Of bowling balls and hammers

So Pete, what do you do?

"“Technical consulting"
"Research science... kinda"
"Web stuff"
"I go to school, and do web stuff on the side."
"I teach design, to people who should already know it"

I design things. Or sometimes re-design them, if they suck.

There’s a bit more to it then taking a bar napkin and scribbling out a few details, although that’s a perfectly legitimate place for it to start. In days of yore ( like, say, 1990… ) craftsman of most things used to make things either going by some sort of template ( which if we were all lucky was of a time-honored and proven design ) or they went to a "designer" or some kind. The designer would ( with luck ) be a talented, skilled and experienced individual conversant with the concepts of designing a particular thingy or class of thingys.

And so lots of things got designed, then made. People made a lot of software, back in the 90s ( and before that, as it happens ). As more people and businesses worked with computers, more software got made for more reasons. Many times, when it came to designing software, the same people who did the coding invariably also threw the interface together. This is much like the auto mechanics who fix your brakes getting together and coming up with a new dashboard, dials, body layout, door controls, seat design, and so on.

Either companies didn’t want to spend money for “designers” for the most part, or else the mechanics were very loud, and spoke as to their vast amount of experience driving cars, years ago, when questions about their “designs”.

Of course, cars with dashboards etc designed by mechanics would suck. Software and then websites with interfaces designed by developers turns out to suck, too. After a while, people got tired of things sucking, so they had designers do programs and websites.

And yes, this is like having the artists and designers who make the beautiful lines on your cool car also fix your breaks, or fix your cams. Whatever "cams" are.

So... not optimal.

It was a bit like this: say your company wanted to build something that could drive nails into wood. A group of people would spend a lot of time and money to figure out what it meant to "drive nails into wood", exactly. They would cobble together a list of things this nail-driver needed to be and do, and they’d turn the list over to the developers. Let’s say the list was:
It has to be portableUsable by one personDurable, as driving nails is tough workEasily fixed or replaced, when necessaryAnd it has to drive nails.

So, the developers would take this list, and they’d come back with a bowling ball. Their solution fit all the requirements exactly, and as a few of the developers had driven nails a while ago, they -knew- their design would, in fact, drive nails. As well as fulfill all the other requirements.

Some skeptical stakeholders looked at the heavy black spheroid, and expressed doubt. To allay this, the developers brought in a "designer" who put a lovely swirl-pattern of colorful paint on the bowling ball, and fought vigorously for a tiny hole to be drilled ion the side, so someone driving nails could increase the aesthetic experience by putting a flower in the hole. It was done.

This kind of like what most software and almost all website development is like. There are -lots- of bowling balls out there, that people are using to drive nails with.

My Job- clarification #1 - I design hammers.

I take the same list from the people that want to drive nails, and I do a few other things before running out and building a bowling ball.

I know quite a bit about design, so I ( should ) know off the top of my head some Things To Avoid. I’m also good at research, so I look to see if I can find other examples of nail-drivers... why they failed, or didn’t. How much they cost, and if the company I work for might be up to doing the same thing.

Then I build a prototype of the nail-driver thingy. Or I have someone do it, who’s very good at it. I take that prototype around to people; some who might drive nails, some who might never drive nails, and I see what they have to say about my prototype. Does it suck? Why, or why not? I don’t really have an ego about this, because all I want is to come up with something usable, and this back and fourth ( iteration ) is just part of the process. My feelings don’t get hurt if people don’t like the first ( or third, or eighth ) prototype I develop. I watch people who have a need to drive nails, and I find out about how they might do it. How it might make things better for them.

I just keep whacking at it, til I get it right. Hopefully it doesn’t take eight times. I get a decent design, and then give that design to lots of people, and watch them drive nails. Then I write up a report, and give it to the people who wanted to make the thingy to begin with.

I’m in charge of developing the thingy; I oversee both teams... the ones that construct the nail-driver, and the ones that design how it should look. From my expertise and from what I see, I got back to these teams and ge the design refined. I also hold meetings with the stakeholders ( the people who want the hammer ) and I let them know how things are going, or explain the process to them.

Finally, we get to a point where we have something that looks more like a hammer, and less like a bowling ball. People are driving nails, and are happy. We release our "hammer" and see how it does, and after some time ( maybe two fiscal quarters ) I do another group of tests, to see how things are going.

Simple, eh?

I also do a few variations on this theme. Sometimes the client has already built a bowling ball, and wants me to guide the redesign effort. Sometimes, they just want me to tell them what’s wrong with their bowling ball… and they’ll consider a redesign, but not commit to anything just yet.

Sometimes the client has built the bowling ball, and is going to start selling it in two weeks to drive nails, and someone gets an idea that a Usability person should look at it.

Blah.

So that’s what I do. My official job title is "Information Architect", because I put together the various leaves of information ( content, graphics, how it’s delivered, what the client can build, and so on ) and put together the best, most "usable" book I can from all those materials. My job could also be covered by the title "Experince Designer"... but that’s a bit too West Coast.

Many, many people, companies, and government institutions are still building bowling balls to drive nails. Very few people employ IAs, but this is changing. Happily.

I could take these skills and go to work for Gatorade, designing a new bottle, for GM and work to evolve a new dashboard congiuration ( "where the hell do we stick the OnSat screen??" ), and so on. My skills aren’t specific to the web or computer interface world. I can also do a few other things, as sort of side-benefits of this. I can build websites. I can tell you ( in a ballpark ) of how much you’ll lose a quarter if you use bowling balls instead of hammers. I can do scientific research along the lines of observing people from a sociological, psychological or anthropological point of view.

And so on.

So yea. "Web stuff" : )

And I go to school. And fuck around on MySpace, and on a bunch of other things, as well.