WebWord

Full Sail University is an award-winning online degree program that has become renowned for its extensive courses in media, Web, and game design. The program has led students to a number of career opportunities in the entertainment and media fields.

Students who graduate from Full Sail University have the opportunity to earn associates’, bachelors’, and masters’ degrees in a number of technology-driven areas, including media design, entertainment business, Internet marketing, game development, and many other fields.

While Full Sail University is a top rated school in a number of academic areas, it has become especially well-known in recent years for its emphasis in the areas of usability, user experience, and interactive design.

Usability

When it comes to the study of usability, Full Sail understands how important the topic is for students who may be interested in pursuing careers in media or Web design. Because of this, the university has begun offering a number of courses with curriculum that is designed to teach students how to properly integrate usability patterns into the overall design of the Web sites they build.

Web design courses such as “Human Computer Interaction and Usability,” which is a required course for those studying Web Design and Development, along with “Web Design for Search Engine Optimization,” teach students seeking a bachelor’s degree the concepts and strategies necessary to create successful Web interfaces for consumer-driven audiences.

Throughout these courses, students are asked to examine usability patterns to create intuitive system designs and interfaces. For masters’ level students, additional usability-focused courses, including “Introduction to Web Interface and Usability,” are offered as well.

User Experience

Whether students are seeking bachelors’ degrees in game design, computer animation, Internet marketing, or Web design and development, user experience is a theme that arises in many of the classes taught at Full Sail University. Professors encourage students to use rich media and unique animation approaches to enhance the user experience on a number of student projects that are required over the course of the online program.

Meanwhile, students taking part in classes, such as “Web Design and Development,” are taught that increasing front-end usability can work to make the overall user experience more intuitive and favorable on the Web sites they help to design. The concept is cemented in popular courses like “Rich Media Optimization,” “Scripting for Web Applications,” and “Design Integration.”

Interactive Design

Professors at Full Sail understand the importance of building a Web site that is both interactive and user-friendly, which is why they have integrated the study of interactive design into a number of undergraduate-level courses.

The concept of computer-human interaction is one that is studied intensely throughout “Psychology of Human Interaction,” a required course for Web Design and Development majors. It is also studied by those who choose to take the “Emergent Technologies in a Collaborative Culture” course.

Whether students are interested in careers as interface designers, usability experts, or any other media-related field, understanding the basics of interactive design is a key component to landing a position in the field, which is why the topics are studied so thoroughly by students at Full Sail University.

Author Bio: Stephanie Miles is a freelance writer for Guide to Online Schools.

Established in 1924, the University of San Francisco has a long reputation as a leader in business education and thanks to the implementation of its flexible online learning program, even those unable to make it to the University’s sprawling campus are able to earn a degree using the latest technologies and online learning systems.

Through the University of San Francisco’s online program, students are able to earn advanced certificates or master’s degrees in areas such as Internet marketing, supply chain management, and sales management. Each of these programs is specifically designed for professionals looking to improve their performance on the job or increase their marketability in today’s competitive job market.

It is through these courses that students enrolled in the University of San Francisco’s online program are able to study areas such as usability, user experience, and interaction design in a variety of upper-level classes.

Usability

Usability is emphasized in a number of USF courses. Specifically, for students working to obtain a master’s degree in Internet marketing, usability is covered extensively in the popular course, “Search Engine Marketing and Usability.” The course is designed for those looking to fine-tune their current online strategy, along with those preparing to obtain a Google Advertising Professional Certification. While beginning Web marketers will learn the basic skills necessarily for online usability, those who come into the course with more experience will still be challenged by the course’s emphasis on learning to optimize online presence and marketing efforts.

Starting at week one, instructors give students an overview of what usability truly means in the business world. The lesson is followed up with additional lectures on the topic of information architecture and usability. In addition, students must complete a usability case study as a requirement at the end of the course.

User Experience

USF’s Internet marketing online program employs a number of instructors who are experts in the field of user experience. Understanding proper use of user interaction in website design is a key component for completion of the course “Integrated Online Strategies.” Not only do students receive lectures on the basics of social media and Web 2.0—of which user experience are both major factors—but they are also taught about creative planning opportunities, podcasts, and blogs.

Interactive Design

To become an expert in the field of Internet marketing, individuals must master the concept of interactive design because consumers are much more likely to stay on a Website if an interactive element is present on the page.

In the course “Advanced Web Analytics,” this issue is discussed in great depth. During the second week of the eight-week program, the topic is brought up during a lecture titled, “Visitors: Site Interaction.” In this class, University of San Francisco stresses that in order to succeed in developing effective Web sites and media ventures in the real world, there must be an emphasis made on interactive design. This is a concept that is brought up when discussing traditional analytics components as well, since user variables and site interaction are two imperatives when looking at “vital visitor info.”

At the University of San Francisco’s online program, Internet marketing students are consistently presented with information on the areas of usability, user experience, and interactive design, with the hope that this information and knowledge will prove useful once they enter the working world and begin developing Web sites and marketing campaigns on their own.

Author Bio: Stephanie Miles is a freelance writer for the education site Guide to Online Schools.

Let’s clear the air about a few things.

First, I never said that UX’ers were STUPID. In fact, I implied quite the opposite. UX’ers are freakin’ brilliant. I love them. Hugs, and all that.

(Don’t put words in my mouth. See, I say enough stuff that confuses people without outsiders clouding the waters.)

By the way, to set the record straight, most marketing folks are dumb as rocks. Big, stupid rocks.

Those big, stupid rocks don’t mind being stupid as long as they make a lot of money. And, they don’t mind getting smacked around a little. In fact, it’s part of The Angry Monkey Game.

By the way, let’s clear up something else –

UX’ers *do* make good money. I don’t question THAT…

The numbers don’t lie. A blind man can see that. So, I don’t deny that UX’ers can make a good living. My point is that they have a hell of a time making a GREAT living.

Allow me to use some fancy pants words: UX’ers have a limited ability to make extraordinary income. UX’ers don’t tend to get crazy bonuses. They don’t tend to get paid on commission. They’re income is linear not exponential. Put another way, UX’ers get paid for their time, not their true bottom line VALUE.

The high end compensation ain’t there.

** Ouch. **

The market says this, not me. Throw turds at me if you want but you’re just throwing turds at capitalism. Good luck.

But all that is kind of boring. Here’s what really matters…

And, this keeps us on topic…

UX’ers tend to look inward. UX’ers are naturally introspective. And, they’re mostly a passive lot. Fight this if you want, but UX’ers tell me this. They validate this every time shuffle around and stare at their feet in social situations. Most UX’ers are wallflowers. Most UX’ers are deep thinkers — they care about other people, but at arms length.

Nothing’s wrong with that, and look, I don’t have an incentive to make this stuff up. I’m not slamming UX’ers, if that’s what some of you might be thinking. Hell, I am a UX’er 50% of the time. Or more. I’m not going to poop on myself that much. What I’m doing is spitting out a stereotype that most UX’ers will agree with, if they have the guts to do a self assessment.

‘Nuff said.

OK, next. Let’s do a little contrasting –

Marketing and sales folks look OUTWARD. The Angry Monkey is an engine of creation because he sees the world for what it is — brutally competitive but also full of opportunity. The Angry Monkey sees people in the world as PROSPECTS not USERS.

Sales and Marketing folks focus on building value for *customers* and then extracting cash.

Sales and marketing folks are highly focused on money. Yeah, I’m saying they’re much more greedy than UX’ers. (How controlversial.) They’re ANGRY they don’t have more money. Well, maybe not “angry” but they tend to care an awful lot about the cash. Wink wink, nudge nudge.

That’s also why they call bullshit so often…

I suppose I could give some personal examples of how the Angry Monkey is different than the average UX’er. But, that would be rather disingenious. Plus, I don’t kiss and tell. How freakin’ rude. If you, my dear reader, cannot see the difference between the Angry Monkey and the UX’er, then you need to leave a comment and get it off your chest.

~ John S. Rhodes

p.s. Let me know (publicly of privately) if you want me to talk more about marketing. I’d be happy to share.

I just finished reading a long rant by a marketing genius about complexity. I’m going to extract two lessons for you. Leave me a tip when you pay the bill on the way out…

First, marketing folks are just as angry about complexity as usability professionals. They are human, afterall. The difference between “them” and “us” is that they express their anger, analyze that anger, and turn that anger into an opportunity.

Let’s get all fancy pants with a little quiz. Here’s the question –

Do you see complexity as a problem to be solved or an opportunity?

The difference is profound. It’s why that junior marketing executive is making $187,674 (before the fat, year end bonus) and you’re still making under $100K.

Waaay under $100K.

“But it’s not about the money!”

OK. If you say so.

In that case, let’s move on… That is, if you’re interested in this stuff. If you’re not, that’s cool. I know that many folks reading this think marketing is dirty. (I get it. Usability folks like to poop on me when I talk about marketing.)

The second lesson is HOW this marketing wizard expressed his frustration…

The Wizard was talking to a guy about poorly designed smart cards. And, how the whole process is broken. The rocket scientist — literally, a NASA rocket scientist — didn’t understand the pain. He talked about the elegance and convenience of these pay-as-you-go cards.  The Wizard simple said:

“That’s bullshit!”

He clearly explained that every new smart card requires a new learning curve. You have to LEARN again and again. No matter how simple each card is, you have to learn how to use it. You have to learn the process. If there’s learning involved there probably isn’t enough simplicity. Instead — there’s PAIN.

Marketing guys speak the language of the Angry Monkey…

Any time YOU are frustrated, you are the Angry Monkey. The difference between great marketers and usability professionals is that the great marketers call bullshit when they see it — that’s the language of the Angry Monkey.

The Angry Monkey is HONEST about feeling pain. The Angry Monkey doesn’t have time to put up with bullshit so the Angry Monkey tells you about it. Openly. Instantly. Emotionally.

The Marketing Wizard shared one more thing: We crave simplicity. We crave EASY. We’re starving for it.

Is this an opportunity to you?

Or, is this just something else to research?

Question: Are you hunched over solving problems or do you provide solutions to the starving crowd? I’ve already told you what puts more green in your wallet… Now you know why.

An Angry Monkey,

~ John S. Rhodes

I just sent out the WebWord Newsletter to my subscribers. It was deliberately a friendly note. My tone was quite casual and I was not formal.

Within just a few minutes I received notice that a subscriber dropped. The good news is that this subscriber provided me with some feedback:

“The tone is too friendly and familiar, i first thought it was spam.”

So, this raises many questions. Here are just a few…

1. Is it possible to be too friendly and familiar with subscribers?
2. How formal should email be? What about newsletters?
3. What are subscribers really expecting from you?
4. What is the distinction between formal and informal?
5. Are you losing subscribers by being too casual?

There are a bazillion more questions I could ask. But really, at the end of the day, I’m not going to change my style much. The reason is that I am tired of stuffy emails from stuffy companies. I am going to probably get less formal over time.

I very much intend to build a stronger relationship with my list. That means being more personal. It’s what I would like and it’s what I will do.

If I lose subscribers for being a “nice guy” or for telling the wrong stories about my personal life, I’m fine with that. It’s more important to be me than it is to be one of … them. I know you know what I mean here.

Implications for the design of email newsletters? What do the usability professionals and UX’ers have to say?

~ John

Here’s a link for you; great list:

>> Top 100 UX Blogs

I haven’t seen a list like this re: usability and UX in quite a while. It’s nice to see it.

Of course, I have to laugh a little. I see it as a “linkbait” attempt. Lot’s of people discussed this list and linked to it. (Smart move.)

Note: That link above was originally provided through the WebWord Newsletter.

Here’s another linkbait that I created recently, if you’re trying to figure out what I’m talking about.

How to Generate Web Site Traffic

See? It’s a resource that sucks you in and maybe you want to link to it. I’d love that. Or, maybe you want to Stumble it, Digg it, or bookmark it. Again, I’d love that.

That’s how it works.  Create something useful and — shocker! — people will visit your site, link to you, and drive traffic. Nothing tricky, just smart.

As most readers know, I write articles for Daniel Szuc and Apogee. We’ve just released my latest article…

How Direct Marketing and User Experience Are the Same

The punchline is that direct marketers depend very heavily on data and metrics. Keep in mind that many types of marketing do not focus on measurement and testing. Many marketers only talk about branding, positioning, and marketshare.

Direct marketers, on the other hand, absolutely must measure everything they do. Their success is directly related to how well their efforts convert to sales. Direct marketers care about generating cash, and the only way to do that is to measure and test everything.

This is how direct marketing and user experience (UX) are the same. It’s pretty good stuff when you think about it. There is a real, legitimate tie between marketing and UX. That’s something to cheer about.

I encourage you to talk about the article. Post a comment and let other WebWord and Apogee readers know what you think about this brotherhood.

First, I need to ask you a question. Do you remember faces really well? And, here’s a second question. Do you remember faces better than names? Do you feel frustrated because you remember people when you see them, but you just can’t remember their names? 

Yeah, well, you’re just like 99% of the rest of the world… 

There’s nothing special about your ability to recognize people. It’s also case that most people are terrible with names. You’re human, like the rest of us.

You see, the vast majority of people are really good at recognition. That is, people are good at pattern matching. Recognition is most often described as multiple choice. If you give most people choices, where the right answer is one of the possibilities, then people do fairly well. That’s because we’re all good at recognizing what we know.

That’s pattern matching, and we’re good at it. 

On the other hand, most people are not so good at recall. This is the effort required to come up with the answer yourself. The answer isn’t right in front of you. You’re required to dig into memory on your own, to find the answer. Recall is often described as fill-in-the-blank or writing and essay.

OK, back to the previous topic: names versus faces. It’s just a lot harder to remember names than faces. Humans are wired to recognize and pattern match (and guess), but they’re not so good at digging up memories.  Here’s something that will always help you: cues. In plain terms, if you give someone a piece of the answer (i.e., cue), you will increase accuracy. 

Life is all about cues. If you think you’re going to forget something, leave behind cues. This is why writing notes to yourself is so smart. If you think you’re going to forget then leave behind those breadcrumbs. Design your life in a way that gives you more opportunities for recognition. More recognition and less recall is what you want. 

(Hint: This is why people love name tags!) 

Also, routines help. The reason is that humans fall into patterns. We’re creatures of habit. So, find ways to turn your tasks in routines, which are models that you use over and over. They get burned into your mind and your body, and they become automatic. If you think you’re going to forget something simply turn it into a regular activity. Eventually, it’ll just get cooked right into the hardware. Just watch for forming bad habits. 

By the way, if you have a routine, then you don’t need to depend on your memory. You just “know” it. There’s hardly any recall and just a little recognition. In essence, routines help you circumvent the problems you face with your memory, almost entirely. (This is also known as automaticity.) 

The third user experience mind trick is association. I could go on and on about mnemonic devices, which is a fancy way of saying memory aids. The core truth of a mnemonic device is that it’ll be about association. When I see a cat, I think “meow” or when I think about the word wife, I think about the word husband. There are millions and billions of ways to make associations. In fact, that’s what mnemonics are all about: ways to form associations.

Here’s a little tip. When you first meet someone, be sure to say that person’s name 1-2 times while talking to them. Don’t be afraid to ask the person their name again. It’s not rude. Most importantly — this is the magic — create a story about the person during the conversion or immediately after. Associate that person with something. It might be how they spell their name, how they walk, where they grew up, or something else. The key is to generate easy cues you can use in the future. You’re creating cues, if you think about it. 

So, let’s recap. The big point is that recognition is generally better than recall. You life gets better when you depend on recognition more than recall. 

And, here are 3 user experience (UX) mind tricks regarding memory improvement: 

1. Look for cues, create cues, use cues. Cues are lovely. 

2. If you want to remember something, don’t depend on your memory: automate it. Routines are great.

3. Form associations. John S. Rhodes and usability and marketing and WebWord. Bam!

I hope you found this little posting useful and entertaining. Please Stumble it, Digg it, and bookmark it. Feel free to give it some chocolate chip cookies. This posting loves cookies.

I’ll get to marketing with RSS in just a moment. I’m going to give you a little background first. The context is useful. 

Many readers have been asking why WebWord hasn’t been updated regularly. The biggest reason is that I’ve been working like a dog with my brother on our marketing web site. Let me explain…

More than two years ago, I said that marketing and usability go hand-in-hand. Nothing happened. So, instead of complaining, I took action. I’ve been doing enormous amounts of research and writing, just not in usability (except for Apogee).

Enough background. Time to talk about marketing with RSS!

After spending hours and hours of research on the topic of RSS, I wrote up a report especially for internet marketers. The result was RSS Super Glue which explains how to combine, filter, and exploit RSS for marketing puposes.

Most internet marketers don’t care about technology itself. Instead, they care how they can use it for financial gain. What I’ve done in my RSS marketing report is clearly show how to publish articles (e.g., on a blog or EzineArticles) and have them “magically” transported to a Squidoo lens. I also demonstrate how to set up a blog to automatically feed an autoresponder, with virtually no effort. I even show how to multi-purpose and re-distribute your eBay listings in just a few minutes.

The RSS Super Glue has sold really well because of one thing. I’ve focused on the wants and needs of my customers. I didn’t waste any time explaining RSS or any other technology, except where absolutely needed. Instead, I explained how to get the job in simple terms. I provide recipes and steps that anyone can follow.

Without my usability background I would have buried my customers with jargon and useless technical trivia. That would have been a major mistake. For internet marketers, the serious firepower of RSS isn’t what it is, but what it can do.

I think you’ll be very pleased with an eye tracking video that Andy Edmonds pointed me to just recently. He spends nearly 7 minutes clearly explaining the benefits of eye tracking research to internet marketers.

This is pure gold for people designing web sites. Usability professionals should be paying attention to this application of eye tracking research. If you’re a user experience aficionado, don’t miss it. Andy does a fantastic job.

By the way, there’s more to the video than just Andy Edmonds and eye tracking. There are some excellent sections on page rank, Adwords, duplicate content issues, and a lot more. So, set aside about 30 minutes. Invest the time and learn about eye tracking and a whole lot more.

Obviously this sink doesn’t afford easy and instant use.

–

(Don’t forget to )

Definitely for über geeks…