Author: gsdesign1

User Experience Design — What is it?

This question seems to come up often. Not just from people who ask me what it is when I tell them what I currently do for a living- “You’re a what?” or “What kind of designer?” or more often just a puzzled look from people like deer in oncoming headlights.

However, this question was posed to me by a past boss (well, he was the manager of the department I worked for when contracting with HP, so he was kind of a boss for me). His question was “What is User Experience Design?”, to which I gave him some pat answer about how UX folks look at software (which I was doing at that time) and figure out how to make it a more engaging and user-centered or user-friendly experience, whether it was a website or mobile app, or software you use on your computer.

His response – user experience design is much more than that, and it mean something different to different people. The problem is I gave him the answer I thought he wanted to hear, since I was hired to do software design (both interaction design and user experience design), and wanted to show I knew what I was doing. However, my mind and heart always believed it went way beyond that.

There’s been a lot of talk or words thrown about in regards to user experience design, or even user-centered design. And as I mentioned earlier, most people think it falls into software or web design. To some degree, that’s where it is needed a lot — there are too many websites and apps that just don’t work. Not just little small company sites, but huge sites that belong to mega-corporations.

But I believe that UX touches everything we do, or at least it should. When people say to me “A what?”, my answer is that we, as user experience designers, find ways to make the things people use everyday easier, simpler, and more engaging. That can be an app, a website, a device, a product, theme park attractions (and even the theme park itself, which is the main attraction), vehicles, a coffee cup, luggage for your motorcycle (I mention this because I designed aerodynamic luggage for motorcycles), and other everyday things we encounter and use all the time.

I believe in all that. My desire is to be doing any of those whenever and wherever needed. My brain is always on go, thinking of the next cool thing or how something can be made better, whether it’s something as simple as a stapler, to something as big as an attraction at Disneyland. I want to be known as an Experience Inventor.

The problem is people see my resumé, or my profile on LinkedIn, and peg me as someone with a lot of IT experience and think my goal is to be a user experience designer in IT/apps/software. And to be honest, there have been a number of jobs I’ve had that are IT based. But there’s also film work and video production which were my first loves, but I had a knack to change with the times as interactive multimedia and then the web surfaced, and I survived and adapted.

Yes, I know IT pretty well. I like working in IT, and doing user experience design in app development. The majority of my friends I have known for a long time all think  I should be an Imagineer – they’ve seen the entertainment robot I built when I was 15 (and had a pretty good business running at Sea World, local malls, and parties in La Jolla), my video and animation work, my photography, graphic design work, and currently my full-size interactive replica of R2D2 that I’m working on.

The bible says “I can do all things through Him.”  To me that has always been true. I have no other way to explain how I’ve been able to learn things quickly, adapt to jobs I’ve never done, succeed in everything I’ve attempted when I probably should have never attempted things in the first place. I’m an inventor, creator, designer, entrepreneur, problem-solver and more.

I’m Greg Schumsky- Experience Designer  Inventor.

And thank you for taking time to read this post.

 

Fireplaces- Bringing Modern to the Great Outdoors

So, yes, it’s been a very long time since I made my last post to my design blog. Between my day job doing user experience design for a local education technology company (can’t name them or the social media police from there will bug me about it tomorrow), enjoying quiet time with my beautiful wife and kids – we got rid of cable TV once and for all, which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to retain their sanity; and working on my full-size replica of R2D2 (see my progress, which needs to be majorly updated as well at my droid build blog), I haven’t had time for this.

But I do right now, because my wife showed me an ad in Better Homes and Gardens for some very cool outdoor fireplaces from Modfire.com. Being that we’re both into mid-century modern and the whole aesthetic of it, and are working on turning our 1958 California Ranch into what’s called and Atomic Ranch but with updated materials and construction techniques, one of these would go very well in our outdoor patio:
Modfire outdoor orange fireplace.

Thinking outside the nano-box

So, you have your nice little iPod touchscreen Nano. Check.
Your faithful watch died due to some event (uh, replacing the battery killed it completely…). Check.
You need a new watch, but don’t want to fork out a bunch of money for something that just tells time. Check.

So what do you do? Interestingly enough, I’m currently in this predicament-though I don’t have a niPod nano. I love watches, but don’t want to spend a ton of money on one, and also, don’t want a watch like everyone else has. I want a watch that has a nice design aspect to it, from the look as well as the overall function of the watch.

So, this morning I happened to read about a website called Kickstarter, where people with creative ideas can fund their projects. One such project is for the Lunatik and TikTok watch kits that turn your new iPod Nano into a wristwatch.

That is a very cool idea.

I like this film.

The Third and The Seventh.

Being that my background covers photography, architecture, CGI and film-making (and all professionally at one time or other in my life) this film is a great example of how the 4 can be combined nicely and artistically.

Enjoy.

 

RunePaks -Industrial Design

About 3 years ago, I set out to do something not most sane people would think of doing – create a product that has an extremely small market share, has some huge competitors, and at most I’d be able to sell maybe 20 units — if I was lucky.

To go back some time before that, I was unfortunate enough to see the most beautiful street motorcycle I had ever laid eyes on — The Honda Rune. The problem: If I got one I had to make it functional in that on nice days it would be my main mode of transportation, so I had to be able to carry my messenger bag, lunch, some dress shoes, slacks in case of meetings, and other stuff. Also, room for a passenger helmet would be nice too.

The Need: A nicely designed motorcycle bag that wasn’t square, was designed to look like it was a natural part of the Rune, fit a full size helmet,  needed to be aerodynamic, and wasn’t ugly.

The Problem: There are only 3,300 Runes. At best 1% of the owners would buy these. There were a lot of other after market manufacturers that made motorcycle bags, BUT only one who was going to make them for the Rune. So, I had to contend with some of those buyers would get theirs. On a side note, I ended up selling 10 units, in about the same time frame as the other maker sold theirs and about the same amount.

The solution: Something organic looking, fiberglass, lightweight, can be easily taken off when needed, and lots of room inside. I started with a Photoshop mockup which I then showed to other Rune owners. This was the first mockup:

Everyone thought they looked cool. So I designed about 5 different iterations in illustrator  and ended up with this:

Then for fun I did some 3D modeling, though the Illustrator art was used for the models:

Then came the fun part- making the model! We did this using the templates from Illustrator and good old modeling foam.

After a few mods, tweaks, shavings, etc., molds were made and the first bags were pulled:

They looked great!

And fit a full size helmet without being too bulky:

One thing I did as a backup: Make the design work so someday we could pull bags for the Honda VTX from the same mold, using plugs for Rune specific features. What the bags would look like:

UxD- more or less

I don’t really know if this falls under product design or user experience design.

Today I stopped at my local AM/PM to get gas — $3.17 a gallon for Premium. Not bad. Not great, but not bad. As I slipped my ATM card into the pump’s interface, it asked if I agreed to the .45 cent charge. On the keypad next to the flat (i.e. not raised like the rest of the keypad) green “okay” label is the actual key with the number 1 on it. So I hit it and it took me to the next screen – “Do you want to buy a carwash”. Next to the flat red “No” is the number 4 on the keypad. So, being that the 1 on the keypad worked, naturally the 4 should as well.

As computer users, and just users of technology devices that have contextual menus, the keypad could either be used to enter one’s PIN or ZIP code, or in this case, act as the yes and no keys, as well as cancel (which was a flat yellow label next to the physical “Clear” button). So I pressed the number 4, or what I assumed to be NO…and pressed, and pressed. Nothing happened. “Do you want to buy a car wash” was still on screen, as though the pump had a camera, some for of AI, and saw my dirty yellow car (I live on a dirt road, so, well, you get the picture).

So I go in the store. “You have to touch the ‘No” button” the attendant informs me. So I go back out. Hmm, no “No” button. What if..? So I insert my card, this time trying the green label– AHA! It’s a membrane button. Same with the No button. Okay. So I get that they wanted separate  buttons for these actions. Good idea, bad follow through. Below is a graphic I put together of what they have and what I think they should have instead..

Put the buttons somewhere else

Of course there are other ways to do this and this is only one of many solutions. Whoever designed the current implementation should not be working as a designer, and most likely they aren’t anyway.

So next time you get gas, check to see if what looks like a label is actually a button.

Random Thought – Who has time to blog?

I’ve noticed that I really haven’t had time to add anything to my blog lately. It seems the last time was back in February- about the same time I got a job.

Blogs are interesting in that they can cover myriad subjects (and for those who graduated from high school with a 3.o or better average, that’s how it’s supposed to be written, not “a myriad of subjects”… I don’t know why but them’s are the rules  ; ) ). Off-subject: I really hate going to online forums where the people participating, who are adults, most likely over 40, and can’t spell or bother to even right -click on a word when it’s underlined with presumably the incorrect spelling. That’s just lazy.

To be honest, I like to blog about design, whether good or bad, and sometimes about other things that may not seem design related, but in most cases are in some odd way. My blog about LinkedIn, though some considered it just your everyday rant, was in some ways a social commentary about that site and Social Media/Social Networking sites in general, and well, how they are designed.

I commented on how I have this huge “network” and how it really did nothing to help in my job seeking activities when I was out of work. I’d send resumés and “in” messages to recruiters who were in my first degree of contacts, with zero response back. The job I have now I never applied for, sent my resumé to, “in” mailed anyone — it just happened. To be honest, I attribute it fully to God.

Not that I’m saying linkedIn is all bad. I do get emails once in a while from people I haven’t talked to in a while, and see what past co-workers and or friends and colleagues are up to lately. So, in that sense linkedIn is pretty cool. As a job finding, getting in the door tool, mmm, not so much from my experience.  And as I said in my last post regarding linkedIn and social networking in general, I’d like to be proven wrong.

We have all this technology at our fingertips designed to make our lives easier and more productive. Before “social media”, people used to network by attending meetings, user groups, industry gatherings, etc. And from those in the past, I was able to get job offers all the time. But then people got to know me face to face, see my work, watch me present at times, and the rest all kind of fell into place.

But now with that layer removed, I don’t know how technology in this sense really helps. And I don’t think anyone else, if they really thought about it really truly knows. Also, I may just be writing to a blog that no one really reads, and in a sense just talking to my own self.

That took me on and off about 20 minutes to make this post, in between meetings and work. So, I guess there is some time here and there to blog. Did I talk about design? Kind of. Not so much the visual design of social networking sites like LinkedIn, but this was more about the actual user experience design, and I think there’s a lot more that can be done to make a site like that use the technology more efficiently so it becomes a tool for professionals to find that perfect and or illusive job, especially in today’s economy and job market.

Your comments are more than welcome on this of course. And I do dare anyone to prove otherwise that LinkedIn really doesn’t help open the doors to that perfect job.

25 minutes…

Software Design — This is Different

I just noticed while on LinkedIn it’s been 33 days since my last post. A lot has happened between then and now- namely I got a job with HP (as a contractor for the time being) at the beginning of February. As a software designer nonetheless.

Actually, I’m currently doing interaction design and eventually some prototyping in Flash for what I think is one of HP’s coolest products – the web enabled Photosmart Premium TouchSmart Web printer. The kicker is after working in film, television, animation, graphic design, multimedia production, and then the web, I never saw this coming.

I have always loved good product design and industrial design to some degree, and know it takes a team of people to make a product go from concept to completion.

That’s a process that has always intrigued me, and I even had some experiences on my own with it on a very small level – one in developing a licensed consumer video game for Mac and Windows, which was basically me at the helm (with TONS of God’s grace), and a few friends to help out; and the other with the motorcycle fiberglass luggage I designed, developed, and had manufactured.

So, I guess I can say that even though I have had some experience to some degree in product development (and no where near what HP does…), I never saw myself as a software design engineer, or interaction designer, or prototyper, though in my past various jobs and own projects, I have been all of those at one point or another, but I never held the title of any of those, nor thought that was part of my career path.

My point is it’s amazing what one sees as their profession or career path, yet never sees all the job possibilities that can and do happen during that when we’re so focused on just doing our job that we were hired for, or working on some sort of hobby, learning new skills without even realizing it until someone else sees that in us, and sometimes just letting God be the one to direct us as to where we need to go next.

I am so blessed…

Secret Volcano Lair for Sale

If you’ve been reading my blog for any time now, or just know me from having worked with me in the past, you know how much I love mid-century design, from graphics to architecture to cars and clothing styles. I tend to check out this site a lot – Modern San Diego to see what’s going on for those who appreciate that time period and all the cool stuff that came from it — from swap meets to home tours to houses for sale and everything in between.

While there, I noticed a link to this site: Curbed LA and the Volcano House built by Huell Howser. If I had an extra $750,000 lying around and wanted to “vacation” in the desert, then this would be on my list of homes I’d love to have. Nevertheless, it is a very cool example of classic mid-century design.

Where are the sharks with lasers mounted on their heads???

God is Good

I just wanted to let you know how good God is. It’s amazing when we pray for Him to open doors, and close any that He doesn’t want us to go through. For the last number of months I’ve been praying that, and there have been jobs that seemed perfect but I never got a chance to even interview at, or made it so far then He shut that door (Disney), and others that seemed like a good fit as well, but again the doors were shut. It seemed like it would be a while before any other doors would even open.

What’s amazing though is how blatant He can be, especially when we ask Him so we know what He wants. Back in November I had gotten a call from 3 different recruiters for a contract job at HP, doing product design (which I love, but never did as a career) – namely interfaces for their new web connected printers. After that, things pretty much died down, and I thought that I wouldn’t hear anything since the 1st recruiter said they were going to move and hire pretty quickly.

Being that I didn’t think it would be a door God would open, I sent an email off this past Monday to a recruiter at Disney about a job I applied for. Shortly after, I prayed about if He wanted that door open or not, and if so to either keep it open or shut it. Within minutes I got an email saying I wasn’t selected. A few minutes after that I got a call from the recruiter for the HP job, and they wanted to do a phone interview with me the next day (Tuesday this week). The interview happened, and it went okay, but I felt like it wasn’t great.

Yesterday I emailed an old friend about a job he had told me about, which he recommended me for, and shortly found out that the job had been filled as well. It would have been a very cool job as well, using the talents God had blessed me with over the past 30 years (video, multimedia, audio production, interactive development).

Within minutes of receiving that email, I got a call from the recruiter for the HP job. They expressed to her that they really wanted me (!!!!!). So now I’m just waiting for all the paperwork and hopefully will be starting soon.

God is good!!

I hope each of you have a blessed day, and know that God will always bless us with what He feels is best for each of us. We just have to trust in Him, always, even when we feel He’s busy doing other stuff. In this case He was busy getting everything ready for this opportunity, knowing my heart and something I’ve been wanting to try for a very long time.

Be Blessed each of you.

Greg