[Credit: Evan Litvak
] Evan chose to represent his journey as a circular graphic instead of the more common linear or chart structure.

As the field of service design evolves so do the tools. At Adaptive Path we often find ourselves debating the form and definition of service design artifacts.

I was curious to see how a new crop of interaction designers might interpret the journey map. Luckily I had access to an army of fresh thinkers when I co-taught an undergrad Visual Interaction Design class at the California College of the Arts this past year.  

One thing that struck me about the CCA undergrads was their natural ability to think cross-functionally. It was clear that they have grown up immersed in technology-driven ecosystems. So, it seemed like a natural step to introduce them to the concept of service design.

I took the students on a good old fashioned field trip to Adaptive Path and recruited six colleagues to help me guide them through a journey mapping activity. I was interested in how a group of designers who had very little exposure to industry standards would interpret a journey map and how approaching the tool from a visual design point of view would influence the outcome.

In small groups the students were tasked with documenting the experience of using public transportation. One student in each group was identified as the research subject and told the story of a specific experience that he or she had riding BART or MUNI. Group members captured key people, actions, emotions, things, and contexts that the storyteller mentioned on post-its, a different color for each category. They then organized the post-its, identifying major stages the journey.

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Chris Risdon's blog post about the importance of documenting process as well as a recent Core77 article inspired us to share some of the thinking behind the visual design of materials for UX Week, Adaptive Path's big annual conference for user experience folk.

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I recently finished a 6 month project here at AP and after the final presentation one of my teammates asked, “So how would you describe your design style? I don’t know anything about it.” It seemed an odd question given that we had been working together for the last several months and I had just presented extensive visual design deliverables. But when it came down to it those deliverables did not, in fact, reflect anything about my personal design style.

The Invisible Designer

I realized that the best examples I could give him were of my work pre-UX design. I…

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Browsing the internet, I haven’t noticed much basic guidance for visual designers new to the UX world. A few get a start here, but many matriculate from traditional backgrounds like branding and print, or areas with semi-similar processes like interactive ad agencies and in-house web departments. Often these are positions designing for singular needs. Move product. Maintain presence. Communicate. These objectives tend to explode when making the transition to a UX process, which can be unsettling. If you are getting started in the field, these are some habits that might be helpful.

1. Develop an eye for patterns.

Reoccurring themes…

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I want to begin by giving a shout out to Tom Sieu founder of the R3 Lab at The Academy of Art University and the fall 2010 class. Thank you for inviting me to collaborate with you!

R3 is not just a class, it’s more of a mission—a call for future designers to pause and think about the bigger picture before making more STUFF. To be mindful of the environmental, cultural, societal, and economic implications of the information, products, and services they bring forth.

Tonight I begin my journey with the R3 Lab to Reimagine, Rethink, and Redesign better…

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Raise your hand if you’ve ever been a part of a design review that included any of the following comments:

[ ] I hate green.

[ ] Can you make it “pop?”

[ ] Just tweak it around a bit and we’ll have another review.

[ ] Make the logo bigger.

[ ] Can you just make it look like Apple?

It’s a common challenge in visual design: creating a feedback structure that respects the subjective nature of visual design, yet also generates actionable items for moving forward. In reviews, clients need to know that their opinions are heard and the design team needs to walk away…

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As designers it is often our responsibility to imagine the future possibilities of things. We rarely get to design independent of social and cultural contexts, and we never get to design independent of the perceptual capabilities of our users. You could design a marvelous interface that makes terrific use of “color” outside of the visible spectrum, but it is unlikely that a human would be able to see it. It would be rare indeed to find a visual designer who bemoans the shackles of human perception, which unfairly force her to work entirely within the visible light spectrum.

Recently, Adam…

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When I interviewed at Adaptive Path a few months ago I was asked a barrage of tough questions. But when the tables turned and I got to ask AP-ers my questions I was interested in one thing in particular: “What do you see as the role of a visual designer at a UX company?”  I got a variety of answers and a few very long pauses.

Having come from a start up where everyone did everything (from research to coding) I was worried about getting slotted into a specific phase of the design process, essentially “skinning” other designers’ work. I…

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The web is about to become a more beautiful place if our friends at Typekit have anything to say about it.

Billed as “the easiest way to use real fonts on your website”, Typekit enables web designers to use real fonts in their web designs. As simple as inserting a line of code, designers now have the ability to present their designs in a way that’s on-brand and is more aesthetically pleasing than Arial, Helvetica, San Serif.

In the past, designers had to use Flash or static images for specialized typography. They can now lean on new web standards…

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Recently, Adaptive Path was asked to take part in the Urban Forest project. Worldstudio has partnered with organizations such as AIGA and The Academy of Art University to bring this community-based, public arts and environmental initiative to San Francisco. Mayor Newsom announced this collaboration at the Compostmodern 09 design conference in February.The Urban Forest Project is described as an unprecedented outdoor exhibition, taking root in cities all across the globe. This public art initiative challenges designers employ the idea or form of the tree to make powerful visual statement about the environment. This artowrk will be placed on light pole…

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