My last Microsoft blog post

Well, after three and a bit very enjoyable years it’s time to sign off from Microsoft.

Back in 2006 when Frank Arrigo hired me as one of Microsoft’s first User Experience Evangelists, we had a simple, exciting, and challenging, mission:

• To make Microsoft relevant to designers, and to make design relevant to Microsoft developers.

Since then we’ve made some great progress. Back in 2006 Microsoft’s designer toolset featured Microsoft Paint :-). Now:

• We are up to the third release of Expression Studio
• Sketchflow is being widely adopted as we speak
• There have been three (almost four) releases of Silverlight
• Surface has been launched
• Windows Presentation Foundation has been introduced
• And a whole lot more.

But much more importantly, it’s great to report that the level of interest in design and user experience amongst Microsoft developers, partners and customers has never been higher. At the end of the day the tools and platforms are only a means unto an end. It’s what people do with the technology (regardless of who made it) that really matters.

I joined Microsoft because this role gave me a chance to share my passion for creating great user experiences with an entirely new audience of passionate, talented software developers. For me, it was time to take the message beyond the usual audience of ‘converts’ and get the message out to the broader community of people who build digital products – to ‘evangelise’, if you will. That’s what Microsoft provided, in spades, and I’m very grateful.

The Microsoft UX story is in great shape, and poised for even greater greatness.

The Plan

So in a nutshell, my plan is to put my money where my mouth is and get back out there working with companies to help them make great interactive products and services. I’ll be working for myself again, and providing consulting, mentoring and training to organisations in user experience design and, yes, Microsoft UX tools and platforms.

While I don’t plan to do exclusively Microsoft jobs, I hope to get a lot of Sketchflow, Silverlight, Surface and WPF work. So far, interest is high and I already have my first gig lined up, so here’s hoping…

You can find me from now on at:

• My new Company, Automatic Studio. I imagine at some stage a blog will appear there.
• On Twitter at @shanemo
• At my blog I share with Matt Morphett: 101 things I learned at interaction design school
• And generally around, I guess

The schmaltzy thank you bit

Most of the people I want to acknowledge from my time at Microsoft have heard from me personally, but I just wanted to highlight a few in a more public forum.

• Michael Kordahi made working at Microsoft the most inspiring and rewarding three years of my life. Kordesy provoked me to do better, think deeper and be more awesome on a daily basis. It was exhausting! Dude, I hope  I will be lucky enough to to work with you in future.
• Frank Arrigo took the chance on hiring one of those design-y types in the first place, and then proceeded to set the standard about what evangelism means. Thanks Frank.
• Anna Liu taught me for the first time in my life that management, when done well, is a noble profession that genuinely makes a difference. Microsoft as a whole deserves credit here as well. It wasn’t ‘til I joined Microsoft that I learned the full potential of ‘management’.
• Finally, the entire Expression Blend team. As I said to them in an internal email: Thanks for making a product that gave me a reason to join Microsoft, and then thanks for making it so good that I also had a reason to leave Microsoft! From the outset I’ve firmly believed that Microsoft’s approach to integrating design into the software development lifecycle is game changing, and incredibly empowering for folk like me.

So that’s it. Thanks to all of you who read this blog and contributed. I hope to see and hear from many of you on the ‘outside’. Keep in touch…

Shanemo

(oh, that’s the other thing I’m grateful for! For the first time in my life I have a nickname!)

UXpod Interview: Microsoft Surface and multi-touch interfaces

Late last year my good friend Gerry Gaffney interviewed me for his UXpod podcast.

We chatted about Microsoft Surface, the Lonely Planet project and designing multi-touch and tangible UI’s in general.

It was great to chat with Gerry, and an honour to be included in such prestigious company!

Read the transcript or download the audio here:

• UXpod: Microsoft Surface and multi-touch interfaces - an interview with Shane Morris

OZCHI Next Week in Melbourne

OZCHI is Australia’s annual Human-Computer Interaction Conference, where academics and practitioners get together to share the latest research and thinking around all things HCI.

I went to my first OZCHI back in 1993, and my second Melbourne OZCHI will be next week from 25-27 of November, with workshops and tutorials in the two days beforehand.

Keynote Speakers

We have some amazing keynote speakers:

Surface SDK now available to all

If you’re dying to try your hands (get it?) at developing for Surface, then you’ll be please to know that The Surface SDK Workstation Edition is now available to all at surface.com. Also, a bunch of information is appearing on MSDN, TechNet, Download Centre etc.

But, why paraphrase when I can copy and Paste?

Microsoft Surface SDK Workstation Edition Now on Microsoft Download Centre!

At PDC this week, we announced the broad availability of the Microsoft Surface SDK Workstation Edition. Now anyone interested in developing collaborative, engaging massive multi-touch, multi-user experiences for Surface can easily access the software at no cost through surface.com.

The Surface hardware is needed to deploy an application, and many use the Surface Developer units to create and test their applications directly on the device. The SDK Workstation Edition lets you use a PC to develop and a PC based simulator to test applications using multiple mice and tag simulation tools.

What does Microsoft have to offer Digital Agencies? Microsoft Innovation Days

In December DPE (where I work at Microsoft) and the Partner Team are getting together to run a series of “Innovation Days” in five Australian cities.

Innovation Days are a rapid tour of some of the latest goodies from Microsoft, with a focus on how they can benefit your business.

We’ve divided the day into two halves:

• The first half of the day focuses on technologies related to user experience and the web. This half will be especially relevant to digital agencies and other organisations focussed on delivering great customer experiences. We’ll cover Silverlight, Expression, Sketchflow, Surface and a bunch of other stuff.
• The second half of the day focuses on the latest tools and technologies for building compelling applications for your customers, and will be particularly relevant to software development organisations. You’ll hear about Visual Studio, SharePoint, xRM (anything relationship management) and Windows Azure, just to name a few.

This will also be a great opportunity to learn more about how to partner with Microsoft. So come for half a day, or come for the full day – we’d love to meet you.

Tour Dates

Register Now

For full details, and to register, check out https://partner.microsoft.com/Australia/40047632

My two talks at Tech-Ed Australia and New Zealand

I will be doing two presentations at Tech-Ed on the Gold Coast (8-11 Sep) and Auckland (14-16 Sep).

The first talk is in the Architecture track, and the second in the Web/UX track.

Silverlight Won't Save Your User Experience, You Will.

You think adding a Silverlight UI to your application will solve your usability problems? You think downloading Expression Studio will eliminate user error? You think all your website needs to be more engaging is a generous sprinkling of drop-shadows? Think again. A great user experience requires more than a layer of whizzy new technologies. User experience starts with an understanding of... users. In this sequel to last year's "Art and Science of User Experience", Shane Morris will explain how to use "user centred design" to create applications that are not just more usable and engaging, but may even be easier to build.

Free up the UX Bottleneck: Wireframing and Prototyping with Expression Blend and Sketchflow

As the on-screen behaviour of software applications becomes more and more sophisticated, it gets harder and harder to envision, validate and document your user interface. New features in Expression Blend 3, including Sketchflow, make user experience design an integral part of the software development lifecycle, and free up the UX bottleneck. Come see Expression Blend 3 and Sketchflow in action, and learn how to integrate conceptual design into your next project, regardless of platform.

I’ll also be hanging around the exhibition area

Be sure to come say Hi.

Oh and I also might be appearing on a panel…

UX Australia – Canberra 26-28 August

The first ever UX Australia Conference is coming up in August in Canberra. Donna, Steve, Andrew and Danielle have a great line-up of speakers from Australia and overseas.

Oh, and me.

I’m doing 3 presentations (gulp!):

1. Pre-conference Workshop: Interaction Design Studio

This Half-day workshop focuses on building skills generating and critiquing user interface design solutions. It’s fast paced, with minimal lecturing and we usually have a lot of fun learning from each other as much as anything.

Warning – this workshop contains crayons!

Full Description: Interaction Design Studio

2. 101 Things I (Should Have) Learned at Interaction Design School

In this presentation, Matt Morphett are going out on a bit of a limb. The idea is to see if we can use the tips from the book “101 Things I Learned at Architecture School” to ad-lib some corresponding tips for interaction designers. Should be fast paced again, and best of all, perilous.

Full Description: 101 Things I (Should Have) Learned at Interaction Design School

3. Designing for multitouch, and multiple touchpoints

In this talk I’ll tease out more of our experiences designing the Microsoft Surface Proof of Concept for Lonely Planet which we presented at Remix last month. Get ready for a '’warts and all’” account!

Full Description: Designing for multitouch, and multiple touchpoints

See You There

This conference marks an important milestone in the increasing visibility of User Experience as a discipline in Australia. I for one think it’s going to be the start of something big. So if you are interested in information architecture, user interface design, usability or anything to do with User Experience, I think Canberra is going to be the place to be from 26-28 August. See you there!

Remix Australia Lonely Planet Surface Demo

The Lonely Planet Surface application that Amnesia Razorfish showed at Remix has been generating heaps of interest, so I’m pleased to say that the videos are finally online for your viewing pleasure.

First check out the Lonely Planet keynote demo (around 7.5 minutes):

Then for more detail on designing for touch and multitouch, and for the back story of the Lonely Planet design process, check out the session Iain McDonald from Amnesia Razorfish did with me later in the day (about 45 minutes):

Design in the Round: Creating Compelling User Experiences for Surface

Also, here are the slides for the session:

Come to UXAustralia for more

The process for designing for Surface, and especially for multiple simultaneous users is a fascinating one. I’m gonna talk more about that at my UXAustralia session in August in Canberra: Designing for multitouch, and multiple touchpoints.

(Thanks to Ben Harrison and Michael Kordahi for all their work encoding the videos.)

(Also, thanks to Gabriel White, from whom I pinched some ideas for this presentation.)

Surface SDK now available to Microsoft Partners

While Surface units are still not available in Australia, Aussie companies who are champing at the bit to give Surface design and development a try can now at least get access to the SDK and simulator, and get started working on Surface applications.

Microsoft partners can now sign up to the Surface Partner Program. The entry level (“Microsoft Surface Community Members”) provides access to the SDK and simulator, as well as training and other resources. No commitment.

Clarification: this is the Workstation edition of the SDK, not the full SDK which comes with a Surface developer unit. What does that mean? The Microsoft Surface SDK Workstation Edition is meant for developing applications on a PC using a simulator. Having the Workstation Edition of the SDK gives Microsoft Partners a chance to do some investigation on using the WPF controls and do some initial Proof of Concept work. The simulator lets you simulate tags or multiple mice, but of course to really nail the correct user experience for Surface, you need to refine the design with an actual unit.

If you’re not already a Microsoft Partner, check out the Microsoft Partner program. It’s free to sign up.

Wacom offers for Remix Australia attendees

Remix Australia is on tomorrow, and Wacom are offering some great deals on Intuos3 tablets. Check them out at the Wacom stand.

Microsoft Partner and Remix sponsor Wacom to offer limited number of heavily discounted professional graphics tablets exclusively for Remix attendees.

The Intuos3 professional graphics tablet (as used during Lord Of The Rings production) perfectly integrates with Microsoft’s Expression products delivering 1024 levels of pressure sensitive control to the vector art creation components of Expression Design. As a ReMIX attendee don’t miss out on this opportunity! You can find more on the Intuos3 product at http://www.wacom.com.au/price/intuos3/intuos3_A5.html Don't forget to ask Wacom about the free Expression Studio 2 availability.

Remix registration is live – Register now and Save! Save! Save!

It was weeks in the making, but the Remix Australia website is finally live and taking registrations. Check out the program and you’ll see we’ve been working hard to find the best speakers to cover all the latest Microsoft stuff for the web and beyond.

Just look! There’s Surface, there’s Sketchflow, there’s Blend, there’s Silverlight, Virtual Earth, Live and there’s even a session on how to create branded user experiences in SharePoint. Oh, and there’s a technical track too where you’ll stare at Visual Studio all day and wonder what they’re doing over in the creative track.

The magnanimous Fin has even offered an early bird discount. So you have two reasons to register for Remix now:

• Save cash, and
• Make sure you get a spot – remember Remix sold out last year.

See you there in Sydney on June 11!

First Meeting of Silverlight Designer and Developer Network in Sydney May 5th.

Miguel Madero and pals have organised the first Silverlight Designer and Developer Network in Sydney for May 5.

Chris Anderson will be covering styling strategies and the ubiquitous Jordan Knight will be covering Silverlight 3’s greatest hits.

Check out the details at http://miguelmadero.blogspot.com/2009/04/first-meeting-of-silverlight-designer.html

My slides from AIMIA Customer Experience Session

Here are my slides from my talk at the AIMIA Customer Experience and Usability seminar in Sydney yesterday.

Thanks for all the positive feedback, I had a great time and I think we covered some important topics. Steve Baty from Meld did a great job moderating. Thanks to James Breeze from Objective Digital for organising and presenting. And thanks in particular to Tania Lang from Peak Usability and Vijay Balachandran from Fairfax Digital, because we can never have enough case studies.

You can check out James’ presentation here: http://www.slideshare.net/jamesbreeze/aimiaux09-collaboration-in-web-projects

3 Upcoming Gigs: AIMIA; Advertising, Marketing & Media Summit; and CEBIT WebForward

April and May are busy months for public speaking.

• On April 24th I’m speaking at Customer Experience – It’s Not Just About Usability for AIMIA in Sydney
• On May 12th I’m speaking on “Aligning your touch-points: Creating cross-technology customer experiences” at Advertising Marketing & Media Summit 2009 in Melbourne
• On May 13th I’m speaking on “User Experience Across Multiple Touch-points” at WebForward at CEBIT in Sydney

On top of that there’s WebDU and of course REMIX rapidly approaching. It’s a lot of work, but public speaking gigs are great incentives to me to keep up my reading and thinking. I hope the punters get something out of it too! :-)

SEAT and the Super Real

I was sent a link today to this site from the UK which is for the launch of the SEAT Exeo (it’s a car).

Yes it’s built in Silverlight but what I really want to concentrate on is the design.

Visual Design

Firstly, it’s beautiful to look at.

That’s good for Silverlight because if you ask me there have been too many examples of the technical capabilities of Silverlight, at the expense of good visual design. If we want to continue to drive designer adoption of Silverlight we need to reassure designers that good design is just as possible in Silverlight as in other technologies (even more so with Silverlight 3 with bitmap effects, perspective 3D, better type rendering etc).

When your content is discretionary like this is (few people will feel they have to use this site) you simply must present yourself well.

Information Design

More importantly I like this example for its information design (or information architecture), regardless of technology.

They start by using the magazine metaphor – something that we’ve seen used before of course, but which is very appropriate for a car launch. We’ve all flipped through those glossy printed car brochures before after all. Drawing on this experience sets up a ‘model’ for the user to follow. The challenge to the designers, then, is to not break that pact with their users but violating that model (too much).

By avoiding the traditional ‘menu’ of options for people to choose from, the designers make the entire site more approachable – I am invited to simply browse the brochure, rather than having to make a decision as soon as I arrive.

Instead of asking me to make a choice, the brochure format offers me a ‘path of least resistance’. 

Interaction Design

The designers then go on to add interesting interactive pieces on each page of the brochure. I like these for two reasons:

• Firstly, they add delight – they are all well designed, small and augment the basic idea of a printed brochure in ways that delight, without breaking that overall model. This is what we refer to as ‘super-real’ – taking a metaphor from the real world, and making it more than it's real-life counterpart, but without losing connection to the basic real-world experience.
• Secondly, they make the task of choosing which features to explore less daunting, since there are only a few offered on each page. This reduces the user’s cognitive load (by which I mean the effort required to choose and keep track of those choices) and makes the experience that much more ‘comfortable’.

The faint blue light, the 3D affordance, and the likeness of a key-fob invite me to interact with this simple element.

What Could Have Been Improved?

Having said all of that, there were a few things that might have been done better? (Usual caveat that ‘it’s all very well for me to criticise, I wasn’t there’ etc applies.)

• The page turn mechanism, when done with the mouse, feels a little clunky at the end. When I ‘let go’ of the page it seems to resist falling into place. It ‘hovers’ for a moment and then takes an unnaturally long time to come to rest. This gives me the unnerving feeling that I haven’t done it right. It should fall more quickly, and possibly ‘snap’ into place as my mouse approaches the bottom-left corner?
• The zoom with the mouse wheel is not smooth and feels a little forced. The double-click zoom works well, on the other hand. (OK, maybe not the most important feature of the whole experience.)
• It’s disappointing that they had to provide such complex-looking instructions next to the first page. perhaps this is the result of usability testing? (Over-done on-screen instructions often are.) It’s a bit daunting as I read those instructions and try to map to the controls at the top. Could the controls have been better placed to avoid this? For example should the ‘previous’ and ‘next’ buttons have been placed to the left and right of the brochure? Would a little ‘teaser’ animation of the cursor grabbing the page corner and dragging it help?

Less is More

Overall this is a great example of how restraint (in navigation options, in amount of content and in visuals) can make for a very satisfying experience.

As I often say in presentations, functionality is the natural enemy of user experience. Have only as much as necessary to achieve your purpose.