Tobias Misera

Tobias's bio

Tobias Misera is the Head of Practice at Foviance and has over 10 years of hands-on experience at producing and managing high quality brand experiences that balance both user and business goals, with a high degree of usability and desirability.

"I am a passionate Designer of websites and experiences and think that clients usually get the websites they deserve."

A month ago I stepped into a second hand bookshop and noticed that they arranged books not by genre, title or author but by colour. James Andrews, previously of Foviance, told me that arranging content by colour is not a new idea. Chris Cobb started organising books by colour in his Adobe installation in 2004.

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To 3D Secure or not to, that is often the question.  We did some work for one of our clients and 3D Secure was part of the study. In summary:. (more…)

Clients who think that their online forms are too long may consider putting 2 or more fields (e.g. text fields, dropdown menus) next to each other in one line. Is this a good idea? (more…)

At Foviance, our job is to help the world’s leading brands understand their customers better. That means uncovering who they are, along with their expectations, goals, behaviours and attitudes. We use this knowledge to deliver an experience that pleases end customers while ensuring commercial success for our clients. (more…)

During a conversation recently with one of my clients, we were discussing certain terms of reference and how they are defined. As there are no industry standards as such but as many definitions as there are practitioners, I have broken down, in my opinion, the best and most widely used definitions for the following, within our glossary:

• User Interface (UI)

A User Interface (UI) is the interface by which a computer user is able to interact with the computer. It describes the way that the user uses input devices such as keyboards and mice, the way the information is portrayed on screen or on the output device and therefore determines how an application program or a Web site invites interaction and responds to it.

A Graphical User Interface (GUI) offers graphical icons, and visual indicators, as opposed to text-based interfaces, typed command labels or text navigation to fully represent the information and actions available to a user. The actions are usually performed through direct manipulation of the graphical elements.

• Information architecture (IA)

Information architecture is the art and science of organising information, usually via a strict taxonomy, so that it is findable, manageable and useful. In web design, the term describes the organisation of online content into categories and the creation of an interface for displaying those categories. Information architecture is concerned with the relationships between internal page elements, as well as the relationship between individual pages.

• Visual Identity (VI)

Visual Identity is the sum of all the visual elements used by an organisation or company to distinguish itself from its competitors.
The symbol, colours, formats and other visual elements of the brand signature.

• User Experience Design (UED)

User Experience Design is concerned with the experience of using a product as a whole – from first contact to interaction to reflection on that interaction. The term “user experience” refers to a concept that places the end-user at the focal point of design and development efforts, as opposed to the system, its applications or its aesthetic value alone. It’s based on the general concept of user-centered design (UCD).

• User-Centered design (UCD)

User-Centered design is a highly structured, comprehensive product development methodology driven by: (1) clearly specified, task-oriented business objectives, and (2) recognition of user needs, limitations and preferences. Information collected using UCD analysis is scientifically applied in the design, testing, and implementation of products and services.
When rigorously applied, a UCD approach meets both user needs and the business objectives of the sponsoring organisation.

This also brings us round to another blog posting on job titles within the User Experience (UE) design field.