If you imagine for a moment that digital information exist in another world that lies just beneath our feet. A world jam-pack with data and activity, a world of ever increasing importance.

And yet creators of this world it is strange that we are forever looking down, peering through tiny windows to gain access and view a snapshot of what is going on.

Surely this is not right, we should be bringing this world out into our own. Making these windows as large and expansive as possible, through which we can survey and interact with this information. Here is a good example:

and also this:

So why not add this feature to search, users can tailor their results will know the bias of what they are looking at.

We’re rapidly digitising and moving every aspect of our work and personal lives into the cloud. Over time our ability to organise and control this information will become increasingly challenged.

You can guarantee over time a proportion of this information will be lost, discarded or simply forgotten, but the nice thing with digital information is it is rarely physically destroyed. Just the ability to access it is lost.

The vast majority of this inaccessible information will be rubbish, old documents, photos and general digital junk, but some will be valuable and some might well be worth a fortune.

In the next decade we will reach a tipping point, when it becomes worth mining this rubbish to find the nuggets of digital gold hidden within. And then sell them back to their owners or more likely and more worrying the highest bidder.

But for Apple it was easy
They have one device with one OS and one screen resolution
Creating an app for multiple platforms is no fun
In fact, it is a nightmare (believe me I have lived that nightmare)

You begin with one platform – lets say android.
Android define three screen sizes; small, medium and large.
For an app with 10 key screens
You will need to design a total of 30 screens.

Now lets add Java touch (think Nokia).
Maybe just two key resolutions
Thats another 20 screens to design

Now add Java non-touch, Blackberry and Windows
Suddenly you are designing 80 screens for your simple app
thats 8 variations of each screen

This is not a lot of fun for anyone involved in the project
And a huge waste of time and money
(and that is not to mention all the time coding each of these different versions)


This is another great reason to be moving towards HTML 5 apps,
or Cloud Apps as a colleague called them the other day.

We keep the strict UI – this is great for users
We keep the tightly focused functionality – also great for users
We loose the constant updates

And we only design and build one version

This has led to the idea that UX is part of the digital design process.
Something you do between requirements gathering and visual design.
You bring a UX designer in.
They do some UX magic.
And the end user gets a fantastic experience.

What I’m realising is that in reality UX is not just part of the design process.
It is the process.

UX Design is a way of thinking.
A point of view or a design philosophy.
It informs every aspect of the design process.
From requirements gathering through to visual design and the final coding of the site.

If you fail to consider the users experience at anyone of these points you are not truly practicing UX design (or should that be user centred design).