july 1, 2009
 |
Why We Love this Work: A Re-Design Success Story |
Have you noticed anything different about your pill bottles lately? The story behind the re-designed pill bottles used by Target pharmacies is inspiring and shows how a little contextual observation, user input, and collaborative design can be combined to benefit millions...
It all started with a School of Visual Arts graduate student and her grandparents. Deborah Alder's grandmother accidentally took pills from her husband's pill bottle. It was an easy mistake to make - both took the same medication, but at different dosages. To add to the confusion, their names, Harriet & Henry, are very similar. Adler saw this accident for what it was: a serious usability problem in pill bottle design lying in wait for more victims.
Read More »
back to top ^
|
Getting a Head Start with Cognitive Modeling Research |
What if we told you that you can get inside your users’ heads? That you can learn how your users think, how they search and even what they will find easy or hard to do? You could then use this information to build a better user experience in your product or service! How? By conducting cognitive research and uncovering your users’ collective mental model.
It’s easier and cheaper than it sounds…
Mental models describe how people organize or think about information or processes. In order to make sense of the world and react quickly to our surroundings, we mentally categorize, chunk and simplify incoming and stored information into manageable patterns or processes. When we find ourselves in a new situation such as using a new product or entering a new store, we call upon these stored patterns and processes to help us more quickly cope with the new situation.
Read More »
back to top ^
|
