UX vs. AM

Where are the UX teams in the strategy discussions at the agencies? These days the invitations seem to only go out to them after the high level innovation is done.

Hey, UX IA guy, why is it if you are in an interactive agency, you may have the chops and sweetest skills to contribute to discussions on interactive strategy, but you might not be invited to the table?

I have seen some top IAs recently in a state of shock and mourning over projects underway in their agencies. They saw features implemented that they knew the users didn't want and that in turn would not deliver a strong ROI. In other words, they were right and the AMs and strategists were wrong. But they lost.

Essentially they were called in late in the game to reverse engineer what the account managers sold to the client. "Please, IA guys and gals, make us a cookbook to guide the design and engineering teams", seems to be where account managers start their conversations with the UX folks.

In some ways this is unjust. In another it makes sense. IAs have held on to two mandates from the mid 90's that may now need to be separated in two disciplines:
1. Customer insights garnered through narrative representation rather than static data.
2. Organizing data so that it can easily be found by the user.

A lot of thinking needs to be done about this if you are an IA. I haven't many answers for you but I think that if your clients and/or colleagues pull their language from MBA programs, put your definition of the problems and your solutions into that language and use their terms as well as your own.

On the other end we need to have some serious discussions about porting the account manager role from print advertising directly into the design of interactive media.

Growing the iAOR into the AOR

Something I am always thinking about: how do you seize opportunities to engage the client in discussions about core brand and strategic planning so you can move the interactive agency more squarely into the field occupied by the AOR?

Craigslist 2.0: Pondering a Redesign of Craigslist

Looking at the redesign of Craigslist by DesignEye, I can see why Craig Newmark never implemented it. The design is without voices. As Gawker says, "The new design is gorgeous, slick, ..."

Behind the design of the existing Craigslist you can hear the rabble. It's interesting. craigslist.org's design speaks well for what it is. What DesignEye has done IS gorgeous and slick. But is that good? Is that part of the existing brand? It's something like a person who is nice to look at but does not want to be touched nor associate with us too much.

Gorgeous and slick is the destination of too many agency minds and too many websites.

If I were to redesign craigslist.org I would start with the rabble piece of the brand. I don't think my design would look all that much like what CL looks like now. But that's OK. I don't think the real design elements of CL is in the taxonomy made visible -- it's in the feel.

I would make it feel like a populist cafe. A rabble. Lots of action with quick access. And maybe add a better search function.

I like the way you do things.

I think this is so fascinating. Apple decided that they like the label "1-Click" so much that they pay Amazon for the rights to use it.

"1-CLICK®. 1-Click is a registered service mark of Amazon.com, Inc., used under license. All App Store transactions use 1-Click, a convenient feature that allows you to license Products from the Service with a single click of your mouse or other input device."
-From the usage rights spiel on iTunes.

I love it. I love the thinking that must have gone on behind the decision. How often do you have a great idea and then realize someone already has it and then give up on it. Sure Apple has more money than you and can pull of this trick, but the trick is bigger. It involves stretching your head.

They decided they would still use it and made it happen.

Most copied line of text on the web

I think I may have just stumbled across the most copied line of copy ever. And it's being done by design studios claiming to be creative. Google this fragment:

we knew it was never destined to be a typical

It's just awesome!

One studio (not sure which one) not only copied the line but an entire website.
gravitate design
couture solutions

Man, oh man. Do you laugh or what?