Adaptive Path Blog

The Home Bathroom :
First in a series of Bathroom Experiences : Bathroom Blogfest 2007

I recently moved, and now I have a new bathroom. It’s completely new…new construction, new fixtures, and as a result…new habits. I have to say, the master bath has “wow” factor. I also have to say that it’s very clear that it was designed with a total disregard of efficiency and usability. And yet, I love it. How can that be?

The space design clearly shows who the architect thought the new homeowner would be: working couples (without kids) who want a place to relax and unwind within an atmosphere of modern, clean design and a green sensibility. It’s like the bathroom is whispering…”come in and experience bliss, comfort, delight and relaxation…I’m your personal spa.”

Stuff that makes my bathroom feel like an oasis:

• no door…open floor plan
• strong aesthetic impact
• clean lines
• huge mirror
• sleek sinks
• open, clear glass shower
• big soaking tub
• separate toilet room

My new bathroom experience is no longer about simple hygienic utility and having a place to put my stuff. Now it’s about pampering myself and unwinding after a stressful day. Definitely a behavioral change!

Emotional result? I truly enjoy being in the space…I feel relaxed, I work to keep the space clean and pretty, I unwind with a soak in the tub, and I feel pride, delight, pleasure…I’m calmed. Overall experience? Thumbs up.

So what’s the punch line?
The lack of attention to all the mechanics. The space is clearly not designed for efficiency, effective storage or overall utility.

Stuff that makes my bathroom totally inefficient:

• no door…open floor plan
• no medicine cabinet
• no storage
• insufficient towel racks
• bath body sprayer gurgle-leaks when you turn it off
• sinks splash
• sinks don’t hold water when drain is in
• glass on shower looks scudgy quickly

The usability aspect is like a high-pitched whine that requires attention. Some things I’ve done to address the issues? Some new furniture and lots of daily behavior change:

• get rid of all the bathroom stuff that isn’t absolutely needed…space is just too limited
• under-the-sink furniture to hold stuff that I have to have nearby…all the overflow stuff goes down the hall in the clothes closet
• A daily squeegee + Method glass spray to keep the endless stretch of shower glass sparkly
• ugly plastic drain covers to use when need to fill the sink (hidden under the counter when not in use)
• new hand habit to turn on sink faucet slllooooooowwwwllly to avoid ultra-splashing
• after-bath technique: drape the body sprayer over the edge of the tub until it stops gurgling & spitting
• On the list: install additional towel rack that jives with the overall design aesthetic

Emotional result? I have a constant mental to-do list for how to overcome the irritations…there’s head-shaking, grumbling, frustration at the designers. I have to go out of my way to do things that should be easy to do (who wants to change their faucet-turning-on-habit?) Overall usability? Thumbs down.

Now, of course, this shouldn’t be a tradeoff at all. It’s possible and preferable to design for emotion, beauty and experience without ignoring the basics of how things should work well. And designers have the responsibility to do both.

But y’know? When I think of my bathroom, I smile. I know that I’ll solve the issues that annoy me (towel rack, anyone?) but if I also know that if I had just started with a “usable bathroom”, I wouldn’t have gone out of my way to make it feel like a place of comfort and respite. Usability isn’t enough…experience is the goal. The design has shifted my expectations and changed my behaviors to focus on relaxation rather than simply efficient hygiene.

Feeling relaxed has a lot more value me than simply being clean. I have a place designed to be a sanctuary to self, and I love it.

• Kate Rutter-Adaptive Path
• Laurence Helene Borel-Blog Till You Drop
• Iris Shreve Garrott-checking out and checking in
• Susan Abbott-Customer Experience Crossroads
• Maria Palma-Customers Are Always
• Becky Carroll-Customers Rock!
• Toby Bloomberg-Diva Marketing
• Stephanie Weaver-Experienceology
• Linda Tischler-Fast Company Now
• C.B. Whittemore-Flooring the Consumer
• Katie Konrath-Get Fresh Minds
• Ed Pell-K+B DeltaVee
• Helene Blowers-Library Bytes
• Claudia Schiepers-Life and its little pleasures
• Katie Clark-Practical Katie
• Sandra Renshaw-Purple Wren
• Reshma Anand-Qualitative Research
• Marianna Hayes-Results Revolution
• Carolyn Townes-Spirit Women
• Sara Cantor-The Curious Shopper
• Anna Farmery-The Engaging Brand
• Dee McCrorey-The Ultimate Corporate Entrepreneur
• Katia S. Adams-Transcultural

Share This

This week I’m participating in the annual Bathroom Blogfest, joining up with 22 other bloggers from around the globe write about the importance of bathrooms in the customer experience.

Why bathrooms?

Because bathrooms express cultural and design values loud and clear. Nobody wants a bad bathroom experience (insert shudder here.)

When bathroom design doesn’t support user needs it’s profoundly obvious, and the physical space shows it: trails of water from the sink to the towel dispenser, tiny shreddings of paper on the floor due to a too-aggressive toilet paper dispenser + tissue-thin paper…we’ve all been there.

So this week, I’ll be blogging my thoughts on the women’s bathroom experience, starting with the most private: the home bathroom, and ending with the most public: San Francisco’s public pay restrooms.

Each realm has specifics that are interesting…Here’s my plan of attack:

• The home bathroom as it reflects the private culture of behavior, lifestyle and identity.
• Team spaces (offices, schools) that express the corporate cultures and the values that govern the expectations of people being together for some shared purpose.
• Public-access spaces (retail, restaurant, recreational) that evidence the brand culture, and the expectations companies have of their customer base. More importantly, the experiences customers have and how they impact their brand perception.
• Super-public spaces that demonstrate the wider cultural behaviors…how people go about their business in the country or region, and the controls and affordances designed to balance utility, maintenance and effectiveness.

I’ve got a target list of visits to make, observations to collect and thoughts to share. Stay tuned for more!

Participants in Bathroom Blogfest ‘07

• Kate Rutter-Adaptive Path
• Laurence Helene Borel-Blog Till You Drop
• Iris Shreve Garrott-checking out and checking in
• Susan Abbott-Customer Experience Crossroads
• Maria Palma-Customers Are Always
• Becky Carroll-Customers Rock!
• Toby Bloomberg-Diva Marketing
• Stephanie Weaver-Experienceology
• Linda Tischler-Fast Company Now
• C.B. Whittemore-Flooring the Consumer
• Katie Konrath-Get Fresh Minds
• Ed Pell-K+B DeltaVee
• Helene Blowers-Library Bytes
• Claudia Schiepers-Life and its little pleasures
• Katie Clark-Practical Katie
• Sandra Renshaw-Purple Wren
• Reshma Anand-Qualitative Research
• Marianna Hayes-Results Revolution
• Carolyn Townes-Spirit Women
• Sara Cantor-The Curious Shopper
• Anna Farmery-The Engaging Brand
• Dee McCrorey-The Ultimate Corporate Entrepreneur
• Katia S. Adams-Transcultural

Share This

Chiara Fox & I spent Monday and Tuesday getting our geek on at the She’s Geeky unconference in Mountain View. In addition to hanging out with smart, geeky gals and learning about a wide variety of tech+ topics, there were other things that made the experience notable, memorable and impactful.

What made it different:

• Use of the Open Space principles / Unconference structure
• Wide range of topics, diversity of skills, interests and life experiences
• Fully participatory - it was what you made of it
• All the participant were female, geeky and proud of it
• The participants created the conference contents

Highlights of the experience
The unconference format allowed for participation from anyone and everyone. If you wanted to connect with others about an idea, you were encouraged to add it to the lineup. There was a big sheet of paper where participants could post their sessions (aka: the grid.)

The grid changed and grew throughout the day. The principles of Open Space made it okay to have a big group, or just one person (yes, you can convene a group of 1!) Key to the process was the following:

• Whoever comes are the right people / is the right person.
• Whatever happens is the only thing that would have.
• Whenever it starts is the right time.
• Whenever it is over it is over.
• If you are not learning something or sharing something, you have the responsibility to respectfully move to somewhere you are.

Topics were wide and varied…Art + Craft + Geek; GIMP for open source image editing; Shameless Promotion; Guerrilla Tactics of a Diversity Evangelist; Cyber Bullying; What challenging questions should we be asking ourselves? and more.

The Computer History Museum is a fantastic location. One big room for lunch and discussion tables, and smaller rooms for breakout sessions. The espresso bar kept us jazzed for the 2 days.

What made it work? Every activity was grounded in participation:

• You make your own nametag with a nametagcloud
• Snap a poloaroid and write up your own profile
• Write your name on your coffee mug (and drink custom coffee drinks all day!)
• Open lunch table sessions on the first day

What I learned?

• If you want participants to make their own experience, use a format that includes them in the design of that experience.
• Invite interested, interesting people…and interesting things will happen.
• Be inclusive…create many ways to get involved and engaged.
• Make it consistently participative.

Many of the session notes are available on the She’s Geeky site, and lots of photos are on Flickr.

I’ll definitely go next year!

Share This

I’ll admit to being a total information visualization junkie.

When I’m stuck in a rut, shifting things around unlocks new perspectives. Reframing a problem can fundamentally change how I think about the situation and freshen my eyes to new possibilities. And having a full palette of visualization options is a great way to mix it up and uncover new patterns.

So, when I found the Periodic Table of Visualization Methods, I got all verklempt. It’s a compelling way to preview different visualizations, and the organizing principle of the periodic table allows for a lot of metadata to be embedded in the summary view for quick reference.

Thanks to Ralph Lengler & Martin J. Eppler of visual-literacy.org for this nice gift.

Share This

Please join us at Adaptive Path tonight at 6pm for the IxDA-SF September event, the 2nd in the Design Tools series.

We’ll begin with social time at 6pm. At 7pm, I’ll be speaking about a subject that is close to my heart…sticky notes!

The Problem Solving Power of Stickies: Simple Tools that Deliver Great Results.

I’ll be discussing the true power of the sticky note — yes, stickies! — to quickly and effectively organize data, visualize themes, and identify patterns.

We’ll start with an overview of how Adaptive Path uses sticky notes (aka: Post-Its) in user experience projects. Then we’ll jump into a set of hands-on activities to test your stickies aptitude and gain experience in multiple methods.

Let us know you’re coming: visit upcoming.org to see all the details and to rsvp. Hope to see you tonight!

Presented b the Interaction Design Association (IxDA) and Adaptive Path

Share This

We’re ending Day One of UX Week, and the conversations just get more and more interesting. On the day-end panel, Peter, Andrew, Kevin and Liz talked about skills for current and future practitioners. Peter mentioned the “t-shaped person” (folks with shallow skills across multiple areas and deep skills in one area). Then he went on to talk about “i”s and “bar”s as an extended concept.

What struck me was Peter’s comment about how team design is critical…having the right people work with the right team on the project. I can imagine that selecting a great team in a “t”, “i” and “bar” world is like playing Tetris.

Share This

It’s rare that you can attend a conference and actually get hands-on with the tools the speaker is discussing. That’s why we’re excited to have Liz Sanders as a presenter at UX Week: you’ll not only learn about participatory design, you’ll get to experience it up close and personal…as a participant.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Liz about her methods, and found that she has some gutsy things to say about the importance of everyday folks in the design process…and where that leaves designers.
Check out the interview.

Share This

I have a new favorite thing: portable whiteboards.

I generally cruise the dry-erase supplies section of the office-sundries stores when I’m shopping, just to see if anything new and exciting has come out. And recently, I found this: cling-able dry erase sheets that stick to darn near everything!

I got a box of Easy Chart Dry Erase Sheets and put them up around Adaptive Path. And really, these are terrific.

Why do these rock?

1. They are movable. You can move ‘em… use ‘em… erase ‘em… move ‘em again…reuse ‘em and generally make any room a creative whiteboard space. This means that any flat, mostly clean surface can be a whiteboard. And that means that you can bring your creative juices to bear just about anywhere.
2. They stick great. Jesse tested them on: regular painted walls, glass, concrete columns, wood and bulletin boards and they clung just fine. Apparently the only thing they *don’t* stick to is another whiteboard. Go figure.
3. They are a nice size: 23″ x 30″. This is smaller than most whiteboards (especially compared to the Adaptive Path monoliths) but perfect for creativity in tight places. And you can put up them together if you need more space.
4. They are foldable. That’s right, I’ve carried one in my purse folded up in a Ziploc bag for the past month (taking it out every couple of days, using it and re-folding) and with a few shakes and a smooth to get the kinks out, it works just fine. Now if only whiteboard markers were as portable…
5. You can make a template out of them. Draw a standard screen size in permanent marker and prototype away. When you erase, the whiteboard marker comes off, but the permanent template stays on. Good for Elevator Pitch working sessions, device prototyping and screen sketching.

When combined with the yummy Tul dry erase markers, these are a match made in heaven. Go portable with your creativity!

Details: Easy Chart Dry Erase Sheets, made by Venture Products LLC. They come on a roll, and you tear off each sheet, kinda like a garbarge bag. About $20 for a box of 12. I got mine at OfficeMax.

Caveat: I’ve searched all the usual office supply suspects, and I can’t find an online source for these. I have a call into the manufacturer and when I hear back, I’ll update the post. If you track down a place to order online, please post a comment. Otherwise, sneaker-buying is recommended.

Share This

I recently had the opportunity to “design my city” through a participative design activity. I live in the very small city of Emeryville, which is just across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco. The weird and wonderful thing about this town is that it has all the scope of a major urban city, but not the scale…it’s about 1.2 square miles, and has about 7,000 residents. That said, some pretty big companies live there, too.

Emeryville is revising the General Plan to define growth and the urban fabric for the next 20 years, and as part of the process, they held participatory design workshops for community residents. The workshops were designed and managed by MIG (Moore Iacofano Goltsman, Inc.) a firm that works in urban planning and design.

At Adaptive Path, we use participatory design methods, so it was interesting to be on the other side of the table. Some of the things that made the experience work…

• The participants were engaged and passionate about the topic at hand. We were asked to “Design Your City”…what’s not to love? The printed materials all had this phrase and call to action printed on them, just in case we forgot.
• Introduction about the status of the project and the goals of the evening. A 30-minute presentation outlined the big picture of the project, provided definition, outlined the goals and set the expectations of the evening.
• Warm-up exercise. They started us off with a very easy task: look at slides and rate what you think of the image…don’t overthink it. It put folks in the mood of thinking and responding.
• Clear, concise directions for the main participative activity. It was complex, no doubt. But clearly described so that participants knew what was expected, how to contribute and what the goals were.
• Great materials. Big maps (super-big, actually), prepared printed materials, nicely designed handouts. The whole production was very professional, without being cold.
• Small group sessions. For the main activity, the group of 35 broke into 4 groups of about 10. Each group had 2 facilitators: one to guide and one to capture thoughts/ideas of the groups.
• Food. Seriously, don’t ever consider doing an evening activity without providing food.

Overall, it was thought-provoking and educational. Working with neighbors and meeting community members is fascinating, and group dynamics always play out when neighbors get involved with urban planning. That said, it was well designed, well-run and well-received. And it opened my eyes to the power of participation in complex design challenges.

For more on participatory design, check out maketools.com, a site created by Liz Sanders.

Share This

My Dad recently called me to tell me about this wonderful phrase:

vade mecum \vay-dee-MEE-kuhm; vah-dee-MAY-\, noun:

1. A book for ready reference; a manual; a handbook.
2. A useful thing that one regularly carries about.

That’s a pretty fancy definition for something that literally means “go with me.”

I’ll take on the risk of doing harm, in the hopes of doing good, because I think we’re close to a place where the two definitions can merge. Clearly, mobile devices are the first object that can blur the lines and be both a multi-flex reference source and something that’s always in your pocket. I don’t know a lot of people who always have the same book with them (moleskineists excepted) but I sure know a lot of folks who won’t leave home without their phone.

Mobile devices really can and should be the first “ready reference” and “manual” and “handbook” that’s vade mecumizable. What will it take?

Plazes’ location-awareness comes to mind. The Twitter factor for knowing what your peeps are up to. But the reference factor for useful info? That still leaves much to be desired.

I’m optimistic that we’ll untease the issues and, over time, we’ll get at the san greal of vade mecum. Now if we could just shake that ridiculous browser metaphor…

Share This