New LJ Column on User Experience
Check out a great new column by Aaron Schmidt in Library Journal about user experience design: The User Experience! Schmidt is the the digital initiatives librarian for the DC Public Library, and his experiences with public libraries and digital design shines through in what he writes.
The whole column is fabulous, but here’s my favorite bit:
Every time librarians create a bookmark, decide to house a collection in a new spot, or figure out how a new service might work, they’re making design decisions. This is what I like to call design by neglect or unintentional design. Whether library employees wear name tags is a design decision. The length of loan periods and whether or not you charge fines is a design decision. Anytime you choose how people will interact with your library, you’re making a design decision. All of these decisions add up to create an experience, good or bad, for your patrons.
Heck yes! I think we’ve all been guilty of design by neglect at some point in our careers. Now you can use this column as a way to never repeat that mistake again. Thanks Aaron & LJ!
January 21st, 2010 at 7:27 am
[...] Via The Librarian in Black I’ve discovered tht the Library Journal now has a new column on User Experience. As a librarian who has moved into user experience work this makes me rather pleased. [...]
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:41 am
[...] New LJ Column on User Experience – Aaron Schmidt’s new Library Journal Column – The User Experience [...]