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:

• Did answers always come while you were working actively on the quiz, or was your attention sometimes elsewhere?
• Did pushing yourself help?
• What time or times of the day were you most successful?
• Did you find answers through logical analysis, by figuring out one letter or relationship at a time? Or did answers usually just suddenly appear, whole, with your mind left feeling as though it had always known the answer -- a sign of intuitive process?
• When answers appeared whole, was your first response to bask in the glow of happiness and relief, or to turn on yourself for having been such a fool in taking so long?
• If you improved at rewarding yourself during the course of answering the questions, did the exercise become more pleasurable? Did you notice future answers were easier?

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