[IxDA Discuss] "Human Factors" angle on our field

[dnp607]

>> Has anyone else noticed this?

Yes, definitely. My background somewhat mirrors Barbara's - BS in  
Industrial Design and HF/E Masters. I concur with her conclusions.  
The landscape is changing quickly. Several students at my institution  
are using HF/E to hone, focus and differentiate their visual design  
skills from the pack. These visually trained designers are changing  
the way HF/E is taught and bridging the gap between engineering/ 
psychology/CHI and ID. For instance, Ergonomics is now being taught  
by the head of ID... Our electives now include an array of courses  
from ID. I hear the same from friends in other institutions.

>> How have you handled the "translation," when you need to  
>> communicate with or assess someone who lives in that
>> universe?

If it helps, I can tell you how my current job has dealt with it: I  
was hired to be a conduit to both worlds, and spend much of my days  
translating verbal and written research (traditional HF/E) into (or  
enhanced by) visual design. Also, I help HF/E people to understand  
the visual process, and act as a tool for them to better express  
their ideas. So, I guess the answer to your question "How have you  
handled the translation" - they hired me to help.

>> Have you hired any folks like this to do design, or worked on
>> a team with them - and has it been a success?  Any "bilingual" HF/IxD
>> people able to help me out here?

I think it is a bad idea to hire a traditionally trained HF/E person  
to do design, unless they have skills or education in design.  
Traditional HF/E education is meant to supplement or enhance the  
design cycle, but should not be tasked with completing full design  
cycles. There is a visualization and creativity gap (in my opinion).

We have a team now in which HF/E people are asked to complete nearly  
full design cycles - in the past, this meant reading and writing long  
reports and literally spelling out everything in excruciating detail-  
the results were academic, unrealistic and ill communicated. Now,  
they can visualize their ideas more thoroughly, and benefit from the  
creative process - which is infinitely quicker and more powerful.

Example: I was in a meeting some months ago with HF/E folks designing  
an interface and some hardware. The conversation almost immediately  
broke down when trying to describe how to achieve a particular task  
through a complex interface. Out came the dry-erase markers, and we  
sketched and thought our way through it. Now, I receive at least  
three emails a week from my HF/E team that includes (admittedly  
rough) sketches! And they're getting better... Also, they now have an  
understanding for composition, and a better grasp of creative grammar  
and process. The HF/E team is beginning to understand the underlying  
rules and power of the ideation process.

>> Any "bilingual" HF/IxD people able to help me out here?

If there's something specific you're having trouble translating, I'd  
be glad to help more if I can.

Best Regards,

-Dan

--------------------------------------------
           Dan Peknik
NASA Ames Research Center
   San Jose State University
--------------------------------------------



On May 11, 2007, at 11:25 AM, Barbara Ballard wrote:

> On 5/11/07, Billie Mandel <Billie.Mandel at openwave.com> wrote:
>> So what about those Human Factors folk?  The ones who have a Human
>> Factors degree or professional membership, and who AREN'T also
>> participating in the IxD or IA-centered organizations.  My  
>> observation
>> del giorno: they seem to speak a different language, even when  
>> they're
>> talking about the same core set of tasks (i.e. creating/evaluating
>> software/web sites to make sure they are efficient, easy, or fun for
>> people to use).
>>
>>
>>
>> Has anyone else noticed this?  How have you handled the  
>> "translation,"
>> when you need to communicate with or assess someone who lives in that
>> universe?  Have you hired any folks like this to do design, or  
>> worked on
>> a team with them - and has it been a success?  Any "bilingual" HF/IxD
>> people able to help me out here?
>
> I have training in HF, but I got a minor in industrial design.  And
> there was an interesting schism between the two.
>
> In my experience, HF folks will be good at usability testing and
> similar activities. They are also grounded in human performance from
> an academic perspective and will have a much better chance at
> predicting user behavior than an equivalently experienced designer, at
> least until they have some number of years of experience.
>
> HF folks come in a number of flavors: CHI-focused,
> engineering-focused, psychology-focused.  The last tends to be focused
> on research, the others tend to be a mix of research and "design"
> oriented.  That's "design" as in "figure out a good way to solve this
> problem"; I've not seen a single class in ideation in engineering
> school.
>
> FYI, a number of the more senior Sprint UX folks are HF trained.  As
> time went on, the UX team specialized, with a research group (largely
> with market research training and similar), a "design" group (with
> visual and interaction design training), and a set of "generalists",
> typically with HF training, who ended up owning the UX for the
> products under their responsibility.  They've reorganized, and of
> course this is an over-generalization, but it gets you an idea.
>
>
>
> -- 
> Barbara Ballard
> barbara at littlespringsdesign.com 1-785-838-3003
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