The Think blog.
News and ideas on user experience.

Contact us

Tel: +44 (0)207 336 4700
Contact details
About Flow

Telling stories

Christmas is a good time for sitting around a fire and telling stories. Practice your storytelling this Christmas, and hone your interaction design skills for 2009.

People love stories. But beyond that, stories are fundamental to the way we think as human beings. Salesmen tell persuasive stories about successful installations and satisfied customers. Social workers pass on complex case histories as stories. Just about every culture in the world passes on valuable knowledge to the next generation in the form of stories.

Christmas tree

When properly told, stories incorporate all the ingredients people need to think and learn: situation, actors, events, challenges, consequences... They help us gain a little of the benefit of direct experience, with much less of the pain.

So it makes sense that interaction designers need to be great story tellers. I've picked three kinds of storytelling used in interaction design...

  • Scenarios
  • Specification
  • Rationale

Scenarios: Invent a story

Because we're not fundamentally good at imagining futures or situations different to the one we are in, we have to consciously and explicitly create stories to make sure we do things right. Interaction designers create personas (the characters in the stories), describe the context of use (situation and back story) and the personas' goals.

Then we create scenarios. We try to tell a compelling and realistic story of how our personas will reach a happy ending by using the product. Because we're all good at listening to stories, the team can spot the good ones, the implausible ones and the radical-amazing-breakthrough ones quite quickly.

A storyboard

Specification: Many stories

A specification - however sketchy or detailed - is a story. Actually it's many stories, captured simultaneously. What will happen if the user goes here or there? A good specification has a lot in common with a Choose You Own Adventure story. (Did somebody say adventure? Now there's some classic interaction.)

Mystery of the Maya

The trick for a good interaction designer, though, is to make sure that the story of your product has no dead ends. So the best specs spend plenty of effort on handling error situations, as well as just the positive story.

Rationale: Meta-story

The importance of rationale is often underestimated. Rationale is the story of how and why a design decision has been made. "We're doing it like this because..." When your storytelling has led you to a non-obvious (but demonstrably right) conclusion you don't want your team and your stakeholders re-creating all the failed stories you've already told all over again. It takes too long.

Rationale also demonstrates how much effort has been put into reaching a conclusion, so that the team doesn't forget how far they've come.

Pictures are not stories

A picture, in this context, doesn't tell a story so much as beg for one. A beautifully drawn image of an interface, frozen in time, might look persuasive - and it might hint at past and future interaction. But it doesn't answer many of the important questions: how do your users reach this point? Where do they want to go next? Will they know what button to choose? What will happen if they click that button? A picture on its own is open to misinterpretation by everyone who looks at it, from developer to CEO.

When you surround it with other pictures and information about the sequence they link in, then a story unfolds. And that's what interaction design is all about.

No comments

Sideloading free content from the sneakernet

Mobile devices are the primary experience of personal computing for most people in emerging markets. Accessing content at prices these users can afford is all but impossible. But using sideloading and sneakernet, content can spread for free.

I was lucky enough to watch a great talk by Gary Marsden at the recent SA UX meeting in Cape Town. He talked about many interesting things, but this one captured my imagination the most.

In developing markets, mobile devices have much greater market penetration the personal computers. In South Africa, for example, around 77% of the population have mobiles but only 12% get online with PCs. So for hundreds of millions worldwide, the main, everyday experience of digital technology is probably a phone. When a phone is one of the few pieces of technology you've got, it's amazing what you will use it for. In emerging markets, mobile phones are becoming a primary mechanism for reading text, storing photo albums, watching video and listening to music.

Nokia has recently announced their $50 2323 phone, along with a suite of carefully targetted custom content to address this developing market demand.

Nokia lifetools promo extract

But nearer the "bottom of the pyramid" the the cost of mobile data services is too much for most people to afford more than a trickle of bytes. Typical data consumption for a young South African might cost them around R7 per week, which is around 50 pence. Downloading MP3s or ebooks isn't realistic. So instead, some content is percolating across the community using bluetooth sideloading and sneakernet.

Sideloading sneakernet

Sideloading is a newish term, still ill-defined. But one meaning is that people can share content from one mobile device to the next, rather than downloading it from network servers.

Sneakernets are a venerable concept, still used by even the largest companies when the cost of electronic data transfer is too high. It just means that you carry data from A to B on a storage medium, instead of sending it over a wire. Google, for example, used blocks of disks to transfer 120 terabyte files.

If you put the two together you can transfer data to mobile devices for free, across any distance. Basically, one person sends a piece of content to another using bluetooth. The recepient can share their copy with more friends, and from them it can go on to more. The potential rate of distribution grows exponentially.

Riding the sneakernet

With only 6.6 degrees of separation between everyone on the planet, it's not hard to see that this could let content percolate quite fast. But our daily face to face contact is with far fewer people than our total network, so content will percolate more slowly, really.

Targetting connectors will help. The Tipping Point tells us that a few people in the world are connectors - they know a lot of people. To get a message out over a sneakernet, it would make sense to ensure it gets to the connectors.

In reality, it may be that most content won't hop quickly or reliably enough from user to user for many applications. So providing physical severs in public spaces to allow bluetooth content downloads looks like a more controlled option.

Bigboard, and one example content square

To do just that, Gary Marsden's team at the University of Cape Town, along with Microsoft Research have invented Big Board. It's a digital message board that allows people with ordinary, bluetooth-enabled phones to download text, images, audio and video for free. Most important, it requires no extra software on the handset at all - most phones can already receive mutimedia messages via bluetooth.

What content is worth distributing? For big board, community and local content make sense. Big board can also allow content to be uploaded to it, making it true, digital message board. Education and entertainment also fit well, and are good sneakernet fuel too. I've heard plans for using soap opera mobisodes to provide health education and AIDS awareness messages...

Further reading

No comments

Eight travel website design tips

We've done a lot of travel site design, for companies including EasyJet, Hotels.com, National Express East Coast. In honour of World Usability Day's transport theme this year, we've pulled together eight design and usability tips from our travel-related ethnographic research and usability testing.

World usability day logo

1. Support multi-variable trade-offs

Some people prioritise the cost of the ticket whilst others prioritise the time of travel. The type of trip will cause a person to prioritise one of those variables over the other, but most booking journeys involve trading off these two factors. Successful travel booking interfaces help people understand how time and cost influence each other.

For a holiday maker, the choice of location, duration and hotel make the activity even more complex. "I can go to Rhodes from Manchester on the 16th for 300 pounds, and stay in the four star excelsior for 7 nights, or Cyprus from Gatwick on the 19th for 312 pounds and stay in the 5 star Grand for 6 nights." These are really complex decisions, made in conjunction with family or friends, so you'll need to pull out all the stops to design an interface that really helps.

2. Present a well-defined proposition

Trying to be all things to all people is very expensive. Players with a tightly-defined target market will always do better at serving their market than generalised players spread thin over lots of markets.

Know your market and offer a proposition that appeals to that market - whether it's group travel, business travel, family holidays, design hotels, skiing etc. Then build a site that profoundly and accurately addresses those people's behaviours and needs.

3. Fight "search fatigue"ť - catch people early in the decision process

People are overwhelmed with choice in the travel market. On average, people in our research visited 22 sites before deciding to go with a provider which they visited 2.5 times. By making site that supports people early in the decision making process and helps them fast track the exploration and decision process, you create awareness in people's mind and they are more likely to go with you.

4. Surface the right information to help people make a decision

Choosing hotels is hard. People find it difficult and stressful to make decisions when their criteria are flexible and the field is large.

Good pictures, features, location with map, star rating, Trip Advisor rating, price per room/night (not per person), hotel name and short description are what matters most when sifting through lists of hotels. Enabling people to get this information without having to 'pogostick' is vital.

World usability day globe drawing

5. Focus on selling the experience not the product

Beyond the basic factors above, there's a whole list of things that users want to know before they make a decision. Focussing on the experience of staying in a hotel, rather than the generic factors, makes it easier for people to make that final choice.

For example, a hotel in Paris is not just a "3 star hotel in the city centre". It's a fantastic base in the vibrant Place de la Sorbonne, it's ideal for food lovers with 6 gourmet bistros, it captures the image of Paris with its view of the Eiffel Tower, it's ideal for families or ideal for romantic getaways. Understanding what a stay there will be like is what will help people to decide and to buy.

6. Be transparent and honest

Trust is a major sticking point for travel sites. In our research, users rarely trusted the price shown and were always prepared for some last minute surcharges.

Travel sites want to show low prices (excluding as many elements as possible), because they believe it help buyers get started. The flip side: a slippery and arduous booking process repels buyers (one where surcharges slowly build up, and cross-sells appear in your basket uninvited).

Would giving the real prices transparently build reputation and trust that exceed the pulling power of a low offer? No one knows for sure. We do know that removing some of the automatic cross-sells does produce a short term loss of revenue. But whether it offers a long term boost in loyalty, no one has yet had the guts to find out.

7. The seducible moment comes after the sale.

When people go into low-cost flight booking mode, they are very task-focussed and don't really care about anything else. We think that's a learned behaviour coming from the situation that a) the good flight deals go fast b) they need to concentrate to make sure they get rid of insurance etc.

Low cost flight booking is like bargain hunting, and trying to up-sell users during the booking process is like taking the bargain away from them. The seducible moment for up-sell is not really during the flight booking process, but after. Most travel sites are stuck in the business model of trying to up-sell during the booking process.

8. Ensure localisation is an actual part of the design phase.

The most planned and least actualised design stage is LOCALISATION. Lack of effective internationalisation and localisation is costing travel sites money.

There's a myth that Europe offers a unified culture with different languages, but it's not true. Language, rating systems, research, booking and payment behaviour vary significantly from country to country.

A simple example: some cultures will tend to assume that a rating of 1 is the best rating, others that a rating of 5 is the best. (The solution is to use a visual rating scale which is less ambiguous).

To maximise adoption, conversion and revenue, travel sites need to research, and test internationally. Using design skills from a range or different countries helps too.

A market opportunity: Design the next generation of travel sites.

People have very quickly learned how to dodge the failings of one website by jumping to another. In our research we have seen that people have no loyalty, there is no trust and that means that online travel companies will always have a major element of uncertainty in their future.

But the development of the web shows that people are open to new ideas and new ways of doing things. So we urge travel companies to innovate based on these design tips. Come up with the iPhone of the online travel industry. The opportunity is there for the taking.

Thanks to Louise, Peter, Karl, Lola, SimonJ, Ofer, Claire and Alejandra for the research and insights.

2 comments

Improving Eurostar's customer experience for World Usability Day

It's World Usability Day on 13th November, and the theme is transport. User- and customer- experience design for public transport is a huge, multi-facetted topic, and one which we're fascinated by at Flow. In fact, Flow is sponsoring the UPA's London meeting, so that people can talk about it over a beer.

For the blog, though, we'll just confine ourselves to a simple report about the customer experience of a Eurostar trip from one of our UX consultants, Simon Johnson. Happy World Usability day!

 

Cramped queues at eurostar check-in

Cramped queues at eurostar check-in

Fellow travellers,

Has anyone noticed how poor crowd management is at Eurostar?

The instructions for which line you should stand in are positioned at the wrong end of the line. It's not until you join a queue and proceed to the front that you are informed that you are in the in/correct line. Of course this causes all sorts of tension as people realise they need to move over into another queue - committing a social faux pas by now being forced to get in front of others.

The whole experience is littered with insufficient staff, lack of clear guidance, ad-hoc A4 print-outs with make-do instructions, broken ticket machines, stressed people. At both ends there is no system for separating those booked for immediate departure and the hundreds of punters who have arrived early for the later train.

The coach numbers printed on the platform are so worn out so it's difficult to read them. It won't be long before they have disappeared altogether. The coaches are numbered in dark grey on a muddy LCD grey backgrounds in small text.

A great deal of the overcrowding is due to the fact that Eurostar allocated so much room for after-check-in shopping. However, the opportunity to buy anything is zero, as they only allow you to check-in when your train is ready to depart. As a result, the retail area is empty of customers, while the waiting area is crowded with unhappy customers. Mais alors!

In the 21st century with years of breakthroughs in ergonomics, logistics, psychology, usability, crowd management, human factors, etc. and €billions, couldn't Eurostar have foreseen these problems? Moreover, now this problems are horribly evident, why aren't they being addressed tout de suite? Wasn't the Eurostar team packed with 'experts' touting university degrees from esteemed colleges? Quite frankly my mother could have done a better job, no kidding.

Simon

......

Take a look: Flow has made a real difference to the experience of planning and booking travel for companies like EasyJet, Transport for London, and National Express East Coast, Lastminute.com and Hotels.com.

No comments

Designing future happiness

Humans are not very good at predicting what will make us happy in the future. Designers need user centred design techniques to help them to overcome that limitation.

We don't know what's good for us

In Stumbling on Happiness, Harvard psychology professor Daniel Gilbert, describes recent research on "prospection" - the act of considering the future. Our ability to simulate future experiences is one of the things that makes us human. But our experience simulator (the pre frontal cortex) makes lots of mistakes. A key mistake is to imagine the future will be like the present.

Will people want to live in homes like these? Nope!

For example, past visions of the future included rocket cars and jet packs, but usually the people's behaviour didn't change a bit. Mom still hung out in the kitchen, even though the work was being done by machines. And people lived happily in high-rise, concrete complexes. Today, retro-futuristic visions are more a quaint commentary on the time when they were made than a relevant description of the present.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotoosvanrobin/

On an individual level, we're bad at predicting what experiences will make us happy in our own future. After finishing a delicious roast duck dinner at a favourite restaurant, I will be full and I will have "habituated" to the duck. So future duck dinners will not seem so appealing to me. If asked to pre-order for my next visit in a month's time, I'm more likely to choose something other than duck. But when I arrive at the restaurant a month later, I am more likely to actually choose the duck again. When I made the choice about my future, I assumed it would be like my present, where I'd had enough of the duck. But when the future came, I was actually hungry - a frame of mind that I did not predict.

Methods for predicting the future

On a straightforward level, designers need to make this prediction: "What will people want to do with this product?" For example...

  • Will people want to shop on my website by brand, price or by specification?
  • Will people want to devote full attention to this mobile device or just glance at it?
  • Will people want to watch a 30-second animated intro to my website?
  • Will people want to click a button to clear all the data from a web form ans start again?

In all these real-life situations, the designers had to imagine future usage of their product and make decisions accordingly. A lot of them got things wrong, because they imagined that when using the finished product in the future they would be in the same frame of mind as when they were designing it.

Bringing the future to the present in a usability test

Since we're actually better at thinking about the present than the future, designers who want robust results need to bring the future into the present. In some respects, that's what user centred design is.

  • Ethnographic studies: Since target users are (usually) human they can't predict accurately what will make them happy in the future. So it's best to watch what people do instead. Study what makes them happy, and what unhappy moments you can address with design.
  • Iterative prototyping: The future product isn't finished yet. But make a mock-up of it and get target users to try it out. By simulating real usage, you're simulating the future more accurately than you can imagine it.
  • Scenarios and cognitive walkthroughs: Be methodical and write down what people's future situations might be. Then you've got a better chance of predicting their future behaviour.
  • Field trials: For particularly huge and life-changing ideas, your prototypes need to be a bit more solid. Leave them with a select few for a while and see what you get. For example, Microsoft's SenseCam and whereabouts clock. Or Bill Gaver's Flight tracker.

Field trial of the  Whereabouts clock in a  family kitchen

Making future happiness evident

Designers are often asked to design things that look desirable - that convince people to buy, rather than to deliver ongoing satisfaction. In a way, the user experience design movement has been about changing that: creating products that actually make people happy over time.

But since our customers can't predict what will make them happy, they might buy the wrong thing. Something with lots of impressive-looking buttons, for example. So not only does the product have to make people happy, it has to look like it will make them happy.

One trick is to emphasise simplicity (which is what seems to make most people happy) as a feature. Sometimes it works.

No comments

Flow's birthday - we go up to 11!

We just celebrated eleven years of growth and leadership in the field of user experience, with a party for our staff and clients.

Flow goes up to 11 - rock and roll logo

Since we've recently redecorated our offices, we thought we'd host the party there. It gave us the space to create a mural about the history of Flow and put up photos of past projects. A game of PS3 Rock Band provided a great interactive experience too.

Clients and staff enjoy drinks in Flow\'s newly-decorated offices
Clients and staff enjoy drinks in Flow's newly-decorated offices

A lot to celebrate

Flow was set up by Meriel Lenfestey in 1997. From humble beginnings in Meriel's house in Stoke Newington, Flow has grown to a team of over 40 people with an annual turnover of Ł4 million and offices in London and South Africa.

In her speech at the party Meriel stepped us through the early years.

"In the 1990s, I could see companies jumping on the interactive bandwagon with websites that were often visually stunning, but virtually impossible to navigate - and therefore not commercially viable. I set up Flow to introduce User-Centred Design (UCD) to my clients. I'm proud to say that we're now one of the leading UCD consultancies in the world."

Flowsters: Lola and Ian (in a wig). Mimi and Louise (on guitar). Flow's history in mural form.
Lola and Ian. Mimi and Louise (on guitar). Flow's history in mural form.

User experience for a competitive edge

Next, Flow's Managing Director, John Thew, looked to the future.

"We've faced a challenging economy before and we emerged unscathed from the dotcom bust. In a risk-averse economy with tightening budgets, user experience becomes even more critical for organisations looking for a competitive edge. It reduces risk, increases loyalty and returns and reduced costs. Flow is well placed to ride through new challenges this and next year."

Thanks to everyone for coming. Thanks to all our clients for choosing Flow. And thanks to the talented folk who delivered great results and helped make Flow a success.

No comments

Using the Microsoft Ribbon without anyone getting hurt

Designing an effective Microsoft Fluent/Ribbon toolbar is not for the faint of heart. You need to understand your users' activity in detail and plan a consistent overall experience.

I'm working on two WPF applications at the moment. For both, we have to decide whether to use traditional File/Edit/View menus or an MS-Office-style ribbon. It's not an easy decision...

MS Office Fluent Interface Ribbon
A piece of the Ribbon, from MS Excel 2007

Pro: It appears to be built on a sound theoretical basis and Microsoft tell us they've researched it to death with hordes of real users. They also say they're planning to use it more widely.

Con: Key players on both the teams I'm working with are against the ribbon. They say "I use Office all the time and I really don't want one of those things on MY software."

Con: Jakob Nielsen raises an eyebrow that a number of the best new applications of the year use ribbons. He points out that Microsoft have not always come up with the best interface innovations in the past. Pro: But he grudgingly admits that maybe "the Ribbon has legs".

Con: Some surfing around yields plenty of blogs posts from frustrated ribbon users.

Pro: The techsmith team implemented a ribbon on snagit 9 and say their research showed it worked well.

Con: And a couple of bits of software that allow you to replace the ribbon in MS Office 2007 with a more traditional menu bar. That's a sign that there's a potential market of people desperate enough to pay to get rid of the ribbon.

So what's going on?

Good if used with UCD

My analysis: The ribbon is a decent piece of interface, but like most things in UX, it's hard to design it well. And to design it well you really have to understand your users' needs, behaviours and work practices.

That's because the ribbon tries to show commands grouped together based on what users are most likely to want to do. So in Word 2007, for example, there's a tab for mail-merge, and one for page layout and one for referencing, whereas in Word 2003 those features are pushed lower down in a more generic menu structure. If you get the groupings right, your users will always find the selection of controls they need right there in the ribbon. But if you misunderstand what they need to do, they'll get an irrelevant list and you'll get complaints.

Microsoft have got a lot of it right, but a bit of it wrong. And with Office's massive user base, an angry, vocal minority is still a million people or more.

Three ways to get Ribbon design wrong

  1. Choose groupings that don't mirror real-world workflow. ... Read more » 2 comments

Visualising the future with graphical facilitation

Drawing ideas in real time helps workshop teams imagine the future more effectively.

In concept design projects, we help our clients to envision how people will use technology in the future. But people who are experts in particular subjects (like their current customer experience or business process), are often less comfortable imagining or describing how things might become. Sometimes, Flow uses client workshops with graphical facilitation to help everyone get a solid grip on abstract ideas.

Augmented conversations

The idea of a graphical facilitation is simple to say, but harder to do: Draw everything that's being said in real time on gigantic sheets of paper. For maximum effect, paper the whole room, so that all ideas remain immediately available throughout the workshop.

\"The revolution is in the chains of data\" - this extract visualises the concept
An extract from a large mural created during a workshop

Here's some rationale...

  • People have new ideas through conversation. Well managed conversations provide inspiration, as well as tests and checks that can help new ideas take shape.
  • Conversations about complex things stop working well unless they are recorded as you go. A visible, running record of the ideas helps the team reach agreement and accept new ideas as building blocks for the next iteration of the discussion.
  • Images are a very powerful record. Most of us can scan images quickly and find things again efficiently. They're also very information rich.
  • Some concepts are more easily expressed in terms other than words. Mathematicians and physicists use mathematical notation. Architects use sketches, models and blueprints. Describing a building or a law of physics in words alone would be exhausting. Expressing complex, interrelated ideas behind a vision of the future will always be easier in pictures.

Visualising the presentation of a new system
Visualising the presentation of a new system

The effects of thinking in pictures

I asked a couple of Flow's user experience consultants about using graphical facilitation.

"The future is unfamiliar territory, and that can be unnerving. Real time graphic output helps make everyone comfortable," Simon Hatch told me. "In a recent workshop, there was visible, engaging output even before we broke for lunch on day 1, and that really helped people feel they were making progress."

But as well as helping people see progress, the imagery on the walls helps people to think more effectively.

"It enables us to uncover and unpack things in a different way," explained Stuart Penny. "Seeing everyone's words represented on the wall helps each team member to absorb everyone else's ideas. And thinking in pictures reduces the effort of working an idea through and visualising its impact and consequences."

Smaller scale

Images are a great way of summarising and communicating the contents of a meeting too. We've been experimenting with writing up some of our meetings using images. You could see it as putting doodling to constructive use!

For fabulous drawing talent, we like to work with Cognitive Media.

No comments

Customer-centred thinking at Seedcamp?

Not all of Seedcamp's cutting edge entrepreneurs understood how to design for customers.

After last year's success, Flow was asked to come back to Seedcamp to mentor on the product and marketing day. I got the opportunity to go and talk with a range of people about how they conceptualise and design new services.

The keynote panel for the day focussed heavily on usability and user-centeredness - in that order. It seems that for most people, the route to user-centered thinking still sparks the notion of usability testing your service/product after build, squeezing it in at the end. Since the cost of changes to software can tend to increase exponentially as you get closer to launch, making changes at the end is not a great way for young businesses to conserve their limited cash.

Soup.io: One of Seedcamp's winners
Soup.io: One of Seedcamp's winners

But from usability, the discussion branched out into the notion that a user-centred approach to strategy early on in the process is much more valuable. This was really valuable for the competing teams. The feedback made it clear that most young entrepreneurs weren't thinking or developing around customer needs. In conversation most said the one thing they didn't have was a differentiated picture about who their users are or how a usable interface might look.

I worked with five of the finalist teams to see if I could help!

Social, efficient, usable

This year's winners seemed to follow a consistent theme: publishing better content, with less effort, and tying it into your social networks. That certainly seems like the mood of the moment on the web.

My favourite

A company called Uniki didn't make it into the final seven. But they were a personal favourite of mine, as an interaction designer. They've created a system to allow gestural interfaces for projected screen. So you can stand near a data projector, wave your hand and turn an on-screen page.

A uniki user gestures at the projected image of an old book to turn the page
A uniki user gestures at the projected image of an old book to turn the page

1 comment

Helping the BBC innovate for teenage users

The BBC used ethnographic research to inspire and inform their Audio & Music team, as they design new services for young people aged 13-18.

How do young people find new music? What do they do with it? What technology gets used and why? Rather than statistics or abstract trend statements, the BBC Future Media and Technology department wanted vivid examples and concrete insights about the user base they were designing for. They asked Flow to help them.

Learning about people's lives

We worked with four different target groups, which we named The Gamers, The Streetwise Teens, The Social DJs and the Indie Teens. Each group had three members – all close friends with each other.

One group of three friends

We worked through 4 activities with them over the course of a few weeks:

  • Group sessions
  • Diaries
  • Shadowing
  • Follow-up interviews

Shadowing means spending time participating in each person’s day-to-day life. Our ethnographers enjoyed a night out in Camden with two 18 year-olds, some live gaming on the Xbox with a 14 year-old boy in his bedroom, gossiping with two 16 year-old girls at their home and a lesson about hip-hop dance from a 17 year-old dancer. The insights from experiences like this go much deeper than surveys and focus groups ever can.

Snapshots from a showing session

Sharing what we learned

We had workshops with the BBC team all the way through the project. This let the team hear discoveries "as they happened" and be inspired to ask new questions. The research team were about to direct their enquiry towards the areas which our clients thought looked the most fruitful.

The final results were written up in a highly-visual, 80-page book. The goal was for people all over the BBC to engage with the study so we made sure that the results were presented in an interesting and visual way. The report was publicised in Ariel, the BBC’s internal newspaper.

A particicpant profile

Observations

I asked Jude Rattle, the lead consultant on the project, what she had learned from the study. “All sorts of things that you can’t mention in a blog post,” she told me. “But a few that you can.”

“Sharing music with friends is an important social activity. In the 70s and 80s young people made mix tapes. Now MP3s get swapped from phone to phone whenever people feel like it. But there’s a twist. The DRM mechanisms designed to stop digital piracy also stop people from engaging in that key social behaviour. So a lot of our participants had an added incentive to seek out pirate MP3s on Limewire: the file they got would be readily shareable.”

“People often think that young people are universally brilliant with technology, but they are not. In our study we found that teens will go to great lengths to use technology that does things that are important for them. But there are other things that older users might take for granted, which teens don’t know how to do. For example, some of our participants did not know how to burn a CD, even though they did know how to copy an MP3 onto a mobile phone’s memory card or Bluetooth it to a friend.

Giving innovators an edge

Imagining the future is hard. Designing future products and services that will be discovered and adopted is harder still. In large organisations, design teams can easily become far removed from the people they are designing for. To stand a chance, they must have rich detail about what their target users actually do, what they like and what they need.

Ethnography helped the BBC to connect with teenagers as they consume music – and gave them practical insights that they can use as a basis for innovation.

No comments

Next Page »

sibutramine and orlistat msds folic acid heroin jones prescription drug minocycline seeger vioxx ibuprofen aleve mexican pharmacy zoloft cheap sibutramine medrol dose inhaler saccharum officinarum sugar cane extract testosterone ortho mattress problems diovan drug body building testosterone levels marijuana's tricor statin estradiol e2 ivf lacie disque dur deleware seroquel lawsuits signs withdrawal effexor marijuana laws in iowa valium canine dossage order tramadol overnight online pharmacy zocor metformin hcl tablets zithromax and gluten free side effects norvasc taken seroquel jank herer marijuana actos kidney problems cozaar facts zyrtec and other medications online consults hydrocodone cost of yasmin per month what is amaryl diazepam no prescription us best marijuana music finasteride and pcs buy prescriptions online doctor lortab pituitary skelaxin positive effects of medicinal marijuana 150mg bupropion sr cheap hydrocodone with no prescription selsun tinea mdma with a wu tang symbol price of ecstasy celexa treating headache magic mushroom's and effexor converting amphetamines into methamphetamine ecstasy and touching animals adderall sizes purchase drug soma injectable cyanocobalamin price of cialis drugs lexapro provigil rubbing tylenol on infants gums meridia warning soma restaurants information on zocor perilymphatic fistula and lasix treatment polycystic ovarian disease and glucophage doses for zoloft hydrochlorothiazide medication columbia university testosterone clomiphene obestat sibutramine meridia does benicar hct contain sulpha fatal paroxetine overdose clomid and southernhealth insurance hydrocodone syrup side effects buy valium no prescription cheap advanced stealth steroids real free checkup for viagra where to buy hydrocodone cod phentermine watson penicillin discovery gag factor soma oxycodone australia online coumadin vision acyclovir in phemigus morphine suppliers cd17 with clomid emule mod ketamine buy oxycontin no script pityrosporum folliculitis from steroids health plan nevada coumadin clinic ghb reciepe quotes about marijuana being legalized over dose on the medication zoloft commview zyban xanax xanax ingredients in coumadin consultation hydrocodone indiana hamlet serzone career medical marijuana caregivers in riverside california adipex d buy cialis by mail anabolic steroids found in beef 1discount generic cialis purchase phentermine purchase phentermine all information ritalin free shipping what is ritalin used for is using steroids cheating atenolol aniexty ultram vs tramadol marijuana legality canada is xanax a maoi inhibiter is coming off xanax phychological elidel cream drug tramadol tenuate ceftin generic long term effects zyrtec quitting marijuana substitute nicotine replacement inhalers photos online phentermine sales us licensed pharmacies ritalin side effects in adults intimacy marijuana sex addiction hpv zovirax keyword oxycodone withdrawal symptom comments glyburide sied effects tylenol sore throat nighttime dosage wellbutrin alcohol side effects attorney city oklahoma prempro aruba marijuana prednisone and vision vicodin half life dot drug screen dangers of loratadine claritin loratadine michigan zoloft interaction alcohol tiazac drug difference between marijuana and medical marijuana tabaco nicotine drinking and zoloft toprol and use phendimetrazine search engines where to find ecstasy in baltimore addiction marijuana vermox tablets prednisone immunity suppression effects lexapro loss side weight tallahassee regional medical center rehab ortho actos sexuales en vivo permanent prednisone use welty and ibuprofen bbc folic acid pregnancy online proscar ecstasy of gold matalica synthroid and levoxyl heroin into her referers top viagra heroin slang can you get high on hydrocodone side effects of nexium what is lsd drug prednisone and muscle atrophy aciphex ulcer phentermine without prescription delivered fast tramadol hcl-acetaminophen par weight order finasteride powders quicksilver messenger service i smoke marijuana concerta methylphenidate methylphenidate stories adderall purchase online risperdal and movement disorder va hospitals avandia cipro m51 heroes and heroin gary jules biaxin cat mgkg cons of leaglizing marijuana effects of lsd on society ultram cr lipitor canadian drugs atarax behavioral side effects switching from morphine to hydromorphone adderall health risk record carisoprodol weed steroids cash delivery order phentermine effects of adderall on older adults car decals marijuana scopolamine and ativan alchohol testosterone medical marijuana clear lake california medication captopril code dates tylenol childrens will lortabs kill a dog snorting zanaflex augmention augment wellbutrin depression zovirax topical cream softtabs free doctor consultation ultram and expired acsm steroids what is zyban product ambien cr prices augmentin structure activity relationship fosamax efficacy in people over 80 ptnrs searchfor cialis growing high quality marijuana with fluorescents dopamine heroin sex zyrtec d 12 hours nicotine and gravy beck lyrics infant tylenol before shots celexa and provigil effexor irritation aggressive herbal steroids potential side effects prednisone and pregnancy minnesota baycol lawsuit is phentermine bad for your heart claritin side effects buy tramadol online no medical records zoloft side effects sexual premarin farms discontinue singulair dosage of prednisone needed for dogs goldenseal marijuana system cialis india discount beat a marijuana drug test au ambien sideeffects put viagra on woman pussy plane how to fly with ecstasy benzathine penicillin cheapest overnight phentermine anabolic steroids and dball pcp screen test fro vicodin hp 10660 generic pepcid for dogs celebrex celecoxib vermont is marijuana a stimulant or depressant augmentin taste buy sertraline online zyrtec used as asthma medication finasteride b propecia b hydrocodone no medical record georgia serzone lawyers wellbutrin and panic disorder generisches viagra vergleichen interesting facts about vicodin cheapest price on adipex cons of legalizing marijuana hwo to make lsd tramadol overseas best price grapefruit juice and prozac glocophage metformin efficacy generic brand diflucan coumadin blood level heroin and cocaine eli lilly and senator and prozac buy drug online phentermine prescription buy oxycodone cod no effect from prozac genaric cialis cheap phentermine about cheap phentermine where can i purchase softtabs online receding hairline finasteride can you needle ultracet cialis pde4 valium muscle spasm quinine cialis synthroid .015 diabetes lawsuit lipitor compared online phentermine site has wyeth discontinued alesse no prescription vicodin no consultation buspar caused tingling neurontin worsen depression buy phentermine online ritalin order buy online pravachol lorcet money order nicotine and withdrawal marijuana laws bahamas celebrex temporarily withdrawn prilosec best price ortho novum 7 7 7 diovan and alcohol ibuprofen and sulfatrim hearing loss and hydrocodone aromatase inhibitor tamoxifen loratadine maximum dose synalar cream what is androgenic steroids valium night sweats vicodin on line action and uses of glucophage good things marijuana can do marijuana high school vicodin and sweating generic or alternative to ambien miacalcin nasal spray side effects purchase pravachol pharmacy online oregon marijuana plant sentencing ritalin effects of taking nicotine withdrawal chewing tobacco ocd effexor does marijuana contain nicotine certificated online pharmacy search results carisoprodol phentermine weight loss pill ordering tadalafil mylan diltiazem hydrochloride zocor incorporated macdonald v ortho pharmaceutical va marijuana medicinal metformin and nursing solubility of promethazine in ethanol neurontin overdose seroquel and diabeties generic omeprazole and information zocor free samples sildenafil citrate american fda approved pay pal order levitra best buy tramadol humboldt marijuana imitrex twitch ionamin line ortho silicic acid and the pancreas action celecoxib class lawsuit detoxing from wellbutrin affect allegra side penicillin taken with amoxicillin essays legalize marijuana lortab side affects buy aldactone no prescription sildenafil buy online pfizer gemfibrozil heroin addicted infants oxycontin abuse symptoms toprol and erectile disfunction metabolizing marijuana norco corona lady diamonds benazepril hydrochlorothiazide effect on blood sugar castrate testosterone effexor xr from swelling compare crestor to lipitor cho mdma can you make lsd from toothpaste effects from crushing depakote heroin babies and mothers lamisil acne treatment marijuana growers association nlbra ovral results hani yasmin morphine use in pulmonary edema what methamphetamine does to babies kentucky laws marijuana xanax american express cialis trial pack folic acid therapy a man's testosterone women marijuana and hair loss phentermine pharmacy cheap online loratadine vs cetrizine tylenol danger taking klonopin after xanax i like to smoke marijuana song zithromax oral contraceptives eisai co ltd aricept clinical studies nexa ortho phentermine generic name valaciclovir valtrex naproxen side affect prilosec 2002 mixed amphetamine salts 4 lorcet reduces shbg while on steroids cycle celebrex and cough dur 1800 efficacy of xalatan take a benadryl with ambien hashish usage rates canada online viagra cheap meridia order prescription buy phentermine united kingdom playoff outfielder steroids tramadol desription hydrocodone amex is nicotine a depressant safe to take paxil during pregnancy viagra package quantity online pharmacy meridia international diclofenac sodium im seperating thc from marijuana oxycotton xanax facts adderall stratera 40 grams of cialis metoprolol 25m benifits zithromax allergic reactions gi bleed restart coumadin welty ibuprofen adderall inconsistency diethylpropion 75 mg er medical marijuana grown in soil faq viagra for woman study ubc chemo marijuana seeds penicillin g suceptible organisms high symptoms depakote level bipolar c cod d ionamin o shipping ritalin n chewable tablets oaa ortho children's books with marijuana buy imitrex oral online dream pharmaceutical pacman on steroids uncle gives toddler marijuana prednisone for pain nicotine science lessons marijuana gestation period zoloft dosage and gad pediatric dosage keppra bontril without a prescription marijuana windows xp themes miracle baby paxil online retin diltiazem hydrochloride guide abbr href rel title title viagra alcohol paxil blackout cooking methamphetamine famvir prescriptions purchase hydrocodone online overnight delivery can zocor be split kenalog drug information kenalog side effects buy ortho novum online no prescription palpitations vytorin naproxen side effects effects heart side surgery viagra buspar and sun sensitivity effects of methamphetamine with risperdal ky phentermine shipped add site tadalafil marijuana laws in belize very sensitive to marijuana buying nexium getting off of zoloft marijuana legalization opinion sl morphine marijuana strain flower time on yasmin coumadin and eating fruit or juces metformin sleepiness nexium and raciper acetaminophen ibuprofen overdose obtaining a medicinal marijuana card cialis no prescription is avandia safe canada propecia prescription hiding marijuana airport security keflex drug used for zoloft mexico effexor make you sweat canine lymphoma chlorambucil prednisone valporic acid level opium open sailboat 2.5mg lexapro gif image marijuana background advair problems keflex and side effects marijuana easy soma fm groove salad 50mg viagra sale cheap cialis tablets tylenol safe to pregnant women chemical make up of fosamax advair contrindication libido nexium flomax tamsulosin hydrochloride coumadin nri blood ratio ortho molecular melatonin 3mg 90 capsules zoloft prolactin over the counter allie xenical effects of valium marijuana seed planting green flextra goodyear 6 cheap propecia johnny vicious ecstasy ingredients of lortab vevet ecstasy buy cheap cialis online 0.5mg xanax marijuana and chinese medicine yasmin generic brand ativan dosage indications for keflex tobradex opth susp buy can from i propecia who e r naproxen used for tijuana prices oxycontin tijuana keppra levetiracetam increased zoloft to 100mg marijuana rumers phentermine doctor on staff low testosterone levels in women phentermine for sale in us sildenafil from india shar pei anesthesia ketamine class action lawsuit for oxycontin coumadin reversal guidelines marijuana and heroin poem about oxycontin marijuana vaporizor get sildenafil on internet cash on delivery hydrocodone no prescription prilosec what function new generic xanax images prednisone time absorb phenylalanine methamphetamine zocor news clonazepam strength versus xanax in depth clomid and nolvadex profiles methamphetamine or meth or speed elavil and magnesium deficiency lsd illegal or legal carisoprodol forpain 2007 allegra d rebates instructions on making ghb about celexa effect birth control effect of alcohol with zoloft dot provigil tadalafil samples knoxville tennessee lasix eye surgeons discount bupropion smoking celebrex tylenol buy cost low viagra lorcet purchase metrogel perscription drugs metrogel effexor research pain management good sense brand acetaminophen illinois lawyer vioxx marijuana alcohol meth effects during breastfeeding metoprolol package insert carboxy hemoglobin test for nicotine class action suit oxycontin oregon craine regulating testosterone seroquel used to treat anxiety depression prozac cascade ortho orthotics prosthetics effect of propecia xenical diet medicine ibuprofen blood flow brain methadone taken with methamphetamine benign intracranial hypertension prednisone tips pass marijuana tests consequences for using ecstasy illegally albuterol inhaler side affects buy zoloft sertraline lustral online buy imitrex pal pay flomax tablets by canada in mail zyban receive provigil alertec vigicer overnight growing marijuana with miracle grow atazanavir omeprazole interaction get marijuana seeds in the usa tylenol advil mix soft cialis tabs no docter consultation phentermine vicodin detect times effects of cocaine with ecstasy omeprazole generic horses marijuana drug test information ppg torsen lsd hydrocodone extraction water affects of marijuana use during pregnancy info drug spironolactone acne paul byrd steroids vicodin pregnancy category diarreah from metformin azithromycin suspension celexa and heart disease medical marijuana in santa monica can i take vicodin with cocaine free flomax descendants of japheth marijuana clear cream steroids snort claritin d seroquel sleep eating morphine antidote adipex adipex pill clomid and alcohol jordy dur dur cialis levitra delayed ejaculation effexor ritalin and concerta and children soma discount code chicos overnight prozac best buying viagra obscure phentermine squats raise testosterone uncommin adderall side effects what organisms does augmentin kill acyclovir valtrex marijuana legalized states marijuana causes maniac behavior physician desk reference hydrocodone 5 500 mg nexium cheap prices mobile seroquel attorney diet pills adipex without rx youtube lesbians on ecstasy nasti madrid phentermine long term 30 capsules amoxicillin 250mg breaking hydrocodone in half sale soma bad side effects actonel phentermine tetracycline lamisil versus sporanox pizza hut san francisco soma tylenol lawsuits overdose on fluoxetine ortho retainer colors cephalexin for ear infection nfl and steroids buying xenical in the uk harmony korine heroin doxazosin mesylate 4 mg adult adhd treated with adderall seroquel harmful estrogens distillation of methamphetamine clarinex valtrex acyclovir patanol might morphine power rangers pregnancy registry zoloft canada adderall seroquel drug interaction while taking metformin ortho para substituents cipro and the pill quality generic viagra diazepam ic denial of benefits pcp lowest price for prilosec adult jokes mr bean viagra men taking viagra pics difference btween phentermine and meridia xanax calculator cozaar 100mg generic can you use celebrex with tylenol treatments for steroids relaxant skelaxin used hydrocodone apap 7.5 long meridia result term vermox canada pcp izg tylenol cold night time pregnancy coumadin flow sheets generic ambien cheap ramipril side effects coupon for tylenol arthritis biaxin can cause miscarriage what are streetnames for ghb nicotine recovery forum symptoms after medrol pac fosamax and alcohol adderall side effects canada illinois law lsd depressive manic zyprexa celebrex medication guide infant motrin side effects hydrocodone in water nicotine laced cigarettes glucophage no prescription buspar in anxiety treatment keflex expansion compensator fqt prevacid children drug of seroquel ritalin la dosages is there a gernic for nexium dot marijuana levels headache nortriptyline nicotine enhancing orgasm zithromax pharmacy diovan order zyprexa expert witness does zoloft affect pregnancy boards prozac qoclick shop wellbutrin marijuana cases in colorado viagra doesnt work herb sperling heroin facts on vicodin folic acid pregnant women macrobid depression methamphetamine withdrawal protocols world map marijuana what is vet medicine prednisone ritalin in prison where to get testosterone suspension adderall and early pregnancy i want side effects on zoloft acetaminophen causing rebound headaches coumadin and necrosis yasmin hohenstaufen valium 5mg sympton bupropion padaczka butalbital fioricet naproxen tramadol ultracet ultram taking valtrex during pregnancy cardura n10 side effects celexa long term use 5 month old and motrin zithromax and breastfeeding pubmed medline cefzil product monograph phentermine 2037.5 ramipril reactions altace side 10 5 lotrel mg ibuprofen heart attack official zoloft site intoxication involuntary zoloft pain tramadol copper herbal viagra ambien pakistan dangers of xanax overnight delivery viagra semen marijuana information on the income on penicillin nasser toktam yasmin hannah ebadi herbal phentermine wordpress p norco without a perscription cipro dogs tired can't sleep nexium zocor 10mg lyrica used with effexor xr if i miss an avandia physical effects steroids have vicodin pet medications cheap tretinoin methodone calculator oxycodone yasmin and pmdd ortho rehab little rock arkansas singulair and child phoenix oxycontin lawyers make a marijuana vaporizer bootleg phentermine are lipitor and lovastatin the same photos of female heroin addicts phish marijuana guitar tab omeprazole gastrinoma ambien painting sleep 99 viagra free consultations now atorvastatin calcium generic cyber pharmacy phentermine ejaculation injuries from lexapro buy lipitor online dream pharmaceutical dosage wellbutrin coumadin causing intracranial bleeding pressure does atenolol and viagra mix methyl prednisone use biaxin and alcohol effects flomax solution for cataract surgery ortho shoulder specialist wi viagra maximum dose metformin for pco and anovulation active ingredient in phentermine info on antivert viagra colonoscopy dilantin level mcgml soma sale no prescription finding thc on marijuana leaves celebrex logo tramadol canine effects acyclovir used for depakote medication side effects cheep bontril no prescription lipitor 10 snorting trazodone legal opium high times harmful effects of heroin generic toprol metformin testosterone naproxen ingredients seroquel and parathesia azithromycin zpack ortho tri cyclin lo cost what is the diet pill adipex palmeiro steroids morphine oxycontin rocky point mexico liquid ancilliaries nolvadex liquidex cialis tadalafil and pulmonary hypertension tylenol nonsteroid bontril 270 cipro ophthalmologic solution biggest man steroids lorcet by omega personal opinions of depakote use breast cancer recurrence evista study group combined drug affect dextromethorphan acetaminophen lisinopril auro zoloft bleeding acne propecia cooking heroin ortho tri-cyclen nexium calcium absorption and prilosec ibm soma what is buspar for atrail fib testosterone verapamil 180 mg manufacturers of ranitidine hcl in india viagra vaginal suppositories side effects is valtrex antibiotic morphine twilight sleep wikipedia no prescription keflex download orthos cpu legitimate phentermine easy marijuana hydroponic system can anabolic steroids affect asthma increae of marijuana finasteride e dolore testicoli marijuana party of saskatchewan fuel tank synthroid products paxil cheap detoxing oxycontin ecstasy blue ladies pcp car finance specialists flonase shelf life get viagra now no doctor visit coumadin and alcohol consumption avandia and swelling minocycline cause depression kenalog s diflucan prescribing information ambien us customs doctor online prescription tramadol acetaminophen addiction xanax buy best time to take viagra morphine thereputic dosage pinnacle ortho georgia cialis no perscription women take the drug flomax sertraline sex drive depressant marijuana proven to cause cancer behavior of a methamphetamine addict dovon