This post has been kicking around in my head for a few weeks now, and I’ve only just found the time to finish it. The last few weeks have been very hectic, in fact, since I returned from Phoenix last weekend I have only spent a few hours at home! For most of the week I was up in London at the Future of Web Apps, that was quite enjoyable and I’ll be writing more about that later. Work aside, I have also been working on building some ActionScript classes which will allow easy interaction of some of the Amazon Web Services and starting to play with some things for Apollo. I also attended a brilliant Skillswap presented by Richard Rutter on the state of Typography which was surprisingly interesting. Anyway onto statistics…Over the past month, I think I have become addicted to statistics &endash; there, I have admitted it! Part of the reason, I think, is because of the rental car which I have been driving. Aside from the many facts and figures I could access on my fuel consumption and engine temperature, I also had a Garmin GPS device. Now this is an amazing little box of tricks, not only helping you get from a to b but also estimating the time to destination, current speed and compiling consolidated statistics of your average speed/times. It felt as if I was playing Project Gotham Racer!Within a few days I found myself getting a buzz if I managed to ‘beat’ the estimated arrival time, as well as trying to set new speed records (unfortunately the rental car seemed to be speed limited, which sent me looking for hills…). I wondered to myself what was different, all I could figure is that normally I wouldn’t have access to that kind of data, aside from the speedometer on the dashboard I have nothing which keeps track of my statistics last night. Now, driving around the lovely state of Arizona, I could instantly recall a wealth of information which I had accumulated – I liked this, it was somehow reassuring.One weekend I took a trip over to Las Vegas, spending most of my time on the MGM Grand poker tables, but taking the time out to see an IMAX movie of a US Air Force training exercise. From the AWAC control room, the supervising General had access to real-time data from many different aircraft. All of this data was represented on a 3D representation of the battlefield, with yet more statistics. Its weird but without lots of numbers on the screen, I’m pretty certain it would have looked much less impressive!So, why in a world where many designers preach simplicity and minimalism does it actually feel like a better experience when there is so much additional information at my fingertips?I think its a matter of relevance and importance. I found myself using my GPS to monitor my speed a lot more frequently than checking the temperature of my engine, because that particular piece of information was more relevant to my immediate situation, and also because changes to my speed were more immediately reflected. Also, with regard to driving, it is easily the most important piece of information.If we apply this same principle to interface design, the information presented should be both relevant and important. On a blog post for example, there is value in showing the date of a posting or what it has been tagged with, but there is significantly little value in providing information in perhaps showing the full profile of the poster (assuming blog posts usually come from a single author). Looking at something more technical, such as web reporting, the important pieces of information when monitoring a web site are usually bandwidth usage and page views, so these should be given prominence. Trivial (and often static) pieces of information such as the server’s operating system and processes should be removed from the interface or at least relegated to a secondary page.There is a lot to be said about simplicity, but there is also a lot to be said about providing the user with ample relevant information and feedback on their interactions. (more…)

One of the more innovative gifts this year has got to be the Nintendo Wii which promises to take social gaming to a whole new level with its motion sensing controller. But will it end up on the scrapheap with such failed innovations such as the Virtual Boy, or will it rise to glory defeating the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Lets take a closer look…There is little doubt that console gaming isn’t really the most inspiring thing in the world - the controller, the nexus for all user interaction, has remained relatively unchanged since Sony released the dual-analog controller for the original Playstation back in the late 90’s. Yes, Nintendo tried something slightly different with the shape of the N64 controller, but you can’t get away from the fact that aside from Wireless connections, the biggest change in controller between the console generations has been the colours of the buttons! Instead the focus has been on graphical horsepower, with new consoles being able to push more and more pixels in order to make games look more life like and immersive. Enter the Wii…Sporting something which is more akin to your TV remote, the Wii-mote is fully motion sensitive. The benefits of this are immediately seen in the console’s menu interface - no messing around with the analog stick trying to use an on screen keyboard, this is real point and click simplicity, and it works really well. (Although apparently not as well during the festive period!).The bundled Wii sports game is quite fun, especially with a few friends round, everyone can take turns at taking swings at virtual baseballs and throwing virtual bowling balls. Like the Gamecube before it, the Wii is an excellent social console, with Nintendo’s homegrown game lineup well suited to the social setting.

So, whats bad?

Like all novelty items, that novelty has to wear off at some point, and too be honest, that is what has happened with the Wii. Don’t get me wrong, its very innovative and a great use of technology, but after a while it just gets boring… especially when the realisation dawns that most of the launch games are just Wii Sports remakes with better graphics, or ports from other platforms with rushed modifications to leverage the controller.Also, the Friends system is horrendous when compared to something like Xbox Live - each console/user has a 16 digit friend code (rather than the friendly nickname used in Xbox Live), and thats not all, apparently every game has its own separate friend code. Its a bit confusing who would design such a system without realising that asking users to exchange several separate numbers, which are longer than the average phone number, is actually not a good thing at all.

Which console will win?

Too be honest, dispite its failings, I think the Wii will do well - this much is already evident in the tremendous launch day sales - but its ability to beat the novelty factor lies in the hands of game developers. The initial line-up fails to satisfy, but thats not to say that in 6-12 months time there won’t be some killer games, especially as developers learn to take advantage of the innovative control mechanism. I can’t wait to see what they come up with. (more…)

Yesterday it was my work Christmas party - a joyous time of year where you enjoy fine food, whilst also placing bets on which co-workers will fall over first! Its always quite surprising who actually is the first to fall over - its usually the person whom you least expect! Anyway, we were out in Brighton and after many beers the group began to break up. I found myself with a co-worker in a different bar admiring the projector display on the wall.Shiney things are great for attracting drunk people, I’d bet that many an alcoholic can be found in the early hours of the morning, staring contently at the glow of show window dispays. In this case we were looking at a photo slideshow of a previous event at the venue.Its nice to look at photo’s, especially when filling in memory gaps of the night before, but I couldn’t help thinking to myself what is the point? I’m staring at photo’s of people I don’t even know, and aside from admiring the ladies (actually there seemed to be the same 3 or 4 in all the photo’s), there was nothing particularly special about the photography. No cool visuals, just people… dressed in funny costumes… with beer…Obviously if I were the person in the photographs it might be quite a compelling experience, which is personal to me, but otherwise I’m just going to be looking at strangers whom I have no personal connection with.Wouldn’t it be cool to go into a bar and have a unique experience which is somehow personalized to you and everyone in the room at that moment?From Flash on the Beach, as I mentioned in a previous post, many speakers had used Flash in conjunction with its Webcam and Microphone support to create interactive art installations, which would respond to the observer - why not take this into the social space? We already have Music visualizers which can generate funky visuals to a given sountrack, adding a second layer of interaction on top of his could create an even more unique experience.I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I’m going to be doing some Flash Webcam coding over the holidays, but also to designers out there - next time you are designing something, be it a web application or any other piece of interactive technology ask yourself, how are people going to interact with this experience? What value can be gained by adding the personal touch? In many cases it is something which may require minimal effort, but add a great deal to how users percieve your product. Looking at the video game industry, we see this a lot, wether it be Nintendo’s Mii’s - customisable avatars which the user can model upon themselves - or games that let you map your face onto the main character’s head. Its often a nice touch, leaving user’s with a warm fuzzy feeling inside.Happy Holidays! (more…)