[IxDA Discuss] The death of web usability testing as we know it?

[Oleh Kovalchuke]

A few additional thoughts.

 It is an *intelligent* design evolution: the initial design and the
possible iterations would be informed by the known best practices. The best
practices themselves would be put to the test.
The "Dolt=Do It" example, Nick has mentioned, could have been tested against
"Submit", "OK", "Apply", "Run" and other possible buttons, as well as with
different typefaces.

If this is an example of design microevolution analogous to the natural
selection of genes, are there examples of more disruptive macroevolution of
design analogous to the runaway sexual selection in nature (peacock tail,
our own brain)? I think the disruptive macroevolution of design can be found
in the relatively insulated design research of academia and in the outcomes
of Google's 70/20/10 time allocation model [1].

Oleh

[1] http://www.workforce.com/section/01/feature/25/24/14/index.html


On Jan 2, 2008 1:17 AM, Oleh Kovalchuke <tangospring at gmail.com> wrote:

> A few comments based on the biological microevolution analogy.
>
>
>
> 1) Just like in biology the "why" question is irrelevant for the final
> measurable outcome as long as the outcome is optimized (sales, click through
> – whatever is measured).  Just like in evolution the why question is
> important and will be debated in the academia.
>
> 2) People are notoriously poor at articulating their motivations (look at
> the industry of psychoanalysis for instance). Let's take the position of the
> search box example. Would the users be able to say why positioning the box
> on top of the left nav is better than in the right top corner?
>
> 3) The difference in sales between the two design choices could be
> statistically significant 5%. Depending on volume 5% could translate into
> millions of dollars. Would conventional testing detect the 5% difference in
> the outcome?
>
> 4) Finally, I think, the randomized real time statistical analysis could
> lead to the modified, more agile development process. I wonder if we could
> call it "Optimized Design Drift" or, perhaps, "IDE - Intelligent Design
> Evolution"?
>
>
>
> Thanks everyone for your discussion.
>
> --
> Oleh Kovalchuke
> Interaction Design is the Design of Time
> http://www.tangospring.com/IxDtopicWhatIsInteractionDesign.htm
>