It’s the era of the spatial UI

There’s a quiet user experience revolution going on, and although many people are aware of it on an ‘oh that’s neat’ level, I predict that we’ll see a snowball effect of user experiences in 3 dimensions.

The two big players that are bringing spatial UI into the mainstream are the iPhone and Wii.  Although iPhone is primarily a touch-driven device, anyone who has delved into the world of downloadable apps will find some very interesting uses of it’s spatial awareness features: Games that detect tiny changes in tilt angle for driving a car or balancing a pile of blocks, and apps that change to a different mode based on which way up you are holding it. 

You’re most likely already familiar with the Wii-mote and it’s spatial capabilities.  There are actually two features built into the Wii-mote: tilting (like the iPhone) and also pointing at the screen.  As you play through Wii games the controller takes on different modes – at one point you’ll be pointing at what to do next, then you’ll be tilting it to steer a vehicle, then waving it in ‘gestures’.  There’s been a deluge of sub-par games on the Wii since it became such a success, but look carefully and you’ll find games with highly innnovative interactions. 

Spatial UI has been beautifully brought together in the Siftables prototype, whereby small independent computers react to each other depending on each other’s roles and physical relationships.  Watch the presentation at TED and you’ll see it passes the ultimate test: It delights children. So this may not be a consumer device that people will run out and buy tomorrow, but the potential for UI innovation is fascinating.

Spatial experiences are going mainstream with 3D movies.After years sidelined at IMAX and amusement parks the 3D movie is back with a vengeance and it seems like every animated movie is now releasing in 3D. [update:] James Cameron in a recent Time article claims 2D is inherently harder for the brain to process, as opposed to 3 dimensions which the brain is designed to process.

So what’s next?  It’s hard to predict what will be a good spatial experience, how best to use the new technology and we’ll evidently need a period for people to just play with it and see what works and what doesn’t (there’s certainly been a fair share of both so far).  If you have the opportunity to build spatial awareness into your next product, I advise you to embrace it with fervour but also expect to prototype and go through a few iterations before you get it right.

Filed under: 3D, general, revolutions, trends, user interface , 3D, gestures, imax, Innovation, iphone, point, siftables, spatial, tilt, ui, UX, wii

Has Social Media Really Taken Over?

I’ve recently been reviewing recording artist websites for a couple of reasons (beyond just personal interest), and I’m struck by the struggles of different artists and websites to address community.  Commentators looking at the most successful online communities have proclaimed the victory of social media over ‘traditional’ websites, but from what I see there’s a handful of success stories and many more sites that are working really hard to build vibrant communities.  High activity and community shouldn’t be mistaken for the same thing either: Communities are self-supporting, self-managing, constructive groups, whereas there’s a lot of high traffic sites that have been named communities that don’t have those key attributes at all. Rather they are borne out of large numbers of people arriving for some other reason and giving voice (take all those comments on YouTube for example).  I’m not saying Social Media is a fad or about to be replaced by the next big thing – I do think it’s here to stay – but don’t expect it to replace media/sites that have served well in the past and will continue to.

Filed under: general, trends , community, fad, social media, youtube

The Blinkers Syndrome

Blinkers are those things that are often put on horses so that their peripheral vision is cut off.  That way they can’t see what’s around them and all their attention is focused in front, where the rider/driver wants them to go.  There’s a comparable mentality when someone says about their business ‘this is what we do’ and define it in terms of your main successful product.  There’s a customer base that repeatedly comes to the site and does X and Y, so putting all effort into optimising X and Y seems the best thing to do.  

Here’s the problem with this approach: First or second time around you should have made X and Y effective to around 90% (if you can’t achieve that you’ve got some other issues to solve).  After that, if you keep working on X and Y,  you will be putting in a lot of effort in trying to squeeze out a few extra percent.   It’s likely that a better approach is to take off the blinkers and look around at what else your customers may want to do, identify opportunities and unfulfilled needs, and go after those.  You’ll find new revenue streams and maybe even new markets. 

Spending time and energy on the things that are not ‘the most important’ will seem hard to justify, but a good way to position it is in terms of your customers – you want to know your customers better, and seek out the best value in both the core market and the peripheries.  

Filed under: folly, general , base, blinkers, blinkers syndrome, core business, customers, mentality, periphery, strategy

Leadership

I saw this great snippet on Bruce Temkin’s obit for Tim Russert about leadership lessons that he saw Russert exemplify during his life.  I thought these were great guideposts for anyone taking a leadership role and wanted to share:

• Tackle complicated situations, but simplify your communications.
• Expect a lot from your people, but help them succeed.
• Push for excellence, but do it with enthusiasm.
• Ask the hard questions, but stay fair.
• Focus on the issue, not yourself.
• Act professionally, but don’t lose your humanity.

I like how these show the value of drive, vision and asking more from your people – yet with a balanced, human and fair approach.

Filed under: general , bruce temkin, leadership, russert

WebMonkey Returns!

This is a blast from the past:  WebMonkey by Wired

The site is much different but seeing that little monkey character at the top brings back memories from back in the day of chugging through tutorials on hot new web design tricks (probably laughable now).  Apparently the site is more of a wiki format.  I noticed a set of tutorials on Information Architecture and can’t help wondering how hotly contested the how-to-do-IA tutorials will become!  

Filed under: creative delivery, folly, general , blast from the past, tutorials, web design, webmonkey, wiki, wired