(Download the PDF)

Recently I attended a great presentation by Spencer Gerrol (Human Factors International) in Atlanta entitled “Beyond Usability: The Science of Persuasive Design”. Gerrol discussed how important it is to not only make our websites easy to use, but to make people want to use them. He then discussed 6 key principles we can use to persuade our customers as well as some important persuasion tactics to keep in mind. The presentation began with a brief discussion of the difference between usability and persuasion.

(more…)

I recently attended the 2008 UPA conference in Baltimore Maryland where I had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Jeff Patton. Patton’s name is well known in the Agile community where he focuses on improving UCD within Agile environments. You can read more about him and his ideas on his website AgileProductDesign.com.

Jeff started out the session by providing a high level overview of the history of Agile development. Including a brief overview of it’s many branches (SCRUM, XP, FDD, DSDM, Crystal, etc). He then discussed the main values and principles of the practice of Agile development. (more…)

My boss sent me an article the other day entitled “IA Summit 2008: User-Centered Design is Dead“. I was surprised by the title (which I’m sure was part of the intended shock value of the writer). While I myself did not attend the keynote speech (I actually locked my keys in the car and didn’t arrive until the second presentation, sigh) I felt it was important to check out the recording for myself. Here is my interpretation: (more…)