Ethics – Travelling With The User – Part X

Ethics – Travelling With The User – Part X

Nowadays, more and more voices are raised in defence of ethics. And not only in the real world but also in the digital one. Your work speaks for you. It is as simple as that.

In his closing plenary at the IA Summit in Vancouver this year, Dan Klyn spoke about The Truth.

“The point of information architecture is making the complex clear. But not because clarity. Because the truth. The point of clarifying complexity is for there to be more and better the truth.”

We found ourselves in dire straits where it seems that the truth does not matter anymore and alternative facts can and are applied virtually for everything. It is not only about politics or the USA. Fake news has long ago made their way through Europe before they flew over across the pond. Those of us born on this side of the Berlin wall need no elaboration.
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Have Some Empathy – Travelling With The User – Part IX

Have Some Empathy – Travelling With The User – Part IX

Empathy is a key element of creating the digital space. Knowing why you are designing or developing a content vessel is paramount.

In the past couple of years, “empathy” has become a sort of a buzzword, just like user experience. In every meeting, there will be at least one person who will mention it. But this is not the reason for you to have empathy.

Being able to put yourself in the user’s shoes will make you a better designer/developer. Knowing the user’s emotional drive or what makes her use your app, platform, or web property will open your creativity.
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Scalability – Travelling With The User – Part VIII

Scalability – Travelling With The User – Part VIII

Scalability is an integral part of any digital property, project or design. Without having it in mind, any project is just a project without a thought of the future.

The content, design or platform do not mature simply with you handing out the project, get paid and move on. It starts to live its own life at the moment it goes live. Things will be tweaked, issues will be spotted and changes will be requested. You can bet on that. Therefore, you need to think about scalability.
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We are all humans, but culture… – Travelling With The User – Part VII

We are all humans, but culture… – Travelling With The User – Part VII

Humans are same but different. Culture matters. Especially, when you design or develop something that will be used on a larger scale – regional, global or interplanetary.

North Europeans like their content straight and to the point. Far East Asians like a lot of everything in it. White spaces are considered as incomplete and lacking important information. Chinese like things red and yellow. In the West, red is a warning colour for us. Nowadays, for many liberals orange is one, too.

No matter whether we like it or not, we don’t see eye to eye in the real world and respectively in the digital one. And in order to be able to build bridges, we have to try walking in the shoes of those that see things differently.
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Mind The Touchpoints – Travelling With The User – Part VI

Mind The Touchpoints – Travelling With The User – Part VI

In this day and age, the content we create reaches the user at multiple touchpoints. Life has speeded up tremendously in the last couple of decades. Society moves at a pace that seems more hectic each following day. We are increasingly mobile and so is the user. Content is consumed at increasingly numbered touchpoints.

The first thing you do in the morning after waking up is to check out your phone. On the way to work you are on your tablet or listening to a podcast or an audiobook in your car. At work, you sit in front of a computer and so the day goes on.
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