Hey there! Brian Dys here — I’m a visual and visceral person at heart. Ever since my mom lent me her old film camera, I fell in love with photography. All of my creative musings were exemplified by my second brain, the computer. This journey is a topsy-turvy ride of creative pursuits — from electronic music to UX design.
I enjoy every dull and wild moments of it — yes, this life of mine that I share with a woman named Jaycelle and a boy named Bryce. Take a peek into my kaleidoscope!
Infomap is a spinoff of information architecture – it is a small part of it and is specifically for the usage of designers in creating Interaction Diagrams (basically a diagram of wireframes showing interaction; details on this in the future).
It helps in setting up the environment for the web product’s navigation and content structure.
1. Purpose of the web product
2. Business goals
3. User goals
4. Features
Basically, a Product Requirements Document (PRD).
Let’s use a Messaging app as an example – basically it allows the user to send and receive messages to a recipient; the app also requires the user to accept the Terms & Conditions before usage. For the sake of simplicity, let these be the only functions of the app.
That’s it – as for the other views, every link must have its own View (so that your views will be: Entrance, Home/Read Messages, Compose Message, etc.)
All in all you must end up having the following:
If you’re travelling to or from Metro Manila, expect the rush hours of 7 to 10 a.m. and 5 to 9 p.m on weekdays. Your usual question before going must be, “How’s the traffic?”
Here are several ways to be informed of the traffic conditions if you really want to go with the flow (or not).
Hosted in Interaksyon.com, I personally find the Line View the most useful of all views – with its linear presentation and color coding of traffic levels, you could easily see the reds.
In case you want to see for yourself if a particular area is jammed, there are live traffic monitoring cameras available for online viewing.
Upon reaching the site:
Note: Currently there seems to be a bug if you try to view an area on its own page (this will happen if you don’t press “View All Cameras”).
To avoid wasting time standing in long lines at MRT3, check out the situation first via Live CCTV. Sometimes it’s better to take the road than to take the train.
Below the main view of the camera are the other views such as the North/Southbound ticketing and platform areas.
For other roads and streets not listed via Metro Manila Traffic Navigator, there’s Waze. It relies on its mobile users to report the road condition at their current location. So you could be warned if there are scrupulous traffic officers hiding under a bridge and even find out if there’s saklaan sa may kanto.
It only takes a minute or two to check the status of the roads you’re taking when travelling somewhere. If you’re well-informed, you could save time and even contribute to lessen the influx of people/vehicles in a common route during rush hours.
I’ve written a short piece on how UX is already rolling here in Philippines, especially in our government.
Personally, I am keen on working on projects that will affect people positively – they could be information or service-oriented web products.
It’s simple to be like them – they simply
A step at a time, we could reach the level of developed countries in terms of how they value UX in the government sector.
…it has a Usability.gov website! Well, it’s an initiative and there is lot more ways UX could be manifested. In Philippines, UX is in its birthing process. First of all, we have:
We’ll be having our first UX design conference by UXPH.
UXPH 2014 aims to inspire designers, developers enthusiasts to learn more about improving the human experience while adding business value. This conference is for anyone who wants to learn what UX is and how it can make a difference in company’s products and services.
Source: User Experience Philippines
In its fifth year, FFC Web Design Conference continues to impart essential knowledge to the web design community. It is organized by Philippine Web Designers Organization.
We are a group of enthusiasts and professionals who create human interfaces for the Web, champion the use of standards, accessibility & usability, and aim to uplift the state of web design in the country.
What about in the government, what are we doing about UX? The ball is already rolling!
I first heard this initiative at Grafika Manila 2011 – dubbed as “Design Para sa Lahat,” it sparked a new hope in me that the government is keeping up with the times. Imagine creativity in the government? Yes.
It is the declared policy of the State to enhance the competitiveness and innovation of Philippine products, create market-responsive design services, while advocating for economic and environmental sustainability. The State shall also endeavor to promote an economy and society driven by design and creativity responsive to our fast-changing times and reflective of the Filipino culture and identity, while concurrently advocating the protection of intellectual property rights to these ideas and innovations.
We already have the initiative to improve the overall usability and experience of government websites thru the Government Website Template.
Through the standardized websites, Local Government Units, National Government Agencies and State Universities and Colleges will experience ease in navigation and use of digital assets. More than that, content, news updates, public documents and other services will be easily accessible to the citizens, especially for those who use mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets.
~ Antonette Torres, iGovPhil Project Manager
As we are going towards a stronger economy, UX is undeniably a helpful tool for the government to effectively reach out to people. There are very simple ways to contribute to this development (aside from voting wisely and paying our taxes):
In our team, we have something called an Interaction Diagram integrated into our Design Process.
Basically it is a collection of wireframes in context – whether of the whole web product or of a simple task or activity. The diagram shows the layout of components as well as their interaction with other components.
We’re using it consistently as part of our communication with web and app developers. It has proven to be very useful since its inception a year ago (October 3, 2013).
Jesse James Garrett’s Visual Vocabulary for Information Architecture is one of our main references in establishing the Interaction Diagram.
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Authors of the Interaction Diagram:
Consider this scenario:
So here’s the basic format of the document:
Description: Siete Baracos is a tool that helps people in making coffee thru measurements and ingredients.
Other examples:
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These basic information of the product acts as guideline and sets the context in which the product revolves around.
Now, team members will not blindly test the app using a device lower than the version stated.
