[Sigia-l] Relationship between Search and Browse

[Richard_Dalton at vanguard.com]

Listera wrote:
> "Richard_Dalton at vanguard.com" wrote:
>
> > They just want the red things together, the blue things together, etc
>
> No kiddin'. You just decided that all by yourself on a sunny Thursday
> afternoon at 2:15 PM? Are all the pieces of furniture in your room the 
same
> as your carpet?
>
> > .... (and yes, I realize that this might be an over-simplification - 
but its
> > closer to the truth than organizing things by Hue, Value, 
Chromaticity, etc)
>
> I think you missed the point altogether. It just isn't as simple as 
putting
> all the 'red things together'. Something seemingly so simple to you is 
an
> entire sub-branch of the design profession over which millions are spent
> every year in print, textiles, cosmetics, furniture, packaging, etc. As
> someone competent in matters of color, you'd have the expertise to group
> products in some configuration, *reflecting* your approach. I assure you
> that other similarly experienced professionals may offer different
> configurations, equally compelling. Otherwise, we really wouldn't have 
the
> fashion industry, for example.

Oh dear. Why does this list have to take things so literally. This was 
just a hypothetical example - of course I didn't just "decide on a sunny 
Thursday afternoon" - those user tasks would be driven by interviews with 
or observations of users, a task analysis and a mental model diagram.

My point (which was obviously lost on the more literal minded folks out 
there) was that for a set of user tasks that are both predictable and few 
in number - there often is a single "best solution", and that we shouldn't 
allow ourselves to be drawn into the "we have to allow for every 
possibility" syndrome.

 - Richard Dalton