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John SanGiovanni manages Microsoft's academic research funding into mobile computing and wireless technologies. John's current research focus is on interaction techniques and hardware interface technologies for next-generation mobile devices. John has several patents for alternative text input systems (non-handwriting, non-speech, non-typing).

John SanGiovanni on the Intuitive Designer

BY KELLY GOTO

Introduction
John SanGiovanni is an innovator and entrepreneur and currently works as a Technical Evangelist with Microsoft Research. He is also one of the most energetic, positive and motivating people I know. In the field of mobile technology and advanced communication and education, he is an industry leader - taking a leap past our everyday thinking and working to conceptualize, fund and develop technologies of the future. Ten years ago, John adopted handheld devices and mobile technologies as his sole information medium. The transformation was so dramatic that John now has a standing challenge that anyone who finds a piece of paper with his handwriting gets $100 cash (signatures are exempt). He's never paid anyone.

Q: How would you describe your job and the work you have been doing?
SanGiovanni: This last year I've been focused on a couple of very specific domains of research funding. The most relevant area to this discussion is scalable user interfaces. We've been thinking about fairly radical approaches using interaction and visualization techniques (which have been used for the last 5 years) to create a new vocabulary for designing the core principles for scalable, usable interfaces.

Right now, we're focused on cross-device design -- using smart mobile applications instead of websites. Long-term, we're focused on web content, web services, etc. But for now, we're looking at seamless scaling of interfaces from a 320 x 240 Pocket PC to a larger Tablet PC or desktop computer, all the way up to a huge flat panel or wall display.

Q: How do you approach the user experience so it works up the chain from a usability standpoint? How does the design process work in this new visual context?
SanGiovanni: This is a very interesting question. With regard to usability verification, I am very concerned with the direction in which the industry has been moving recently. There are several different types of Interaction Designers. The most common approach to current interface development finds designers at both ends of the spectrum. One is a maverick designer who has a creative vision but is not grounded in reality (doesn't care if it works or if it is usable). The other is the usability scientist specializing in HCI (Human Computer Interaction) and who is typically a PhD. These two designer profiles often find themselves in conflict either over the creation of interactions that are 1) dramatic but difficult to learn or 2) usable but antiseptic.

This has been the model for the last 7 - 10 years. But I think this model is obsolete. I believe there is a new class of designer who is an elegant marriage of the two profiles above. They are very bold and use strong intuition not only as a designer but also as a user of these technologies. They can do 70% of the usability verification based on their own experience and then do targeted user studies just to make sure the team hasn't made any horrible assumptions. Inside companies like Microsoft or Apple, bold design comes to the surface but then is softened once the usability verification process begins. I call this new type the "Intuitive Designer" - talented, cross-disciplinary and usability-aware. I feel the boldest new interfaces are coming out of people who fit this profile. I see the change on a micro scale but it needs to change on a macro scale. With very few exceptions, current academic design and interaction curricula are producing either one or the other - usability and research gurus on one side, and innovative, flashy but impractical design talent on the other. The industry needs more Intuitive Designers.

Q: What is a good example of this "Intuitive Designer" in action?
SanGiovanni: The best examples can be seen in current video games. Game designers are generally video game players as well. They understand the audience and how to approach the design of a game. Halo is the first example that comes to mind - the controller is heavily overloaded, but in a very intuitive manner. Every button and trigger does something clever. After a few minutes, new users understand the interaction model; and after a few days, players begin to master the controls. Eventually, the controller becomes a natural extension of the user's mind. Halo is a good example because it is an incredibly complex system of interaction, but provides an amazingly high degree of control. Most Human Computer Interaction scientists would quickly veto such complex interaction. Yet, there is an enormous community of users who have achieved expertise. The social experiment worked. Much like a musical instrument or a manual transmission, the controller is designed to tightly couple the user to the machine.

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