tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9968619.post6004898237610325683..comments2008-05-08T03:03:56.246+02:00Comments on uselog.com | the product usability weblog: Nokia's Take on Participatory Design: BetaLabs and...Jasper (uselog.com)noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9968619.post-2941120319736365002008-05-08T03:03:00.000+02:002008-05-08T03:03:00.000+02:002008-05-08T03:03:00.000+02:00True, the dreamphone designs in itself are not suf...True, the dreamphone designs in itself are not sufficient to make a usable product. That would require stuff like field studies to study actual user behaviour, early exploration and testing of interaction concepts, lab usability tests to test dialogues etc. However, I do think that making a usable product should start by exploring what the functionality is that users would like and need in the product. And that's partly related to marketing, as people buy products based on feature sets, but what functionality a product has also to a large part determines the quality of interaction. Trying to cater to a target group like (say for instance) seniors with a phone that was meant for businessmen is not only foolish from a marketing point of view, it will probably also lead to a group of very confused users. But I agree it's not sufficient to make something usable. And in that sense: yes, studies like these are 'the beginning of a conversation'.Jasperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10274466709014480194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9968619.post-63851790360729734742008-05-07T15:23:00.000+02:002008-05-07T15:23:00.000+02:002008-05-07T15:23:00.000+02:00It’s a start, but seems more about market research...It’s a start, but seems more about market research than usability (what people want, rather than what works well). The dream phone designs are creative but they tell you more about the concerns users have in life than what kind of phone would actually work for them. For usability, suggestions from users are most valuable when they are the beginning of a conversation.Michael Zuschlaghttp://www.zuschlogin.com/noreply@blogger.com