EVENTS
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Ignite Columbus 2 >
Columbus, Ohio
January 21st, 2009Ideas Welcome- 20 presenters, 5 minutes a presentation, come join us for Ignite Columbus 2 - 6-9pm.
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World Usability Day >
Miamisburg, OH
November 13th, 2008Katie & Sri presenting: Experiential Heuristics: Moving Beyond Usability
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What Have You Done For Me Lately? - a Design Research Work Session with Lextant >
Seattle, WA
October 9th, 2008What have you done for your local chapter of IDSA and what has your local chapter of IDSA done for you? Attend and see.
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Our observations of the world around us
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Memo to online dating sites: you can do better
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Being a user experience expert with a degree in psychology gave me highly qualified insight into…my recent attempts at online dating. And if there’s anything I can offer these website developers, it’s that a different approach is needed to portray a more “honest” perspective on what the experience will likely entail for new users.
In my experiences with research, a redundant theme is that users don’t want to be lied to — they don’t want sunshine where the sun don’t shine. Users want a realistic expectation to be set about the experience into which they’re about to drop some serious coin.
So, I’d like to translate into plain English some of the standard slogans, tactics, and promises that Match.com uses to “lure” people to join the site.
“Worlds Largest Online Dating Service” Translation: we aren’t selective at all so if you aren’t either, this is the place for you.“We guarantee you’ll meet someone in 6 months or your next 6 months are free” Well, therein lies the rub. You need to do some rigorous emailing and be pretty aggressive to get this deal, which they do not advertise. This makes it much more difficult to be selective about who you talk to on the site. If you are, this deal is not for you.
Winking. Simply put, very annoying. “Winking” at someone, an online nudge designed to get your attention, should be limited. As a young woman, I received over 10 “winks” a day from people I like to call “serial winkers”. Match.com should not allow people to wink at others if they A. don’t meet my specifications for someone that I’m looking for (e.g. men under 32) and B. They wink at more than 1 person a day on average. Limitations on this specific feature would make for a much less aggressive environment and would allow women specifically to feel much less attacked and annoyed.
I must qualify my cynicism with one caveat: I did meet someone interesting on match.com. So overall, I’d say the site did its job. But as far as user experience is concerned, online dating sites as a whole can do much more to improve the experience. Matters of the heart are sensitive, so be sensitive to your users’ needs by making it the most comfortable environment possible. If you need help, Lextant would be happy to do your research and redesign.