Sarah Doody
Everyone is talking about virtual reality (VR) right now. Recently I had the chance to take part in a VR workshop and it was really eye-opening. Prior to this, I hadn’t used any VR devices, not even Google Cardboard. I get motion sickness, so I was concerned that viewing any VR stuff would make me sick. But turns out, I was fine.
Last weekend I ran a half marathon in NYC and placed 60th out of 1,417 in my age group. The race was two full loops of Central Park, and the park is no joke people! There are a lot of rolling hills and if you aren’t prepared for them, they can be intimidating.
When I travel to a new place, I hate wasting time at the beginning of each day asking: “What should we do today?”. So now before I go on a trip I always try to search travel sites and blogs to find ideas before hand (shocking, I know). Then I make two lists, the “musts” and “maybes”. This ensures I always have a short list of ideas to rely on.
Last week I challenged you to choose one idea that you were going to commit to experiment with. What did you learn? Did you uncover anything new that you hadn’t thought of? Did the experiment create the momentum needed to keep going with your idea?
When you’re designing a website or an app, you can’t assume that you know best. Sure you probably have some good assumptions about what you think will work. But to truly set yourself up for success, you must intimately understand the people who use or will use your product.
Is your team investing enough in user research? When was the last time you did user research … last week, last month, last year, never?
Einstein once said: “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”
Why should we spend more time thinking about the problem than working on the solution?
Well, the answer is quite simple. The more we understand a problem, the more obvious the solution will be.
Have you ever been in a meeting and felt like you were in a giant game of telephone? I hate that feeling. A big reason this happens is because people lose context. As I like to say, problems start when context stops.
Think about some of your favorite brands and what it’s like to interact with them. How often do you visit their sites or use their apps? How have those positive experiences translated beyond the screen? Have you purchased a product, connected with people, or recommended the service to a friend?
A few weeks ago I decided to train for another marathon. In November 2015, I ran my first marathon – the NYC marathon – and it was a great experience. I was able to do it only 15 weeks after having surgery. Crazy, I know.
This week I read a great article in Wired about the concept of simplicity and how in design, simplicity is overrated. I loved this part of the article:
“ … a major factor in screaming matches between people is the lack of a shared definition of a key term. ‘Clean’ for example, can be measured in degrees. Then there’s the word ‘simple’. Two people can have very different definitions of a word like that.”