Anne Yeo and Bruce Pomeroy of Blast Radius
Blast Radius
- Dot com startup in '96
- Now a customer experience firm with offices in major metros, 350+ employees
- Major media and entertainment brands as clients
Rich Internet Applications
- What makes something a rich internet application as opposed to a website?
- Involve more evolved experiences for users
- Use technologies like javascript and flash to process data
- Rich internet applications behave like desktop applications
Best Practices
- Bring related information to the user
- Appreciate the essence of "flow"
- Adhere to familiar conventions
- It's the "little things" that count
- See the forest for the trees
Bring Related Information to the User
- Present more information in the user's space
- BR uses flash to allow for side scrolling, spreadsheet like visual grids, modules, expanding/collapsing
- Because Flash is bandwidth-heavy, provide preview windows to present some information before all of it loads
- Avoid making the user go elsewhere for information
- Use module based wireframing instead of page-based wireframing
Appreciate the Essence of Flow
- State of optimal experience by the user when they are totally absorbed
- Moving from one state to another state, without that step feeling forced
- Give the user enough flexibility so they feel control, but provide restrictions to keep them from making errors
- Look to real world metaphors for clues about how to manage flow
Adhere to Familiar Conventions
- Look to popular software, iconography, anything that has established conventions
- Users have already been trained for you, don't try to force them to learn something new
- Be mindful of "interaction gems" that users already recognize
It's the Little Things that Count
- Loading sequence is important, use that time to display other pieces of information
Seeing the Forest for the Trees
- The application is only a part of the user's entire experience with the company, and the overall marketing effort