Things that diminish good will

1) Hiding information that I want
The Porter is a pub in Little Five Points ATL. Their website lists what beers they are carring, however, they do not mention the price anywhere
http://www.theporterbeerbar.com/drink/beer/

2) Punishing me for not doing things your way
This online poker website says no US players are not allowed. Innnnteresting.
http://www.pokersites.com/deposit/paypal

3) Asking me for info you don't really need
 Sweepstakes entry forms often ask unnecessary information
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:iXHI4hbZ0NcJ:ginnyssweepstakes.com/entry-form.php+Sweepstakes+Entry+Form&cd=13&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com

4) Faux Sincerity
Charter Communications is quite possibly my least favorite company. They claim to have your best interest, but really they will scam you in evil ways in an attempt to squeeze more money out of you.
http://www.charter.com/

5) Putting sizzle in my way
I'm not even sure what's going on with this website...
http://w3.discoveryvip.com/

6) Your experience seems amateurish
I was trying to buy some homemade jewelry and came across this website that had beautiful items, but the website was so bad, I ended up not buying anything.
http://www.pixiejewels.com/

TAO Entry 4

Observation #1

I have noticed that people break driving rules quiet often. And usually get away with it. I was sitting at a red light waiting to make a left hand turn, and the car in front of me decided to forgo the red light and make a u-turn. Brave? Yes. Stupid? Yes. But they got away with it and saved three minutes of their life, as I continued to wait at the red light.

Observation #2

I noticed several retail stores are selling a line of yoga apparel. Anthropologie, Gap, Old Navy, Victoria’s Secret are just a few of the big names.  Over the past several years, yoga has increasingly become a popular leisure activity and form of exercise, but only recently have stores had their own special line of apparel.

Observation #3

$1 items are difficult to bypass! I was at the World Market off of Piedmont Road this week, and upon checking out at the register, I noticed a bunch of discounted items for $1. I couldn’t help but to browse and ended up buying some Gouda cheese and a mini bottle of olive oil. I didn’t need these items, but they were only a $1, so why not?

Trend #1

After graduation undergraduate school, people will either continue to graduate school find a job of some sort. However, with the recession, many of my friends have been unable to get a job so they are forced to move back home with their parents until they do so. I would say 90% of my graduating friends are currently living at home, frantically trying to land a job.

Anomaly

However, one of my friends hit the jackpot. He was a double major in the business department and landed a sweet job in Tampa months before graduation. He called my boyfriend one day this week as he was shopping for a Ducati - just a mere portion of his first paycheck.

Trend #2

After watching a movie at the theater, people usually go straight to the restrooms. 2 hours and a large Coca-Cola later, the bladder needs to reprieve itself. I saw the final Harry Potter movie this week and bee lined it to the ladies room as soon as the movie was over.

Anomaly

My boyfriend however, did not, and casually wait for me. How and why he didn’t have to use the restroom after the long movie still amazes me.

Trend #3

I went to Lenox mall this past week to visit my absolute favorite store, Anthropologie. I noticed all of the employees were dressed to impress from head to toe in Anthropologie apparel. It is important for the employees to represent the store in a fashionable and professional manner.

Anomaly

All of the employees look very Anthropologie…except for one. There was a young woman behind the checkout counter who looked like she had rolled out of bed. Her hair was greasy and her ensemble did not look like anything that Anthropologie carries. Very innnnteresting. 

Search & Query Builders - Anthropologie

file:///Users/erin/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems/project5.xls(T867)/project5.xls(T867)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkS2PFeaOwDUdFJGMmtYZTlZejRVOXc4MHB0bndGR1E#gid=0

Terrapin Taxonomy

Synonym Ring - Coffee

Googleing Yourself

In looking at the first 20 results that show up on google after typing my name in the search engine, 16 were relevant to me. That's 80% relevance, and in my opinion, that's not too bad! Most the results were related to my social media sites, a few were from road races I have participated, and the remainder were from white pages or people finder sites. My blog and Pinterest account would probably give me the best chance in getting hired because they express my interests and online activity.

Analyzing Navigations - Anthropologie

http://www.slideshare.net/efillingim/analyzing-navigations-anthropologie

Anthropologie's Navigation Voice

Welcome to Anthropologie. Here you can escape to a world of color, culture, and artistic inspiration. Perhaps you are looking for teal and red orange floral curtains to hang in your bedroom. Or that perfect braided yarn bench to place in your garden. Anthropologie is about the whimsical rebirth of craft; the design of a unique yet cozy place to call home; and of course, the creation of an imaginative and poetic wardrobe.

Scrutitizing Navigation of Anthropologie's Website

1) How does it provide comfort in our exploration of the website?
Anthropologie's navigation system consists of 6 labels where viewers can easily select the category in which they are searching. Theses 6 include Clothing, Shoes, Accessories, Lounge & Beauty, House & Home, and Sale.
2) How does it tell us what is here?
Once you have selected one of the labels, you can shop by category. For example, after clicking "Clothes" you enter a new page that breaks down the various articles of clothing you can further choose from, such as dresses, blouses, knits and tees, etc.
3) How does it tell us how to use the site?
Since Anthropologie carries a variety of apparel and home goods, the navigation system is an easy way to segment the webpage into different categories. If a user were to visit the webpage specifically on the hunt for earrings, I assume they would be smart enough to click accessories amongst their given options.
4) How does it instill confidence about the brand?
Anthropologie is a pleasant and warm store to visit, therefore, it is crucial for the website to live up to the company's standard. I believe the imagery and branding are carried over beautifully.

TAO Entry 3

Publix is a wonderful place to observe humans interact with products, information, and other people. After spending an hour or so in Publix, I was able to discover a few trends.

At store checkout line I noticed how majority of the magazines are catered towards women. I then realized a trend of how often women pick up a magazine of interest, skim through it until it is their time at the register, and then they nonchalantly put the magazine back where they got it without purchasing. I do this, but is it considered stealing? No, certainly not. Let’s just call it temporarily borrowing. You don’t see people picking up an apple in the produce section and eat it before they reach the checkout line. Can you think of any other products that people use in the store and not purchase?

While standing in line, five of the eight women were looking through magazines. Two of the women were busy keeping their children from touching all of the candy. And one was texting on her cell phone. The five women skimming the magazines put them back when it was time to pay, but the one who was on her cell phone picked up a People Magazine and bought it last minute. In this case, she was the anomaly. 

On a further note, why do men tend to not pick up and skim magazines at the checkout line? Sure, the selection is predominately catered to the female (US, People, Cosmo etc.), but I have noticed there are magazines that would be of interest to the average male. Women are usually the ones who do the weekly shopping for the family. They buy in bulk and they have dinners planned out; therefore, they are putting more in their shopping cart and having to wait longer in the line. This observation revealed a trend in men and grocery shopping. They typically go to the grocery store for a few pre-selected items. Bread, deli meat, a couple frozen dinners, beer. They are in and out as fast as possible, and this usually involves the self-checkout line. AND even if they were secretly interested in what celeb has the best bikini body, they wouldn’t be caught dead picking up the magazine. There was one man, however, who had a full shopping cart, AND was flipping through a Cooking Light magazine in the checkout line. From the look of this man and the items in his cart, I like to assume he was a family man buying groceries for wife and kids. What a pleasant anomaly to observe!

The baggers at Publix are exceptionally nice people. I love to observe customers interact with these kind employees because each person responds differently. A common occurrence, and therefore trend I noticed was people rarely accept the Publix bagger’s offer to carry their groceries to the car. I for one, NEVER do this, simply because I hate awkward forced small talk. Is this the case for the others who deny the baggers, or are we all cheap and don’t want to tip the kind employer? There were 3 people ahead of me in my checkout line. The first two nicely declined the bagger’s offer, exited the building and went on with their day. The third was, well old. She could barely walk. Naturally, she accepted the kind bagger to take her groceries to her car. I will never know whether or not the old lady tipped the bagger, but I like to assume she did. I suppose this lady is the anomaly in this case. 

TAO Entry 2

Reality shows are a guilty pleasure.

This past Monday night, as my brain was going numb from doing one of Sylvia’s many homework assignments, I turned on the TV for the first time in what felt like months. My brain was fried and I was tired of thinking. I needed to let my mind melt into a state of complete relaxation. I’ve always had a secret liking towards the shows The Bachelor and Bachelorette because who doesn’t like a dramatic cheesy romance story? Well, the Bachelorette finale happened last Monday, so now a new series is beginning – The Bachelor Pad. This show has got to be the most raunchy drama-filled reality show on TV. It lack any means of educational value, and I would even go so far to say that it is a disgrace to our culture. Producers have reached an all time low with the Bachelor Pad where contestants from previous Bachelor/Bachelorette seasons live under in the same house, to either find love or ditch your loved one to take the ultimate prize, quarter million dollars.  It’s so bad, but yet soooo good. I have a serious guilty pleasure in watching this show and I am not afraid to admit it. But I also believe that everyone has his/her secret love for a reality show. For example, my mom has every So You Think You Can Dance show recorded and saved on DVR. My dad gets caught up watching hours of Pawn Stars and Hillbilly Fishing. My roommate actually bought season DVDs of the Real Housewives. And my boyfriend’s favorite happens to be Millionaire Matchmaker. Hmmmm...

Just in case you were wondering, The Bachelor Pad comes on Monday nights at 8 pm on ABC. 

Eating out causes you to eat more. 

Do you know what a serving size is? Ever ate a Lean Cuisine? It’s a measly four (maybe five) bites of pasta that you scarf down in less than two minutes. Then you catch yourself actually licking the sauce off the bottom of the tray and wondering if microwaving a second will blow your days diet. Unfortunately this is an accurate portion. Restaurants like Outback, Chiles, Ryans etc. have trained America to eat unreasonable mass quantities.

An anomaly and ultimately a trend to this observation are the ever-popular petite dishes called tapas. This centuries-old Spanish tradition of offering small portions of food that feature a big, flavorful experience has recently experienced a revival in America.  More than an appetizer – but not quite a meal, tapas have become increasingly popular, even in our super-sized meal culture. Generally, the tapas are served on small 8 to 10 inch dishes. Its seems as if restaurants across the nation are customizing their small-plate cuisine for an in-style addition to the standard three course meal.

In this recession, people are also saving a lot of money by packing breakfasts and lunches. Not only are they saving money, but also their waistlines are diminishing! My typography teacher brought this phenomenon to my attention in class on Monday. She said she initially started packing her lunch in her efforts to save $20 everyday in some shape or fashion. She now makes a sandwich, maybe even a cookie, and has a whole 45 minutes to simply sit and enjoy her lunch without frantically driving the Atlanta streets to sit in a 10 minute drive-thru line, only to return to work by one. After just one week, she lost 4 lbs and saved 7x$20=$140!!!! Wow. I think everyone should do himself/herself a favor and give this a shot for at least one week.

As a result from this, design lunch boxes are now a trend. Sure, the tin vintage lunch boxes have always been “cool”, but when have you really seen someone bring their lunch in one? Design companies such as the Dan Black and Martin Plum are revolutionizing the lunch box. My roommate last year was adamant about bringing her lunch to school. I came across this trendy lunchbox and just had to get it for her. She loved it.

Another trend I noticed this week is Atlanta drivers are most often ruthless jerks.

Driving in Atlanta is miserable. Traffic will be at a standstill for no apparent reason, and then like magic, cars are going back to 70 mph. Seriously aggravating. I wish I knew the reason this happens. It’s probably a combination of a lot of factors. It would be accurate to say that it happens most around big exits. BUT SERIOUSLY drivers, get your shit together. Plan ahead, begin to switch lanes ahead of time, and don’t be an ass if someone needs to get in your lane and is holding up traffic because you won’t let them. I commute to school everyday and must take 85 north to the GA-13 Spring Buford exit, and then quickly onto the Monroe Dr exit toward Piedmont Rd. This all happens so fast and I must change lanes pretty quickly. One day this week I was off in space in deep thought about my next Creative Thinking homework assignment. At the last second I realize I needed to switch lanes or I would miss the exit. Normally this would have been impossible because Atlanta drivers are rude and refuse to let a car in. Thankfully, this day, there was an anomaly.  An angel driver kindly waved me in, and I made it to class on time. 

Anthropologie Card Sorting Exercise

Erin Fillingim

efillingim@gmail.com

Anthropologie

“Card Sorting Exercise – Summer 2011 – Adjunct Professor Alisan Atvur

This assignment was for us to learn the importance and effects of specific user experience design called card sorting. Card Sorting is a simple technique that many information architects to assess how users categorize given information. This technique is best applied when the variety in the items to be organized is so large that no existing taxonomy is accepted as organizing the items, when the similarities among the items make them difficult to divide clearly into categories, and/or when members of the audience who use the environment may differ how in how they view the similarities among the items and appropriate groupings of those items. In this specific card sorting study, we first were to find the site map of our chosen company, in my case Anthropologie. We then created a card entry for the hierarchy that was listed in Anthropologie’s sitemap. After sharing our study with 10 people, we were able to review and analyze the results.

The participants sorted 110 cards into 6 different categories.

Here is a link to the results of my card sorting study:

websort.net/r/651DB8/7af8f1179f94/

The biggest observable trend was in the House & Home category. There was a total of 327 cards from all the participants in this the category. If I eliminate 3 of the categories that were formed by 3 of the participants because they were confused, the House & Home had the highest agreement rating of .62. I believe this trend occurred because home items are easy to distinguish from items such as blouse or wedge, which could easily confuse anyone who is not in tune with the fashion world. An anomaly could easily occur with this category because there was also a Sale category, and several of the House & Home cards were repeated and supposed to fit into the sale category. This was not only a problem for the House & Home category, but several of the other categories as well.

In fact, my second observable trend is that the Sale category had the lowest agreement rating of .18. When I was making this study, I knew this would confuse the users because so many of the items overlapped. For example, the card labeled Denim was supposed to go into the Clothes category, but there was also a Denim and Pants label that was designated to the Sale category. 80% of the participants put this card in the clothes category while only 20% put it in the correct sale category. I assume majority of the users just put both in the clothes category either because they were confused, or didn’t notice there was even a “Sale” category until after they had already put it in the “Clothes” category. Of course, the anomaly in this case would be someone who familiar with shopping on line and knows there is usually a “Sale” section; therefore, they were able to think ahead.

I was able to look at each individual persons results and since all the participants were my friends, I was able to recognize their email addresses and delineate between the boys and girls. There were 5 boys and 5 girls. In looking at the agreement ratings of the boys and then the girls, neither of the two groups ever reached a 1. The highest of the agreements were in the Accessories, Clothes, and House & Home categories. I believe this is because these categories are easy to distinguish amongst the others.

I was actually shocked to find such varying results in the Shoes category. Seems so simple, right? Wrong. The agreement rating was a low .43. Wedges, boots, and flats all seem so obvious to as fashion freak like me that they would fit in the Shoes category. At first I blamed the boys; however, when I looked at all five of their results together, they had an agreement of .54 and the girls scored a .49. The boys were pretty unanimous with putting the separate shoe labels in the right categories. It was odd to find two females to put "flats, shop all shoes, and wedges" into the Clothes category. These two were the anomalies in this case, and honestly not sure why they chose to put only these three into the clothes category. 

The second lowest agreement was in the Lounge & Beauty category with a .36. This was expected because several of the Lounge & Beauty labels could have also fit under the Clothes or House & Home categories. For example, the Intimates label, which is supposed to fit under the Lounge and Home category was split 4 ways: 10% into “Accessories”, 60% in “Clothes”, 20% in the correct ‘Lounge and Beauty” and 10% in “Sale”. I can see how this would be confusing because all categories could technically be fitting for “Intimates”. 

Usability Test Exercise – Summer 2011 – Adjunct Professor Alisan Atvur

For this assignment, we were asked to create a usability test for our chosen company. For those of you who do not know, usability tests are a great investment. It's all about doing things right the first time, or tuning-up an already existing site, ultimately making the difference between a successful customer experience, or frustration and abandonment.  I chose the company Anthropologie, a unique chain of retail stores that sells women's apparel and accessories, home furnishings, found objects and an array of gifts and decorative items. My usability test involved a picture of Anthropologie's homepage where users were asked a series of three questions. Below is a link to my findings.

http://fivesecondtest.com/test/share/8Scg4osHoE9Fyxi1 

Part 1 – Remote Usability Testing

1.) What trends and anomalies did you notice in people's answers to question 1 (What is this website/application about)?

At the time the screen shot was taken, Anthropologie’s home page cycled through four display windows. One was titled “Rare Variatals” (which featured shopping for shoes - flats in particular), one was titled “The Finer Things in Life” (shopping for prints and art), another was “Flicker and Sparks” (for browsing the new August catalogue), and the final was “Pattern Call” (featuring six new apparel prints). I chose to take a randomly select when I would capture the screen, just as a user would when entering the website. It happened to capture the display window featuring the art. However, most people were still able to recognize that “clothes, art, home things, décor, furniture, antiques” could be purchased. Basically “shopping” in general. Which is an excellent finding. There were a few exceptions. Some people said “bunnies” and “rabbits”, but I believe they were being facetious, considering one of the shown prints was an ink drawing of a rabbit. A few said “no clue” or “hard to say”, which is understandable, since the store offers so much. With the large display clearly promoting art, but the other options above offering “clothing, shoes, accessories, etc.”, if could easily be overwhelming and confusing.

2.) What trends and anomalies did you notice in people's answers to question 2 (What would you do at this website/application)?

Majority of the people were able to determine that this was an online store where apparel, shoes, accessories, home décor etc. could be purchased. The most commonly entered words were “shop, buy, clothes, home, browse, buy clothes, look for shoes, home décor,” etc. I personally loved one user’s response, “buy things that cold make my home more aesthetically pleasing”. This person went above and beyond, and could perhaps already be familiar with Anthropologie and its website. One anomaly was “post my art work”. This is very understandable considering other companies that allow web users to do so. However, no where on the display screen did the words “post, sell, or your” appear, only “shop, browse and buy”. While Anthropologie’s style is similar to websites such as Etsy, it does not allow customers to post, advertise or sell their individual work…this could be a neat thing for Anthropologie to look into though…

3.) What trends and anomalies did you notice in people's answers to question 3 (Who would use this website/application)?

With out a doubt, Anthropologie caters to the female. And majority of the test takers were easily able to notice and comment on it. Some people went even further to say:  “young, artistic, people interested in fashion, urban, and natural”. Which all are very true, and relatively easy to gather based on the images, type face, and people featured on the homepage. One user even said “a trendy Anthropologie type shopper”. I’m curious to know whether or not this person was familiar with the website and knew it was Anthropologie. The anomalies in this case were people who said, “I wouldn’t”. I’m assuming this person was either male, impatient with the user test, or just plain rude. 

Part 2 – Observational Usability Testing

4.) Name 3 behaviors or interactions you noticed in at least 3/5 users

I asked my participants where they would click to shop for clothes. Since the 4 cycling display screens change about every 5 seconds, responses varied. Two users were able to utilize the featured display “Flicker and Sparks” and simply click “BROWSE our August catalogue and SHOP what’s new”. These two people happened to be young females whom I assume to have shopped or at least browsed for apparel online before. The other three did an excellent job. They paused for a second, scanning the screen, then clicked the “Clothes” link. 

5.) Name at least one behavior or interaction that one of the users performed differently.

My father, a forty something man, who is very impatient but savvy with the world wide web, paused for a couple seconds, scanned the screen, then went to the search engine and typed in clothes. 

6). For your answer to question (5), indicate why you think that user may have performed that behavior differently.

There are a lot of components to Anthropologie’s homepage, but it is still pretty straightforward and easy to navigate. I can guarantee you that my father has never been to Anthropologie’s webpage before, nor would he ever care too. He is the most impatient person I know and hates shopping for clothes, why would he want to waste time browsing the many options when a search engine can direct him to exactly what he is looking for?