Marketings Perfect Storm + Fuzzy Tail
25/09/07 10:40
ID colleague Irene Chong and I headed the Hard Rock Hotel's second floor auditorium to see David Armano (Design + Logic) (See his slides here) and Chris Bernard (user experience evangelist) (Microsoft) speak about what was essentially Design Planning.
The crowd was all over the place as the event was announced in the Chicago morning rag the Red Eye as having free booze - yikes! All in all it went well though. David and Chris gave good presentations that were meant to introduce basic concepts of the value of user experience, being in touch with it, how to use it, and why it is good. They even got into the future future tense (had to be there).
Best point from Chris:
Everything changed when we started measuring things. e.g. analytics. The world is keenly aware of click through rates, viewer rates, tracking, all of which create a statistical characterization that allows them to understand and feel comfortable with making a decision.
Best point from David:
"How can brands start to facilitate communities without manipulating them?"
Imagine that a brand would now move to fill the space that is made available by a consumer group rather than forcing its way in and pushing or pulling the user towards its model of functionality.
A funny example of how brands and consumer are parting ways.