@mrjoe
Waving einstein
How to
design with
How to design with science
science and not
destroy the magic
January 8, 2015
Joe Leech
@mrjoe
Hi, I’m @mrjoe
but you can
call me Joe
⅓ ⅓ ⅓
Research
@mrjoe
Digital
Strategy
Design
[Newton] has destroyed
all the poetry of the
rainbow, by reducing it
to the prismatic colours.
– John Keats
@mrjoe
The product goes
live and it's lost
it’s magic
The team
/ client
continually
questioning your
choices
Being
micromanaged by
your boss / client
@mrjoe
Ever heard these
issues? Hands-up?
I had the first one so
badly for about a year, I
called it the curse of
Joe.
It started with a need
http://
www.cxpartner
s.co.uk/cxblog/
the_myth_of_th
e_page_fold_ev
idence_from_us
er_testing/
@mrjoe
It started with a need. I had heard the
same thing again and again.
I wrote this, have you read it? Almost
half a million of you have.
6
Here’s the data, from an eyetracking study. It shows
2 designs, one to the left with stuff crammed above
the fold. The one on the right where things are
spaced out more. People explored more when there
was less stuff crammed above the fold.
It showed me there was a need for evidence,
reasoning and science to support the design
process.
@mrjoe
Design is not so
much a design issue
as a power struggle.
– Alan Cooper
Alan cooper, created visual basic amongst
other things, teaches design leadership.
Harsh words!
So what do we do?
@mrjoe
Design is the process of
choosing and organising code
words, images and messages
into a form that communicates
and influences its audience
– @mrjoe + The UK Design
council
@mrjoe
Talk stories.
Here’s some research I did many years
ago for the trainline. What does this
photo show?
This one photo saved countless time for
thousands of people.
@mrjoe
2.
1.
It tells us two things.
1. When people travel they are often
carrying loads of stuff
2. most people have a phone and are
looking for the conformation email.
They don’t print it out.
We took the confirmation number and
put it as the email subject line.
@mrjoe
*
How did you hear about us?
How old are you?
*
I didn’t see them [the asterisks].
There’s nothing that explains
what they mean.
I’ve heard this a few times in user research. What does it mean? Not
enough people to make it statistically significant but enough to change my
approach to forms.
@mrjoe
How did you hear about us?
How old are you?
Optional
We don’t mark mandatory, we mark
optional.
It’s enough to get me to change my design
approach. Is there enough evidence to prove
it from just a handful of users? No, it requires
another set of supporting data.
Which is why we need to use each approach
in combination with another.
@mrjoe
Talk business.
In 2003 Mel Karmazin, a Viacom executive. Viacom are a huge media
company where the bulk of their income is from advertising, visited the
Google offices. He met Sergey and Larry who preceded to tell him all the
ways they could measure and track advertising online.
His one comment:
@mrjoe
hמּp://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/06/
online_advertising_effectiveness_for_large_brands_online_ads_may_be_worthless.single.html?
utm_content=bufferfa367&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twiמּer.com&utm_campaign=buffer
http://carolinavega.com/web%20documents%20and%20pics/oreo.jpg
You’re f---ing with
the magic!
– Mel Karmazin, Viacom executive
@mrjoe
hמּp://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/06/
online_advertising_effectiveness_for_large_brands_online_ads_may_be_worthless.single.html?
utm_content=bufferfa367&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twiמּer.com&utm_campaign=buffer
http://carolinavega.com/web%20documents%20and%20pics/oreo.jpg
On the Near Impossibility of Measuring the
Returns to Advertising⇤
Randall A. Lewis
Google, Inc.
[email protected]
Justin M. Rao
Microsoft Research
[email protected]
April 23, 2013
Abstract
@mrjoe
Classical theories of the firm assume access to reliable signals to measure
the causal impact of choice variables on profit. For advertising expenditure
we show, using twenty-five online field experiments (representing $2.8 million) with major U.S. retailers and brokerages, that this assumption typically
does not hold. Statistical evidence from the randomized trials is very weak
because individual-level sales are incredibly volatile relative to the per capita
cost of a campaign—a “small” impact on a noisy dependent variable can genThis papererate
was
published. The study was undertaken written when Lewis
positive returns. A concise statistical argument shows that the required
and Rao were
sampleat
sizeYahoo.
for an experiment to generate sufficiently informative confidence
intervals is typically in excess of ten million person-weeks. This also implies
that heterogeneity bias (or model misspecification) unaccounted for by obWhat does
this tellmethods
us? There
is notoproof
works.
built
on faith.
servational
only needs
explainthis
a tiny
fractionIt’s
of the
variation
in
sales to severely bias estimates. The weak informational feedback means most
firms cannot even approach profit maximization.
http://
justinmrao.com/
lewis_rao_nearim
possibility.pdf
The 5 basic business models.
Selling
Subscription
/ Licensing
Advertising
Affiliate
fees
Market
place
What does that mean for you. You need to understand
some business basics. I wrote an article. more coming
soon.
These are the 5 basic income streams for organisations.
http://mrjoe.uk
Understand how they generate money and you have
more science to base your designs on.
Read more at http://mrjoe.uk
@mrjoe
19
Strong ideas,
weakly held.
http://mrjoe.uk/strong-ideas-weakly-held/
@mrjoe