social identity design

Sam Ladner‘s “Don’t think privacy, think identity” sheds light on a gray area, framing the digital privacy question in terms of identity management. Examining identity in terms of “stigma” vs. “status” shows how mutable and fluid the ideas of privacy and identity are. Her parameters for responsible social identity design include offering concealment and social network filtering tools, limiting aggregation of information, and allowing easy, permanent erasure.

Designers, businesses, and users should also be aware of the Federal Trade Commission’s Fair Information Practice Principles, including the following consumer rights:

1. Notice/Awareness
2. Choice/Consent
3. Access/Participation
4. Integrity/Security
5. Enforcement/Redress

Digital information is becoming a permanent part of our social identities. Creating thoughtful and responsible identity management tools benefits businesses and users alike, by building relationships based on mutual trust and allowing us to manage our identities in a very human way that will be different for each person and each social interaction.

experience design research methods

Michael Hawley‘s “Design Research Methods for Experience Design” article for UX Matters last week pits user experience (UX) design against “genius” design, listing drawbacks for each. He ultimately favors a hybrid approach (bold emphasis is mine):

New methods and approaches for experience design merge the best of traditional user-centered design and genius design. The goal is to obtain insight into the attributes of an experience that would help or delight people based on research evidence. However, the process does not rely on following exactly what users say during research interviews and instead leverages the talent and imagination of designers to look beyond what users are saying to envision creative solutions. The goal is empathetic design, or experiencing a solution as a user would.

Ultimately, user research gathers data which may or may not be useful to the final design. A talented and knowlegeable designer (or design team) can refine user and business data into actionable information through analysis, then blend user and business needs and wants with (dare I say it?) a dash of “genius” or creative design. The resulting design would not be as compeling without this holistic approach.

I also like Hawley’s focus on “delight” and “pleasure” – including emotional outcomes like these in the project requirements can make the design process and resulting product or experience equally meaningful to design participants, product users, and business stakeholders.

10 most common misconceptions

Check out Whitney Hess‘s Mashable article, “10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design”. Like the lady says – read it, learn it, live it.