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Designing for the digital age: Chapter 7

In chapter 7: Understanding Potential Users and Customers Kim explains how to interview customers & users in their natural environment, with essential techniques and list of do’s and don’ts.

Where I found most useful was topic under “Essential interview topics” where she explains the framework for understanding the environment where you are trying to improve as following;

object + skill + action = goal

goal = reason / frustration

Through the interview you try to understand the users mental model as “objects”, what “skills” they bring in to do what “action”, for particular “goal”.

I love how equation is simple yet enough to describe most environment, and the “goal” being the source of reason & frustration which is also often the case in real world.

Designing for the digital age: Chapter 1

This post is a personal memo on the book I started reading a while ago.

Designing for the digital age is a step by step guide to applying “Goal-Directed Design”. a design methodology developed at Coopers.

Goal-Directed Design is made up of 4 components (Principles, Patterns, Process, Practice), and have premise of having (at least access to) different design professionals (Interaction, Visual & Industrial)

The book mainly focus on the “Process” of the Goal-Directed Design, as there are countless principles and patterns exist but Kim goes on to comment and recommend the following;

• For “Principles”, use if it help users achieve their goal or minimize their task.
• For “Patterns”, recommend other publications including Designing Interface by Jenifer Tidwell, .

The “Process” is made up of 7 stages (Plan, Research, Model, Requirement definition, Framework definition, Design, Implementation support), Which I am looking forward to read and learn about.

Kim stands in position that you cannot design an experience of a user, and prefers to use Service or Product design, which is understandable as we have Customer experience marketing where you apply the similar technique to service design, but has “marketing” instead of “design” as its name.

You may not be able to design an experience, but you can certainly market an experience, as the goal of marketing is the financial outcome, not the precise control of experience.

Thyroid cancer increase in Fukushima

The latest report from Fukushima on comprehensive thyroid cancer screening have confirmed over 100 children are diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
source: Asahi Shinbun

The authority and media are trying to control the impression to domestic public by calling “over diagnose” and “screen effect” as the reason for high number.

First of all, for Fukushima case we do not need to discuss “over diagnose”. “Over diagnose” is an argument for realistic problem of what to do about condition found as the result of comprehensive screening. It does not concern accuracy of screening.

Second, so called “Screening effect” does not even exist in medical context. It is used in molecular science (refer “shield effect”).

source: The Guardian
source: Evidence Based Medicine(EBM) Japan