Usability of Usability Infographics

For anything to be usable (not the same as useful, but not unrelated) it has to be fairly easy. Your reception of it should be natural and intuitive. Any barrier to your easy acceptance will slow or stop your interaction with the content.

And (despite years of hearing 'content is king') that means the use case is as important as the nature of the content when making design decisions.

Infographics aim to tell you or teach you or make you think about something in an easy, natural way. You just look at a picture, instead of reading or listening or working through problems or pages.

This is a nice "hundred years of usability" piece from people that know a lot about the subject. I only have one issue with it. It's horizontal.  Which works if you're getting it as a physical poster (and they have a link to purchase one). And I think the physical poster  would be a great addition to office space or a classroom.

Horizontal infographic from www.measuringusability.com

 But to view it onscreen a vertical orientation works better. That goes for any screen -- landscape or portrait, you would still move through it in an up - down path more naturally.  We expect to scroll down, but scrolling sideways is more of an effort.

Here's one (similar style, from the same site) that works better onscreen.  Because it's vertical.

Vertical infographic from www.measuringusability.com

What's my point? 

Usability starts with a use case. If your user is being encouraged to hang something on his wall, that suggests one way to design the product. If the expectation is that they'll view it on a monitor or phone or tablet - that's another.

Content may well be king, but the use case is the power behind the throne.

Mobile Learning Infographic

Why Mobile Learning Is The Future Of Workplace Learning


Click to view the complete infographic. | Infographic by Upside Learning

Habits

We're all creatures of habit.  The trick is to establish good ones.

Slate on the daily rituals of creatives.

Managing Creatives Creatively

The Harvard Business Review blog posted recently on how to manage creative types. They make some good points (in a Thurston Howell III kind of way).

I think it's great that there's recognition that structure and uniformity can be at odds with innovation and experimentation; and particularly that the piece acknowledges that there is a cost incurred when a company decides it wants to get out front and really be creative instead of playing it safe.

I'm not thrilled with the part about paying creatives poorly, though. Starving artists are only more motivated than well-fed ones when they're actively seeking a better job.

Seven Rules for Managing Creative People.


But HBR's points did not go unchallenged.Our friends at Despair.com respond with the following: 

How to REALLY Manage Creative People.

Questions and Answers

You might never know all the answers, but it's good to know the questions.

I've always been impatient with high-sounding mission statements that often state nothing at all. This piece from Warren Berger in Fast Company suggests another approach to stating your purpose.

 Forget The Mission Statement. What’s Your Mission Question?

Plans Laid Best

Dominoes will refuse to fall according to plan. Expect to improvise.

Visual.ly is an infographics clearinghouse. They're set up as a marketplace - where people who need infographics can connect with people who make them. Even if you're not shopping, it's a great stop for inspiration.

LEGO Minifigs infographic by Hot Butter Studio.

What I get from browsing this kind of material, apart from seeing good work from good designers, is an appreciation of the many different ways to clearly present data.