[LAD] User eXperience in Linux Audio

Thorsten Wilms self at thorstenwilms.com
Thu Apr 23 11:37:27 UTC 2015


On 23.04.2015 12:01, Gianfranco Ceccolini wrote:
> I think that the point that most of us are missing is that, prior to
> decide the features on a particular product (a software in the discussed
> cases), one needs to decide THE TARGET AUDIENCE of such product.

There are cases where defining a target audience is possible and 
beneficial, sure. Once you allow a small number of distinct audiences, 
you get a little farther.

For some generic and/or complex products, things get messy fast. Just 
think of possible audiences for Blender: game developers, hobby vertex 
pushers, 3d printed bunny enthusiasts, product designers, professional 
illustrators and 3d animation specialists (coffee logisticians, 
modelers, texture artists, rigging and animation artists ...) ...

Even though you can expect conflicts and issues due to the sheer number 
of features, Blender can work for all of them. Note however, than some 
people think its unnecessarily strange and complicated, while others 
think it's basically sliced bread for 3D.

Oustide of marketing, I think it's not that important if you can assume 
your typical user to be Granny Smith, Tom Broman or little Susie. Truly 
important are the tasks to be accomplished, the work environments and 
the frequency and duration of use. Guess how the last 2 points relate to 
the different impressions people have of Blender.

Aside of all that, every single user being human has limited memory, a 
locus of attention easily pulled away by an important message ... or 
just a distraction, is better at recognizing than recalling, forms 
habits, is slowed down when having to consider options, ... and so on.


-- 
Thorsten Wilms

thorwil's design for free software:
http://thorwil.wordpress.com/


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