Reply to comment

I recently attended an inspiring, energetic event called UXCamp DC 2010 (#uxcampdc) with Jared Spool and a number of others who are completely passionate about the topic. Forum One was a sponsor, and several of my colleagues from our user experience and design team lead sessions on topics ranging from tips on quick and simple audience analysis to learning from design mistakes and making client engagement fun in a group setting.

I sat in on a session by Joe Sokohl that turned out to be a tour of three lovely and inspiring homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and a discussion about how we can apply lessons from his architectural genius to information architecture. In essence, how we can think outside the box and be inspired to present knowledge, imagery, and ideas  in simple, creative and intuitive ways online?
One of my favorite creative examples Wright's solution to accommodate a large, round vase he had received from some of his students that wouldn't fit on a narrow window ledge.  Instead of widening the ledge or putting the vase somewhere more practical, he cut out a circle of glass in the window behind the vase so it could sit squarely on the ledge. This meant that a segment of the vase stuck out, exposed to the elements, but the house (Taliesin West) is in Arizona, so the elements weren't really a problem.  It reminded me of one of my favorite designs -- for the U.S. Institute for Peace's "Building for Peace," where the designer has layed a yellow bar chart over the banner image instead of aligning it in the right column. Thanks for the creative tour, @mojoguzzi! 

(Incidentally, here's a lovely set of images of several Wright homes with brilliant green foliage as a backdrop. I've never been to one, but this talk certainly inspired me to add them to my list.)

Another session I enjoyed was a collaborative conversation about how one can possibly "measure" design. How do you really know if the architecture and graphic design of a web site is good? Or bad? The session turned into a brainstorm of useful metrics, and the group together came up with some pretty good benchmarks that could be refined and turned into a reasonable way to assess design.
Here is the list:

• Desirability: Do people enjoy the site?
• Throughput/efficiency:  Do they stick with it/not give up?
• Usability
• Inspirational: Does it make people want to do their job?
• Findability: Can users find what they need?
• Learnability: Can frequent visitors easily learn the navigation so they become comfortable with it?
• Memorability
• Would users be likely to recommend it to friends & colleagues?
• Flexibility: Will we be able to improve it over time?
• Adaptability: Can it be used in multiple mediums?
• Speed: Does it function quickly?  Can users accomplish their tasks quickly?
• User confidence: Is the design trustworthy? Secure? Correct? Solid?
• Does it work for users with usability problems/disabilities?
• Does it adhere to best practices?

Have any other metrics to add to this list? Tell us in the comments!