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The Witcher har precis släppt sin trailer på Comic Con och den är riktigt, riktigt bra!  Inte nog med att Henry Cavill verkligen ser ut som huvudpersonen Geralt of Rivia, det verkar som att man lagt lite extra krut på att få en bra fantasy serie i vakuumet efter Game Of Thrones. Han ser riktigt stor ut i trailern så det ska bli spännande att se mer om detta framöver.
The Witcher sägs vara baserad på böckerna snarare än spelen och förväntat release datum är inte släppt än. Vi kan gissa på Q4 2019 eller Q1 2020 skulle jag tro.
Jimi Wikman
Again and again we see the darkness around us as yet another bright soul leave this earth all to soon. We see the anger and the frustration grow around the globe. We see the silent bright lights get crushed by the ever growing coldness fed by greed and envy. Still we do nothing.
In this time and age where information flow and we should be more enlightened than any generation before we still value greed over humanity. I watch in despair as the younger generations struggle to find their place in a world where the cold cynical reality clashes with their idealistic desire to make the world a better place.
I see the silent and introvert get crushed by the extrovert corporate machines who cares little about anything but the profit margin in the latest quarterly reports. I see the sparkling creativity that tingle in the eyes of our artists fade and get replaced by the sickening glow of the almighty dollar as they compromise their art for survival.
I see people still go to a workplace that they hate. To spend the majority of their day in mind numbing labor they hate. Only to put food on the table for a family they barely know due to long working hours and even longer commute.
I see children screaming out their pain over an existence that they do not understand or want to be a part of. I see men and women choosing to end it all because the world around make no sense. I see darkness, death and misery broadcasted on every channel until I feel like I am drowning in it.
I am strong. I have been dancing in darkness my whole life. I have been bullied, I have been poor and not known if I would be able to pay my bills or put food on the table. I have tested the limits of my body and broken down on the edge of what my body can handle. I have been mentally exhausted and felt the pain of barely function as a human being.
I have done all that and it have made me strong. I am confident in my abilities and limitations. I do not fear what I do not understand and I do not shy away from doing what I must to keep my energy from fading. When darkness comes my way it does not come as a surprise and it rarely stay for long.
Despite this inner strength I still find myself in despair. Not for myself, but for those that do not have the strength to endure the cold and cynical world we live in where money matters more than life. Those that stumble and fall, often to never get up again.
People I care about that are treated like objects and not the amazing human beings that they are. People that once had eyes sparkling with love and an inner blaze of creative fire. People that now sit silently at their desk with dark and empty eyes doing things that they hate.
People are suffering and dying because we consider saving them being to costly. In the wealthiest countries in the world we can not afford mental healthcare to save peoples lives. In the wealthiest cities in the world we can not afford to help those that fall through the cracks and end up on the street.
A voice in my head tell me that I can do nothing about this as I am just one voice. I disagree because as long as I have a voice I would waste it if I did not use it. So I will not be silent.
Every day I will do my best to lift up those around me. I will see them for who they are and what they can become. I will encourage them to become better and to see how great they really are. I will give to those that are in need without judgement when I can. I will offer my own time and energy to help others when I can without asking for anything in return.
I will strive to learn everyday to know new cultures so I better can understand the people and the world around me. I will offer a shoulder to lean on when the day is feeling heavy. I will listen when those around me need to lighten their burden.
Most importantly I will never be silent.
I will share my own experiences and tell others that it's ok to say no when you risk lowering your energy levels to much. I will show others that being introvert is not something to be ashamed of as almost all people on this earth have some introvert inside them. I will talk about my darkest moments like when my younger brother died or loosing my grandmother to cancer.
I will talk about being bullied and the feeling of shame when you leave the party early because you are exhausted mentally. I will talk about the sense of feeling completely worthless when you need to beg for money to pay your rent and put food on your table. I will talk about this and much more because there are people out there that think that they are alone in these feelings.
You are not alone as darkness comes to us all. If you look at me today I am successful. I have a great job that I love. I am confident, easy to talk to and some people see me as a leader. This was not always the case and my journey has been long and bumpy.
In your darkest moment when you feel like you just want to the pain of living to fade away I want to say to you that I know what you are feeling. I also know that no matter how bad things are everyone can live a happy life. It might seem impossible for you, but the first step is to talk about it. Find someone to talk to because your life matters. It matters to me.
Darkness is all around us in this cold and cynical world based on greed and selfishness. Each of us still can shine however and if you have read this very long article all the way here you are either one of those shining lights or you are trapped in darkness.
Regardless of what is true for you, please don't be silent.
The world need your voice.
And your light.
Jimi Wikman
In the last weeks I have been occupied with the final preparations for leaving my old company. It has been a bit sad and difficult at times, but now as the final date have been set and the practical things been put into place I feel pretty good.
It is strange how such a small thing as a date for my last working day in one company can be so important, while at the same time the first working day on another feel so distant. How my mind is unable to process one until the other has been clarified and decided.
Now that it is settled I can enjoy the last weeks with my co-workers and friends and look forward to the new and exciting times ahead. 
The summer is slowly leaving room for autumn as the wheel of time continue to move. One thing must end for another to begin. 
I lift my cup of coffee and smile as another leaf fall from the tree outside. 
I am ready for another cycle.
Jimi Wikman
Personalization, omnichannel, SEO and SEM. These are the things you hear people spend tons of money on in 2016, but only recently have you started to hear more about UX. Unfortunately the term UX is used as some form of collective phrase for all things related to design and conversion optimization, which it is not.
When discussing UX you will almost always have conversation drifting into topics of visual design, Interaction Design (IxD) and of course Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). Now this is fine because UX certainly are closely connected to these fields, but the problem is that no one seem to explain that they are just that: connected. Instead everything is just "UX", which leads to problem with expectation and actual result.
Lets start by breaking down what UX is and is not by defining the different aspects of a design:
Visual Design
There are many types of visual design and the most common for enterprise companies is the creative visual designer. This is because enterprise companies use creative agencies, even if there is no creative aspect of the visual design to begin with. A creative visual designer is an artist. The creations are all master pieces to be admired and praised and the format of advertisement and commercials are where the creative artist truly will shine.
E-commerce for example have very little creative freedom because it is limited in function and expectations from the users. To put a creative artist on the task of designing an E-commerce site is like asking Michelangelo to select the color palette for window frames and door dressings for 15.000 apartments in Los Angeles instead of doing the Sistine Chapel ceiling. It's a waste of time for the artiste and the result will be to complex for the purpose.
Instead you use a GUI designer with an expertise in the system you are designing for. Unlike the creative visual designer that will spend endless discussions on what font to use with what pantone so the kerning will amplify the shades of the fall collection the GUI designer will focus on usable design, best suited for the platform and purpose of the site.
The GUI designer will live in the borderline between visual design and the front end developer and they have a decent understanding of IxD and UX based on previous experience. There are no visual masterpieces created by GUI designers, but they are the true masters of making usable design that generate sales and clients love to browse their balanced and well constructed designs.
Interaction Design
The interaction designer is all about the interaction between the system and the user. The sole purpose of the work done by the IxD is to ensure the interaction is the best possible for the user so that person can get to where they want to go as fast and as easy as possible. In order to do this the IxD is armed to the teeth with tools to structure information and data, how to optimize search and navigation structures, if the target group prefer popups, slide ins or any other type of front end behavior to present information.
Unlike the visual designer colors, fonts and other visual aspects, are not an important aspect of the interaction process. So wireframes are the tools of the trade for an IxD, even if that is slowly making way for prototypes these days as it has many benefits beyond mere IxD.
User Experience
The UX designer is all about feelings, but not just any feelings: the users feelings. This is when the visual design come together with the interaction design in a way that is most appealing to the users. The UX process is all about finding out what the users want, what they need (that they might not even know they want) and then to adjust the visual and interaction to best fit that need.
The UX designer spend lots of time identifying and understanding the users so they can form that emotional bond that make it possible to make the best possible experience for them. The tools for the UX designer are all about communication and psychology so interviews, think aloud testing, eye tracking and analytics are all part of the UX designers arsenal as well as a sound understanding of color psychology and the ways the human brain interact with the digital world.
Conversion Rate Optimization
The Conversion Rate Optimizer is all about psychology. The CRO expert build on top of the IxD and UX designers work and they dig deeply into the more advanced areas of visual design and of course the greatest tool of all CRO masters: the communication between the user and the site called tonality.
Things like the reciprocity, directional cues and copywriting are heavily mixed with psychology such as color psychology and the Gestalt Laws. Behavior patterns and content management become target for optimization where each funnel is examined and dissected to find the optimal flow with the optimal design and optimal tonality.
Conversion rate optimization in itself have many, many different flavors. Some CRO are experts in getting forms to convert, others are experts in structure and trust while others are experts in SEO/SEM returns or Email campaigns.
Get the right designer for 2017
So what kind of designer do you need for 2017, really? It all depend on where you are in your design cycle. Most sites already have a design, flawed as it might be, but instead of spending millions on a redesign, which will most likely just cost you money unless you do it right, I suggest you consider the three steps building blocks of a great design.
Interaction Design - Ensures that the site CAN be used. User Experience Design - Ensures that that people WANT to use the site. Conversion Rate Optimization - Ensures that people WILL use the site. I would say that 75% of all E-commerce are in dire need of an IxD. That is because so many sites still struggle with site structure and interaction. To many have fallen for the lure of using a creative designer and are stuck with a design that the user do not understand how to use or that is not actually usable at all.
20% of all E-commerce sites have a structure that the users can use, but the design lack pleasure and clarity and for that reason a UX designer is needed. This is where magic happens almost daily and it's a wonderful time for a site user to bond with the users to truly begin to understand them.
Only 5% are in the state where they have the structural stability and easy usage focused on the right user group and it's these 5% that are in the exciting phase of Conversion Rate Optimization. This is when a site truly enter a golden area and exceptionally few sites ever reach this state.
Regardless of where you are in your design you should seriously look at your site today and ask yourself this:
Do you know who you are building your site for and have you confirmed this with actual data so you know that is actually true? Are your content such as images, texts and visuals communicating with those people in the way that is appropriate for that target group and have you verified that with data as well? Will your site win awards for ease of use if your visitors would vote for your site honestly every time they visited your site and have you confirmed that with the users? Is there anything about your site you are not 100% satisfied with and is it safe to say that your users will feel the same as you? Do you want to make more money and have happier clients in 2017 by taking care of questions 1-4 as well of hundreds others that affect your sales and customer satisfaction? If the answer for #5 is yes, then I suggest you take a long look into your budget and consider not wasting money on SEO/SEM or redesign efforts before you have a serious look at your UX and CRO, because if you read all of this I assume you are dedicated enough to already have done your IxD work...
...am I correct?
Jimi Wikman
In my previous post I wrote about the anger I felt about Skandia calling me fat and asking me to do a health check based on the completely useless measurement BMI. Now lets see how could Skandia turn this feeling of rage to something positive with some easy UX magic shall we?
So, Skandia did not do so well with their pretty straight forward request that I should get a doctor to sign off that I am in decent shape and do not pose a risk of dying anytime soon. Looking at others response this is not unique to me, so it is an issue for Skandia that I'll try to give some ideas on how to fix by just changing the copy.
The quote is not exact, but as you can see some effort have been made to be as polite as possible, but still the wording pretty much say "we use a tool that inaccurately attempt to measure how fat you are and based on that we thing you are obese and need a doctor to tell us you will not die instantly costing us money".
That is a pretty bad message because if you do not consider yourself fat you will get insulted, if you are overweight you get angry because you do not want to have that thrown in your face and finally if you like me really, really are against the abuse of BMI as any form of measurement tools you will really get under their skin.
So, regardless if you use BMI or not your aim is to make the potential customer feel like this is for her benefit and just routine. You do not want to bring attention to whatever their weight situation is or tell them they got specially selected as being fat. So lets see if we can bring this same message, but turning it to a positive message instead:
 
Maybe it's not the best text, but you get the idea. Instead of calling attention to a potential health issue Skandia ask us to make the check to make sure no hidden health issues exist. It turn the issue from being about Skandia wanting to be sure I am not a potential cost to be about then caring about my health and offer to pay to make sure it's ok. That's a pretty big change of tonality.
The assurance that they pay for the visit trigger a mild reciprocity effect and the offer to be there to answer questions enhance the tonality of caring. No indication if this is specifically for you or a general request exist which makes it less intrusive, so this works if it's sent out to all potential clients or just the potential obese ones.
It's a very simple change of wording that I pretty much just wrote on the fly, but with some proper copy anyone can turn any text and make it into a conversion machine instead of a conversion killer. It's all about how you talk to people, not what you actually ask them to do....
Jimi Wikman