookmark)

The answer is yes; my bookmark is heavily front-loaded with ideas. The four top tags -- Inspiration, creativity, idea, and ux (user experience) -- they are some of the most overrated, hyped marketing buzzwords of all time. They also present a surprisingly accurate portrait of what interests me. I can say I am fairly obsessed about understanding the fundamental trend that moves our society rather than following what comes out of it.

Tagging, or folksonomy (folk + taxonomy = casual labeling), is what social bookmarking is about. The original taxonomy focused on systematically organizing complicated information, such as species and atoms. When taxonomy acquired popularity among us mortals, it turned into folksonomy. After all, collecting favorite items and labeling them are one of our basic desires. We collect shoes, photos, quotes, and, er, stamps. I confess. I did.

Recently, another twist has been added to folksonomy and its application: the Web. What did the Web allow us to do?

To collect information, not only physical objects
To share and connect with others easily

A bulk of our collections has become information-oriented, publicly shared in a massive scale, which has never occurred before. Folksonomy, or people's labeling behavior, has adjusted to this trend by standardizing the tag to a set of common keywords to be recognized by as many people as possible. We can summarize this trend as follows.

Taxonomy meant systematic classification of information by professionals.
Collecting information became easier, therefore taxonomy became personalized and folksonomy was born.
Sharing information became easier due to the Web, therefore folksonomy has evolved into a standardized tagging structure (still ongoing).
Streamlined tagging encourages creation of huge tag database, which will create its own application (see next paragraph).

Is social bookmarking a democratic taxonomy that allows the community to peer review the content of the Web, or is it a disorganized collection of personal preferences?
Both are true, as in any "big question". There, we can go to bed; we have two more days until Friday evening.

But seriously, I believe both are collect. We do collect our personal preferences in disorganized manner. but nevertheless social bookmarking works as a peer review system by counting the number of people who tagged a piece of information using the same keyword. If we frame this question as "either or", we will miss the whole picture. The strength of social bookmarking lies in its filtering mechanism, the power to present trends and statistics out of "disorganized personal preference".

Do I believe that social bookmarking is:

Democratic taxonomy? - Yes. We now "own" labeling.

Peer review of the content of the Web? -Yes. In general, the more bookmark a web has, the more useful the content of the website is. Here, the work "useful" does not mean "to anybody" or "historically" or "scientifically". If people want to read more about Paris Hilton, and TMZ.com provides a detailed report of her recent life and acquries 10,000+ bookmarks, then it is a "useful" information at that moment. Maybe even historically: "This day 30 years ago, a record number of bookmarks were recorded over Paris..."

Disorganized collection? -Yes. We all start collecting information that way. One of the great features of social bookmarking application is automatic filing: we put tag, the software stores the information in organized manner. Once we as users find it out, we become even more lazier about organizing information in the first place...

Personal preferences? - Yes. What else?

We see that the social bookmark enhances our personal life. How about our professional life? In the earlier paragraphs I found my social bookmark pretty accurately reflected where my interest lies, even though the bookmark only contained 18 sites. I believe the same will apply to other people. We can peek into a person't interest and professional world through his social bookmarks. Social bookmarks works as an indirect approach to duplicate his thinking pattern, knowledge base, even wisdom, and more - we can expand our own idea based on his experience.

The most obvious application of "social bookmark as a professional tool" is training -- to let students, interns, or any sort of newcomer to an organization to catch up with its philosophy or business. Unlike traditional textbooks and seminars, bookmarking is cheap, accessible, and can be upgraded easily. But it is also a static, Web1.0 usage: learners mainly receive information, only occasionally contributing with new items.

I think if we push the envelope further and use social bookmarking's collaboration and peer review feature (to shift the focus from the "source" side to "users" side) more extensively, we might come up with a new application for our work life. One trend I would like to see is the "democratizing" nature of social bookmarking affect the traditional, top-down corporate culture and turn it into team-oriented, flat organization. Today, being "flat" is used as a keyword for double-standard: on the surface, it means democratizing the society and workplace; deeper inside, it means taking advantage of other people more systematically.

Can social bookmarking (combined with other forces) socialize our culture?

Web 2.0: Past, Present, and Future

2009-10-18T18:14:00.001+08:00

Four years have passed since Tim O'Reilley and his pals famously started endorsing the new era of the Internet: Web 2.0. Some people got excited, some got sceptical, commenting "Isn't it just a marketing buzzword?" Looking back, I think we were all missing the point by asking that question, because everybody knew something was happening. The right question could have been: "Does Web 2.0 describe accurately what is going on?"

The way we interacted with the Internet had been changing -- it was getting much "closer" to our physical life -- and we needed a word to describe it, because we weren't only excited about the change; we were also scared of it (I believe that was why some people tried to blush it off as a buzzword). Web 2.0 might not have captured the tangible details of the changes we were experiencing, but it worked perfectly as a blanket term, capturing the "feeling" we had.

But again, four years, which amounts to a generation in the Internet, have passed. Let's take a closer look at Web 2.0; what it was about and how it has evolved into the current Internet we have (I name it Web 2.5).

Web 2.0: From viewing to using

Web 2.0 largely described the transition in how we interact with the Internet from "viewing" to "using". The Web 1.0 usage (viewing) was summarized in this phrase, "surf the web", that described how we initially interacted with the Internet. Users moved from one website to another, viewing static images and texts, just like a surfer riding along waves of information. Was it fun? Maybe yes. But the whole interaction was largely about receiving existing information. If there was any interaction between the user and the web, it was downloading files and photos; still, a passive activity.

Then slowly, we started to go deeper: uploading files, writing comments, and even chatting with our friends. Yes, the technology for interaction existed long before Web 2.0 caught our attention. I remember playing deathmatch games online using Doom (to get away from the pressure of thesis writing), and it was 1994. But we had to wait until the dot-com bubble and its burst for the interaction to become widely available, and for users to become aware of the power they had in their hands.

Thanks to a handful of companies and online communities that survived the dot-com bubble, "interacting" with the web started to creep in to our online activities. Instead of just viewing, we searched using Google, shopped using Amazon, exchanged using Craigslist, and contributed using WikiPedia. That is what Web 2.0 is about: from viewing to interacting.

Here I summarize what I believe are characteristics of Web 2.0.

From passive to aggressive: As I explained in the previous paragraphs, users no longer just sit there and click the Next/Back button. Interaction, not viewing, is the new way to communicate on the Internet. Welcome back, Mr. Keyboard.
User-contributed content: Add user reviews to Amazon, trackback or comment on a blog, Edit some lines in Wikipedia... the degree of contribution varies but users take siginifant roles in content creation.
From installation to registration: Desktop application is so Web 1.0. Welcome to the online service era, where users no longer need to fill the system administrator's role....well, this was the promise of "Web 2.0 companies", anyhow. We know the reality took a different road, but that will be discussed in the next paragraph.
Free is the beginning, not the end: Make something users want, increase your community, then figure our how to make a profit. That is the business model what Google and countless other companies followed.

Web2.5: From using to living in

Now what? What has changed since 2005? The answer might be everything, if we focus on the specifications and features of the Internet, and nothing, if we take a step back and glance at the overall trend. Interaction is the norm, it hasn't changed at all, has it?

I believe an important trend, which did not receive much attention back in 2005, has been emerging: the "community" experience realized by social networks and post-Web 2.0 applications, including Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Twitter.

In these applications, we all create our online persona and broadcast our activities inside the community or to the external world. What is special about these applications? Answer: users themselves are the content, as opposed to users interacting with the content. The service provider only prepares the framework: user interface, registration scheme, widgets, and so on. We can argue that social networks are virtual realities minus 3D graphical projections (and audio).

Otherwise, have things changed? Here I summarize how characteristics of Web 2.0 has evolved to today's Internet, Web 2.5 as I call.

From aggressive to passive-aggressive: We will never go back to the silent view era, but we are also not pushing the "aggressive" interaction too further. A Tech Crunch article summarizes the recent trend of mixturing static (passive) and dynamic (aggressive) communication into one service (i.e. the way we communicate in real life), as in Google Wave.
User-created content: Especially in social networks, users are no longer mere "contributers." In many cases, they create all of the content, including the "old" Web2.0 organizations: Craigslist, Wikipedia, etc.
Registration and installation: Did everything move from desktop to online, eliminating standalone software packages? Well, no. Some people say it is a matter of time, but for the time being, desktop applications and web applications live together. The broadband got wider, but also CPUs and memories got faster and bigger. What really has become "online" is software distribution: now it is hard to find any software that cannot be bought online for download.
Free is the beginning and the end: What happened to the "how to make money" discussion? None of the social networks are charging money to users who only access to basic functionalities. They charge money to users who wants to do something extra; in other words, the "collect money from everybody (eventually)" mantra has been replaced by "collect money from heavy users (encourage everybody to become them, eventually)."

Let's go back to the "community" aspect on Web 2.0 (or 2.5). Regarding this topic, I am especially interested in how we create and manage our online persona for online communities (online identity). In other words, I am wondering why we behave differently online than in offline and do not feel (too) strange about it.
Personally, I am seeing notable difference between my online and offline persona, as follows:

I am more social online than offline.
I am more talkative online than offline.
I am more humorous online than offline.
I have more acquaintances online than offline.

For example, in my Facebook and during my chat, I frequently hug my friends, send them gifts, invite them to events, all of which I seldom do in my offline world. As I observe my friends, I see similar patterns; looks like everybody behaves "differently" online. The scary part is, we all behave consistently (with integrity) online, as if we were born that way. I have even acquired a habit of ditching my pre-formed idea when I meet my online friends in real-life for the first time.

I am not sure where this split-persona behavior goes. Maybe we fuse the online and offline persona, maybe we will comfortably live with multiple personality. I haven't found a good resource on the Internet discussing this split personality issue yet...

Technical Writer -- the 28th best job in America

2009-10-13T19:24:00.001+08:00

CNNMoney has updated The Best Jobs in America annual survey for 2009. Technical Writer is in the list at 28th.

I find this article very interesting: if we pretend we know nothing about technical communication and judge Technical Writer as a career option solely from this study, the logical conclusion might be "rock-solid" at best, "bored to death" at worst.

All parameters in "Quality of Life Rating" show grade B, the annual salary range sits comfortably between $50,000 and $100,000, and even the overall position in the list - 28th out of 50 - walk the middle of the road.

New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)'s slogan is "The edge in knowledge" but at least in Technical Communication, this study implies there is no edge at all: it says we are the nuggets, air hockeies, Wii Fit of science and technology...enough.

Of course I personally find technical communciation a very edgy field, waking up every most mornings with excitement as being a technical writer smile

Oddly I do not feel much stress doing this job, probably because whenever I feel stressful, I remember my previous job as an FAE, enduring being yelled at customers' site and sleeping at odd hours.

Reviewing a website design: old vs. new

2009-10-10T20:49:00.000+08:00

This is a study of website redesign, comparing the new with the old.
Wenceslao Almazán website old: http://www.wenceslaoalmazan.com/links/oldpage/wenceslaoalmazan.html
Wenceslao Almazán website new: http://www.wenceslaoalmazan.com/

I prefer the new design to the old one. At first sight, I thought the new design made the website more dynamic and fancier, but sacrificed usability. But after playing with both sites for a while, I changed my idea. The new version not only provides more fun, but also is easier to navigate (for me).

The old website lists categories and links in aligned manners. All the major links are listed at the left or bottom, and the animated gimmicks are used only as playful accents, not as the major navigation scheme. However, after viewing some of the links, I found the old website hard to use for the following reasons:

* Everything is compact (nice), including the letters and portfolios (not nice). I started to look closely, leaning on the display of my laptop.
* There is no way to control the animation - do I have to watch the whole loop each time?
* I couldn't find the 'back' button to the main menu easily.

The new website looked too random, too interrupting on the surface: but I found its navigation scheme is consistent, actually.

* Because the portfolio presentations do not jump to different page structures, navigating the website and finding the 'hidden' button became fun - because I was sure I won't get stuck in one place.
* I could control the animation and also watch the overview of each of his portfolio category.
* I no longer had to squeeze my eyes to read the texts and view his works.

I think the artist wanted to create a website that is fun to be around, and he did it brilliantly without sacrificing usability. He even considered conservative users: the good old text links are also available at the bottom.

I do think functional-wise, the old website was better. But I also think functionality (or usability) should be the one to support the design (the main message), not the other way around.

Evolution of a Google site website part 1: creation

2009-10-02T22:11:00.000+08:00

The screenshot below shows the initial design of a Google site I am going to develop. It should evolve into a visual-based learning site for an audience like me, who prefers visual, reflective, and conceptual learning material over verbal, linear, and practical material.

It is a no-frill website (I thought about making it completely black-and-white but wasn't brave enough) with a large main content area and a sidebar at the right. Because it is a learning site, the audience should not receive visual clutters from the backgrounds and peripherals; the structure is kept simple so that all attentions from the audience go to the upcoming learning material at the center.
Aside from narrowing the main content area, I currently have no idea about how to design this website to make it work more effectively as a learning site. As I modify the visual appearance, I will record the process here in this blog.

10 Tips on Writing the Living Web

2009-10-02T21:35:00.000+08:00

I met this article seven years ago, when I was still contemplating whether or not to create my own blog. Movable Type was in its infancy, so writing on the web still required a considerable amount of system administration work, which provided a good excuse not to write on the web.

Then Typepad came out, and together with several online articles, I finally gained enough push at my back to start my blogging life. 10 Tips on Writing the Living Web was one of these articles.

It reads more like a philosophy than a traditional collection of tips. None of the tips offer technical insights such as font selection, formal or informal word usage, and so on. But the article warmly encourages the readers all along, culminating at the last tip, Relax! At the same time, it does not sugar coat the reality: if we need to invest a considerable amount of energy into writing, it says so (Write often). If we have to be brave enough to speak the truth, it says so too (Stand up, speak out).

I read the article again thanks to the collection of links from Professor Ronkowitz, and I am amazed at how timeless it is. No part of this article feels old, even after seven years (= 70 internet years). I recommend this article to anybody who is wondering if it is worth writing seriously on the web.

How to write an effective biography

2009-10-01T09:49:00.000+08:00

The definite guru on graphic design and typography for us dummies, Robin Williams, puts her 'real bio' on her official website. It is a story of an incredible life from an ordinary person who took an incredible path by choice. I went there hoping to get a tip or two on writing an effective self introduction. I did get a tip. A big one:

You want to write a good biography? Live a life.

Here is a long snippet. Few words can encourage us more than this paragraph to move on with what we believe in.

I am a teacher. It is my path. It is what I am supposed to do. No matter what is going on outside--divorce, unhappiness, anger, poverty, death--when I walk into my classroom nothing else exists except my students and our work. Teachers certainly don't teach for the money. Real teachers teach because they are supposed to. I didn't plan do what I'm doing. When I was in high school I had a small business teaching swimming in my parents' backyard, and all the moms and dads assumed I was going to be a kindergarten teacher. "A teacher!" I exclaimed with dismay. "Oh no, I will do something much more exciting than be a teacher!" It took many years for my path to unfold, and I had no clue where it was leading. But now that I am here, I see that it happened the way it was supposed to. I did not know I was on a path, but I see now that having the courage to live in the "wisdom of uncertainty," to take jobs I had a passion for instead of the ones that offered the most benefits and highest pay, to be willing to struggle to happily make ends meet rather than live in a miserable partnership, to take the anger and bitterness after a divorce and direct that energy to getting my own life together rather than trying to get money out of him, eventually led me to a very satisfying place, a place that offers so much more to me than I ever thought would happen in my life.

This is the book from her that any aspiring designer should own.
The Non-Designer's Design and Type Books, Deluxe Edition

P.S. This biography is also totally funnier than the recent works from the actor with the same name. I think he agrees.

Clarifying induces chaos

2009-09-30T10:07:00.000+08:00

A not-so imaginary conversation between a service personnel and a desperate customer.

Customer: Why can't I install this application to my laptop?
Service: Which OS are you using?
Customer: Vista.
Service: (Voiceless but audible sigh) Do you use the 32-bit version or 64-bit version?
Customer: What is that?
Service: There are two versions of Vista OS, 32-bit and 64-bit, according to their maximum memory sizes. If you have the 32-bit version, the maximum amount of memory is 4GB. If you have the 64-bit version, much more than that.
Customer: How the hell I know? Nobody told me anything about it.
Service: Well, could you please open the Control Panel and...
Customer: (Why did I put myself into this pitfall?) Okay, just a sec...

The more we try to clarify the situation, the more chaotic it becomes. We should all appreciate Microsoft for turning ourselves into philosophers.

Avoiding typeface errors

2009-09-27T16:28:00.003+08:00

I would like to conduct a simple test. Pick a typeface that is appealing to me for some reason that I cannot articulate, examine its usability (legibility and readability) and its personality (if the typeface is a person, what would he or she be like?) to find out the reason why I was attracted to it in the first place. The typeface used by default here is Trebuchet.

I will also apply the same test to two other typefaces to which I have negative biases.

Let's begin the test. I will paste a block of text in each typeface and see their readability, legibility, and personality.

Mini-anatomy of Taiwan Mcdonald website

2009-09-26T12:36:00.000+08:00

Let's take a look at the local Mcdonald website: Taiwan.
http://www.mcdonalds.com.tw/

Here I find two trends that are commonly seen in Taiwanese websites: emphasizing visual appearance and pushing "About us" to the frontline. Asian trend, maybe.

They really pay attention to visual effects as seen in the 'floating' effects. Visually stunning, but not too user-friendly: each time we click something, we need to wait for several seconds for the Flash plugin to load the content. Although the overall design emphasizes family-friendliness by using circle as the primary motif, three of the seven 'stars' in the home page are dedicated to corporate affairs: About us, Quality assurance, and Social responsiveness. The website might appear 'round', but inside we find the content more 'square' than we might anticipate.

Overall, although the Taiwanese Mcdonald website does contain rich information about its menu and service, it still gives us an impression that it pays more attention to form than content.

Bold, Italic, and Underline

2009-09-26T11:10:00.002+08:00

Probably these are how I use text variations.

Bold: Pay attention!
Italic: Look, I am different.
Underline: Click me. (imagine there is an underline ;-)

Death of a fontman

2009-09-26T10:47:00.000+08:00

What I recently started noticing is the slow death of serif fonts in our life as writers. Actually, "writing" now means "typing" using the keyboard. The major tools for typing nowadays are:

Web (forums like this, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
Email
MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)

How many of them use serif fonts such as Times New Roman as the default typeface? One: MS Word. All the rest uses sans serif fonts such as Arial by default. From my experience, we seldom change the default typeface, and if it happens, serif fonts are replaced by sans serif fonts, not the other way around.

Word was once THE tool for creating documents, but as our writing tools shifts into web-based applications, I am seeing less Word-based documents. As I recall, I have only written once in Word in the last 5 days or so.

If this trend continues (and spills over to the reading world, which is already happening thanks to our leaving paper-based publications), will serif fonts turn into decorative fonts, like - er - comic sans?

Child-oriented or Adult-oriented: how to make the website age-centric

2009-09-24T07:23:00.001+08:00

How do we design a website so that it appeals to a specific age group?
To approach this question, let's compare two websites which are very successfully designed, but use different design approach due to the age group of their target users.

Website designed for adults (+21): CEVA Inc.
CEVA is a licensor of silicon intellectual properties specializing in digital signal processor for mobile devices. CEVA's website is engineer-centric, loaded with product specifications and application examples as well as supplementary diagrams.

Website designed for kids (-15): Catalog of Pocket Monsters
Pocket Monsters a.k.a. Pokémon is a game series that has been running on Nintendo handheld devices. There are almost 500 types of “Monsters” which are listed in this online catalog (Japanese). The website, part of the official website, is targeted at young users with its simple structure and colorful design.

How the sites are analyzed
I will analyze the two sites in the following dimensions: user roles, user goals, knowledge base, physical abilities, circumstances of use, and culture. The focus is on the difference between adult (andragogy) and child (pedagogy) learning styles in each of the above dimensions. There is no anecdotal evidence about these dimensions for the target websites so I can rely on empirical data through my experience of working in the silicon intellectual property business and growing up in Japan.

User roles and goals

CEVA: staff engineers (obtain specifications), sales managers (check market applications), stakeholders (check invester information)
Most users of CEVA website has official roles in their workplaces. They are conscious about their roles and act according to their titles. The goal of CEVA users is to make decisions: whether to purchase the properties from engineering or management point of view, and whether to invest or not.

Pokémon: researchers (learn monster characteristics), collecters (store data)
Users of Pokémon website do not possess formal titles. They assume the above mentioned roles mostly without awareness of the roles they are playing. The goal of Pokémon users is to gain: know more or store more so that they can compete with their friends or increase their catalog of information.

Knowledge base

CEVA: B.S or M.S in engineering
Most users of CEVA website possess a degree in engineering or science-related fields. This is due to the highly sophisticated technology used in the product. Managers and stakeholders usually possess additional skills or degree for sales and investment. Also, they can operate computer applications fairly well and can navigate the website easily.
According to learning theory (andagogy), adults learn best when able to link new knowledge and skills to knowledge and skills learned previously, therefore the website links its contents to various articles and diagrams, making a huge ‘web’ that reaches out even for external sites. The image below shows the website’s sitemap, indicating the complexities of the website.

Pokémon: practical knowledge at playing Pokémon games
Users of Pokémon website most likely own a Pokémon video game or trading cards, so they possess knowledge and skill for playing the game. They do not necessarily possess computer skills.
Besides their limited navigational skill which is discussed later, child users in general prefer receiving an overview of the presented information, then individual examples. The image below shows the search result based on a keyword. We can clearly see the website does not change its structure and presents the overview.

Physical abilities (human factors)

CEVA: older adults with deep navigational skills and some sight problems
All users of CEVA website are adults. Therefore they have enough experience and knowledge to navigate complex information but sometimes need visual enlargements.
The CEVA website has multiple navigational levels, changing its structure according to the page content. Adult learners generally have no problem dealing with it. The image below shows that when viewing specific details, the layout changes drastically from the home page.

Pokémon: schoolkids with limited navigational skills
Users of Pokémon websites have limited experience, therefore prefer to navigate simple websites.
The Pokémon website has only one navigational level: the main screen. No matter what the user does, the screen structure and layout does not move, giving users a comfortable ‘playground’ feeling. This style suits childs with limited navigational capability. The image below shows that even after switching the content from overview to a specific monster, the site structure stays the same.

Circumstances of use

CEVA: during work
CEVA website is focused on providing useful information for making purchasing decisions, engineering-wise and sales-wise. Therefore, users access the website during office hours from their workplace.
Although some images of young ladies are added to attract male-dominated engineering world, the website is text-based, making it Safe-For-Work for any business circumstances. The image below shows how the image is safely accompanied by the text.

Pokémon: during private time
Schoolkids are generally not allowed to access websites at school, and they do not possess portable computers, therefore the website should be accessed mostly from their home. As a result, all screens become image-oriented rather than text-oriented because there is no restrictions as in the adult world, as shown in the screenshot below.

Culture

CEVA: large-sized corporates in the US, Europe, and Asia
Geographically users of CEVA site is widely spread among the world, and although most of them belong to the semiconductor industry, their culture is diversed. Therefore the learning should also be influenced more by the users’ similarities than differences. The image below shows an example of an article written in a standard manner accepted by major publications worldwide.

Pokémon: Japanese schoolkids
Although Pokémon is famous worldwide, the website is dedicated to the Japanese-speaking culture. Therefore the users likely share the same cultural backgrounds. The website uses Japanese language and the round-edged, warm-colored tone to emphasize cuteness as the cultural focus as shown in the image below.

Elements of design in a video

2009-09-17T07:39:00.001+08:00

Let's take a short video clip and examine what makes it so visually effective, or why does it make us watch it repeatedly. To be precise any piece of video that has Bill Murrary or zombie in it automatically keeps my attention but here we focus on its design aspects.

I will take a video clip from One of the playlists in Youtube which is dedicated to typography. Boring? No! (well, some yes) Shown below is the most intriguing piece of work using typography that I have ever seen.

What makes this video so visually effective? Aside of creative thinking, technical-wise it utilizes various shapes of letters in two opposite directions: the letters themselves, and the open space created by them. We might say they compensate each other, like in Yin and Yang. Here I will list example sequences from the video to highlight the usage of letter or lack thereof.

Using the open space

00:25 Trapped man
A "trapped man" figure is created by the open area between the letter C and E. The designer of the video creates a shape by closing the open space, thus reversing the relationship between background and foreground. The man-shape becomes more apparent when his eyeballs followed by his full body emerges in white color, making a stark contrast between the dark background. The large and small version of the figure creates both contrast and rhythm, even though basically they are the same.

00:38 The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Again, a clever usage of the trapped area is shown. This time, a face of a fox emerges by the area trapped between the letter M and V. The bright-red letters successfully separates the outside (background) and inside (Mr. Fox). Since the two letters are closely placed, we can easily close the gap between the letters and imagine the inner area as an isolated shape. Another type of closure occurs here - we only have the fox's eyes as his visual clue, but we naturally imagine the rest of his face (nosetip, whiskers, earbud, so on). This segment tells us the importance of the eyes for our recognition. Wiggling Mr. Fox's ears just by adjusting the letter "M" is a nice bonus. It is only a slight move, but works effectively because the other area stays still.

Using the letters themselves

00:44 Lettered ships
We see several vessels with their major parts constructed by various letters. This time, instead of using the open area, the letters themselves come into play. To create a figure, sometimes a single letter is scaled up ($ as the mast, T as the anchor), and sometimes small letters are placed repetitively (m for a window, i for oar). This section tells us that relying on the original aspect (shape and size) of the material (letter) is not the only solution - even for mundane shape like i or m has its unique usage.

01:18 Faces created by typefaces
We see a series of human faces and figures almost solely consist of typography. Some figures entirely consist of letters and their placement or scaling (such as in the bowing ladies figure with the letter k and l), and some uses supplementary figure to help viewers imagine what the shape is about (such as in the snorkeling man with additional fish and bubbles). This section not only uses ordinary letters but borrows strange-looking characters from non-English languages. Although they might be relying too much on the complexity of the letters rather than creative placement and scaling, they add dynamic movements and variety.

Other elements
Typography is not the only design element in this video. Two elements are worth noting: music and background. The music adds enough tension to make viewers feel "something is coming along" plus provides a classical, well-mannered taste. Its contrast between the playfulness of the video highlights the typography effect even more. The background mostly consists of combination of basic colors. It adds excitement to the sometimes bland texts (they are all black) and carries the animation forward.

---------------- Bonus material ------------------------
Introducing only the "best" does not do justice to such a rich assortment of creative videos. Here are some more that didn't make it to the top but nevertheless are worth mentioning.

Most stunning message
This video needs no explanation. It just has to be viewed. I would have chosen this video if its power lied in visual design (unfortunately no).

Text as the storyteller
An ordinary mini-story turns into a dramatic play thanks to typography. The presense of music also has a big part. Because the visual effect is rather limited, the music leaves larger impression, making the story even more dramatic. A good reminder of how important not to rely only on visual effects.

Have we seen this before? Maybe, in the 80s by the musician whose former name was the musician whose former name was Prince (recursive). Youtube does not contain Sign of the Times video anymore. Boo.

Most Playful
Can we go one step forward and migrate lyrics into video as characters, not just as subtitles? YouTube is filled with presentations with texts disguised as a (relatively) lawsuit-free music videos. The 'informing' part of their design communication works well, especially the texts contain serious messages that are hard to follow (like the case below).

But that is too static. Let them play dynamically, and here is the result. Isn't it nice to see the background color changes to blue when the song says "blue"?

Last bonus: Helvetica
This is a snippet from a full-length documentary called, er, Helvetica about the ubiquitous typeface. Overused yes, but Helvetica is still a beautifully designed font. The documentary tip-toes on the thin borderline between bordomness and edginess (for some people including myself, the same). Trivial Trivia: In Will & Grace, Jack declares his resume must be typed in Helvetica.

Think like a designer: applying design philosophy into our work (welcome to reality)

2009-09-13T12:15:00.001+08:00

Presentation Zen is a fantastic collection of design-oriented stuff (not restricted to presentation) from Garr Reynolds.

Here we have 10 tips on how to think like a designer. Any one of them rings true, but which one speaks loudest to me?

(7) Think communication not decoration.

As a technical writer, I focus on simulating what users would like to know or likely stumble upon when using a product or service and present the solution in simple yet accurate manner. Think communication is something that I believe in and also something that I should have been focusing more. For me it says "Solve problems before they become problems." In other words, make sure the users can operate the product WITHOUT reading manuals at all.

In my real life, it means if a product requires 7 operational steps to activate it, instead of sweating my brain over using bullet / numbered points or squeezing them neatly into a single page, I would (should) go to the lead engineer and demand a big, red Power Button. Two pages are gone from my portfolio and salary, but also from users' heads, which is what matters. I will present a well-known example which embodies Think communication philosophy.

Like thousands of designers out there, technical writers also look up to Apple for inspiration and example (especially the managers love this approach - think/do/look like Apple is the new black for them). But do their manuals work as a golden sample for aspiring technical writers? Yes and No (It depends is a cop-out solution but also is true...). No because their manuals do not cover the entire aspects of their product and - they are not beautifully designed (dare I say it). Yes because these manuals do just enough of their job. Installation, configuration, technical specifications, they are there. There is one more: a big part of their manuals are embedded in the product itself.

What the sentence above means is that they refine the design of the product until it becomes intuitive enough so users do not need to read manuals, or they can learn on their own by using the product itself. I guess their lead technical writer spends more time feedbacking to product designers than writing warning notes and operation steps. As a result they have far less glorious manuals compared with their products, but they all work brilliantly.

Note:

The same intuitive design approach applies to Nintendo's gaming consoles (anybody who has used Wii or DS might agree) but they do come with thick manuals. Being a Japanese, I must say that it has something to do with Japanese culture and mentality but it is another story...

Anatomy of corporate blogging 2/2: PlayStation

2009-09-10T07:31:00.003+08:00

PlayStation blog

This is the second of two analysis of corporate blogs. To view the other, please read the previous entry.

Some background
PlayStation is one of the most successful game console franchises. Although the latest generation, PlayStation 3, is lagging behind Nintendo and Microsoft in worldwide sales, the previous PlayStation 2 is still the best-selling game console in history with more than 140 million units sold.

What is this blog about?
This blog posts official announcements, release schedules, and special sales information regarding PlayStation hardware and software. It has three primary goals: to be the thought leader in the PlayStation ecosystem, collect as many feedbacks from PlayStation users, and give them a sense of ‘belonging.’

Design and layout
Below diagram shows the content structure, with notable features marked in red.

The structure is a standard two-column but it is almost over-crowded with various visual elements which are not uncommon in game-oriented blogs. Each entry consists of official announcements from Sony and is mostly half-page long. Surrounding the entries are various offerings and invitations from PlayStation store and network. Twitter, PlayStation fan network, downloads, and special sales information which allows this blog to work also as the online hub for users. Lengthy entries are purposefully avoided and commenting is actively encouraged. In fact, the commenting feature is greatly enhanced with reader ‘review’ system and unique icon (ID) for each user and author. More about this in the next paragraph.

What is special about this blog?
The user commenting feature of this blog is more powerful than most other blogs in the market. To summarize, users are treated with more respect. Each user is awarded with his own visual ID (icon) showing up in the screen. The comments to which the author of the post replies are marked in red, showing ‘worthy’ status. The authors are mid- to high-level managers of Sony Entertainment, so being replied works as a ‘badge of honor’ here. Finally, users can rate the original post with stars. This makes the communication between users and Sony stuff two-way, evaluating each other. In this blog, users are not treated like necessary evil - they are recognized as the vital part of the community.

Does it work?
In short, yes it is working very well. The first question that came to my mind when I started looking into PlayStation blog was, ‘Who needs another blog about gaming?’ There are already hundreads of online sources, and it looked like the game maker’s job was simply creating products, and all the rest belonged to the online community. After all, ‘insiders’ can reveal interesting secrets (which does not apply here) but usually offer less interesting readings compared to seasoned editors and writers. This blog shows a more complex reality. Each entry in the PlayStation blog attracts hundreds of comments compared with dozens in other blogs. Technorati ranks the PlayStation blog at 1,456th (as of Sep 9 2009), a remarkable feat. Users are welcoming bonding with the maker, therefore willfully listening to the official message (it can be argued they do not AGREE with official statements, but in this world of information overflow, what matters is that the voices are HEARD, first of all). Sony is collecting vital marketing information through feedbacks, and also gaining loyalty from its users. A win-win relationship is seen here.

Anatomy of corporate blogging 1/2: Hatena

2009-09-10T07:30:00.001+08:00

Cinnamon - the mascot character of Hatena, Inc.

This is the first of two analysis of corporate blogs. To view the other, please read the next entry.

Some background
Hatena is a Japanese internet service company offering blog hosting, social bookmarking, groupware, etc. Hatena has a big presence in Japan especially with their social bookmarking service, Hatena Bookmark, boasting the biggest market share in Japan.

What is this blog about?
This blog is supposedly a diary by Hatena's mascot character, a Welsh Corgi dog named Cinnamon. The blog is built using Hatena's own blog hosting service. The target audience is very broad: it is not only about users of Hatena's service but also anybody who is interested in blogging (or dog). The goal of this blog is not explicitly stated, but supposedly there are two of them: one is to encourage users to start their own blog by being Hatena's showcase (therefore this blog is a perfect metaphor for eat-your-own-dogfood practice), and the other is to increase Hatena's profile among users - techie and non-techie alike.

Design and layout
Below diagram shows the content structure, with notable features marked in red.

It is a standard two-column blog with relatively few visual elements. Each entry consists of the photo of the day and a short message from the dog himself (written by his owner, a staff member of Hatena). Hand-drawn background picture of animals and warm coloring clearly indicate the blog is family-friendly. Users can comment on each entry and if he already has his own blog through Hatena, he can add a "favorite" mark (here it is a dog icon) to his favorite entries. The number of "favorite" marks instantly shows which entry is popular among Hatena communities. Each "favorite" mark can be clicked which leads to the blog of the person who added the mark.

What is special about this blog?
The most intriguing aspect of this blog is its non-corporate style. The main content (photo and message) only mention 'personal' issues about the dog and nothing about Hatena or its service. Same for the links: no newsfeed, event, or advertisement. A link to dog-lovers blog group is visible, but that is a common practice for pet-oriented blogs in general. This blog is about letting Cinnamon, the mascot dog, be "just there."

Does it work?
This blog meets its goal remarkably well: its design and structure are approachable by anybody and it shows how to utilize Hatena’s blogging service including its unique "favorite" marking system. Each entry consistently acquires a dozen or more "favorite" marks, therefore it is fair to say the blog has a good amount of followers. My guess is that the reason it works so well is because there is no smell of "corporate" inside this blog. It is in itself a simple yet well-maintained blog dedicated to a beloved dog.

What is this blog about?

2009-09-05T22:01:00.001+08:00

This blog lists insights and skills about getting our ideas or a piece of information across easily: in other words, making others 'get' it. We call it technical communication: helping others understand something to achieve what they want.

Practically it is about writing documents, drawing signs, making notes, creating spreadsheet and powerpoint slides - all stuffs we do to make our clients/boss/spouse/neighbors/kids/government take an action, or understand something.

Many tools and info are already available online - software, tips, self-test, podcast, so on. What I try to offer in this blog is a point of view, coming from the experience and insight from an almost self-taught technical writer working in Taiwan's IT industry.

The entries will be biased, topics will have less consistency, information will not always be the latest, and the whole blog will present only a partial picture of the world of technical communication. But they will always be true, from the author's point of experience and view. (*)

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Here is the background story of how I became a technical writer.

Ever had the feeling that your life wasn't working at all and you didn't even know What, How, or Why? Of course, life is not that unfair. Fortunately in my case the rest was pretty clear: Who, Where, and When. I, here, now (then). Messed up.

That helplessness, the feeling that I was drowning inside a gigantic washing machine (filled with underpants, what else?) with my hands tied at the back, was the beginning: I might not be able to change the world (**), but I might be able to figure out what the hell is going on.

So I started skill training for 'figuring things out' and became a Field Application Engineer because a big part of that work was about figuring out what was going on in the business scene:

Sorting out chaotic situations (The product is in development hell)
Showing what the reality is (Delivery is 3 months away, coding finishes next month. No, it is the other way around)
And follow through... (Bad news: the entire team should stay at the site until completion. Good news: the hotel is only 5 minutes away)

As we see, out in the field frequently we had to put our hands really dirty, so I switched to technical writing which has been a far better match for me. Smaller team, less politics, more flexibility (it is much easier to change texts rather than software codes), and above all, more about creating things and less about fixing problems.

* Whatever unrelated stuff will go into the brother blog, Free the random thoughts.

** Of couse now I know: we ~~can change the reality just by thinking according to quantum physics~~ always have the choice to change ourselves and our behavior, which is about changing our world.