June 19, 2008
Posted by Paula Thornton
In a previous post I pointed out that there are a number design factors that weigh in to determine experience success. With the Amazon Kindle, portability and convenience outweigh other reported design flaws.
Good Experience author Mark Hurst offers his own perspectives to the Kindle design team. His key observations and recommendations:
1. The search function doesn't work well
2. Its unclear how to upload content (particularly Creative Commons-licensed books)
3. The button design is awkward
4. "Next page" and the scrollbar have conflicting/confusing behaviors
5. Content pricing doesn't make sense
6. For $300 it should come with 'something' already loaded on it (hmm, I guess Mark's not impressed with the free copy of the New Oxford American Dictionary -- not exactly casual reading material)
He mentions in the body of the text, that the device is not backlit. Like a book, it relies on ambient light to be read (that kinda strikes me odd -- even cell phones are backlit).
All said, sales for the device continue to defy the concerns.
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BOB JACOBSON is fascinated by the experience of experience. A planner and technologist, Bob has a Ph.D. in Urban Planning & Design from UCLA. He's been a policy researcher, technology CEO, science writer, and consultant. As a Fulbright Scholar, he studied cellular telephony's impacts on transborder communities in the Nordic Arctic Circle. Bob edited Information Design (MIT Press 2000) and is now writing a book on the theory and practice of creating edifying, transformative experiences.
PAULA THORNTON says, "Understanding human behavior (economics), optimizing interactions (design) and facilitating conversations (markets), are the means to achieve strategic differentiation. This is the focus of our discipline. It is not a 'nice to have'‚ and is not, like documentation once was, an afterthought. It is the means by which to start a strategic discussion and the means by which to drive a tactical initiative. All design should be evidence-based."
