The document is a collection of notes from a discussion on design literacy. It includes definitions of literacy, principles of trustworthy media creation, and notes on focusing design on enabling user literacy rather than just the product or service. Key points discussed include understanding users and their limitations, leveraging new media to teach over time, obtaining literacy before expecting profit, and designing to facilitate understanding of concepts like accessibility compliance.

1. literacyliteracy
D E S I G ND E S I G N
Wednesday, September 11, 13

2. Dear AmericanAirlines
I redesigned your
website and I'd like to
get your opinion....
Dustin Curtis
http://dustincurtis.com/dear_american_airlines.html
(A design villain)
Wednesday, September 11, 13

3. Wednesday, September 11, 13

4. Wednesday, September 11, 13

5. Fire your entire
design team...
[who] is obviously
incapable of
building a good
experience. Get
outside help.
Dustin Curtis
http://dustincurtis.com/dear_american_airlines.html
Wednesday, September 11, 13

6. Dear Dustin Curtis,
I saw your blog post titled “Dear
American Airlines,” and I thought I’d
drop a line. Sorry for the length of
this email, but let me sum up the gist
of what I’ve written below: You’re
right. You’re so very right. And yet…
Mr. X (via Dustin Curtis)
http://dustincurtis.com/dear_dustin_curtis.html
Wednesday, September 11, 13

7. 2 hours
Wednesday, September 11, 13

8. 365 days365 days
Wednesday, September 11, 13

9. Why would Dustin publish this?
Wednesday, September 11, 13

10. Calling, sending a text, writing a letter.
Write a Yelp review, etc.
Publish a tweet, a blog post, etc.
Take out a newspaper, billboard ad, etc.
...Consulting.
Wednesday, September 11, 13

11. LiteracyLiteracy
Wednesday, September 11, 13

12. Literacy,inanymedium,means
notjustknowinghowtoread
thatmedium,butalsohowto
createinit,andtounderstand
thedifferencebetweengoodand
baduses.
Clay Shirkey
Foreword to Mediactive by Dan Gillmor
“
Wednesday, September 11, 13

13. Qualitative
QUANTITATIVE QUANTITATIVE QUANTITATIVE
QUANTITATIVE QUANTITATIVE QUANTITATIVE
QUANTITATIVE QUANTITATIVE QUANTITATIVE
Wednesday, September 11, 13

14. Wednesday, September 11, 13

15. Wednesday, September 11, 13

16. Wednesday, September 11, 13

17. Wednesday, September 11, 13

18. Designliteracy requiresthatwe...
๏Designeffectivelywithexistingmedia.
๏Understandthepsychologyofpeople.
๏Understandour“limitations.”
๏Seethepotentialinnewmedia.
๏Prudentlyleveragethese,overtime,toteach.
Wednesday, September 11, 13

19. Wednesday, September 11, 13

20. discover define develop deliver
1 2 3 4
Wednesday, September 11, 13

21. WRITING
Pieces together thoughts
Expands our understanding
READING
Wednesday, September 11, 13

22. consensus
Design for commerce
Adversarial design
Dissensus
Wednesday, September 11, 13

23. CONSENSUSCONSENSUS
Wednesday, September 11, 13

24. eCommerce
A/B testing conversions
Wednesday, September 11, 13

25. Civic Literacy
Field Guides to Ensuring Voter Intent
Wednesday, September 11, 13

26. Health Literacy
Healthfinder.gov, Telling Kids About Cancer
Wednesday, September 11, 13

27. dissensusdissensus
Wednesday, September 11, 13

28. Bi er Pill
Wednesday, September 11, 13

29. ONE
ACETAMINOPHEN
TABLET
COSTS 1.5¢.
YOUR HOSPITAL
MARKS IT UP
10,000%
Wednesday, September 11, 13

30. The culture we created as a
consequence, though, was – and
still is in some ways – profoundly
unattractive. What was supposed
to be fairness can become
callousness or, at the very least,
can feel that way when read from
the other side.
Nick Harkaway
The Blind Giant
“
Wednesday, September 11, 13

31. Million Dollar Blocks
Wednesday, September 11, 13

32. Wednesday, September 11, 13

33. At any level of abstraction,
design can either be a
gesture of consent or
dissent. A statement of fact
or a rhetorical question.
Wednesday, September 11, 13

34. Designingfor
Literacy
Designingfor
Literacy
Wednesday, September 11, 13

35. Accessibility
Wednesday, September 11, 13

36. 1. Obtain literacy
2. ???
3. Profit
Wednesday, September 11, 13

37. <img alt=”description” />
no yes
Wednesday, September 11, 13

38. Wednesday, September 11, 13

39. experts developers
Designer
Wednesday, September 11, 13

40. MAGIC
experts developers
Wednesday, September 11, 13

41. experts wanted tests
A government that ensured
accessibility compliance.
Wednesday, September 11, 13

42. magic: design for consensus
Design to facilitate accessibility
compliance.
What’s the relative contrast of color pairings on your webpage?
What’s relative contrast?
What are color pairings?
What’s a webpage?
Wednesday, September 11, 13

43. devs wanted understanding
A government that ensured
accessibility literacy.
Wednesday, September 11, 13

44. adversarial design
Help culture see the ways in
which its system wasn’t working.
Testing is not teaching.
Wednesday, September 11, 13

45. If you are coming from outside the usual pool of
people who work in Field X, you’re going to hit
[cultural] barriers. Some of those barriers need
to be rattled and eventually demolished, but
some are just about a lack of shared context.
Open secrets are the hardest ones to crack when
you’re coming in from outside, because no one
will take you aside and whisper them in your
ear. They’re the air everyone else is breathing.
Erin Kissane
Wednesday, 12 June 2013 – The Pastry Box
Wednesday, September 11, 13

46. Journalismprinciples
๏Thoroughness.Learntospeakthelanguage.
๏Accuracy.Avoiderrors;theyunderminetrust.
๏Fairness.Talktousersandstakeholders.
๏Independence.Constructyourownnarrative.
๏Transparency.Askpeopletocorroborate.
Adapted from Dan Gillmor’s principles of trustworthy media creation in “Mediactive”
Wednesday, September 11, 13

47. Apleaforcontentstrategy
๏Problem
๏Vision
๏High-levelstrategy
๏Contentroadmap
๏Caveats&Openquestions
Wednesday, September 11, 13

48. Whatthis
meansforus
Whatthis
meansforus
Wednesday, September 11, 13

49. fashion
commerce
infrastructure
governance
culture
nature
Wednesday, September 11, 13

50. fashion
commerce
infrastructure
governance
culture
nature
Wednesday, September 11, 13

51. fashion
commerce
infrastructure
governance
culture
nature
Wednesday, September 11, 13

52. fashion
commerce
infrastructure
governance
culture
nature
Visual design
Interaction design
Information architecture
Content strategy
User-centered
Wednesday, September 11, 13

53. JOURNALISM
TEACHING
1 2
Wednesday, September 11, 13

54. Whatthis
meansforusers
Whatthis
meansforusers
Wednesday, September 11, 13

55. We’reinanindustrythatinitially
focusedonhavingusersnotthink
whenthere’satonofmeritin
consideringwhatwewantusers
tothinkabout.
Wednesday, September 11, 13

56. The “literacy” bar
Book awesome
2,000 BOOKS
BLUE SKY
User awesome
NOISY & BLOODY
BLUE SKY
Adapted from Kathy Sierra at Business of Software 2012. Building the Minimum Badass User.
Wednesday, September 11, 13

57. Don’t focus on the thing, focus on the
user. Enable literacy through design.
Wednesday, September 11, 13

58. Wednesday, September 11, 13

59. @andrewmaier
andrew@uxbooth.com
http://bit.ly/10Mdelj
Nerds rejoice!
There’s a bibliography available!
Wednesday, September 11, 13