Storytelling and designing for Mobile

A friend of mine was recently telling me how he was envious of his peers at design school, because they had large posters and books to work on, and he was stuck with working on a small mobile screen.
He did a great job with it anyway, but what he said got me thinking.

The argument was that there was so much more room when designing for print, and designing for mobile was much more constrained.
I agree that mobile UI design does come with a few constraints, but I think these can actually be used to our advantage, as designers.

1. Depth.

Print usually only exists in two dimensions. If you stack up sheets of paper together and make a book, you get a third dimension. But a book can only have a limited number of pages, and each page can only have a fixed size.

When it comes to digital design, we have infinite depth. We can choose any point in an interface, and really dive deep using links, using as many screens as we need to get our point across.
And it's not just depth. With it, also comes infinite length and breadth. We can scroll down each page to our heart's content, and use swipes to navigate from left to right.
A mobile screen is a window into infinite space that we can shape as we wish.

2. Story telling.

Every design tells a story.
With print, you have to map your whole story onto a single poster. Or you could split it into many smaller sections and put it in a book. But at the end of the day, you still need to rely solely on visuals to get your point across.

With a mobile screen, you can craft your story as you please - use as many screens as you need, and move forward, backward, left, right, in and out. You can use animation, sounds, videos, and even vibration to bring your story to life. And the best part is the interactivity! If you work in the range of sensors that phones have today, the person with the phone is not just reading your story, he is experiencing it. He can interact with it, talk to the characters, explore a map by moving around in the physical world, share his favorite parts with his friends, and even change the story as he goes through it. The possibilities are unlimited.
A mobile device helps us transform our story into a rich, vibrant and lively experience.

3. Focus.

While a good designer knows how effectively guide his audience through her story even in a 2 dimensional medium, it can be very challenging to draw attention to specific sections at specific times.

With story telling using a mobile interface, drawing focus to a specific section is as easy as creating a separate screen for it. This way, the designer has much greater control of how her story unfolds, which parts she wants her audience to focus on, and the level of detail she wants them to see.
A mobile device acts as magnifying glass using which our audience can focus on the details of our story.

To wrap it up, yes, the mobile screen is small. I think that's not really a constraint, but makes it even more powerful.

Functional and Empathetic Applications

Functional vs Empathetic Applications

This is a discussion of what I call Functional applications and Empathetic applications.

Applications come in all shapes and sizes now. They do various things. They help us increase and decrease our productivity in several different ways. They help us keep in touch with people, and help us keep to ourselves. But most applications out there are purely functional at the moment.

That's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, some of them are really good at what they do.

In my opinion, applications should now aim to be more empathetic. They should look beyond the task at hand, at the motivation and goals of the performer (of the task).
They should aim to play the roles of facilitators. Whether it's an app designed for entertainment, or a Map application that is used on the fly, there is plenty of room for reaching beyond functionality.

Now I'm not going to pretend like I know how it is done, but I can tell you that I'm trying to learn how. And in the same manner as all my learning processes, it starts with a note on Google keep about an interesting thread of thought that I wish to pursue. So what I'm going to do instead, is talk about some examples of what I believe functional and empathetic apps are.

Let's dive right into the deep end, and start with Google's offerings. Google Maps. I think it falls squarely in the functional category. It's one of those apps that perform their function so well that they could almost appear empathetic.
But there is still a difference.
Google Maps gives several options about how to get from point A to point B. The results are sorted by time. Yes, I agree that time is the main deciding factor in most cases and by choosing that as the sorting technique, Google has catered to the general use case. But that's still a function. What I would like to explore is why people choose one mode of transport over the other. In fact, what are the deciding factors of how and when to get to point B? Could it be cost? Health concerns? Environmental concerns?

Google Now on the other hand, is empathetic. It uses the resources it has to guide you through your day. It uses the functions of Google Maps, to cater to the users needs.

In order for applications to be more meaningful and add value to a users life, they need to be facilitators. They must not take away from people the feeling of accomplishment they feel when they complete the task. They must strive to guide the user, and this guidance should come from a point that is one level more personal than the act of performing the actual task.

My Rulebook

Today, I’m going to write about something other than what inspires me. I’m going to write about my Rulebook. My Bible. The rules I’ve written about the way I choose to see the world. And the rules I live by. I don’t know how I came by them. I think it’s just years of observation, retrospection and introspection.

Following these rules have made me a stronger, happier and better person. It has helped me get to know a wider variety of people. It has helped me make many, many friends. And that has helped me truly open up my mind to a wider variety of experiences.

It’s very simple, common knowledge actually. I still fall off the wagon often. But recalling and applying my rules usually helps me find my happy place.

1. To each, his own.

This is my most important rule. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion. I don’t have to agree with your opinion, your tastes, your ideas, or your decisions. If I think it’s relevant, I’ll make my thoughts known to you. But at the end of the day, I respect that you are your own person, and you are allowed to be different from me.

2. Don’t judge someone based on the flaws they have.

This is almost just as important. EVERYONE has flaws. Nobody is perfect. Judging people based on their flaws is just cruel. If I don’t like something that you do, I will deal with it. I’ll find a way to make peace. If it is really important to me, and you’ve hurt me, I’ll make it known to you. But I understand that your flaws are just a small part of what makes you who you are.  

3. Don’t judge someone based on the mistakes they’ve made.

Ditto. Everyone makes mistakes. And everyone feels bad about them. And everyone learns from them. I would hate to be judged for all the many mistakes that I’ve made. (And I know I’ve made so many!) I understand that making mistakes is how you learn to live. It’s how we all learn to live. I will not judge you for learning how to live. I will not judge you based on your mistakes.

4. The reasonable person principle.

This one has always been in my rulebook, but I didn’t have this name for it until it was announced to all of us MHCIers at orientation.

At all times, I expect that you’re being reasonable. That you have a reason for behaving the way that you do. I may not always understand it, but that’s okay.

5. Forgive, forgive, forgive. For myself.

This one has helped bring me all kinds of peace. Holding on to grudges does nothing for me and nothing for you. If you have upset me, at the end of the day, it’s me who is upset. If it matters to me that much, I will talk to you about it. But if not, I will apply the reasonable person principle, acknowledge that I don’t understand your reasons, but you must have good ones, and I will forgive you.

6. Look for virtue in people.

This one can be hard. Especially when dealing with people whose opinions are wildly different from my own, and when their actions and words are constantly hurtful to me. But I think the better I get at this, the happier I am as a person.

I know that you are a good person. I will look for the goodness in you. I don’t want to remember you as a person who hurt me.

7. Treat people how I want to be treated

I want you to be nice to me. So I’ll be nice to you. Simple, no?

8. Do things that make me happy.

As far as possible, I do things that make me happy. If I’m upset, I surround myself with people and things that make me happy. If I have to do a task that I don’t like, I make sure I reward myself by scheduling something that I like for later.
This also means I don’t watch television shows and movies or read books that upset me. This could be to my disadvantage sometimes, but at the end of the day, I’m a happier person.

9. Look for the small joys.

Look, look, look. There are little joys hidden everywhere. In every person and in every object, in every day, and in every moment. For me, it could be something as simple as a beautifully formed tree, or the color of the sky. Or watching a sweet old lady hop over a puddle on the sidewalk like a little child. The world is filled with little joys. I wish I could find every one.
This rule has helped me cheer myself up on the crappiest of days.

10. Be the sword of Gryffindor.

This is one of my strongest coping strategies.
The sword of Gryffindor has the property to only absorb things that make it stronger.
All experiences, even the most difficult ones, and the most random ones have something good to offer, that will make me a stronger person. It could just be the lesson learnt, a skill acquired, or maybe just a handful of wonderful memories. It’s just a matter of figuring out what this is, and absorbing it.

11. Don’t leave a bad taste in my mouth.

I think this rule is the only reason I can look back and say that I love my high school. I was one of those kids who didn’t have the best time in school. I couldn’t wait to graduate. When I was done with high school, I had the option of either going to a different institute for pre-university, or staying on in the same school. I remember deciding to stay on, simply because I didn’t want to look back years later and have nothing good to say about my school life. So I went back, and gave it my best shot at starting over. And it worked pretty well.

12. I choose how I respond.

Well, I know I am human, and I feel the full range of emotions that all of us humans do. I also know that I can’t choose the outcomes of several situations in life. But what I can choose is how these things affect me in the long run, and how I respond to them. If I’m sad, I try to cheer myself up. If I’m angry, I try to calm myself down. Friends, family and all of my favourite things can only try their best to cheer me up. At the end of the day, it’s my decision whether or not I choose to be cheered up. Understanding this has been difficult, but it has been very useful to me.

Wow. I guess this is a pretty long list of rules. This is the first time I’m actually writing them down! I’m sure making this list will be useful to me for more difficult times when I can’t remember them all.
I must add that this is a living list. I keep adding to it, and modifying it as I learn more about the world and about myself. But that’s part of the fun of it all :)

Dependency

I'm taking an interesting class this semester, called Haptic Action (hapticaction.blogspot.com).
It's the first time I'm taking a course in the School of Architecture. I'm loving it! I'll probably write more about it sometime soon, but for today, I want to write about the book we were assigned. It's called Shaping Things, by Bruce Sterling.
I only needed to get through the first 2 lines to realize that I'm going to be spending hours pondering over every topic the author talks about.
The book is about everything. The author talks about how things evolved over time. He classifies them as Artifacts, Machines, Products, Gizmos and Spimes. Artifacts were the first man-made objects, that were meant to be used by hand, and were powered by muscle. The people who used artifacts were hunters and farmers. Machines were the next stage in the evolution of things. These were complex, powered objects with many moving parts. People who interacted with machines were called Customers. Then Products were manufactured, and used by Consumers. And then came the age of Gizmos, which brought with them a connected network filled with all kinds of information. The people who used Gizmos were termed End Users. The author says that soon, we will enter the age of Spimes. These are objects that start and end as data, objects that are essentially 'material instantiations of an immaterial system'.
The author discusses how the evolution of things has affected the way humans live. He says that the different time periods are separated by what he calls the Line of No Return, and the Line of Empire.
The point of this post is not to give you an overview of the book.
It is to talk about the Line of No Return.

It is something that has been on my mind for a while now. A dear friend of mine once mentioned that he didn't mind being tech-savvy because he didn't want to be dependent on technology. I found this strange from the get-go. And the author of this book hit the nail on the head. If we cross the line of no return from the gizmo era to the machine era, it would lead to the collapse of the technosociety.
To put it simply, we humans come to depend on the things that we make.

We invented the wheel. We built roads. We built vehicles. We depend on them to travel.
We invented paper. We made ink. We made pens. We depend on them to express ourselves in writing.
We invented the telephone. We invented wireless technology. We made cell phones. We depend on them to keep in touch with each other.
We invented transistors. We fabricated ICs. We built computers. We invented the internet. We depend on it for almost all of our work now.

My point is, dependency on technology is natural. It is following the same path that our forefathers took when they became dependent on the 'things' that they lived with. It is human nature. We can't fight it.
In fact, we shouldn't! If we need to keep up with the rest of the world and the rest of our species, we need to adopt the 'things' of our age.

Technology

Technology.
The role of technology is not to send email or take photographs or play music. The role of technology is to allow us to focus on things that are important to us; to transcend geographical borders and connect us with our friends and family; to allow us to capture forever, the most beautiful moments of our lives; to make us dance.

It’s not about beeps and buzzes and flashing lights. It’s about communication, knowledge and relationships.
The virtual world consists of real people, real knowledge, and real experiences.

Our lives don’t revolve around technology. Technology revolves around us. It is a mere tool that we use to shape our lives.

 Well-designed technology is that, which when fully integrated into our lives, we fail to notice altogether.

It is that perfect highway and your dream car, that takes you wherever you want to go.

That, to me, is technology.

Hello World!

While learning a new programming language, or testing a new framework, we always start with 'Hello World'.

This is me, and my 'Hello World' to the world of blogging. 

To be honest, it's probably a 'Hello again, World'. I have blogged before, several years ago. But somewhere along the way, my little 'notes to self' moved from a place where everyone could see them to a more private space on my hard disk, the last pages of my notebooks, and letters to loved ones. 

Currently, they're all one big disorganized mess on Google Drive and Google Keep. 

So this is my attempt at organizing them, and also putting them out there for you to read, and hopefully discuss with me! Feel free to disagree :) These are just my views.