Inside the Suitcase
We’ve wrapped up the South By Southwest Interactive Conference for another year. Just as every year, this year’s conference was a mixed bag of inspiring sessions on emerging technology, thinly-veiled sales pitches and raucous parties. So, without further ado, here’s our wrap-up of our most anticipated sessions of 2010.
Rachel’s Wrap up
- Battledecks 2010 / Panel
Um, yeah. I skipped this panel when I found out one of my favorite bloggers (and an expected panelist) didn’t make the trip. So, instead, I bring you:
QR Codes & 2D Barcodes
Wrap Up: I admit, I had never heard of QR Codes until SXSW decided to put them on each of our lanyards, but as a full-service marketing firm, I’m especially interested in how they can help us bridge our printed materials to online uses. Basically, a QR code is a 2D barcode and when you take a picture of it with your mobile phone, you are either sent to a url, or given someone’s contact information or given a piece of valuable content (ie. song download, etc) directly on your phone. While access to this technology is limited right now to about 5% of the US population (its closer to 80% in Japan), the mobile phone companies are beginning to include this as part of each new smartphone’s settings, so it should be immersive in about 18 months. QR codes allow retailers to track a product after it’s left a retail location and share on-the-spot coupons with consumers. They can also be used to share contact information and exclusive content (think bonus tracks), sell tickets and join a mailing list. Why use QR codes over just pointing a customer to a url? Not only is it easier for the customer (no typing needed), the retailer can track information much more precisely from a QR code than from a direct visit to a url. For example, a different QR code could be used for each newspaper where the retailer is advertising, telling them which newspaper is reaching their audience more effectively.
- Universities in the “Free” Era / Glenn Platt & Peg Faimon
Wrap Up: With all of the disruptors out there in the education space (ex. free online lectures, open courseware, online textbooks and online universities), how is a university meant to survive? Through the experience of a university education. This means every professor must be a project manager, angel investor, curator, resource allocator and life coach all the things a student can’t get from merely watching an online lecture or studying with virtual professors. Not only are professors key, but so is the experience of student interaction in a university setting through student groups and research. This new shift is also causing employers to take a closer look at the graduate’s skills and experience, outside of where they earned their degree. In the end, for any university looking to remain relevant, they must embrace the student experience that can’t be achieved solely through a screen. View presentation slides here.
- Persuasive Design: Encouraging Your Users To Do What You Want Them To / Andy Budd, Clearleft Ltd
Wrap up: According to Andy Budd, the session’s presenter, the average person is bombarded with over 5000 branding messages each day. With all of that noise and chaos, how do you guide your audience in the desired direction? Below are just a few insights into what Budd likes to call “Choice Architecture”:
- For starters, many people are influenced by the behavior of others social proof. If you were to see a long line outside of a new bar, it’s likely you’d think it’s a cool new spot. Amazon.com is a master of social proof. They’ve employed it beautifully in their ratings and reviews section. Other examples include LinkedIn’s “Connections” and 37signals’s video testimonials from specific audience representatives.
- Loss aversion is another helpful tactic. We often feel a stronger desire to purchase something when we know there are only a few left. Threadless.com uses this to their advantage by only printing a limited number of each t-shirt design and notifying you when there are only 5 left. The same can be said for Ebay. With their auctioning structure, they create a sense of urgency in the consumer.
- Lastly, you can’t go wrong with likability and gifting. We buy things from people we like, and we feel a sense of debt to those that gift us. Amazon is all over this tactic as well. Have you ever purchased a second item just to get free shipping? I have.
- Convergence 2010: Ten Cool Things That Could Happen This Year / Dan Shust
Wrap Up: The first 15 minutes of this panel were likely the best at SXSW. The panel was broken up into two sessions with 3 speakers per session. After seeing them all, I wish the first speaker had hogged the panel on his own. Dan Shust from Resource Interactive walked us through what is coming this year including:
- Location-based technology how your location will enhance your online engagements whether through apps, social or augmented reality, ex. Gowalla.
- Frontchannel interaction interactions normally regulated to the backchannel will now be more important or engaging than original content, ex. the idea that Twitter will overlay the Superbowl on your TV for a more interactive experience.
- Digital is the new paper consumer tablet computers (think iPad) will reinvent publishing, ex. interacting with ads to buy products immediately.
It’s worth taking a look at the full slide deck here.
- Augmented Reality – Gimmicky Trend or Market-Ready Technology? / Richard Lent, AgencyNet
Augmented reality is just plain cool. You can’t deny that, but setting the hype aside, this panel asked the question “how much of AR is just ‘coolness-factor’, and how much is actually useful and marketable?” There are definitely gimmicky uses out there such as P&G’s female pads campaign, but we’re seeing marketable aspects too as seen in Lego’s new, well-known packaging. The bottom line is that we should remember AR is just another tool; it’s not a starting point.
Jennifer’s Wrap up
- Interactive Infographics / Casey Caplowe, GOOD
Wrap up: I walked into this panel with high hopes for digital eye-candy and got exactly that. Interactive infographics is a relatively new medium and among those at the forefront of the pack are GOOD magazine and The New York Times. The panel shared some of their successful and not-so-successful projects and explained the technology barriers they’re currently facing, particularly with Flash. My biggest take-away from this session was to always let the data do the talking. When taking on an infographic project, ask yourself the question, What are we trying to answer? and go from there. The data will say it all. Below are a few of my favorite infographics that they shared:
- Designing the First Fifteen Minutes / Rob Goodlatte, Facebook
So, truth be told, I was lured into a loose sales pitch with free mimosas while on my way to this session. By the time I got there, the room was full. Tsk, tsk. Instead, let’s talk some more about QR codes!
Wrap up: Rachel covered the “what” and “why” so I’ll speak to the “how” that was addressed in QR Codes & 2D Barcodes:
If you’re considering employing QR codes in your marketing campaign, consider a few rules:
- The URL that the code links to cannot be longer than 25 characters, so consider using url shrinkers if necessary.
- The code should be no smaller than 1″ and it needs a 4 pixel margin of white space around the edges for legibility.
- Be sure to test it in various scenarios. Different materials can effect legibility. For example, the sheen from glossy paper can present a problem.
- Be sure to link to a mobile site since users will be using their phones to access it.
- Is WordPress Killing Web Design? / Dan Oliver, .net Magazine
Wrap up: I should start by saying that I wholeheartedly love WordPress. In fact, I love CMSs. What would we do without them? I walked into this session thinking that there was some great evil in CMSs that I didn’t know about, but as it turns out, that great “evil” just pertains to those nicely prepackaged themes that any Joe Shmo can use. From a designer’s perspective, it’s a given that we frown at using themes. As creative professionals, we should be using our talents to create something unique. However, there is definitely a time and place for themes. They’re great for those individuals that need a nice looking site but either can’t design it themselves or can’t afford to hire a designer.
- Web Accessibility Gone Wild / Jared Smith, WebAIM
Wrap up: This session provided some helpful do’s and don’ts for basic web accessibility. There isn’t a great deal to elaborate on, but I do have some helpful tips for your future accessibility challenges:
- Alt text for images should convey content and function. It’s not necessary to include “image of” when writing this text.
- It’s helpful to have a “skip to the main content” link in your design. You can position it off screen and have it still be accessible to screen readers.
- You don’t need to use or on all instances or for well known terms.
- Screen readers do in fact read javascript and layout tables don’t affect accessibility counter to common belief.
Mackenzie’s Wrap up
- Get Stoked on Web Typography / Samantha Warren, Phase2 Technology
Wrap up: I definitely got stoked during this presentation. Samantha did a great job reminding the audience about how much they love fonts and challenging them to explore different fonts. With programs like Cufon, @fontface and typekit, typography beyond the standard web fonts is possible, however, I couldn’t help but wonder why a designer would choose to sacrifice their design for the users that can’t view their non-web safe fonts, when they could just play it safe by using a web font until non-web safe fonts become the norm. Yes, web fonts are getting boring for designers but there’s a good reason Times is a web-safe font. It’s classic, verstile and safe. What got me stoked even more than the idea of using non-web safe fonts was using web safe fonts better. Check out this amazing layout all created with web fonts by Jon Tan. Now tell me, is that not art? Is that not beautiful? Is that not genius? “It’s not the font you use, it’s how you use it,” Samantha declared. And it was after that exclamation when I got truely stoked!
- Mind Control: Psychology for the Web / Ben Scofield, Viget Labs
Wrap up: Somehow I missed this one so instead I bring you one of my favorite speakers from SXSW Interactive:
PredictablyIrrational: Who Put the Monkey in the Driver’s Seat / Dan Ariely
Wrap up: I loved this topic! Ariely studies human’s irrational behavior and tells us why people don’t always do what we think they’re going to do. Why? Our instinctual behaviors aren’t rational, they’re emotional.
Example 1: Something that is default is easy. We would rather go with the default than learn what the default means and weigh our options. He supported this by showing the audience the percentage of people in different European countries that decided to donote their organs. The numbers made no rational sense. Culturally similar countries had varying percentages. Most countries were either in the 90% range or the 10% range. Why? It was how the question was asked. Some countries asked their citizens to OPT OUT of donating their organs while other countries asked their citizens to OPT IN. The majority of the people just didn’t do anything so the default was what was decided for you. And these are your organs people! What we canlearn from this: always make the default option the one you want your audience to do.
Example 2: People have very little understanding of their choices. They simply don’t know what they prefer. His reference for this was given these options, which trip would you pick? Trip 1 is to Rome for a week all expenses paid. Trip 2 is to Paris for a week all expenses paid. Given you’re not partial to one location or the other, that’s a really hard decision. Now, consider this. Trip 1 is to Rome for a week all expenses paid. Trip 2 is to Paris for a week all expenses paid, except coffee. Now which one would you pick? Well, you’d think Rome since you can drink all the coffee you want while there. Well guess again, the majority of people pick Paris. Why? Because if the coffee isn’t free they assume it must be pretty darn good and worth the trip. Lesson: help your audience make the decision you want them to make.
These were just two of many examples that Ariely shared. For more information on irrational behavior, check out Dan Ariely’s book Predictably Irrational.
- Revealing Design Treasures from the Amazon / Jared Spool, User Interface Engineering Wrap up: Jared Spool is a great speaker. Funny, engaging and insightful. And yes, he revealed some fascinating treasures from Amazon.com. My only thought, how can the average website use these treasures? Engage Through Content: People love reviews. Reviews heavily influence your customers buying habits, so integrating reviews into your website makes perfect sense. Right? The caveat, you need 20+ reviews for a user to trust them and when only 1 in 1,300 purchases result in a review, getting these reviews can be highly difficult to do.
- Don’t Fear New Ideas: Amazon is constantly experimenting with new ideas. Most of which fail but when one works, it’s a keeper. Don’t be afraid to try new things, just know when to pull the plug.
- Eliminate Tool Time: Don’t waste a users time “buying” by making them go through all the typical purchasing stages. Use your tools to make this process as easy and efficient as possible for your customers. Must be nice to be Amazon.
- Never Forget the Business: Always refer to your client’s business model.
Here’s some fun links Jared referenced. Enjoy!
- What Coworking Tells Us About the Future of Work / Panel
Wrap up: Coworking seems to be the way of the future. This panel of four spoke on how coworking, and remote working, currently exists and how they see it growing in the future. With 25% of workers currently working from home one day a week or more, the rise in coworking seems inevitable. Pair that with the fact that companies can save money by not having a body in a seat, employees are happier coworking so retention is high (granted they decide to do so), commuting can be expensive, time consuming and environmentally wasteful and working from home can be more productive for you and your employer, it’s a win-win situation.
Some things to ponder:
- “Work is no longer a place, it’s about communication,” so be sure to use tools to support your time working and have clear communication with your team and manager at all times.
- With the values of upcoming generations not matching the core values of companies anymore, companies will have to adapt to the growing desire of coworking.
- “Competiton for your job is no longer limited to location.” If you want to work from home, be sure you are the best candidate for the job. If you can do great work remotely, so can someone else from anywhere in the world.
What does all of this mean? Hey, if you want to cowork, go for it! It’s definitely doable. Just be sure prepared for the challenges of coworking.
This wrap up likely opens a whole can of worms, so if you have questions, just leave us a comment and we’ll get back to you. Did you attend SXSW Interactive? We’d love to hear what you found most intriguing and inspiring.
Posted by Mackenzie
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