Tom Stewart

About Tom Stewart

Six more tips to attract and keep older web users

You would not knowingly ignore 80% of the online market in the UK, would you? 

Yet many websites, generally designed by younger people, forget that older consumers may not share their abilities or tastes. So their websites probably don’t work as well as they should for the growing army of silver surfers.

However, designing to cater for the aging population is not always straightforward. Last year, Econsultancy’s David Moth spelt out six sensible tips ranging from increasing the font size to avoiding major navigation changes. 

As a senior facing yet another birthday (is it really a year since the last one?) I have six more tips to help younger designers appeal to that increasingly wealthy post-kids generation with time and money on its hands.

Four ways brands can make early adoption easier and less painful

A recent trip to Japan got me thinking about the disadvantages of being an ‘early adopter’ of new products and technology, and how brands should encourage and reward those of us who get in ahead of the crowds.

Japanese technology shops are particularly fun, with blaring advertisements and garish coloured banners everywhere. 

In one, I found ‘easy to drink from’ vacuum mugs in a wide range of colours with a variety of sophisticated caps and drinking spouts. 

The humble black screw top I had bought in the UK was completely upstaged by these colourful, feature packed newcomers.

What’s the point of user-centred design?

No, I have not suddenly started to question an approach which I have pioneered for more than three decades. 

What I am doing is reflecting a discussion currently underway in the International Standards committee considering the revision of ISO 9241 part 11, which defines usability. 

Don’t worry, we don’t intend to change the definition in any way that most people would notice. Standard-makers love arguing about fine detail, so there may be some tweaking of the wording in due course. 

The core definition will remain the same but we’d welcome some input from Econsultancy’s members about how we describe the outcome of using user-centred design.

Eight things user-centred design can teach business

User-centred design (UCD) is widely regarded as the best way to design a great user experience (UX), with most UX professionals following the international standard ISO 9241 part 210. 

As project leader for this standard, I realised that some of the principles which underlie UCD can be applied to whole organisations, so I am pleased to be project leader (with Tomas Berns from Sweden) for a new ISO standard which aims to make businesses as a whole more human centred.

To encourage interest in the new standard, we have drafted an executive summary which can be downloaded and freely distributed and would welcome input from Econsultancy readers.

This new standard aims to engage the ‘hearts and minds’ of executive board level people by explicitly presenting how eight main principles of UCD can apply to organisations. 

In this post I look at these eight principles and link them back to user experience with examples (good or bad) on the web.

Secret features which enhance the user experience

OK, I have to admit they are not strictly secret like so called Easter Eggs, features hidden in widely used software, which the programmers think are great fun but which some of us think are a waste of our computing resources.  

One notorious example was the Flight Simulator built into Excel97. Microsoft apparently banned the practice in later years as part of its trustworthy and openness initiative but they are still quite common. 

No, I am talking about very useful features, which many people do not seem to know and which do not appear to be widely publicised.

Five potential UX issues with biometrics

I have recently become involved in the growing field of biometrics standards and believe the various technologies should be of great interest to digital marketers.

However, when I searched the Econsultancy site, I found that biometrics was mainly seen as a tool for market and user research. 

Given the explosion in digital fraud and the difficulty of combining secure access with easy access, I believe biometrics have a great part to play in creating an engaging user experience.

Five pointless discussion posts

Blog IconI know I am getting (only now?) a bit cynical in my old age but I can’t believe that I am the only one who finds the proliferation of discussion forums a bit tedious. 

Done properly, such forums are great ways for professionals to share experience and knowledge. The Econsultancy blog and comments help keep digital folk up to date and stimulated. 

But some discussions (not on Econsultancy obviously) seem to me to be little more than opportunities for pointless posts.

Five reasons why ‘cool’ product names might not be as clever as they seem

Android Code NamesSome companies spend a fortune coming up with enticing names for new products – and sometimes it goes disastrously wrong. 

A memorable example is the Chevy Nova, which in Spanish roughly translates to the Chevy doesn’t-go. 

Even if the name doesn’t mean something inappropriate, our research shows that gimmicky product names might not be as clever as their creators imagine.