Skip to content
dezining interactions
thoughts about ux design, patterns, running a design business, letterpress printing, bookmaking and other random somewhat related things
  • Home
  • About Erin
    • Education
    • Speaking & Teaching
    • LinkedIn Profile
  • Reading Lists
    • IxD Foundations Reading List
    • Systems Thinking / Designing Reading List
    • Visual Design Reading List
    • Social Design Reading List
  • The UX of Sales :: A small book
  • Old Stuff
Community/Interaction design/Social

patterns and joining the party

Posted on 09/20/2008 by erin

I am currently working on the suite of patterns around joining social sites. the patterns start with registration and then include, sign in, sign in continuity, welcome area, receive invitation, send invitation, sign out, private beta and the password anti-pattern.

it’s been interesting writing these. my team at yahoo! worked on the registration redesign last year and was also responsible for the sign-in forms and other pages related to this. since y! only has one registration form and one sign in page – centrally hosted – we never wrote up these interactions as patterns. but i think i have done a good job translating everything we learned into principles and best practices for the pattern since we did so much testing as well as analysis of the log files and pathing.

i have also tried to fold in lessons learned and trends in simplification that I have been seeing across the web with the current crop of social sites.

but I think the most enlightening thing for me when writing these as a collection was how much of this set of interactions is intending to mirror real-life social activities and norms. Inviting someone to join a site – whether through some automation or through a  personal invitiation – is like inviting someone to your home. It may be an apartment or a house in a neighborhood – but there are interactions with other people, there are private and public spaces.

As a site owner, you have to welcome your guests as you would to your home, you need to provide a framework for interactions between guests, as you would when having a dinner party or other social gathering. you hope that some people know each other so the conversations are not strained or hostile. shared interests definitely help keep the conversations lively and having something to talk about or interact around also helps keep it interesting.

And what happens when someone comes knocking and asks to join without first being invited – the early adopter? how are they welcomed, how do they join a community that doesn’t actually exist yet? Are they comparable to the homesteaders who made their way across the country to set up home and communities? what kind of tools do they get that may be different from someone who moves in after the town is already established?

I think I have it fairly fleshed out in terms of the mechanics of the interactions but the societal implications and influences that come from one interaction decision versus another is something to continue exploring as I flesh out this set of patterns.

Community, invitation patterns, join, sign up, Social, welcome
erin
current: experience matters design :: senior level interaction design and systems strategy consulting former partner, tangible user experience; Yahoo! founder of the public and internal Yahoo! pattern library. design director of ued teams responsible for designing solutions across key yahoo! platforms: social media, personalization, membership and vertical search. View all posts by erin →

Post navigation

Older post
If you like music you should c…
Newer post
having a passion outside the job

Professional Portfolio

experience matters design

erin_8pawpress

Large tree down across the trail at McLaren. Tryin Large tree down across the trail at McLaren. Trying to get a walk in between storms. #dogwalk #mclarenpark
Cat hugs - his feet are around my neck #dexter #lo Cat hugs - his feet are around my neck #dexter #lovebug #blackcatsrule
Could not get her to look at me directly #ball #su Could not get her to look at me directly #ball #sunny #dog
Dim sum for New Years lunch with mom today. Late l Dim sum for New Years lunch with mom today. Late lunch after Sheila headed back to SoCal #newyears #newyear2023
Ferry Building on New Year’s Day - packed even w Ferry Building on New Year’s Day - packed even with hardly anything open. Happy New Year!! 🎊
Sculpterra winery wine tasting with sis and mom. # Sculpterra winery wine tasting with sis and mom. #sculpterrawinery #pasorobles #christmas #family
Wine tasting and sculpture garden in Paso Robles - Wine tasting and sculpture garden in Paso Robles - I don’t drink wine but mom and sis thought it was great. Sunny and I partook of the sculpture. #christmas #family #pasorobles #sculpterrawinery
Merry Christmas Eve from the one place without sno Merry Christmas Eve from the one place without snow or ice - SF sunset before the monsoons arrive Tuesday. #christmas #sfilivehere
Great highway walk today with mom and Sunny the do Great highway walk today with mom and Sunny the dog #dogwalk #sf #greathighway
Load More... Follow on Instagram
MASTODON POSTS

The subject of my newsletter #2 was Mabel Addis, a school teacher who was enlisted to work with IBM to develop narrative educational computer games in the mid 1960's.
I just published her story on the website: https://womenofixd.com/mabel-addis#womenofixd #ixddesignhistory
Newsletter #3 will come out Monday. Signup on the homepage.

26 January 2023 @ 7:37 pm

Newsletter authors: Do you post your newsletter to your website? As is or reformatted? How soon from sending out as an email do you publish on your site (if you do)? I'm trying to find the right cadence of newsletter to site posting and value to subscribers. Any advice appreciated.

17 January 2023 @ 5:28 am

The second edition newsletter went out today. Women of IXD: Deep Cuts #2 - Mabel Addis & the first interactive computer game - https://mailchi.mp/0c47ba3faaa8/women-of-ixd-deep-cuts-2-mabel-addis-the-first-interactive-computer-game #womenofixd #ixddesignhistory #computergamedesignhistory

16 January 2023 @ 11:48 pm

I've just published the profile on Ángela Ruiz Robles to my website. This was my first Deep Cuts newsletter. Coming bi-monthly to your email and then later to the website. https://womenofixd.com/angela-ruiz-robles

16 January 2023 @ 6:50 pm

I started sending out my Women of IXD: Deep Cuts newsletter this week with a piece about Ángela Ruiz Robles. Bi-monthly newsletter containing the stories and profiles of the women in the field I had to cut from the book due to word-count constraints and narrative flow.
You can subscribe at the bottom of the homepage at Women of IXD - https://womenofixd.com/ - and get the stories in your inbox.
#womenofixd #womendesigners #hiddenhistories #loststories

4 January 2023 @ 11:45 pm

Powered by WordPress | Theme: Graphy by Themegraphy