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a great collection of writings both for and against simplicity
I have a bunch of thoughts around ideas of simplicity and ‘the cult of less’, as I like to call it. Hoping to get them down in the next few weeks. How did January get so busy?! :)
Web rules to live/design by…
I just came across these 15 Web Principles that the BBC have developed (via Tomski).
1. Build web products that meet audience needs: anticipate needs not yet fully articulated by audiences, then meet them with products that set new standards. (nicked from Google)
2. The very best websites do one thing really, really well: do less, but execute perfectly. (again, nicked from Google, with a tip of the hat to Jason Fried)
3. Do not attempt to do everything yourselves: link to other high-quality sites instead. Your users will thank you. Use other people’s content and tools to enhance your site, and vice versa.
4. Fall forward, fast: make many small bets, iterate wildly, back successes, kill failures, fast.
5. Treat the entire web as a creative canvas: don’t restrict your creativity to your own site.
6. The web is a conversation. Join in: Adopt a relaxed, conversational tone. Admit your mistakes.
7. Any website is only as good as its worst page: Ensure best practice editorial processes are adopted and adhered to.
8. Make sure all your content can be linked to, forever.
9. Remember your granny won’t ever use “Second Life”: She may come online soon, with very different needs from early-adopters.
10. Maximise routes to content: Develop as many aggregations of content about people, places, topics, channels, networks & time as possible. Optimise your site to rank high in Google.
11. Consistent design and navigation needn’t mean one-size-fits-all: Users should always know they’re on one of your websites, even if they all look very different. Most importantly of all, they know they won’t ever get lost.
12. Accessibility is not an optional extra: Sites designed that way from the ground up work better for all users
13. Let people paste your content on the walls of their virtual homes: Encourage users to take nuggets of content away with them, with links back to your site
14. Link to discussions on the web, don’t host them: Only host web-based discussions where there is a clear rationale
15. Personalisation should be unobtrusive, elegant and transparent: After all, it’s your users’ data. Best respect it.
I think I could quite happily live/design web stuff by these principles. What do you reckon?
links for 23 January 2007 – The Low Fidelity Prototyping Special Edition
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I’m a big fan of paper prototyping – both for design and testing/research purposes. Here’s a great overview of the what/how/why/whens of paper prototyping.
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oooh, hand drawing prototypes in Visio… why didn’t I think of that! Wondering why you might want to do this? Well, it would be quicker, for a start, if you’re just throwing together some concepts. Also – sometimes the lower the fidelity the better!
Give me one good reason you can’t use User Centred Design in your project… Submissions Open!
I’m collecting reasons that you’ve heard or used as to why you can’t use a proper UCD (User Centred Design) methodology in your project.
Not just ‘yeah, I think about users when I’m doing the design’, but actually involving *real* users in your design process. Doing a proper UCD methodology.
How do you rationalise using UCD in your projects?
How have you heard other people rationalise it?
If you’re a UCD consultant, what reasons do you come up against and have to refute regularly?
Let me have ‘em.