With Direct Connect, you can automatically add Google+ pages to your circles from Google Search. Just add + in front of the page you’re searching for. Music: Urbana-Metronica (wooh-yeah mix), by spinningmerkaba.

Gift givers can scan a QR code, record a personal voice message and affix the tag to their gift.

In 1995, during the making of his TV series Triumph of the Nerds about the birth of the PC, Bob Cringely did a memorable hour-long interview with Steve Jobs.

It was 10 years since Jobs had left Apple following a bruising struggle with John Sculley, the CEO he had brought into the company. At the time of the interview Jobs was running NeXT, the niche computer company he had founded after leaving Apple.

During the interview, Jobs was at his charismatic best — witty, outspoken, visionary. In the end, only a part of the interview was used in the series and the rest was thought lost. But recently a VHS copy was found in the series director’s garage. Now, cleaned up with modern technology, and put into context by Cringely, the entire interview will be screened in Landmark Theatres.

In the interview Jobs talks about his pioneering days with Steve Wozniak, when they built a Blue Box and phoned the Pope; how they — “two guys who didn’t know much” — assembled the first Apple computer and went on to found the Apple company. “I was worth around a million dollars when I was 23, over 10 million dollars when I was 24 and over 100 million dollars when I was 25 — and it wasn’t really important!” Jobs recalls the visits he made to Xerox Palo Alto Research Center and how it inspired the making of the Macintosh, the world’s first modern PC, when he was “on a mission from God to save Apple.” He talks frankly and sadly about his enforced departure from Apple and explains what he is doing at NeXT (which he would soon sell to Apple and whose software would then be at the heart of the first iMac’s operating system). Finally in spell-binding terms, he offers his vision of a digital future — a world of wonderful products created by artists and poets.

It is an interview that reveals the burning passion of Steve Jobs, a passion that would go on to give us the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. As a tribute to an amazing man, Landmark is proud to be screening Steve Jobs — the Lost Interview.

iPad vs. iPhone: A User Experience Study

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Our 2-year-olds can use it. It’s a brilliant entertainment device. But what sort of business potential does the iPad offer? Several companies have shown interest in mobile payment systems from startups like Square to mega-corporations like Visa. But what is the iPad’s user experience in a real-world, business environment?

By now, one thing we know is that the iPad is not simply a larger iPhone, nor is it a smaller computer. Developers have been quick to port their apps from the iPhone to the iPad to ensure they don’t miss out on this trend, but there are big differences in the underlying specs and form factor of the iPad that make this a fundamentally different user experience.

Lucky for us, Bolt | Peters likes researching UX, and we thought this topic deserved a little investigation. So we conducted an observation of 14 customers over three months at our neighborhood coffee shop, Sightglass, that just happened to be an early user of Square on both the iPhone and the iPad. We observed and recorded those customers’ mobile payment interactions with the Square app, and interviewed select customers. Our first study was in December 2009 (with the iPhone) with a follow-up in April 2010 (with the iPad).

Two important business considerations came from our studies: (1) speed kills (in a good way), and (2) shared is the new private. If you’re thinking that nothing statistically valid can come from observing such a small sample of interactions, the Internet is chock full of data supporting that behavior repeats over a very small sample, and that we can safely extract patterns to much larger audiences, as long as we’re not talking about opinions. We were definitely not observing people’s opinions about the iPad or iPhone; we are strictly interested in how they accomplish the simple task of paying for coffee.

Speed Kills

In our observations of mobile payment transactions at Sightglass, the time it took to complete a purchase using Square on the iPad was more than twice as fast as using Square on the iPhone. In one direct comparison, it took 20.5 seconds to complete a purchase with the iPad, but 44.1 seconds on an iPhone 3G.

As slaves to our digital devices, we find that the physical world is constantly competing for our attention. Seconds matter here. This hasn’t been an issue with computing until very recently; usability scientists in the 90‘s claimed 8 to 15 seconds was the maximum time someone would wait for an interaction using a desktop computer (see Shackel’s Acceptability Paradigm). But with any kind of portable device, seconds mean the difference between a seamless user experience and pocketing the device to pay with cash or talk to a stranger.

Watch video of our study:

A 100% increase in speed is a huge deal. It means the merchant was effortlessly ringing up customers one after another with fewer clicks and less down time on the iPad. There was more time to prepare other customers’ drinks and less time spent hunched over a handheld device waiting for the transaction to complete. Keep in mind that for Sightglass, a boutique coffee kiosk, the iPhone as a point-of-sale system was still superior to accepting cash only; they had no other cash register.

We all have heard by now that the iPad’s 1GHz processor is light years ahead of the current iPhone, although this has changed now that Apple has gotten back all its "stolen" 4G iPhones and released them to the public. And while it seems obvious, this speed in the iPad makes for more than just a casually better user experiences and positive outcomes for business prospects. It’s the first time that seconds are a fundamental part of user experience in almost a decade of personal computing.

Shared is the New Private

The form factor and physical affordances of the iPad also change the nature of the game. The iPad is not pocket sized, it has a large screen (1024 x 768 at 132ppi), and it naturally lays flat on the table as opposed to resting upright or being tucked away in your hand. All of these factors place the iPad squarely in the realm of a shareable computing device.

Notice how easy it is to view content on iPad. The screen can easily be viewed by 3-4 users sitting around in a circle or gazing over the shoulder. An iPhone with its 480x320 screen would be squinted at by neighbors, or would simply be passed around and handled individually.

And as a shared device, the iPad invites social interaction.

This actually proves to be somewhat of a pain point in the user experience of Square on the iPad, as customers are drawn to interacting with (or at least observing) their payment transactions. Yet iPad users today are now largely removed from the transaction, apart from providing their credit card as a form of payment.

After that, the merchant drives the interaction. Since the iPad Square app doesn’t require customer signatures anymore, we observed merchants skipping over the (optional) tipping screen time and again. When asked about this, merchants said it was too awkward to ask aloud, “And would you like to add a tip to that?” One time the transaction proceeded so quickly that a customer commented at the end, “This is great! But where do I tip?”

Part of the reason for this shift in experience is that Sightglass’ iPad is more like a cash register than a hand-held mobile device. This is made possible, in part, by a custom wooden holder that was specially designed for Sightglass. The holder keeps the iPad upright and angled in such a way that it’s readable and easy to interact with by people standing at the counter. Plus it swivels and hides all the ugly cords and stuff.

Take a look at the side-by-side comparison of a mobile payment transaction on the iPhone versus the iPad, paying attention to all the open space surrounding the iPad.

It’s interesting that customers want to engage with merchants during payment, but don’t quite know what their role is supposed to be. Around normal cash registers, customers would never step behind the table and complete their own transaction. With the iPhone Square app, customers were required to complete their own transaction. And now with the iPad, do the customers step up and add their own tip—entering the private space of the merchant and cash register—or stay clear of the transaction altogether?

We observed one telling interaction that illustrated how the affordances of the iPad-cum-cash-register can lead to some awkwardness. In this case, the merchant swiped the customer’s card (per usual) but immediately stepped away from the iPad to prepare another customer’s drink. This left the payment process in limbo, and made the paying customer wonder what would happens next.

After a moment or two, the customer glanced down at the iPad and noticed that the transaction had paused on the screen asking for a tip. He looked around, hesitated, and then gingerly reached over and pressed the $1 tip button. He did the same on the next screen, where he entered an email address for a receipt, only stepping closer to use the iPad keyboard. Throughout this episode, his body language spoke of his social curiosity for the iPad mixed with the social taboo of entering the domain of the merchant.

Now, this is just one example of how the physical affordances and social invitation of the iPad can lead to awkward user experiences, especially for customers involved in mobile payment transactions. At the same time, customers were not involved in most of the transactions at Sightglass, making the user experience for the merchant quick, painless, and efficient.

5 Ways to Be Persuasive in Your UX Work

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In your work as a UX professional, do you ever find that you need to convince people that the team should follow a user-centered design process? Do you need to convince stakeholders they should do user research? Do you try to get user experience thinking inserted earlier in the project lifecycle? Perhaps you need to sell yourself or your company? I certainly do. In fact, I find that there are many of these persuasive moments in the practice of user experience design. To be successful as a UX professional, you need to know how to be persuasive.

Being good at persuading people is particularly important in our profession, for a variety of reasons. First, many business stakeholders and partners do not understand what UX design is all about. They don’t understand the basis for many UX design principles or how a user-centered design process leads to intuitive design solutions. Second, because they all interact with an increasing number of user interfaces, they develop their own opinions about what works and what doesn’t. It is the UX professional’s job to persuade stakeholders and decision makers that their personal biases and opinions might not always suggest the best design solutions.

Recognizing the importance of persuasive skills, I was very intrigued when a speaker at a recent conference recommended the book 27 Powers of Persuasion by Chris St. Hilaire. I immediately read the book and several others on the psychology of persuasion and have since tried to apply the lessons I learned in my work. While the psychology of persuasion is universal—people use it to sell things, get their way at home, and in so many other ways—I have found that there are certain persuasive skills that are particularly applicable to the practice of UX design. While they may seem like common sense, if you take the time to review them, practice them, and remind yourself to use them, they’ll come more naturally in the heat of an argument or when you’re in an important meeting.

1. Be Likable

“Persuading others is much easier if they like you.”

In the literature, this is a common theme: persuading others is much easier if they like you. If you can develop a personal connection with the folks on your team, they will be less defensive and more likely to work with you. How do you make yourself likable?

First, start with the basics of etiquette. Smile. Make eye contact and offer a firm handshake. If someone asks you how you are, answer, but make sure to ask about how he or she is doing, too. Complement people, thank them for taking time out of their day to meet with you, and find something you may share in common outside of work. These are little things, but if you remind yourself to do them, you will be in a better position to persuade people when you need to.

Second, find something that you like about the people you work with. Under the stress of deadlines and in a fast-paced work environment, it is easy to focus on annoying habits or personal styles that you dislike. But, if you focus on those things, it will affect your demeanor in a negative way. Find something positive about other people you work with and your interactions with them will organically become more positive—and you will be in a better position to persuade them.

I had this experience with a CEO I was working with on a project. The CEO was very direct, dismissed some of the finer details that we were considering on a project, and used obscure metaphors to try to make his points about design. When I was younger, I might have thought that CEO was crazy and didn’t know what he was talking about in relation to design. But, instead, I focused on the positive aspects of his behavior. I appreciated that he was trying to challenge us to think outside the box and innovate rather than getting caught up in the details. I chose to like that aspect of his approach and leveraged it to develop a successful, long-term business relationship with him.

Finally, don’t be afraid to be different. I used to believe in the old mantra that you should dress to match the people you’re trying to persuade. Lessons in the books on persuasion, though, suggested that if you present yourself as being the same as the people you’re trying to persuade, you’ll give them the impression that you’re not offering anything new. Be yourself, and you are likely to be more comfortable, more likable, and in a better position put others at ease.

2. Be the User Experience Geek

“Another key aspect of successful persuasion … is establishing your credibility. … Having the ability to explain and rationalize design decisions helps establish your credibility….”

Another key aspect of successful persuasion cited in the literature is establishing your credibility. In the profession of user experience, this means you have to show people that you understand the science of human factors, cognitive psychology, and design. Having the ability to explain and rationalize design decisions helps establish your credibility and separates you from others who bring their own personal biases and opinions to an argument.

Language is important in this regard. You should be able to make reference to the actual design principles that are guiding your viewpoint. Refer to decision architecture and the power of social influence. Talk about specific research protocols such as the repertory grid, lotus blossom technique, or design studio rather than research, brainstorming, or workshops. Anything that has a principle associated with it is good—for example, Gestalt principles, the Scarcity Principle, or the Four Plus or Minus Two Principle. Developing a vocabulary around the foundations of our profession will position you as someone who knows what they are talking about.

That being said, your tone and delivery of these principles is critical. You don’t want to sound demeaning or confrontational. Many of the books on persuasion suggest that the best way to deliver this type of expertise is in a helpful, educational way. Position your message in a way that helps to educate a group so they can make good decisions—not to show yourself off as a know-it-all.

3. Bring Your Empathy with You

“By their nature, UX professionals are empathetic toward users. To be persuasive, you need to apply this same empathy to team members who you are working with.”

By their nature, UX professionals are empathetic toward users. To be persuasive, you need to apply this same empathy to team members who you are working with. Recognize that everyone is motivated by something different. If you don’t and instead try to argue directly against other people’s perspective or agenda, they will perceive you as not working toward the good of the group, and you will have a difficult time generating consensus. There are a couple of tricks in the books on persuasive psychology that can help with this.

First, acknowledge others’ point of view, take the emotion out of your side of the argument, and present the usability or user experience perspective. In 27 Powers of Persuasion, Chris St. Hilaire suggests that just using the word perspective is important. By referring to the user experience perspective, you are implicitly acknowledging that there are other perspectives—all of which should be considered equally. Again, tone is important. You should not suggest that the user experience perspective is the most important perspective. Rather, it should be one of many important perspectives that it’s necessary to consider during a discussion to achieve the best group decision.

Second, ask questions to make sure you understand what is motivating a different opinion. If you jump to a quick judgment about a design idea or a process someone else proposes, you might miss the rationale behind that idea and an opportunity to build on something for the good of the group. This is hard to do in the heat of an argument, but asking questions should come naturally to UX researchers.

Third, if you are considering a specific decision, try presenting a user experience rationale for both sides of an argument. By doing this, not only are you acknowledging the different perspectives, you are empowering others to weigh the pros and cons and giving them a choice.

4. There Is No I in User-Centered Design Team—Okay, Maybe Just One I

“Your real goal should be getting your perspective heard, then generating consensus and making smart decisions that take all perspectives into account.”

While the principles of persuasion I’ve discussed so far may appear to be techniques to get your way, your real goal should be getting your perspective heard, then generating consensus and making smart decisions that take all perspectives into account. Literature on the psychology of persuasion offers the idea that people naturally want to be united. If there is disagreement in a room about particular issues, people generally gravitate toward those who unite the group, not those who steadfastly try to push their own agenda. If a group can perceive you as a uniting person, who is most interested in the success of the group as a whole, you will be more likely to influence the group to hear your side of the story.

One way to play a uniting role is to remind people of the ultimate goal. For example, in a meeting, if you restate the goals of the meeting, or in an email, if you reiterate the top-level goals of a project, others will see you as someone who is interested in the best interests of the group.

Language is also important in this regard. As much as possible, try to say we rather than I. Even for outside consultants or agencies, referring to a project team collectively can help you define your unifying role and position you to be more likely to persuade.

5. When All Else Fails, Go Subconscious

“If you don’t agree with an idea that someone has proposed, don’t argue directly against it. Instead, offer another idea.”

The most interesting aspects of my reading on persuasiveness were the tips and tricks that you can leverage to persuade subconsciously. A few of those most relevant to UX design include the following:

• Yes, and…. Even if you disagree with a point someone else has made, acknowledge their point with Yes, then follow that up by stating your rationale and idea. The act of saying Yes makes others less defensive and more apt to hear your side.
• Copy physiological and verbal cues. If another person has certain mannerisms or patterns of speech, copying them will make them subconsciously feel more connected to you, and you will seem more likable and persuasive to them. Of course, you should not do this mockingly or jokingly. But done subtly, it can be effective.
• Don’t say No, say Let’s try this. If you don’t agree with an idea that someone has proposed, don’t argue directly against it. Instead, offer another idea. By adding more ideas to the mix, you are giving people an opportunity to compare their idea to yours, without actually saying no to them and alienating them.

Books on persuasive skills present a variety of other techniques. Find the ones that are most natural and work best for you.

Conclusion

“If you understand the basics of persuasion…, you can improve your overall effectiveness and increase the impact you have in your work.”

To be successful in your work as a UX professional, you have to be good at persuasion. This does not mean being manipulative or demeaning. If you understand the basics of persuasion and constantly monitor and refine your persuasive skills, you can improve your overall effectiveness and increase the impact you have in your work.

A Wake-Up Call for Collaboration

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The ability to integrate creative, media and technology to meet the demands of your always-on consumer is ideal. However, most traditional lead agencies don’t have those capabilities just yet, nor are most digital agencies prepared to handle lead agency duties. Coordination of your agencies is not enough — you need to move more aggressively toward true collaboration. We’ve identified five big barriers to essential agency collaboration.

Is agency collaboration something you struggle with?

People now consume 12 hours of media in just 9 hours of elapsed time, according to a recent Harvard Business Review study.^[1] Consumers use a lot of media types all at once and now brands need to catch up. To do so, marketers must change how they work with their agencies.

If you are a CMO or a brand leader, you are probably using multiple agencies to meet the demands of your always-on consumer. A lead agency that can integrate creativity, media and technology would be a great solution, but traditional lead agencies aren’t yet capable. In 2009, Forrester Research set off a mini industry tempest when it reported that only 23 percent of interactive marketers felt traditional agencies were equipped to handle interactive marketing work.^[2] Fast forward two years and Forrester still reports that only 30 percent of those surveyed use their traditional agencies for digital marketing, and in fact 68 percent of those marketers work with two or more agencies. Some reportedly have more than 15 agencies on their interactive rosters.^[3] By the same token, most digital agencies aren’t yet ready to handle lead agency duties. In three to five years, the landscape will look different, but for now marketers have to deal with a patchwork of agencies that are channel specialists and all the complexity that comes from that.

What can you do now to drive the integration of creativity, media and technology that you need to truly engage consumers? Coordination of agencies is not enough — you need to move more aggressively toward collaboration. And guess what? Agency folk want more collaboration — or at least they claim they do.

So, what are you waiting for? If you are a CMO or brand leader and you’re not pushing your agencies for deep collaboration, you’re missing out on a big opportunity.

We have seen five big barriers to collaboration:

As a brand marketer, you probably have more confidence in one area of the marketing mix or the other. Perhaps you are a digital native who lives and breathes ones and zeroes, and now you’ve been promoted to look after the whole mix. Or maybe you’re a “traditional” marketer with a strong legacy of brand building, but you’ve had your run with TV commercials. You find digital exciting, but daunting and maybe even a bit over-hyped. Wouldn’t life be better if your agencies were bringing truly integrated ideas to you?

Success can dull the competitive edge. We have seen many marketers and their agency teams not adapt fast enough because they haven’t had to. Sometimes a great track record can put you in a position for future failure. Similarly, agencies, particularly account people, are protective of their turf. Unless they feel their piece of the pie is protected, change will be difficult.

Some above-the-line agency teams believe that: 1) digital agencies don’t have anything of value to contribute to the conversation, or that 2) their team is already leading the way in digital.

Digital agency teams tend to fall down in two places: 1) they don’t fully respect the power of offline communications, or 2) they aren’t able to lift out of the tactical and into the strategic, and they fail to put their work in this broader strategic context. This leads clients and above-the-line agencies to keep them in their digital silo.

Clients are often organized into silos that make it very difficult to plan with a focus on how the consumer and the brand should engage. There are different client owners for traditional creative, digital creative, media, PR and other elements of the mix, too. When agencies report into different silos, true collaboration will not occur.

Despite these barriers, we have had success with our clients and our agency partners. We recently formalized our partnership with BBH at Unilever, a client with whom we’ve had a lot of success rethinking the model. Here are some lessons we’ve learned on getting the best work out of the right people:

Establish the process. In order to get the most out of each agency, make sure you define a clear process for them to work together. You need to clarify the boundaries of their engagement, expectations and ownership. One exercise we went through with a partner agency was to play the “what if” game. We talked through all of the worst-case scenarios we could imagine and how we would handle them when things went wrong. It was a fun game and a great way to talk through problems in an environment where emotions weren’t running high. While you’re at it, examine your own organization. Agencies tend to organize around their clients, so if your organization is siloed, it’s likely that your agencies will be, too. Even if you don’t change your structure, make sure your organization is aligned and not operating in silos defined by channel.

Demand creative and media collaboration. Creative collaboration starts with a solid brief delivered to all agencies simultaneously. Unearthing an insight that reflects true audience behaviors is critical to crafting a relevant message, no matter who makes it or when it’s launched. The brief needs to nail the business objectives, brand DNA and the digital behaviors — with the goal of tapping into the rituals that are ripe territory for the brand. We recently found that if we allow the above-the-line agency to own the brand DNA, we can own the digital behaviors, thereby making sure they are embedded into the ideas. This will enable your creative teams to come back with a true creative platform — not just a single execution that’s stretched across channels. One-hit television campaigns or social campaigns do not a platform make. Don’t settle for anything less than a robust creative platform. Huge bonus points if your media agency is part of the team. A successful channel plan is one that considers how to leverage each channel in a way that makes the whole greater than the parts. You’ll find that when media and creative teams work together, you’ll get deeper consumer engagement. And just to be certain that the ideas are inherently social and engaging, we have found it beneficial to include explanations in the brief. Use the brief to articulate why the insights point toward engagement.

Protect compensation and provide incentives that drive alignment. Incentives are a powerful lever that should be pushed to drive behavior. Agencies should be rewarded for collaboration. Ultimately they need to be rewarded for great work and business impact, but consider this to be part of a journey. They need to know that their piece of the business is protected. While strategy is shared, execution should be handled by channel experts so that change is managed gradually. In addition to giving agencies a safety net, give them a reason to jump higher. For one client we (us and the ATL agency both) receive a bonus if we help the client exceed key business targets.

Keep a slush fund. A key to successful marketing is figuring out how to integrate always-on and episodic (campaign-based) communications. Great creative platforms should have plenty of legs and should be responsive to consumer engagement. This creates a great opportunity for agency collaboration, but as the client you need to set aside some money in order to create relevant content or utilities that can stoke a fire that you may have created. When we created the Mercedes–Benz Tweet Race last year, we saw that there was a lot of curiosity about the tweet-powered vehicles. We jumped on the buzz and created a spoof video of German engineers driving cars with their mobile devices. It helped ignite a lot of interest. You need to start planning for what you can’t plan.

Create urgency. Without a substantial reason to change behavior, it will not change. You, the client, have the greatest ability to create urgency. You need to set a high bar. For instance, point to competitors or other brands that are doing it well. And you need to shift the risk. Tell your agencies that if they fail by trying something new and different, you will embrace it, but if they fail by not collaborating, it will be a strike against them.

In the end, agency collaboration is rooted in something very fundamental — trust. Your agencies need to trust each other to produce great work. By setting up a clear process, demanding creative collaboration, and planning for the unplanned, you can go a long way toward setting up the structure and incentives that your agencies need to build trust amongst each other. With a solid foundation in place you can count on your agencies to do their job exceptionally well.

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This year let’s bring the season to life with the Starbucks Cup Magic app. Use the app to find and scan all five Starbucks Holiday Characters - on Red Cups, Christmas Blend bags, in-store and more - and watch as they magically come to life through augmented reality on your mobile device. Who knows what holiday magic you’ll discover…