Uxpod - User Experience Podcast

I asked Jesse James Garrett about his "Nine Pillars of Successful Web Teams" model. See Jesse's article (on the Adaptive Path website) for the graphical representation of his model, and his brief article on the subject.I highly recommend Jesse's book "The Elements of User Experience", which is a model of clarity.Jesse's website is well worth a visit for his thoughts on information architecture, user experience design, and his visual vocabulary for information architecture and interaction design.(References to books on this webiste are links to Amazon.com - we earn a small commission on any purchases you make on following such links).

Good feedback is important at the User Interface and Process levels. This brief episode considers some of the elements invovled in providing good feedback.If you like the User Experience podcast, you might want to check out Tim & Tom's Design Critique podcast podcast. I met Tim at UPA in June, and he provided both encouragement and practical advice that helped get the User Experience Podcast up and running - thanks Tim.

I spoke to fellow Irishman KenCarroll of ChinesePod - a highlysuccessful online language learningbusiness based in Shanghai.A key component of the ChinesePodsuccess is a very strong focus onuser needs and the user experience.In this interview, Ken describes thephilospophy that drives ChinesePod,and how it can apply to otherbusinesses.The Hangzhou conference that Kenrefers to is User Friendly, which willtake place in November.

I spoke to Caroline Jarrett, a UK-based expert on forms design, about how to design a good form.Caroline's company is Effortmark. She and I have a website (rarely updated) called Forms That Work - you'll find some articles and papers on forms design there.Caroline will be running training in Melbounre Australia in November. Visit the Information & Design website for details.

To err is human. This episode is a brief discussion of why people make mistakes, and what we can do to minimise errors.The two books mentioned are:

Choosing the appropriate user research technique can be difficult - particularly if you're not experienced in doing so.This short podcast considers how you decide what types of activity you should undertake.

I spoke to Josephine Wong fromApogee - Usability in Asia about the stateof usability in China.Josephine mentions the "User Friendly"conference. That's run by UPA China.Disclosure: Apogee and my company, Information & Design, work together from time to time.

The Cultural Probes technique provides a  way to explore the user's world when other methods are not available or appropriate.Gerry Gaffney discusses the technique with John Murphy, of Design4Use. Note that this interivew was updated on July 17 to provide some additional detail.

We often encounter rules of thumb. This brief podcast discusses "3 clicks" "7 plus or minus 2", and the application of such rules.