Thanks to a tweet from the @foursquare team and a post from TechCrunch, I have a new app for checking in to foursquare, Fourface.
Yeah, I know foursquare and location generally have been getting a lot of ink here and other place. Get used to it though because heading into SXSW later this week, location is expected to be all the rage.
Before you move on, this post isn’t really about foursquare. It’s about interface paradigms.
Fourface uses foursquare’s API and OAuth to present functional data visualizations. By functional, I mean you can use them to checkin to venues, not just browse data. Although, like any good visualization, Fourface does an elegant job modeling the checking data, and is reminiscent of Digg Labs, one of my favorite data pr0n sites.
This is interesting to me because normally data visualizations can’t be used to create the data they model. So really these are new interfaces based on visualizations.
For example, here is the foursquare iPhone app’s checkin screen, or rather a leaked image of how it will look in their upcoming redesigned version.
Image from TechCrunch
Makes sense to you right? Probably because it follows paradigms you’ve seen in the past.
By contrast, here is one of the Fourface checkin screens, called arcs.
Image from Fourface
Fourface uses your location to build the visualization. In this case, arcs lists the five venues closest to you ordered as layered circles with the venue at the center being the closest. To checkin, you touch and hold the venue, or load more to get a new set of arcs.
Three of the four visualizations offered by Fourface allow you to checkin to foursquare using similar models. The fourth shows a heat map-like grid of venue checkins (current and historical).
Fourface also uses audible cues to help you, which I’m not in love with, but make it a bit easier to get over the usability changes.
So, who cares, right?
Even if you’re not into foursquare, this is an interesting study in UI because it removes all the usual trappings, e.g. buttons, labels, selection widgets, form fields, and substitutes a visually attractive, moving visualization that also happens to be functional.
I’m not saying I’ll be using Fourface exclusively to checkin; frankly, I’ll probably mess with it for a bit then forget about it, like many apps I download.
Still, the next time Rich and I have an interface to build and want to do something cool, I’ll remember Fourface, and maybe we’ll try something similar.
What do you think? Would an interesting interface make your favorite app more enjoyable, or would it just force you to relearn functions?
This is bordering on the simplicity and stupidityarguments, so I’ll leave the rest for comments.
Find them and leave one.
Quite an intriguing site! Will feature in my Data Visualisation References resource list, aspiring to be the most comprehensive on the net. (Will be updated a little later today, please be patient.) If you miss anything that I might be able to find for you or if you yourself want to share a resource, please leave a comment.
Btw.: Here's the link:
http://crisismaven.wordpress.com/references/ref…
Pussy Palace – Bulls Eye!
I think any interface that makes you spin on your head to read it is just a joke. “Let's stand him on his head! Aww, he's no fun, he fell right over.” – Firesign Theater, predicting bad user interfaces since the '60s.
Hmm, I managed to read it without falling over or spinning my head 🙂 My point was meant to be more broad. Maybe you don't like these interfaces, but I think adding new paradigms to the mix is a good thing.
I did notice the Pussy Palace too. Not sure if that's a strip joint or a cheeky name, don't plan to investigate 🙂
One word: iamthenode.com
Is that good word or a bad one? I haven't used that much, but I'm Flash averse 🙂
If I may borrow an ancient slogan, it all boils down to the question “Where do you want to go today?”
The different UIs discussed in the Foursquare/Fourface examples above answer different questions, i.e. (a) tell me about a specific location, (b) tell me about the closest locations, and (c) tell me about locations that I've visited before.
The difficulty for a developer, or even a bunch of third-party developers using an API, is that it's difficult to identify the potential billions of ways in which a product may be used. And once you identify alternatives, you have to decide whether you want to spend time developing and supporting them, or whether you just want to create one UI and say “This is the only way to do it.”
Perhaps I'm wrong, but I would think that developers of enterprise applications would have more leeway in offering alternative UIs than developers of consumer applications. In fact, enterprise customers may DEMAND alternative UIs – IBM may pay big bucks for a blue-tinted background, while Oracle may pay big bucks for a red-tinted background.
Not sure what you mean, all the UIs discussed answer all those questions in differing levels of detail.
Enterprise app developers offer one UI b/c that's the one that is supported. Offer more UIs, compound your support costs. So, they have less leeway in that regard. Demanding alternate UIs boils down to changing a skin, applying a CSS, etc. Maybe an alternate, but not a different UI.
You must try it, as it is The Worst Interface In The History Of Totally k001 Interfaces.
By worst, I mean literally making people ill.
I don't have anything against new for the sake of new, sometimes (albeit rarely) that can lead to improvements. But more commonly, having to learn a new interface just for glitter is counterproductive. Remember when web pages first came out and so many people would just throw in every whiz-bang eye candy? The blowback surely must have primed people for the simplicity of google. (CNBC has been playing the Mind Of Google show over and over, which includes a segment recalling initial internal users staring at the screen waiting for it to finish loading lol).
My first thought looking at all the fourface skins was “where's the one that looks like every word was cut out of a different magazine?” (btw, one of the least legible skins is a customer of the manufacturing company I work for.)
Have you told Justin about your feelings for iamthenode? He might be interested 🙂
I get why new for new's sake isn't always good, but still, it can't hurt to change things up a bit.
You're talking about the ransom note font. I'll bet you can find one to install and use (under CC) for your own entertainment. In fact, I know you can.
If I may borrow an ancient slogan, it all boils down to the question “Where do you want to go today?”
The different UIs discussed in the Foursquare/Fourface examples above answer different questions, i.e. (a) tell me about a specific location, (b) tell me about the closest locations, and (c) tell me about locations that I've visited before.
The difficulty for a developer, or even a bunch of third-party developers using an API, is that it's difficult to identify the potential billions of ways in which a product may be used. And once you identify alternatives, you have to decide whether you want to spend time developing and supporting them, or whether you just want to create one UI and say “This is the only way to do it.”
Perhaps I'm wrong, but I would think that developers of enterprise applications would have more leeway in offering alternative UIs than developers of consumer applications. In fact, enterprise customers may DEMAND alternative UIs – IBM may pay big bucks for a blue-tinted background, while Oracle may pay big bucks for a red-tinted background.
Not sure what you mean, all the UIs discussed answer all those questions in differing levels of detail.
Enterprise app developers offer one UI b/c that's the one that is supported. Offer more UIs, compound your support costs. So, they have less leeway in that regard. Demanding alternate UIs boils down to changing a skin, applying a CSS, etc. Maybe an alternate, but not a different UI.
You must try it, as it is The Worst Interface In The History Of Totally k001 Interfaces.
By worst, I mean literally making people ill.
I don't have anything against new for the sake of new, sometimes (albeit rarely) that can lead to improvements. But more commonly, having to learn a new interface just for glitter is counterproductive. Remember when web pages first came out and so many people would just throw in every whiz-bang eye candy? The blowback surely must have primed people for the simplicity of google. (CNBC has been playing the Mind Of Google show over and over, which includes a segment recalling initial internal users staring at the screen waiting for it to finish loading lol).
My first thought looking at all the fourface skins was “where's the one that looks like every word was cut out of a different magazine?” (btw, one of the least legible skins is a customer of the manufacturing company I work for.)
Have you told Justin about your feelings for iamthenode? He might be interested 🙂
I get why new for new's sake isn't always good, but still, it can't hurt to change things up a bit.
You're talking about the ransom note font. I'll bet you can find one to install and use (under CC) for your own entertainment. In fact, I know you can.