On one small notebook page, the complex distinction between the different varieties of scotch whiskey is beautifully displayed.

Read the article here.

View an amazing collection of new military healthcare devices in the battlefield!

“With the growing swiftness and capability of today’s technology, medical tools are increasing in their specificity to meet military healthcare needs. The combat environment calls for particular solutions; on the battlefield, where time is of essence, military healthcare providers need the right implement, at the right time. With extensive research and the integration of the latest civilian technology, innovators are finally poised to meet these needs.”

Now, with the onset of a multitude of EMR software programs coming to market now and in the next few years, software vendors are now marketing usability as a key feature of their products.

The real question is, are their products really more usable than their competitor’s? I’ve designed a number of EMR’s and electronic field data collection systems, and I know that most of the EMR’s I’ve seen have been far less than usable!

Here’s what vendors are supposedly focusing on to improve their product’s usability:

1. Reducing click counts and the time it takes to accomplish tasks
2. Improving screen-design elements
3. Creating consistencies in screen designs
4. Reducing information overload
5. Reducing alert fatigue
6. Matching system flow to workflow
7. Building forgiveness into data entry

However, following a usability checklist does not guarantee a product’s usability. Product design involves many iterative stages and activities, including user research, prototyping and design, and user testing.

A recent review of EMR usability is worth a read at amednews.com – Check it out!

Here’s an article titled “AMA report: Standardizing EMRs would ‘stifle innovation‘” that addresses these issues.

The topics of usability of electronic medical records (EMRs)–and their ability to “effectively integrate” with clinical decision-making and work flow–will be on the agenda when the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates meets next month in Chicago. The focus, contained in a trustees report, will be on how these issues have not been adequately addressed so far.

The trustees report addresses a 2009 resolution that called for the AMA to promote the development and universal adoption of a “standardized user interface” for all EMR systems, and to advocate for a federal mandate for interoperability of EMRs as part of its healthcare reform agenda.

For more information, view these links:

• AMA Board of Trustees report (.pdf)
• NextGov Article

There’s just one problem: not everyone calling themselves a user experience designer is actually a user experience designer. Unfortunately the designation isn’t as clear cut as a doctor or a lawyer. Most professions are certified and regulated, so you don’t see impostor behavior often — and when you do, it’s typically in the form of a news article about someone going to jail for fraud. Perhaps more analogously, even those in non-regulated occupations like writers and programmers would have a hard time passing themselves off as such without actually writing or actually programming.

So, how do you tell is someone is REALLY a true user experience professional, or a wannabe? Whitney posts a 10-point list answering the question, “You’re not a user experience designer if…”

It’s a good overview of some of the key things we focus on as UX professionals. Check it out at Whitney’s Blog!

Here’s the beginning of the Daily Artifacts article:

 $1.85 billon dollar customer experience mistake made by Walmart (a conservative estimate of lost revenue that does not include the hundreds of millions spent on remodeling stores)
- What happened? Walmart rolled out “Project Impact” – a major change in strategy and store customer experience – starting in 2008 
- Why? Customers answered a Walmart survey and told Walmart that they would prefer less clutter in the stores
- Walmart revised their decades-old strategy of low price and wide selection
- 15% of the inventory removed from the stores 
- 30% – some suppliers reported losing 30% of their stock in Walmart stores due to the revamp
- Removed pallets of items like juice boxes or sweatshirts stacked in the centers of aisles. 
- Slimmed down merchandise on “end caps,” displays at the ends of aisles
- Shortened shelves
- Revamp not only removed items but cost “millions of dollars” per store in refurbishment costs
- Saw an immediate loss in sales and decline in same-store sales data

Some myths have been around for many years, such as the myth, “You may not have more than 7 +/- 2 items in a drop-down menu.” This myth about human cognition dates back to George Miller’s famous article published in 1956, “The Mangical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two:  Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information.” This seminal work has been taken way too literally, especially regarding lists, drop-downs and navigation items.

The website, UX Myths (http://uxmyths.com/) currently has 31 web design myths, ranging from human cognition and perception myths, as I described above, to myths about good web design and the UX and usability process.

If you are trying to educate executives and iinfluencers about UX design, learning about the web design and usability,this is a great place to learn and share. Enjoy!

Here’s a summary of the conference on Mad*Pow, the organizer of the event:

Mad*Pow and Claricode are partnering to host the first-of-its-kind Healthcare Experience Design Conference. The one-day conference will be held on April 11, 2011 at the Fairmont Copley Hotel in Boston, and is designed to inspire and empower thought leaders, students, and working professionals in the fields of healthcare design, usability, and technology development.

Conference details, including featured speakers and registration information can be found at Healthcare Experience Design -Improving Health Through Design and Technology

Installed a few years ago, a touch-screen user interface allowed customers to choose a tip of 15%, 20%, or 25%. Thus with a single tap one could deliver the tip (and avoid mental arithmetic calculations). Good user experience, eh?

However, just recently, the tip buttons were changed to 20%, 25% and 30%. Small change, but it is a drastic reduction in the user experience.

It’s all about the user experience! How would this change make you feel as a customer in the taxi?

From the IxDA website:

In this free eBook, ‘UX Storytellers – Connecting the Dots’, 42 UX masterminds tell personal stories of their exciting lives as User Experience professionals.

The book brings together authors from around the world who paint a very entertaining picture of our multifaceted community.

Whether you’re a usability pro or a student of interaction design, whether you’re a senior information architect or a junior UX designer, you will find 42 entertaining stories in this book told by leading experts from all over the globe.

<< Download the eBook now! >>