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Annotated Wireframes
Task Summary:
Produce wireframes that were clean and easy to understand so even a developer not that familiar with the chosen technology could build the application quickly to specifications.Project: PeopleIQ
Format: OmniGraffle & Microsoft Word
This application (PeopleIQ) is a Rich Internet Application based on Flash 2004 MX, with Java and a mySQL back-end. We went for Flash 2004MX in preparation for an eventual move to Adobe Flex after initial product launch. We’d include a Word based companion document, showing numbers in the Wireframe align with functionality notes help further explain the need for features and behaviors. This wireframe includes references to data elements that were found in a separate schema and reference list so data remains trackable in a convenient check-off list.
Project: Verizon Developer Center for Mobile Web
Format: Axure RP Pro, HTML, CSV
Axure is a wonderful tool that allows you to produce wireframes that you can build simulated functionality into. From the build you can generate screenshots, object tables containing footnotes on all actions as well as plenty of other usable documentation, in several formats. One of the best aspects of this an export of HTML wireframes you can use to actually experience the results. You can make the wireframes as low or high fidelity as you care to manage. This project was perfect for Axure — it called for a new website, community forum and social media campaign built around the concept of Verizon supporting the development of pages for the Mobile Web 3.0. You can see the results of this work at: http://developer.verizon.com/jsps/devCenters/Mobile_Web/index.jsp
Documentation Example:
Mobile Web Dev Center Home The Home Page represents everything that’s planned for coverage in this particular “Dev Center”. The expectation has been set by the content team that as far as navigation (and IA) is concerned, we can take away any one menu item, but not add any. Nor can we visibly tree the list like you see in the “Community and Support” pod. Once you’re past the primary sub-navigation, you can do whatever you like below that point. One of the conceptual problems is trying to promote Mobile Web 2.0 and 3.0 at the same time. We’re unable to have more than one dev center for it, so we must merge the two at this time. For this round of submissions, the three sections our team is responsible for in terms of supplying content are “Getting Started”, “Technical Resources” and “Go-To-Market”.
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Persona Development
Task Summary:
Develop a set of personas designed to provide situational examples of potential users for pre-testing usability. The chosen environment is the ER Nursing & Technical Team for a local hospital. Replacement images have been used to replace original photos. We developed a Brief and individual profiles as a part of this project.Personae Brief Lead Page (Portion)
Personae Full Page Example
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Branding and Creative Briefs
Task Summary:
The branding and creative brief covers an overview of the project and provides the necessary background to produce effective branding and a look-and-feel for the PeopleIQ application. It outlines the objectives, audience, and assumptions for the project and details the creative concept the team intends to use moving forward.
Document Template for RFP Responses
Hi Folks.
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A friend commenting on Social media blog asked if anyone knew of any templates that might be freely available for what I presumed was an interactive company responding to an RFP. I wanted to help him out, so I threw a template together based on some of my successful attempts at producing a workable RFP response. I don’t warrant the work or the results, but have at it. If you’re interested I provide you with: a Template for RFP Response, version 0.4A, off a page reserved for templates off my blog. I hope it’s worthy of praise or gentle criticism. Would love to get your feedback. I’ll update it and I will provide others at this location as I go. Also, feel free to tweet and retweet as necessary.
Cheers.
Apple’s going to release the iTablet… Which finish will you buy?
You’ve heard all the hype, but I’m not sure people have put together all the pieces. I think Apple’s got a whammy brewing.
This is a visual accounting of the rumors that tgrblog.com (I’m linking to their new site at Tumblr) has graciously put together for your viewing pleasure.I believe the “Two finishes” mentioned are being offered are actually two different cases, and two different pricing points, offering two different types of tablets to provide support and competition in two different markets:
iTablet – iTouch Style
10.1′ Display
Multitouch
OLED Screen
P A Semi Chip
16GB
Runs iPhoneOS
iTunes & App Store
Apple eReader
Multitouch iWork (Downloadable from App Store)
Front facing Camera
Looks and Acts like an iTouch with new Tablet interaction UI, Gestures/Swipes, etc.
3G Network Connected, No monthly fees, available first at the Apple store then everywhere.
WiFi & Bluetooth connectivity
White or Black Plastic Finish.
Audio Out, USB 2 and Mini Display Port
Sync Port, capable of connecting directly to an iMac with new dockport
$399, Competitive with Kindle 2. Available from the Apple store & Everywhere iPhones and iTouch are sold.
Arrival: March
iTablet Pro – Mac-Netbook Style
10.1′ Display
Multitouch
OLED Screen
Intel Chip (Atom?)
2GB
32-64GB SSD
Runs OSX
iTunes & App Store, Also accepts typical Mac Apps.
Apple eReader
Multitouch iWork (Downloadable from App Store)
Ability to stream apps used on your desktop (Photoshop, etc) to your tablet if connection is fast enough.
3G Network Connected, using AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, w/Data plan.
WiFi & Bluetooth connectivity
Front facing Camera
Looks and Acts like a Mac with new Tablet interaction UI, Gestures/Swipes, etc.
Aluminum Finish.
Audio Out, USB 2 and Mini Display Port
Sync Port, capable of connecting directly to an iMac with new dockport
$699-799, Upper-end Netbook competitive, price will be less within 6-8 months as it will be subsidized. Available from the Apple store, or an authorized Mobile retailer.
Arrival: March-June
I’m going to enjoy seeing something come out, even if this isn’t it. I wasn’t wrong about the iPhone, now let’s see what happens with this launch.
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H&M do your civic duty and donate your cut-up clothes to local Swap-o-Ramas
I just found out from @amalah and @finslippy that the New York Times is reporting that an H&M store in New York City is getting rid of perfectly good clothes by cutting them up and placing them in trash bags outside to be disposed of. Aside from the waste this creates, a ton of this scrap clothing could easily be re-purposed (if they absolutely must cut them up) by delivering them to Swap-O-Ramas, (where local artists and old clothes get together to be recycled and resold) and other similar community projects. Or better yet, make up for your corporate waste by HOSTING things like this and give back to the community you should be contributing to.
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moreFive Game Changing Gadgets you should expect to see in the next decade
Following up on my version of the Best Gadgets of the Decade, I’m providing a list of five game-changing gadgets you should expect to see in the next decade, along with a description of the likely impacts.
- Apple Tablet / iSlate - I do believe this is arriving (or at least due to be announced) in January. The iSlate (I do believe it’ll be called that) will be a hybrid between the a Macbook and an iPhone. It’ll be capable of using iPhone apps as well as desktop apps, I believe the specs will be be something similar to what you see on the Macbook Air, but of course it won’t have a cover over the screen. Over time, this product blows away the netbook, laptop and desktop markets, encouraging people to slip their “iSlate” into a monitor, or sitting on a conduction pad connected to a wall screen) instead of having a box sitting on their desk. This product just gets more powerful as the decade goes on, and people like the idea less and less of being tied to a desk, and chunky equipment. Techies of all stripes are struck by the similarities to the Star Trek like “Pad” and shun the traditional thinking of what a computer has to look like or be altogether. Dell has a heart attack wondering how they’ll ever beat Apple without going thinner (attempts to find and purchase a company producing paper-computers and fails) and consequently loses enough stock value that Microsoft sees them as a worthy hardware partner for direct purchase.
- SixSense Tech Context Bar – On a parallel path, it’s shaped like a candybar, and interfacing with or as your mobile device — it hangs around your neck. In it’s most miniature versions sits in a pocket like a pocket protecter (we’ll call it the Geekbar) in a shirt pocket, and for men or women, a necklace holding a few small boxes with pinhole cameras and a projector inside – this wearable device originally designed by Pranav Mistry at MIT will blow the doors off you can do with a computer. A wearable computer, interfacing constantly with the net and providing you with an information (and unfortunately advertisement) enhanced reality. This enhanced reality will come with a few different versions, one by Apple using a new version of OS X specifically for their “iBar” version (which replaces the outdated iPhone) using OS X 11ER2 (Enhanced Reality Version 2.0), a Linux and Android/Google OS versions delivered through Asus and other clone manufacturers, and another by Microsoft/Dell partership with a new OS by Microsoft called “Interpreter” (Which makes use of gesture control, or PUI — Perceptual User Interface). The SST C-Bar will be as Pranav has envisioned, something very cost effective (Under $300) and bridges the world between your online world and the real one. Complete, low-intensity gesture control is now standard. Instead of having to go find a surface to work on (a white wall or piece of paper) all work can be done in the air with small motions. Popular culture comically refers to people using earlier versions of the device as “Bats” due to the long nature of the original bar (4″) shaped like a baseball bat and the other aspect of people seen waving their arms around vigorously trying to get the early devices to work properly. This product is so revolutionary that it encourages Apple to outfit their mobile devices with SST Context technology wherever possible.
- Untethered VR “Sunglasses” followed by Wearable VR Contact Lenses (closer to the end of 2019) - Complimenting the Context bar, you’ll see Wearable VR tools that will help you see what you’re working with, since complete gesture control is now standard. It’s not necessary any longer to wear a glove or tape on your hands. The cameras, tools and processors now support this tech cheaply. VR “glasses” come in prescription form at $29 a pair, while the contact lenses are $599 on the clone market. Before the end of the decade, you no longer have to have an iSlate, computer or any other computer to initiate VR activity with, you can simply look at a target point on a wall and interface with the local systems to get VR access. Coffee shop customers, no longer content with WiFi, encourage shops to double in size to support the “Batty” activities and arm-waving accompanying the new devices and needs of VR users.
- Full-Body Med Scanning Platforms - Rounding out the end of the decade, and fueled by a push to keep the insurance industry in check is a government program to offer complete medical scanning of individuals, with the promise that you can’t be disqualified for insurance or denied low cost insurance for any condition) that will tell you everything about a body’s current status. The scanning also stops sort of full DNA testing, but provides after a quick scan an understanding of all the systems currently underperforming on a patient and aids the doctor with potential support for treatment. Actionable doctor visits are now much more rare, as trips to a Platform is as simple as going to a mall or a nearby facility and tests can be “run” by a registered nurse and monitored by a doctor on staff. The design of the product may possibly come from Switzerland where the Biomedical Scanning Center has been researched for some time. Scans are uploaded to your doctor’s office. The platform is comfortable and easy to use. The patient can be standing, sitting or laying down when the scan is administered, but this gadget revolutionizes disease control as well as providing a clear, up to date status on the overall health of the population. This is a moneymaker for everyone, including the insurance industry, who after having to conform to a partial socialization, have now shifted gears to the much more profitable methods of holistic medicine. Gone are the days of people getting sick all the time and complaints of alien probing are way down.
- Greenshoes – Popularized by the green energy conservation movement and the fashion industry, many shoes, tight-fitting undershirts and a resurgence of long underpants called “Huggers” all come with micro-gyro-magnet-charging technology, allowing energy to be captured, stored and transferred to mobile devices, iSlates and other gadgetry as you move throughout the day. Stored energy is delivered to syphon pads that sit unobtrusively under a table, chair or desk. This product begins sealing the formerly broken “circle of conservation” which attempts to re-capture “lost” energy through the use of wind farms, lightning recovery systems, wave-action power plants, gratuitous use of solar panels and now magnets and cantilevers.
I hope you’ve enjoyed our little visit to the future and remember to consider those gadgets carefully when you see them. Version 1.0 is always a little “batty”… er… I mean buggy.
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moreThe best gagets of the decade
Wired on December 31st published an article called “The Mobile Decade: Greatest Gadgets From 10 years of Innovation“. Personally I think they’ve missed some things — They were basically trying to establish a top ten, and I understand that. They’re also trying to demonstrate a progression, which I see too. However, I think it’s important to look at things from the end of the decade, establish who actually changed the game, not just standards that really didn’t innovate. Here’s what was great about the last decade of gadgetry from Wired’s and then from my perspective: Wired’s list in short:
- 2000: Sony Playstation 2
- 2001: Apple iPod (Gadget of the Decade)
- 2002: Microsoft XBox
- 2004: NintendoDS
- 2004: Palm Treo 650
- 2005: Motorola Razr
- 2006: Apple Macbook
- 2007: Apple iPhone
- 2008: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
- 2009: Amazon Kindle 2
My list:
- 2001: Apple iPod – Using an MP3 Player was finally easy and stylish to use. It was accompanied by iTunes for outstanding support.
- 2002: Apple Powerbook/Macbook (Titanium (G4) and in 2006, Intel) – Apple introduced a product that has been noticed by anyone seriously looking at laptops. This was a serious working laptop, was powerful enough to actually be used as a desktop machine, and it captured the imagination with a level of design unmatched by the competition. It did the job, had OS X under the hood as well. If you wanted a laptop that just “Did what I asked it to do” then you’ve got it. Other manufacturers have had to rush out competitive solutions — none of which really ever found a way to effectively compete or dominate. Whine all you want that Dell has the Adamo. Whatever.
- 2004: NintendoDS – I have to agree this was an instant hit and if you were a kid (or an adult) who wanted to take your game with you, it became easy to do so. Finally, real arcade games that fit in your hand.
- 2004: Palm Treo 650 – Once this got beyond Sprint to the other carriers, it became mainstream — but the Handspring/Palm software made this the tool you needed to get through your workday and have a quite nearly desktop experience with a personal organizer. A huge community got behind this product, which while Blackberry is a cult hit, it has always chased Palm’s cut and dry simplicity and ability to expand. Palm’s cult was just bigger, and while Blackberry was great at getting you your email, Palm’s overall solution as a whole was what everyone aspired to for most of the decade.
- 2005: One Laptop Per Child Project – This project changed the game and set off a chain reaction that put ideas like the Psion netbook into the history pages. Say what you want about the project. Anyone who paid any attention to it at all wondered about the possibility of getting a compact $100 laptop that did the basics. You want to surf the net? Get access to knowledge? Learn? Forget children, you had the ears of adults perking up at this one. The result spawned a competition — build a notebook for less than $100, and Companies like Asus (who were on the map for system boards and some video cards in the clone market) suddenly hit the big time with their EEE Netbooks. For about $300, an adult (or child) in the mainstream could have their very own Netbook. Acer and Hewlett Packard also jumped in the frey. Now the big three netbook makers are having it out for the best products. The race was on to put the cheapest components possible in these netbooks and provide incredible battery life. It’s forced Apple to consider solutions to lower prices and be competitive.
- 2006: Nikon D40 – What? You thought Canon EOS of any kind was the best? Think again. $2700 is still way too much more anyone to care about. You’ll sell 1 of those for every 400 of the Nikon D40. The Nikon D40 and D40x sets the standard of this decade for a pro camera in an affordable consumer range. This camera turns any of us regular folk into someone that can take a fantastic, rich, color picture. And for all people whine about 6 megapixels not being enough, enough for what, enough so that it filled up my SD Card too fast with pixels I won’t need as I’m a regular consumer wanting to print something that looked good enough for 4×6′s or 8×10′s? This camera outlasts everyone and is light enough to make people go back to it despite having purchased something in the higher megapixels too. And, it was easy to use.
- 2006: Flip Video – I’m sorry, Canon EOS/Rebel who? Who cares if a $2700 camera can do HD video, the general public can’t afford it, and it was never really on the radar. I can get a camera for under $200 that I can carry with me in my pocket without holding an equipment bag and it takes great personal video. In 2007 it went mainstream, but this addictive little camera boosted YouTube as well as put an incredibly easy to use, affordable, reusable, simplistic video camera, with good built-in transfer/management software to boot. Instant standard and to think it made Apple change it’s footprint for the iPod, where Apple realized a camera was necessary on a small device you kept in your pocket.
- 2006: Nintendo Wii – Nintendo saw a lot of people sitting down to play video games. They knew it wasn’t healthy, and injuries from repetitive stress notwithstanding, people needed to get moving. Nintendo was looking for a game changer, and it found one by encouraging people to break down the walls imposed by typical controllers. Sure, gaming gloves had been built but nothing really did what the Wii does. Suddenly sports of all kinds can be played indoors. People are getting in shape and moving their entire bodies. It could be argued that the dance pad for Dance Dance Revolution was the game changer at a mass level, but in my opinion it was the Wii. The Wii was responsible for moving your whole body and getting everyone excited about it. It’s made Microsoft (and others) consider full-body interaction without controllers at all. Just a camera (or cameras) watching your movements. The game has changed.
- 2007: Apple iPhone – For me, this was the product of the decade. This device is not only the hottest selling of all phones ever, but it takes seconds for people to fall in love with it. It’s a tremendous all around product, perhaps only limited by the fact that the first two versions couldn’t do video. At least in the 3Gs it does now. However, The level of support is fantastic in comparison to other services as far as providing consumable content — iTunes and the App store take care of that. The following this product has is rabid and once you’ve ditched your old phone, you’ll probably set your iPod aside as well in favor of this.
- 2007: Amazon Kindle – Amazon really wasn’t capitalizing on a new idea. The idea of reading a book on a digital device has been around for a long time. Other companies and products out there innovated on that front. What Amazon did was put all the pieces together, following in the iPod and iPhone’s footprint, the goal being to develop a device that would be as ubiquitous for books as the iPod was for music, and the iPhone is for media of all kinds on the go. The reality is while they fell short right away (and continue to follow) on color, they make up for that in terms of innovation by attaching wireless networks to the product — and you didn’t have to purchase a wireless contract to use it. Like magic, the Kindle rules the roost of the written word. For now.
I expect to see a few things emerging out of this decade into the next that are pretty exciting, and I’ll mention that list in my next post.
The list after that will be covering the most innovative software of the decade. And I think you’ll be surprised by what you find there. Stay tuned.
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moreHey TSA: Why not just sedate the passengers?
It’s disturbing what happened with Flight 253 — and reports are that the explosive was extremely powerful. We don’t know the full story yet behind the attack, but as I recall the immediate reaction from international security was to ban use of electronics for the last hour of the flight (forcing people who aren’t bored out of their minds to rent earphones or listen to songs and ads on their horrible in-flight networks or in-flight-potato-tubes), or once again enforcing a no-liquid ban, but really the ultimate solution is even more simple but economically sound than some have suggested (i.e. Banning all Passengers – good idea Mark ;D ) — which would be to put the passengers to sleep.
It’s been suggested before in some movies — and that probably wouldn’t be too bad, until of course the nurse administering the sedative (which might or not be an actual nurse) give the sedative to someone who has a bad reaction… But seriously, I expect this concept to be a Saturday Night Live skit pretty shortly. First class could be a small, private sleeping coffin *ahem* excuse me.. bunk… while the everyone else is just laying on top of each other like cargo to save room. Or in military-style bunks. Imagine the number of people you could put on a plane if they’re laying on the floor of the aircraft strapped down. What a savings in fuel and customer service efforts! No more stewards!
No wait, that would totally ruin the customer experience wouldn’t it?
Please TSA — I know you’re really concerned about security, but there have to be better ways of doing this. Are we learning anything from the Swedes? Or the Germans? Or anyone? I’d love to hear if any customers out there has had any good experiences with security despite how restrictive it’s becoming to just enjoy your flight somewhere. As a guy who loves to travel and would frankly love to go to Australia some day, I’d really like to know if there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
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Osnapz Chewy Goodness
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