One example is Ford’s SYNC, a new system that brings smartphone functionality to the automobile. The hands-free apps use voice commands and steering wheel controls and are grouped under three categories – News & Information, Music & Entertainment, and Navigation & Location. Ford has also announced an open development platform, inviting developers to integrate applications with Ford Sync AppLink (if they pass the approval criteria). After sharing the technology at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) Las Vegas show, Ford says it will be included in 80% of Ford vehicles in 2015.

But it’s not just cars that get to have all the fun. Those that favor walking (or skiing, or skydiving) are going to be able to take advantage of advances in mobile technology too.

Google Glass and the Future of Apps

The arrival of Google Glass is an even larger signal of functionality beyond the smartphone. Take photos, record videos, find directions and ask question with just your voice and some simple commands (check out the video to see it yourself). Plus, many more apps and ideas on how Google Glass can be used in exciting and new ways are only beginning to emerge.

These new developments are examples of how the mobile experience is moving well beyond the devices themselves and focusing on the user’s actions, thoughts and behaviour. Google Glass won’t be as popular as iPhones just yet but the glasses (and the rise of new automobile apps) mark an important change in the way we use applications and mobile technology. And once driverless cars get on the road, who knows what will be next!

What is Universal Analytics?

Universal Analytics allows for a better understanding of how visitors are arriving at and interacting with your website and your organisation. The benefits of Universal Analytics include:

- More customised data using a new code snippet.

- Track more than just websites, including mobile and other devices, and send the data straight to your Google Analytics account with the Measurement Protocol.

- The ability to customise configuration settings – you can see many examples and lots of information about them here.

- Track a single user for up to two years, allowing you to track a user’s behaviour over a very-extended period of time.

- Advanced advertisement tools are arriving in the near future, like Content Experiments, AdSense tools, and more.

Adding UA to your website will require a new tracking code – learn how to set up the new feature here.  And because UA is really only a new way of collecting data, there are no new reports to go along with it.

Should I Add Universal Analytics?

Universal Analytics is an example of the ways Google Analytics (and other software) can track the many various steps and actions a user can take while interacting with your organisation. Not all users simply sign on to a website, do a quick browse and make a purchase; it is often a more complicated picture. And while analytics is far from perfect, updates like Universal Analytics help construct the greater story behind the user’s experience.

That said...if you are doing analytics on your own and just a beginner, some recommend waiting before installing Universal Analytics. It looks like Google will be adding an upgrade feature to allow users to simply change to Universal Analytics rather than installing a completely separate set of analytics, as you have to do now (there has been no official announcement from Google on this as of yet).

For many companies, Universal Analytics and the customisation that goes along with it provides too many benefits to wait for such an upgrade. Having the data for a longer period of time will also be an advantage in the future, even if you aren’t completely ready to delve into the many features and customisation tools available. 

There will always be disadvantages in trying to do two things at once, but mainly this involves the needs and wants of the individual or a particular project.

Here are some common arguments against designers learning code:

- A lot of designers want to focus on design because design is already hard enough without having to take on a new skill set such as coding.

- New trends and functionality in both coding and design will take time and effort to keep up to date with. This will require more training time both in and out of work hours and, as they say, if you want to master something you'll need to spend at least 10,000 hours on it. 

- Splitting your focus towards both design and code may cause you to not neccessarily become great at either.

Are these excuses enough of a reason to avoid learning how to code? The benefits could outweigh the negatives and, if gone about it the right way, it could become beneficial to the designer and the business.

5 Reasons Why Designers Need to Know Code

There are definitely benefits to having a designer who knows how to code, and these benefits affect the designer, the business and the client:

1. A web designer who knows both the restrictions and capabilities of a technology will design within those variables and use that technology to its greatest potential.

2. Designers who are able to execute their vision in the end product care about the finer details that have been put into the design.
"It’s just not practical to go back to the designer for a Photoshop mock-up every time a new section of the site needs to be designed/added."[1]

3. "A user-friendly website is not only a picnic to navigate from one page to another in a clear and concise flow of logic, but also provides a user with all the information they need without being too overbearing or cluttered. The only real way to know if a web layout works or not is learning how to build it yourself."[2]
They will be able to execute their designs exactly how they wanted it to be and not have to articulate them to a third party, meaning less miscommunication and better execution.

4. Businesses can also benefit from having a designer with coding experience. When a designer does not have certain coding knowledge, these limitations could possibly become a factor in a project not reaching the deadline, or pushing the budget because of the possible fixes that come with changing the design because certain functionality could not be achieved.

5. Small companies will also benefit from a single employee that can both code and design. They will help alleviate costs for a job that may usually need two people.

The level of skill to code doesn't have to be the same as a developer, and your knowledge level will vary depending on the type of work you’d like to do. But there is an absolute benefit to learning how to code, and you will become a better designer by doing so.

Mobile, Design and Business Strategy

Viv Trang (that’s me) is Head Designer at bwired and I spoke about the state of mobile and the need for responsive design in 2013. We also heard from Campbell Wilson, Director of Sales, about web strategy and fitting mobile design into the bigger picture.

Some of our main points at the seminar included:

- Mobile is on the rise, but how can we meet the demand of customers when their devices constantly upgrade and change?

- Responsive Design provides the answer

- Overview of Responsive Design

- RD versus Mobile Apps

- User Experience Strategy and UX Testing

- Analytics – Measure & Manage

- Some great examples of how to test and refine design on websites

These are just some of the ideas Campbell and I discussed last Thursday evening – check out the presentation and download your own copy, and be sure to sign up for our newsletter and stay tuned to @bwired_group to hear about our next (free!) seminar!

Wikipedia describes the social graph as “…a graph that depicts personal relations of internet users. It has been referred to as "the global mapping of everybody and how they're related." [1][2]

So, how does it work?

The approach is very simple – enter a search term such as “See photos of my family” or “which of my friends live in Sydney” and the results come back specific to that query. New to an area? Need a mechanic? Ask the engine which mechanic your friends like and get results. The product leverages the trust that comes from the personal endorsements of friends. Naturally users will filter those results based on the strength of those connections and any other personal biases or differences. Unlike more traditional search engine, the results one person will get are not marginally different from another, especially where more ubiquitous search terms are applied.

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg has described Graph Search as the next pillar of Facebook; Newsfeed and Timeline being the two most prominent currently.

So what sort of impact will it have on my privacy settings?

According to the video posts on the Graph Search page,  a user’s privacy setting decisions determine the content that is searchable. In other words, if you’ve shared it to Facebook and it is public, it can be indexed and included in the results. Because each user’s account and group of friends or connections is unique to them, so too results are tailored exclusively for the searcher.

Facebook’s privacy settings are rarely described as simple, and during the course of the product’s explanation, some elements of the search results, the city you live in for example, are declared as searchable where a user’s city setting is public, while the definition of how photos will be found reads, “You can find photos you and your friends have posted or been tagged in. Others will see any photos they can see on Facebook, including photos hidden from timeline.”

Graph Search is a smart offering, a bid to broaden the reach of Facebook users creating opportunities to make new connections – after all, stimulating growth of the platform is key to its sustainability. The downside of this is of course that users will need to be even smarter about their privacy settings and what they post. It may seem cynical, but anonymity on Facebook appears set to take another sizeable hit.

How can it help my business?

The example I used earlier of finding a trusted mechanic is illustrative of a businesses’ need to ensure they have a social presence. By engaging with the Facebook community, and attracting attention through business page likes, when friends search for services and businesses using Graph Search, these are the results they will discover.

It’s also likely that businesses will need to work harder to get a “like” from a user as this realization becomes more commonplace – working on the assumption that users may feel a greater responsibility for non verbal endorsements.

Zuckerberg sees Graph Search as one of the pillars of Facebook. He has also stated that the initial product offering will continue to be developed, further harnessing the power of what should be a revolutionary search tool.

Want to know more?

A series of informative videos have been posted on the Facebook Graph Search page. Watch the clips and sign up for the beta request at the end.

References:

1. Social Graph
2. CBS News