For nearly a year, I have been working as the User Experience Lead for the Microsoft Evangelism Network which consists of five community-based web sites each targeting a unique audience.

Channel 8 - for students  | Channel 9 - for developers  | Channel 10 - for technology enthusiasts | TechNet EDGE - for IT Professionals | VisitMIX - for web designers, developers and business decision makers.

My role has been to oversee the "experience" visitors have on/across these sites with a focus on the overall visuals (look and feel), the way information is displayed and the functionality/interaction that visitors experience when navigating the content. I consider myself a generalist who takes on the roll of creative director, information architect and interactive designer depending on the task at hand. I am simplifying this but, most important is the amount of work that we as a small team have accomplished over the 10 months.

The challenge collectively has been to create a platform capable of supporting all sites. What this equates to is the ability for incremental changes/improvements across the entire eco-system. When one site is improved - they are all improved. For those familiar with the development process, this has involved many hours of planning, coding, designing and stabilizing. We utilize "building blocks" for hosting a variety of information types and rely heavily on CSS to create a unique look for each property. While some visitors are critical of our process, the result has been the publishing of 3 beta sites, 2 new sites and 3 re-launches of existing sites. Never mind the countless administration tasks that have been completed. The three guys that make up the development team are amazing to work with and it is truly exciting to see my designs come to life.

Last week, I found myself on the wrong end of a video camera being interviewed where I described briefly my though process behind the new design (and re-launch) of Channel 8 and my approach to design in general. What follows is the interview.

 
The NEW Channel 8’s Designer Speaks Out

If Andy Warhol was right, it appears that I have about 22 seconds of fame left, better make them count!?!

For the past couple of months I have been working on a major revision of Channel 9. Microsoft's community-based, pull back the covers destination for developers. Since its launch 4 years ago there has been thousands of hours of videos published and thousands of forum threads created. One of the main tasks of the revision was to improve an experience that would continue to lead users (aka "Niners")  to fresh content, increase context and surface relevant/related materials. In addition, it was important to cross-promote media content to users who participate mainly through the use of the forums. And, visa-versa. As the re-launch would be done as a beta site running parallel to the live, it gave me a chance to explore some UX ideas I had been thinking about. It was during the conceptual phase of the project that I remember looking at the mock-up covered wall in my office and thinking that I had reached that fine line between displaying useful information and displaying "noise". While meeting goals we has set-out at the start, the page had simply become overwhelming. 

Immediately following the launch of the Beta site the feedback started to validate some of the thoughts I was starting to have. Not only did the 'shock and awe' of the site generate hate mail, but it was becoming clear that there was still sections of the UX that needed to be worked out. Not to mention that a shift in the UI created more debate than I had anticipated. I have returned back to the task of wire framing and think that elements are starting to gel. In time, we will release a second version of the beta which will be followed by the final. While treating a beta release of a site is not the best way to conduct a usability test, we have the ability to mold the site with community feedback which will result in a better experience and also will allow us to meet our goals.  Lessons have been learned but,  it has got me thinking about how much information is enough and when is it too much. How much information does a user need to make a decision and at what point do they just close the browser in frustration?