Doing Things Right

A preacher one time was visiting another church on his vacation. During the sermon, the home pastor noticed he was losing some of the congregations attention, and quickly quipped, “The best years of my life were spent in the arms of another woman!” Well, that surely got everyone’s attention. Then he added, “And that woman was my mother.” The visiting preacher appreciated the trick, and decided to tuck it away in his mind for a time when he might need it.

A year or so later, the preacher found himself, too, at the mercy of a crowd’s failing attention, and desperately spouted off, “The best years of my life were spent in the arms of another woman!” Problem is, he just couldn’t remember the second part to save his life!, “And for the life of me,” he said, “I can’t remember who she is.”

Today is my 10th wedding anniversary, and I can honestly say that the best years of my life were spent in the arms of my wife, Angela. I breathe for her. I live for her, and I love her beyond words.

She is the most beautiful woman my eyes have embraced, and I count myself the luckiest man alive to be married to her.

I understand what they mean when they say “Love transcends time” because these 10 years have felt like 10 days and 100 years at the same time… and every minute has been beautiful.

Thank you, baby, for the best years of my life.

I have a feeling that I may begin posting more about offline-experiences as they relate to user-experience-design, accessibility and usability, but I was compelled today to comment on one pleasurable experience in particular… the Dorito.

Being very involved in the usability and architecture of websites, my mind is constantly soaking in ideas that are relevant to my work. Today, as I sat coding a new website for Frederick Meijer Gardens for work, I was crunching away on some tasty Dorito chips, (and thoroughly enjoying myself, I might add) when something ‘clicked’.

As if trying to stop a steaming locomotive, and much to the displeasure of my tastebuds, I put the brakes on my hand-to-mouth action and pondered for a second… my Dorito has rounded corners! I don’t know why I had never noticed it before, but here in my hand was a Dorito that was purposely designed with rounded corners.

It didn’t take long for me to figure it out… milliseconds, in fact… but this chip was designed to enhance my user experience! In times past, I recall shoving chip after chip into my mouth, and then, out of nowhere, comes that fateful sharp-edged-chip poking right through the roof of my mouth and causing an unbearable pain for a few seconds. It was enough to put the chips away and stop eating. After a while, I began to associate Doritos with a pain in my mouth.

I think someone over at Frito lay picked up on this, and made an earth-shattering discovery… “Hey! If we round off the corners of these things, people will stop poking their fool selves in the mouth! Less pokes equals more eating… More eating equals better experience… Better experience equals more sales!” (It doesn’t take long before money enters the equation, does it?)

This is just another great example of the sensibility in designing your product around creating a good experience for the user, whether it’s a website, a woodworking tool, a car instrument panel or… a Dorito.

Thank you, Frito Lay… for the great user experience.

Have you ever wondered where the term, “Give props” originated? So have I. However, a simple Google search wasn’t able to turn up an origination, so I had to settle with the mere definition. To ‘give props’ means to ‘give proper respect’. Hence, the meat of what follows…

In my short, but eventful life, I’ve been the fortunate recipient of many life lessons… some of which have been enjoyable, and some that have been trying… all of which have shaped me into who I am.

Unlike some people, I suppose, I am proud of who I am. Not in a haughty or conceited way, but in a humble and self-respecting way. I have done things that I later was ashamed of, and things that I was proud of, but all of these things have crafted… me.

Just as there are events in life that shape us, there are also influences that come in the form of people. And just as events in life can be both enjoyable and trying, people are not really any different. I’ve met my good ones, and I’ve met my ‘rotten apples’… but still, each of them have shaped me into who I am. And, for better or for worse, I am thankful for each one. They have either become part of me, or become a good example of what I don’t want to be. So each influence in my life has been welcome and appreciated.

There are, however, some events and some people who stand out from the normal sphere of for-better-or-for-worse influence that deserve a greater regard… a higher commendation… props, if you will.

I remember an English teacher of mine in High School named Mr. McBride, who saw something in me that I didn’t. He saw above-average while I saw mediocre. He saw excellence where I saw, “good enough”. He pressed me and drove me, angered me and prodded me. With passion, he tried to draw out of me something that he knew was there. Perhaps he was living part of himself through the accomplishments that I would make… taking pride in pulling someone out of mediocrity to excellence. I don’t know that I’ve ever attained to the level that Mr. McBride saw in me, but I do know this… I am much the better for his efforts. I may not have seen it at the time… in fact I know I didn’t… but on the other side of this road, I can see it clearly now. Proper respect belongs to that man. A life-changer.

Life is blessed, occasionally, with those who are willing to be more than just a casual influence in someone’s life… to affect someone so profoundly that their life is changed for the better. Those are the heros in my mind. The life-changers.

So, to all those in my life who have been, or will become, a life changer… and to all those in someone else’s life who strive to be a catalyst of change… my props go to you.

You know who you are, because it doesn’t come by accident. It is purposeful, and meaningful. And I thank you for you.

I started out with a quick design that I’m not happy with, but nevertheless, I am going to keep it and just plow through. I have a nasty habit of being so unsatisfied with my work that I don’t want to show it. So, anyway, I’m just going to go ahead and write, and eventually get around to changing things up around here.

The site is currently half alive and gasping for air, so hopefully this weekend will give me a chance to liven it up a bit.

Last week (or so) I wrote the first installment of an article series on the process of completing a website project. That article covered the “Exploring” process, which allowed all the possibilities of the project to be identified.

This article details the second of the following five process segments:

1. Explore
2. Define
3. Design
4. Build
5. Deploy

Define

After the initial brainstorming, or dreaming, process of exploration, it is critical to pare down the project specifications to the most important items and define them. Every project must have a clearly defined scope.

One of my biggest peeves when entering a team project after it has begun is finding that the goals of the project have not yet been defined. This will only prolong the project and cause headaches and stress for everyone involved. Be sure to whittle the notes from your brainstorming session down into milestone-based goals first, then work on defining the details. They will act as your compass for the remainder of the project.

Determine which of the great ideas you came up with are logically Critical, Desired, or Future needs. Also, don’t be afraid to classify some of them as Never! Usually, a good rule of thumb is “less is more”.

After defining the most critical items in the project, start defining the features of each item. You shouldn’t necessarily begin thinking in terms of navigation and architecture yet… This phase is simply to determine “what” the site should do, not “how to do it”.

After completing the define process, compile your notes into a thorough outline of exactly what the site will offer, and what it will do. This will serve as the guiding document for the site… the “manifesto”, of sorts.

By reading this document, any team member should be able to quickly become familiar with the project, and have a reference to check against, to make sure it remains on target.

So, that’s the end of the Define process, but even though it looks small, it is actually a lengthy and critical process.

In the next little article for this series, I’ll talk about the design portion of the Website Process.

Over the next week or so, I will define my personal process for the creation and execution of a website project. This will be a high-level overview so, while some areas may be very detailed, the goal is to give a general workflow overview that can easily be followed and implemented.

This article will detail the first of the following five process segments:

1. Explore
2. Define
3. Design
4. Build
5. Deploy

Explore

The beginning of every project always starts with a dream. Many times, a client comes with only a seed, and a ton of hope. They don’t know exactly what they need, or how it should be brought to life… all they know is that their idea has great potential, and they want to see it brought to life.

Other times, the client has a good idea of where they want to go, but they just don’t know where to start. This is where the exploration process comes in. Call it brainstorming, conceptualizing or dreaming, but for the sake of this process, I’ll call it exploring.

Be sure to define some initial goals for the project, and then explore the possibilities. Explore the potential failures and successes. Let the imagination run wild and see where it leads. What features can and should be added? What should be left out? How big can it be? How big should it be? Who will use it? How should they feel while they are using it? Will it generate revenue? How will it create value? The questions to ask are limitless, so don’t be limited in your ideas… this is just the beginning phase. You can build it up as big as you’d like, and then scale it back to what is reasonable. It was said of Michelangelo that his sculpture creations resulted from merely releasing the end-product from the confines of it’s block of marble… Just chiseling away the pieces that did not belong. So go ahead and dream… you can chisel it back in the next step of the process.

I have found it most effective to work on a large whiteboard. Just begin writing ideas, drawing sketches, drawing schematic flows, whatever is necessary. The goal is to leave as little white on the board as possible… just let creativity cover the board like ink spilled from a bottle. Let everyone involved have turn at the board, and don’t be afraid to modify, add to or delete from anything. Sort of like a wiki , let the board be alive… keep working at it until there is satisfaction that the dream is turning in to a solution.

Along the way, transfer the ideas to a legal pad for later reference. When you’re finished dreaming, make sure you have good, detailed notes of the process. They’ll come in handy for the next step in the process, which I’ll talk about in the next post.

In a recent post by D. Keith Robinson , he talks about an article at digital-web.com called, End of Usability Culture . The article itself is a very good read, but Keith threw out another small thought-provoker, saying that there must be a “sweet-spot” between usability and branding, and that we need to find it.

In my mind that sweet spot is, for lack of a better term, “likability”.

As I posted over at Keith’s site…

”…If a company’s product, whether it’s a website or a kitchen utensil, does not give the user a good experience, it affects the perception given to that brand. That’s why our designs should convey a mood or emotion to our visitors.”

It has long been known that good design sets the initial tone for the user experience at a website… and even physical products as well. Not only does it set the tone, but it embeds a user’s impression of the company as well. This is what branding is all about. But even a good graphical design and layout are feeble if the usability destroys the user’s experience.

Branding and usability truly must work hand-in-hand. I would dare even say that usability falls nicely under the banner of branding.

This is not a new concep, although it may just finally be coming into common knowledge on the web. But I recall learning about this very simple marketing concept years ago in school.

At any rate, I’m looking forward to seeing how this idea impacts the world of web design and development.

It was 15 years ago today that President Ronald Reagan’s call to Gorbachev was met with the resounding approval of hammers hitting brick.

Margaret Thatcher contemplated years later that it was Ronald Reagan who ended the cold war with his stand against communism.

I recently read the book, “God and Ronald Reagan”, which chronicled the evident influence of Reagan’s faith in God. In the book, the author Paul Kengor writes about Reagan’s childhood hatred of the communistic regime, and his lifelong goal of ending it. With a direction that he attributes to God’s will, Reagan set forth policies in America that would eventually culminate in the disintegration of not only the brick walls that separated nations, but the social and moral walls that separated people.

Congratulations to the late President Reagan, thanks to Mr. Gorbachev, and Happy 15th birthday to the crumbled walls of Berlin.

For those that may be so inclined, my church (The Pentecostals of kentwood) has begun a building fund, and could definitely use your assistance.

As some of you know, my wife and I started a church from scratch here in the city of Kentwood, Michigan over a year ago. Since that time, we have seen growth in our congregation, and are nearly too big for the building we are in.

We are trying to set our sights forward and have begun raising money to purchase a building or property to build on. This is quite an endeavor, but we are confident that God will help us… and it may be that He’ll use you to further our progress.

So, if you would be interested in donating any amount of money to a great and worthy cause, we have a paypal donation account set up where you can give using a credit card.

Just visit our site and click the “Make a Donation” button in the sidebar.

Thank you!

I am nearly finished building the website for our church, and am pretty satisfied with the results. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out my design at MyPentecost.com and let me know what you think.

There still are several undone areas, but overall things are beginning to come together. I have integrated TextPattern into the site, (which was a pretty big chore), so there are great possibilities for fresh content and things. Maybe some day I’ll write up my experiences with using TP to build a non-blog site like this… but right now I just want to forget about it… it was pretty frustrating.

I’m hoping for more updates to the site soon… the homepage is still lacking quite a bit, and the picture there is only a sample… I’ll be putting actual pictures of our church people there in a Flash movie soon. Also, there will be some better treatment to the information display there soon.

Anyway, any thoughts or critiques are quite welcome and coveted… Thanks!