Sarah Doody is a leading information architect and digital strategist who specializes in both product and brand development. She is known for an intimate understanding of culture, communication, and technology, and their collective influencing power on society.

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The Perception of Simplicity

26 May, 10:51 AM

Lately I’ve been reading and studying the idea of how people can change their lifestyles through measured behavior, or what I call Personal Metrics. At the heart of Personal Metrics is the need for persuasion, whether aligning a new idea, adopting a new attitude, or modifying their behavior.

In my research, I’ve discovered the work of BJ Fogg who coined the idea of Captology, which is the study of computers and their use as persuasive technologies. As Founder & Director of the Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab, Fogg helps create insight into how computers and technology can be designed to change what people believe and what they do.

When it comes to changing a lifestyle or behavior, we first must persuade them to agree that a change is necessary. But then, to act out the change, the activity to be done must be within their range of ability.

To increase a person’s ability, Fogg finds there are two things you can do. First, train people, and give them more skills. Or, second, make the behavior easier to do. However, as human beings, we are often resistant to change and don’t allow enough discipline to train and learn new skills. As a result, to change behavior, designers must make the behavior easier to do. Fogg refers to this as Simplicity.

Making the behavior easier to do does not necessarily mean that the acts carried out need to be made simpler, but rather, perhaps the individual’s perception needs to be changed.

“Simplicity is not a characteristic of the product. It is a perception that we have of the experience in accomplishing the task.” – BJ Fogg

The next time you set out to simplify something, perhaps the simplification is not required in the product but its perception.

Read my full post on this at Personal Metrics

Urge For Excess

7 December, 08:37 PM

Recently I’ve been wresting with this idea that “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”. In Product Development, I like to think that we’re always trying to make it simpler, without taking away from the experience … or are we?

When I look at technology today, it seems like we rampantly subscribe to the idea that “if you build it, they will come”. Today I read that Facebook has over 350 million users. So I guess in this case, Mark built it, and the people came. But the real question is “do they need it”?

One thing that I find fascinating about technology, is the speed of its evolution and the rapid rate at which it allows us to innovate and iterate. We can sketch an idea on a napkin over drinks after work, and then in 48 hours have a live prototype and get feedback from people. But, with this new found freedom of development, comes a certain accountability for the creators.

Our culture has a serious affinity to what could be called an “urge for excess”. When you survey all the problems that we are facing today, it really comes down to our inability as a society, to exude some self control, restraint, and focus in our lives. We buy things that we don’t need, with money that we don’t have, and then wonder why we are in a financial crisis. We eat things that have little nutritional value, and then wonder why 72% of Americans are obese or overweight. We live in huge houses in the suburbs, commute to work for hours in over-sized vehicles, and then try to understand the cause of our many environmental and climate issues. Yet, at the root of all these issues, is our overindulgence and inability to know what’s even needed anymore because we’ve lost touch with what’s really essential to our lives.

This idea of an “urge for excess” is playing out dramatically in the realm of technology. Experts predict that soon, the information on the Internet will double every 72 hours. According to a recent report by Nielsen, the average person in the US spends 68 hours online each month (that works out to 34 full days online each year). The interesting point the study uncovered is that in a month, an average person visits 2,700 websites, yet only spends 57 seconds at each site. What does this say? People are doing a whole lot of nothing. This is what we do for 34 of our 365 days each year. Are you concerned yet?

So what is needed? What is essential? That is the question that as designers, innovators, technologists, and entrepreneurs, I believe we are most responsible for answering. To begin to answer this, we need to take time to become students of experience and discover the art of listening, observing, and imagining again. We need to slow down our processes of just “doing” and replace that with the art of asking “why”.

In 2010, I challenge you, and myself, to bring to life new ideas, not because we can, not because it would be fun to build, not because we talked someone into giving us money for it, but because it would enhance the life of whomever interacts with it and bring meaning value to them.

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The Immediacy of Innovation

17 August, 04:50 AM

The economics of digital technology are launching us into an era where, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, “passive analysis will be subordinate to active participation”.

Technology is transforming innovation as both the costs and time to innovation are much more accessible to companies who seek change and rapid feedback. Moving away from formal, drawn out, plans and analysis – expect to see more rapid prototyping, agile development, and environments driven by experimentation.

These changes will have great effects on culture as innovation will not just be the focus of a traditional research and development group – but, instead, it should be a central element to a company’s culture. People’s perspectives will be focused less on the future and more into the immediate because they will be able to see the cause and effect of ideas and changes right away, instead of speculated over formal processes and hours in conference rooms.

Companies who can embrace collaboration, move from analysis to experimentation, and maintain a delicate balance between observation and action will be well positioned to succeed in this new economy of innovation.

“Genius is born from a thousand failures,” says Greg Linden, an entrepreneur who has been an innovator at both Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. “In each failed test, you learn something that helps you find something that will work. Constant, continuous, ubiquitous experimentation is the most important thing.”

For the whole article, visit the Wall Street Journal.

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The New Sweet Spot: Portals & Programming

5 May, 05:36 AM

What’s recession proof today? For the Food Network – it appears as though they’ve hit the recipe for success. In the midst of an economic crunch – people are eating out less and cooking up their own cheap chic dinners.

In January, the Food Network saw a spike of 44% in online ad revenue – largely due to viewers flocking to the site for Superbowl recipes and menus. Trading take out and table service for people are looking for ways to save money and still dine in style at home.

With what couldn’t have been any more perfect timing – Food Network recently revamped their entire online presence – serving up an portal entree of Food Network programming and recipes with side dishes of food facts and lifestyle tips. Food Network’s ability to stay attune to their audience’s palette on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis allows them to thoughtfully deliver digital content that will satisfy the appetite of their customers.

Since July 2007, the Food Network’s online property has grown by more than 3 million unique users to 11.3 monthly in January 2009. Unlike many other sites that are experiencing growth – one thing the Food Network does know how to do is monetize. According to the VP of Ad Sales for Scripps Networks Interactive, Food Network’s online properties account for 7% to 8% of its annual revenue.

Food Network is definitely a leader in digital content distribution and an innovator in creating a seamless brand experience through portals and programming that reflect the palette of their audience.

Check out the article in AdAge about the Food Network.

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Dorthy.com spending $4 M on “broken” search for dreams

1 May, 02:20 PM

Yesterday VentureBeat published a story about Dorthy.com – a “dream achievement service” that is releasing a public alpha at summer’s end.

“Say you want to run a marathon in Maui. Using a search engine, you’d get a list of Web sites, including the marathon’s official site, unofficial sites and a few disparate sources for travel information. You’d then have to hunt through those individual pages for the information you’re looking for. Dorthy works more like Wolfram Alpha, pulling relevant data into a single page of information.”

The start-up Saber Seven has raised $4 million to date and is based in New York, NY.

Check out the full article over at VentureBeat.

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Sarah Doody is a leading information architect and digital strategist who specializes in product and brand development. She is known for her intimate understanding of culture, communication, and technology and their collective influencing power on society.

Sarah created Personal Metrics, an exploration of how we can change our lifestyles through measuring our behavior.

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