Juice Analytics

I need your help. I want to ask my wife if she’d like to go see a movie with me. Which way do you think I should go:

Option 1:

“Interested in catching the 7PM showing of Hunger Games at the AMC?”

Option 2:

Time: 7PM

Movie: Hunger Games

Location: AMC

Attend?

Well, we both know the answer: she might be inclined to take me up on my offer either way, but with the second option, she might also be inclined to make me sit on a different row.

We know that when we talk to people, we have to do so in a way that feels warm and personal. Why is it then, that when we design systems for people, we want to woo them with option 2?

Imagine a sales report where you select a date range, the type of transaction you are interested in and the resulting metrics. It might look something like this:

Start date: 1/15/2012

End date: 4/2/2012

Type of transaction: Closed deals

Revenue: $1,500,000.

Number of deals: 6

On the other hand, why don’t we treat these sort of data interactions more personable; more like a conversation? Take that same report and re-imagine it in the metaphor of a sentence. Something perhaps like this:

Between 1/15/2012 and today, there have been 6 deals that closed, totaling $1.5m in revenue.

Nifty? We think so. To see some examples and learn more, check out this latest addition to our design principles library.

Here’s to treating people like… well, um… people!

It’s been a long road. A road fraught with jubilation. A road fraught with tears. A road fraught with… well, you get the idea.

Now we have the final two. It is iPhone over Wikipedia and Google Search over Amazon Store. And not even close:

(click to see the semi-finals results)

So, who will take it all? Will it be iPhone or Google Search on the throne:

(click to see and download a larger version)

Now vote! Remember, your picks should be based on:

• influence: changed how we thought about a problem and future technology solutions
• innovative: new and different, why didn’t I think of that?
• adoption: pervasive, widely used

You can vote for your favorites on the Technology Bracketology championship game. We’ll report on the championship results on Tuesday, April 3rd. Stay tuned!

iPhone. Wikipedia. Google Search. Amazon Store. Now it gets interesting. The winners from each of the four regions, pitted against each other. Nerds versus Dweebs; Geeks versus Dorks. What could be more exciting? (It reminds me of that time in high school when the chess club ambushed the french horns behind the bleachers: lots of broken glasses and mechanical pencils.)

Here are the results from Round 4:

(Round 4 results - region champions)

And here’s the updated bracket:

(The final four! Click to download a copy)

Now vote! Remember, your picks should be based on:

• influence: changed how we thought about a problem and future technology solutions
• innovative: new and different, why didn’t I think of that?
• adoption: pervasive, widely used

You can vote for your favorites on the Technology Bracketology Round 5. We’ll report on Round 5 results on Saturday, March 31st, and we’ll run the final championship round on Monday April, 2nd!

Feel like the NCAA tournament is going stale, with the same teams advancing every year? Technology Bracketology is the cure for what ails you. This weekend saw four upsets in eight games. It was a strong weekend for Google as 3 of their products made the final eight. The big story is Cinderella Google Maps who has crushed every foe thus far, but faces behemoth iPhone this week.

Now it’s time to get down to business and vote for the Technology Bracketology final four.

Here are the results from Round 3:

(Click to see the round 3 results)

Here are the 8 who want to be 4:

(Round 4 bracket - click to download your own copy)

You know the drill: now it’s time to vote!! Don’t forget to pick your winners based on:

• influence: changed how we thought about a problem and future technology solutions
• innovative: new and different, why didn’t I think of that?
• adoption: pervasive, widely used

You can vote for your favorites on the Technology Bracketology Round 4. We’ll report on Round 4 results on Thursday, March 29th.

Clad in neon green from their jerseys to their shoes, the Baylor Bears advanced to the South Regional finals in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament last night, leading by as many as 18 points in a game that was pretty hard to watch. Literally.

Can Color Create a Competitive Advantage?

Spectators had lots to say about Baylor in the Georgia Dome last night, but instead of commenting about their talent, skill and ball handling, most people talked about the obnoxious neon “green” color that the Bears and their fans were wearing. Their neon green uniforms (think “tennis ball” yellow) made it nearly impossible to keep your eyes off of them — yet for many of us, was a complete distraction from the game itself.

As I tried to watch, I thought about the critical role that color plays in the communication of data and information. By highlighting certain details with color, we choose to draw attention to them or put greater emphasis on them. At the same time, color has the potential to confuse or distract our audience if the color we select conflicts with the message or purpose we have in mind.

Can color impact outcomes, giving one team a greater (and perhaps unfair) advantage over another? Could the Baylor Bear’s neon uniforms be playing a part in their success?

What are your thoughts?

For more on color and tips for your next presentation, design or data visualization, see “Color Has Meaning”.

What could be possibly sweeter than Juice? The Technology Bracketology Sweet 16, of course! And oh! how sweet it is!

The 64 became 32; who became 16. Sixteen technologies that have turned their competitor’s lemonade into lemons. Check it out:

(Sweet Round 2 results - no sugar added)

Here are a couple of games that we found particularly interesting:

Number 2 seed iTunes came out on top of 10 seeded Pandora, but not by as much as we might have expected. Pandora clinched a full 39% of the votes. Cool.

The truly amazing story was how much number 5 seeded GPS crushed number 4 seeded Twitter with 88% of the votes. (Hmmm… sounds like a sweet tweet in the making.)

So, here comes round 3:

(Bracket ready for round 3)

Now it’s time to have at it and vote for your favorite 8! Don’t forget to pick your winners based on:

• influence: changed how we thought about a problem and future technology solutions
• innovative: new and different, why didn’t I think of that?
• adoption: pervasive, widely used

You can vote for your favorites on the Technology Bracketology Round 3. We’ll report on Round 3 results on Monday, March 25th.

And the 16 shall become 8. Sweet!

(By the way we couldn’t help but to point out our favorite comment from one of our voters: “I think that Juice needs to acquire one of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners of the tourney and get a group picture with said winners.” Thanks for your feedback. We’ll get right on that!)

While you guys were watching #15 seeded Lehigh spank #2 seeded Duke this weekend, we were keeping our eyes on the Technology Bracketology slugfest. Round 1 is over and here are the results:

(Click to see the full results!)

While we didn’t quite see the techno-version of the Duke/Lehigh schooling, we did have a few upsets of our own. We were amused to find TiVo showing the Prius how it’s done, but were just plain shocked by Flash’s refusal to be obliterated by Apple’s iOS. Notice any other unexpected playas?

Here’s the updated bracket showing those results:

(Results from Round 1 voting)

And now for Round 2!

Again, pick your winners based on:

• influence: changed how we thought about a problem and future technology solutions
• innovative: new and different, why didn’t I think of that?
• adoption: pervasive, widely used

You can vote for your favorites here: Technology Bracketology Round 2.

We’ll report on Round 2 results on Thursday, March 22nd. Go!

Spring is a great time to spruce things up.  While you’re at it, consider adding a little shine to you and your skills.

We’ve made it easy for you by adding five more videos to our resources page that will help sharpen your saw, as Stephen Covey might say, in this important area of your life.  From graphing to table design, color to typography best practices, you’ll find these video tutorials full of tips, tricks and tidbits that you’ll be using long after the pollen rinses away and your antihistamine goes back in the drawer.

And, just in case you’ve been fogged over, we launched a new page on our site a few weeks ago, Design Principles. If designing from the human perspective interests you, you’ll find this a valued extension to your knowledgebase.  

Achoo! (That is, here’s to you!)

We’ve picked the best technologies of the Internet Era. It’s up to you to determine a champion. Pick the winner based on:

• influence: changed how we thought about a problem and future technology solutions
• innovative: new and different, why didn’t I think of that?
• adoption: pervasive, widely used

Here’s the bracket (in a pre-internet-super-rad-3D style):

(click to get a printable hi-res 16-bit version)

You can vote for your favorites here: Technology Bracketology Round 1. Please share this with your friends and follow along at home!

There are four regions (Nerd, Dweeb, Geek, and Dork). Voting for the first round games takes place through 12 midnight Eastern Standard Time, Sunday, March 18th. Round 2 games will take place on March 18-20th.

We’ll report the results here and provide the round 2 bracket on Monday.

If you think we’ve missed a tech, make your own NIT tournament. Now, fight!

[Insert witty opening here].

You see? In principle, when writing a blog post, I know it draws you (the reader) in to continue reading by starting with a story or something smart or a joke. Don’t overwhelm people right from the get-go. Start with metaphor or phrase that relates to the article.

That introduction relates to what I’m really interested in talking about: principles. We’re launching an exciting new resource today, and it has to do with principles, design principles that is. These resource will remind you to do things like use gradients appropriately or provide instruction. Their goal is to direct your design towards information presentation that focuses on the human element.

Engineers start with technology. MBAs start with funding. Designers start with people. The trick is to get interdisciplinary teams to raise their collective I.Q. by working in the overlap of those three areas. That’s where innovation flourishes.Moggridge

At Juice, we start with people and great consideration for that overlap. Therefore, we’re not only about what information to show but also how to show it. And behind those two basic ideas is an awful lot of thinking > developing > learning > and iteration. Through that process we’ve gathered a (rather long) list of principles that inform our decisions, and we hope it can help you with yours too. Rather than trying to be sure your application supports all principles, approach it more like a stack of flash cards and pull out the relevant ones. With experience, you’ll realize you’re doing these things naturally and understanding the drivers of design thinking is invaluable to introduce objectivity into application design.

There are two parts to this:

1. View the list and explore the content on our Design Principles page.
2. Engage in discussion on our Quora Design Principles Board.

This list will likely grow and shrink over time through the refinement process. The descriptions of each principle definitely will. Our goal is not to be exhaustive, but helpful.

There is a slight catch. So far, we’ve only fully a few of the many principles, which means we have a long way to go. We’re going to embrace process on this one with what might appear to be a (very intentional) turtle’s pace. Still, we’ve made the titles as concretely informative as we could before filling out all their content. Feel free to to run (err walk) right along side us or check in every now and then to evaluate your projects against the list. If you find these helpful or would like to share your experience or opinion on any of them we invite you to engage in the discussion, vote up and down the principles you find more or less useful. Share your insights why. Let us know which one you’d like to see next. Keep us honest, and the visualization community successful. Happy designing.