iQ Blog / we write about design and business (and sometimes we make puns)

The iQ Content Intern Programme: Shek’s View

November 22, 2011 by John Wood

Following my introduction to the iQ Content Intern programme 2011 I’m pleased to publish a blog post by Shek, who was the UX designer on our Qrawler project. Shek conducted user research, defined requirements, and did the interaction design and prototyping on the project. I really enjoyed working with Shek, he was an enthusiastic and energetic member of the intern team and produced some really great pieces of interaction design. Here are his thoughts on the challenges, Wins and lessons for him from his participation in the Intern programme.

About me

Hello, I am Shek, a student on the MSc Human-Centred Systems at City University, London. I applied for the intern position at iQ Content in January, looking for opportunities for personal development and as part of my masters degree. After interviewing with John, I was offered a place on the intern programme as the UX designer on a team with 3 other interns. As UX Designer, I was responsible for conducting user research, concept development, interaction design, and for documenting and communicating design to the rest of the team and project stakeholders. Continue Reading →

Cultural differences in usability testing around the world

November 10, 2011 by Irene Dehaene

Ever wondered if you should receive a candidate with a handshake, a kiss or a bow?  We know the Irish love to talk, but in which countries will you have to work hard to get test participants to share their thoughts – or even harder to stop them sharing quite so much?  And how many candidates should I recruit to anticipate the drop out rate in that country?
 
We’ve all faced questions like this from time to time. But help is at hand. To mark World Usability Day, the UX Alliance have taken a look at the lessons learned in user testing around the world. So, if you are planning a user testing session overseas soon, the hints and tips in this report could be invaluable. With thanks to the input from all the UX Alliance members and our own Brian. 
Cultural differences in usability testing around the world
 
 

The iQ Content Intern Programme 2011

October 24, 2011 by John Wood

I get a number of inquiries every month from people requesting an internship at iQ Content. With one exception, though, we have never taken on an intern. This bothered me. User Experience can be a hard business to break into, and the sort of real work experience we can provide is invaluable. I had always reasoned that we were too busy to do this well, and if we couldn’t do it well then I’d rather not do it at all.

That was a lame excuse, to be honest, so this summer we hired four interns on the first iQ Content Intern Programme. In this post, I want to tell you how we designed this programme, what it involved and introduce the interns to you. Over the coming weeks, we’ll see further posts telling the story of the programme from the interns’ perspective as well as some analysis from me on how it went and what we are planning for next year. Continue Reading →

A report card on Irish mobile banking: An outsider upstages them all

September 18, 2011 by Brian Donohue

A few months ago the UX Alliance asked its members around the globe to evaluate mobile banking applications within their country. The result was a unique insight into banking apps from over 20 countries across 5 continents.

There were lots of detailed observations about what makes a really good banking app, but fundamentally what it showed was how far behind the Irish banks are when it comes to mobile.

And it’s not just the countries who you’d expect to have good mobile banking, even the less usual suspects — Chile, Russia, South Africa and Poland — offer their customers more than the big banks here in Ireland:

Continue Reading →

A mobile call to action

September 12, 2011 by Laurence Veale

Every year since 2006 has been heralded as the year of the mobile.

With smartphone penetration in Ireland at over 50% in some segments, perhaps the prophecy has finally been fulfilled (or is likely to be very soon).

Smartphone penetration is up to 50% in the 24-35 age segment
But what does this mean in real terms for the ecommerce or online marketing manager?

Continue Reading →

Is Google+ full of rubberneckers?

August 12, 2011 by Colman Walsh

Are people really using Google+? During one of my intermittent visits I noticed the threadbare nature of my “stream”. Whereas my Facebook account has a never ending flow of news, the last update from friends on Google+ was four days old.

Admittedly I don’t have many friends in my “circle”, just 23. But still, I would expect a little bit more chatter, particularly among people who are so talkative on Facebook and Twitter.

So, while adoption rates have been impressive (25m+ and rising), are the new users just a collection of the curious, the nerdy adopters and people like myself who work in the internet industry and feel compelled to check it out? And if so, can Google really build a community out of rubberneckers?

Hot with a fever to find the truth, I conducted an entirely unscientific straw poll among colleagues to see how engaged we are with Google+. Here’s what I found:

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The EU Cookie Directive

July 27, 2011 by Colman Walsh

Anybody familiar with certain UK newspapers will know that the EU has a track record of poorly drafted legislation, leaving itself open to dramatic misinterpretation. The most famous was probably the “bent banana directive” which ruled that bananas must be “free of abnormal curvature”, causing much hilarity and fun-making among Eurosceptics.

The EU Cookie Monster

Continue Reading →