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Feb 21 2012

Infographics – the Long and the Short of It – Defining the [infographic]

Category: design & user experience,pinterest,social media,social media marketing,tech opinion — jmacofearth @ 10:23 pm

I moderated a panel at the Social Media Club in Austin to discuss infographics. You know those little pictograms or things you either love or hate. The USA Today chart that looks like a rain cloud or the really really long image and numbers about how awesome facebook is. First a thanks to Kat Mandelstein, the chair of #smca for asking me to be a part of this lively discussion. And to Joey McGirr for tagging me in a photo even though I wasn't in the photo. And thanks to the panel: StatesmanGrafix ekmedia the_infographic Fishco_Studios all worthy folks to follow.

So let's cut to the chase here. Aside from being passionate about infographics and the efficient communication of information, I learned a few things that we should all think about.

1. Long or Short?
The form should follow the function. If the data supports a long story then perhaps the infographic can unravel the data in a long-form infographic. But for the most part, short is sweet. As screens compress again in the form of phones and tablets, the efficient use of screen space will be more critical. Perhaps interactive graphics can provide layering rather than scrolling.

2. Do we need more names for types of infographics? (data visualization, fancy chart, diagram)
There are definitely a number of genres of infographic. And there was a bit of a dispute over naming them different things. Even the name info-graphic is an abbreviation for Information Graphic. So the criteria should be the compression of data and images to convey a concept or relationship.

3. Infographics really start with the data.
The visualization is what the artist brings to the table to create an infographic-win that either succeeds with a memorable combination of color, words, numbers, and images, or an infographic-fail that is merely gumming up the internet with useless pictures that have little or no relevance to the ideas being presented.

4. Mobile could be the killer app that kills the long-form infographic forever.
No one is going to scroll down ten screens on their smart phone to read your infographic. No matter how smart the phone, or the infographic, or the person hoping to glean a bit of useful information.

So is the current rage towards ever-lengthening infographics going to end? Let's hope so. But in the mean time let's agree that if the image and the data don't fit together, perhaps you're better off going with a pretty chart from Excel rather than trying to fashion an infographic.

I've captured some of the best and worst infographics on my pinterest page: jmacofearth on pinterest

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)
permalink: http://uber.la/2012/02/infographics/

The ever-popular Pinterest posts:

Other posts about kicking ass in social media:

Tags: charts and graphs, data visualization, data viz, Excel, fancy charts, infographic, jmacofearth, pinterest, social media club

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Feb 20 2012

The Pinterest Effect on Web Design and Usability: Let's Evolve, Not Devolve

Category: community building,design & user experience,pinterest,social media,social media marketing,tech opinion,tools — jmacofearth @ 2:33 pm

I was recently asked a few questions by a design magazine DOLODY about some of my Pinterest observations in my Web Design is Dead post. (Questions provided by Joanna Wiebe.)

Q: In comparison to previous methods of cataloging information (esp. visual info) online, can you please unpack how you feel Pinterest's approach – i.e., visual, random, social – is different?

A: The pros and cons of Pinterest are both in it's visual simplicity. I was amazed the first time I looked at a Pin Board at the quality of the photos. "This has to be planted material, how could consumer generated content have such great photos?"
So Pinterest is all about the image. The photo or video still represents the content. There is room for a CATEGORY (a board) and a short description. But the majority of people visiting Pinterest and PINNING and LINKING out will only react to the image.

The downside of this approach is the Pin Board is not sortable. So your navigational systems are very flat. And with the current UX the user must bounce back and forth from the Pin Board to the various Pins. I have written a post on fixing that problem with simple back and forwards arrows on the PIN page itself.

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Q: When designing in this new Pinterest world, what should a UI or UX designer keep in mind? In particular, I'm interested in hearing what will kill a novice who's not paying attention vs helping someone who is?

A: The image is everything. Can you sell the entire story with your image? Do you have a hero image that will draw in the Pinners?

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Q: What do you think Pinterest is going to do to user/visitor expectations from an interaction perspective? From a content perspective?

A: I'm hoping Pinterest won't have too much of an influence on navigation and UX design. We would be moving backwards and not evolving. The Pinterest API is coming, so soon you will be able to embed Pinboards into your site. But do you want to? Do you think giving Pinterest all of your link-love is wise? I think you will want to add PIN THIS buttons on your sites, but finding a way to not lose your traffic to PIN-happy visitors will be a challenge.

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Q: What is your opinion on the type of content being pinned on Pinterest?

A: For the most part, Pinterest has been a women's network. The Likes of Pinterest on Facebook are 97% women. And there are 2 million Likes. So Pinterest is a force to be understood. As the mainstream internet users get ON to Pinterest, the content will evolve. Today the taxonomy overlaid by Pinterest's categories is a bit rudimentary. And I would guess the SEARCH function is not used very much, yet. But for Pinterest to be of "interest" to the mainstream net user it will have to provide more features and functions. Today it is like electronic scrapbooking with other people's pictures. And it's not very social.

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Q: What might 'democratizing' visual feedback mean for bloggers and web designers alike, if anything?

A: I'm not sure what you are asking. If the PIN is a VOTE then Pinterest will have an affect as long as the buzz continues. I'm already a bit bored with it. And even bored of talking about it. I want to see what it will become, or if it will fade back into a scrapbook of shoes, skirts, and kitchen ideas.

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Q: Is there any cause for concern – or joy – about Pinterest users shaping expectations of what is beautiful / pin-worthy (in a way similar to machines in the Industrial Revolution influencing Art Deco and then the Arts & Crafts reaction to mass production)?

A: Well, there's going to be a ton of Pinterest clones. Walls of images with little or no coordinated navigation. And there will be SOCIAL Pinterest extensions as well. Today it's a PIN and POST network. Tomorrow, I'm betting the PINS and your friend's PINS will become more connected, more threaded. It's not social today, but I'm sure someone is working on that.

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Q: Did Pinterest kill web design as we know it? If you think so, please explain why. If you think not, please explain why.

A: Web design as we used to know it has been dead for awhile. I think the first wave of destruction was blogs and the ease of use of WordPress and the free template. Certainly grabbing your information from RSS-feeds, as I do, rather than from the site itself has gone a long way towards taking the "design" out of the information for me.

Pinterest is again going to challenge the designers of the world when new clients arrive and ask, "Can you make it like Pinterest?" The designer's question needs to be, "What about Pinterest do you like? What things do we need to change?" And the most important question of all, from a design AND business angle, "What is the goal of your site?"

The User-Interface on Pinterest is pretty simple. See a picture, click on a picture, click BACK, and repeat. After a while that gets quite tedious. And that's were designers can come back in and make a better Pinterest-like site.

The visual is ever more important today, but the navigation is key to the usability of the site. Without navigation and organization, Pinterest is merely pretty pictures. And what is the user goal of that model?

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)
permalink: http://uber.la/2012/02/pinterest-design/

All Uber.la Pinterest posts:

Other posts about kicking ass in social media:

Tags: designing pinterest, navigation, pin that, pin this, pinning, pinterest, pinterest api, pinterest design, repinned, sharing pins, usability, user-centered, web design is dead, web navigation

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Feb 19 2012

Fixing Dell.com Part 2 – Dell's Business Addiction and Achilles Heal – The Business Side

Category: dell,design & user experience,social media,social media marketing — jmacofearth @ 10:10 am

When I initially complained about Dell.com's hideous structure I was working inside Dell's Global Online Group. While I thought I was agreeing with one of the key players in architecting Dell out of the "cow path" structure, I almost lost my new job for being insubordinate. (Here is Manish Mehta's Un-concreting the Cow Path post on Direct to Dell) I never forgot that lesson. But I never completely agreed with the status quo solution either. I don't believe the executive leadership is any more interested in hearing my solution now then they were when I worked for them, but it's a good exercise for me. And perhaps it demonstrates some understanding of the "business" issues.

The objection I got from several Dell friends when I showed them my "Fixing Dell.com" slide was, "You know that's not fair. 90% of Dell's business is from business customers not consumers." AND "You didn't offer the real solution. What about the business?"

Okay, so here is my premise. When a "customer" enters Dell.com, regardless of their roll as a corporate leader or as the uber soccer mom getting their kid ready for college, they should be able to find a computer and get a fair price. Today that is simply not possible. I've outlined my entire exposé of this problem here: Losing My Way on Dell.com and my initial fix here: How To Fix Dell.com (part 1)

So today I hope to silence the "but it's not about the consumer" rumblings with my "business" solution.

Knowing a little about the inside workings, here's how I see Dell.com today.

Screen Shot 2012 02 19 at 9.27.15 AM Fixing Dell.com Part 2 Dells Business Addiction and Achilles Heal The Business Side

click image to view full-screen off Slideshare.net

So today, there are really three versions of Dell.com. The problem is the consumer can't make sense of them, and the pricing is not level across all of the segments. Dell made things even worse by introducing a Small Business "path" for the 1 – 9 person business. (Seriously Dell? Another path we need to price?)

Level 1 is Dell.com
Level 2 is the Business Portals
Level 3 is called Dell Premier (unless you are a large customer you will never hear or see about "premier."

My argument is that all business customers should be "Premier" in Dell's eyes. And today that relationship has never been more important. But Dell does a terrible job of servicing the small and medium business customers. And the reason is, 80% of Dell's revenue comes from large business. (Please update or correct my percentage if you have better Dell numbers. Thank you.) So, only the BIG customers get the Premier-treatment.

So today, if you are a consumer, small business owner, medium business owner, or large business owner who has yet to establish a Premier status, you must shop Dell.com and all it's channels and paths and arcane pricing strategies.

Try an experiment. Open Dell.com and find the price on a Latitude with a 14.5" screen and the newest i5 processor from Intel. Go ahead, I'll wait. And wait. And wait.

If you do your due diligence you are going to need an excel spreadsheet to keep track of the deals, offers, immediate pricing, and PATH-BASED PRICING that you must sort through on Dell.com.

I do not believe Dell has to know who you are to give you a great price on a Latitude. If they would institute unified pricing on Dell.com you could find the computer you want, ONCE, on ONE PATH, and purchase it. IF they would institute unified pricing you would not have to worry or wonder if the Small Business price was better or worse. Or if you should try the Enterprise (Large Business) version of Dell.com and see if you get a better price.

And you know what happens? You NEVER GET THE SAME PRICE TWICE on DELL.COM. Completely depending on which path you go do, you will get different prices, different product models, even completely different brands. So it's a bit confusing if you saw a friend's Vostro computer and you go to Dell.com and can't find ANY VOSTRO models.

That's a problem. A big problem. And it affects EVERY BUSINESS that is not on DELL PREMIER. Because I have gotten better pricing on computers in the Consumer channel even when I was preparing to buy 10 laptops. And the customer does not care if it's called an Inspiron or a Vostro or a Lattitude. You can tell them why they should care, but features and benefits will out weigh BRANDING every time.

So here's my Dell.com "for business" solution.
The full solution is available from Slideshare.net: Fixing Dell.com (Part 2) The Business Side

Dell.com gets rid of all the cow path (silos) pricing and gives the CUSTOMER the opportunity to compair all models with ONE PRICE. (Today it's like a used car lot, you've got to check every lot in town and you've got to haggle about price.)

ADD DellPro.com and put every "business" customer that wants to be identified as such the opportunity to buy at the "business" price. Give them a site. Direct them to their page, once they register. And give them whatever pricing you want to negotiate with them based on their size, their needs, their buying power. And of course as these accounts get bigger they become more "premier" focused in Dell's eyes and are serviced by an army of direct sales people who will negotiate contracts and do competitive pricing.

But the CONSUMER and really the CUSTOMER on Dell.com does not need to be segmented to get a fair price. And they should not need to go down 4 or 5 pricing models to make sure they are getting the best deal they can, based on their needs. If they are a BUSINESS give them the red carpet and give them the customized site and pricing they deserve.

The win for Dell will be a streamlined purchase path that sells more computers and keeps people on Dell.com rather than pushing them to CDW or Best Buy. The win for the CUSTOMER regardless of their business relationship with Dell will be the ability for them to get the actual PRICE of a computer on Dell.com without playing endless bait and switch games with Model numbers, specs, and segment pricing.

I know they are listening. I will get feedback on this post and presentation as well. And I'm sure I am getting something wrong.

The sad thing is I am sure that they will not actually listen. And the customer will continue to buy Dell's from Best Buy rather than Dell.com. But hey, maybe Dell would rather sell you a TV or a phone.

@jmacofearth (also seen on Google+: jmacofearth)
permalink: http://uber.la/2012/02/fixing-dell-business/

See the full presentation on Slideshare.net: Fixing Dell.com (Part 2) The Business Side

Several Dell Decks and Posts I've created: