Intuition

User Experience Newsletter #12, December 2005

Dear User Experience Forum,

for the last newsletter this year I have a challenge for you. The Intuition Quiz is taken from Tog on Interface (Chapter 15. Carl Jung and the Macintosh).

Intuition Quiz

Here is a set of exercises to give your intuition a jump start. Few people can answer more than half the questions on their first pass. Most people need a period of incubation before the answers will pop into their minds. You may realize some answers an hour, a day, or a week after reading the problems, as your intuition finds patterns that work. This is expected and even useful, as the process of solving the more elusive questions -- and your reaction to that process -- will offer you insights into your own intuitive function and clues as to how to improve it.

Run through the test now and answer the problems that jump out at you. Then write the other problems down and carry them around with you for the next couple of days, glancing at them periodically. As you come up with solutions to the more trying problems, think about the experience in terms of these questions:

All of these problems are based on the shared experiences of people in the English-speaking world. None are technical; none are esoteric. [Der zweite Satz von Fragen kommt aus dem deutschen Sprachraum.]

The ones you get right away someone else may struggle with for days. Intuition is like that: powerful, but quirky. Relax and enjoy it.

Example: 4Q in a G (4 Quarts in a Gallon)

  1. 64S on a CB
  2. 1P on FT
  3. 90 D in a RA
  4. 7 W of the W
  5. 32 DF at which WF
  6. 1 H on a U
  7. 3 BM (SHTR)
  8. 18 H on a GC
  9. 88K on a P
  10. 26 L in the A
  11. 12 S of the Z
  12. 24 H in a D
  13. 1000 W (what a P is W)
  14. 54 C in a D (with the J´s)
  15. 1001 T of the AN
  16. 29 D in F in a LY
  17. 57 HV
  18. 9 P in the SS (update Aug 2006: it is merely 8 P in the SS)
  19. For Americans only: 200 D for PG in M
  20. For everyone but Americans: 14 D in a F

Und für den deutschen Teil auch ein Beispiel: 1000 = G sind ein K (1000 Gramm sind ein Kilo.)

  1. 26 = B im A
  2. 7 = WW
  3. 12 = SZ
  4. 9 = P im SS (Seit August 2006 sind es nur noch 8)
  5. 19 = GR im GG
  6. 0 = GC i d T b d W g
  7. 18 = L auf dem GP
  8. 90 = G im RW
  9. 4 = Q in einem KJ
  10. 24 = S hat der T
  11. 2 = R hat ein F
  12. 11 = S in einer FBM
  13. 29 = T hat der F i e SJ
  14. 32 = K in einem SB
  15. 64 = F auf einem SB
  16. 5 = F an einer H
  17. 16 = BL hat D
  18. 60 = S s e M
  19. 3 = W aus dem ML
  20. Alle = W f n R
  21. 21 A hat ein W

Two Old Men Playing Tennis

Hi, it's me again, Matthias. I once observed two old men playing tennis. One said to the other, "I'm trying to cheat, but I don't know how." -- Please don't look up the results in the huge online cheat engine called google. The fun part is to observe yourself while you solve the riddles.

Why Does Intuition Matter?

Tog provides two insights: "Understanding your own preferences, talents, and abilities is key to understand your users. [...] Intuition is crucial to the task of software design. When we are creating the shape of our software design, we need to think in terms of big concepts, and we need to weave our design into a single fabric users can understand and feel comfortable with."


With warmth regards from your moderators
Anja and Matthias

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Newsletter

  1. Remote TV A11Y
  2. Paradigmenwechsel. Vom PC zum Sozialen Medium
  3. Interaktionsdesign
  4. Best of 2008
  5. Good Tags - Bad Tags
  6. On Being Human in a Digital Age
  7. Elements of Style
  8. Nikolaus Links
  9. Visualizaton Methods
  10. Dueling Interaction Models
  11. Highway 101
  12. Versioning
  13. Intuition Quiz
  14. Resizing Windows
  15. The White Water Lily Effect
  16. 05-05-05
  17. In Memoriam: Jef Raskin
  18. Virtuelle Matrjoschkas
  19. Eine Arabeske über den Begriff der User Experience

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