Just a few minutes ago, I was on Latimes.com to browse the news and clicked on a side article. Like most people, pictures attract my attention and so I clicked on a picture of a car in an intersection. The link took me to this page where there was a popup that read:

Become a member to keep on reading. We hope you’ve enjoyed your limit of free articles over the last 30 days. Want to see and know more? Become a member today and get unlimited access to the Los Angeles Times, Southern California’s best online source for news, culture and happenings.

As a member, you’ll enjoy our award-winning news and information, including unique storytelling, investigative reports, opinion, in-depth local news, signature blogs, compelling photo galleries, original video content, and revealing data projects and analysis coverage. Plus, take advantage of special membership privileges. Learn More.

Because I am not a subscriber, I clicked No Thanks and was brought back to the Latimes.com homepage. Again, just for kicks I wanted to see if this would cycle around. And guess what..?

Basically, you can go round and around the site and never resolve your browsing curiosity.

I don’t know about you, but these tactics by newspaper companies to monetize their online content always ruin the user experience. I know they’re trying to get people to pay for content by teasing people by placing content out of reach. But, wouldn’t it be better if you encourage premium subscriptions through positive reinforcement? Highlight the benefits of a subscription account and give people a trial run. Let them decide if “PREMIUM” content is worth the money. Show the value of your service. Spotify & Netflix does this, and I hear that they’ve gained many subscribers. People recognize the value and will thus be more willing to pay. This trial-run method is much less intrusive and a better way of getting people to pay for premium content.

I know their content requires a lot of work and effort and something to pay for. But, my question to them is: Why put it online in the first place? Why not have a separate “PREMIUM” site that directly caters to your subscribers? It seems stupid for me as a non-subscriber to be teased about content at every nook and cranny of your site. If I can’t get access to it, I’m going to rage quit and perhaps write a lengthy email to tell you how crappy my site experience was. In all honestly, I don’t think I’d spend the time to. I have much better things to do than feeling stupid cause I can’t read an article on your site unless I pay.

Anyways, if you wanted to know how to bypass LA Times’ subscription popup, You can bypass it by clicking “No thanks” and afterward (once redirected back to LaTimes.com) clicking the BACK button on your browser. Or you can just quit and do something else. Go to Cnn.com instead.

[Edit - 05/02/2012] I forgot you could bypass it by disabling Javascript. Thanks to @estherbester for the additional info.

What makes for a good UX/UCD Professional?

We came up with a list of responses that would help define the ideal UX professional, and ranked our top qualities.

Empathy, Listener/Communicator, Perseverance, Curiosity, Organized, Persuasive, Detailed, Flexible, Strategic, Patient, Critical, Affable, Knowing your Culture, Creative, Advocate, Not Ego-centric, Produces Good Material, and Goal Oriented.

Our top qualities were:

• Listener/Communicator
• Creative
• Empathy

Taking these qualities and applying them to myself…

I have listening down pretty well. I can listen all day. I’m an absorber.

For the other half, communication, I get caught up with being correct and right, and in a sense a perfectionist when it comes to being a communicator. I definitely know my presentation skills could be beter.

As for being creative, I somewhat got it. I don’t think I’m the next Picasso or Rembrant, but I do understand visual design and can visualize things.

Lastly I am not always beaming with empathy. I understand that people struggle with technologies (i.e. my Mother), but there comes a point where after you’ve taught them what to do, they should be able to fly on their own. In the case of my mother, she isn’t like that.I think I’ve told her at least a hundred times how to check her voicemail. It’s a pretty simple user experience, where you call yourself, push #, your password, and listen and follow directions. For some reason, my mother doesn’t get it. And as a result, I am not always empathetic to her pain, because understanding technology comes natural to me.

Sean talked about being advocates. As a UX designer you advocate for the User. You fight for them with all your blood-sweat-and-tears to make things easier to understand.

And to be honest, I am not always the best advocate for users. Or actually, even for myself. Even thinking about it, it’s hard for me to sell myself. I can sell things that I love and enjoy, but because of my asian-ness, I tend to be “humble” and not brag. And so, it’s a bit hard to identify what I’m good at.

As an exercise, I thought it’d be nice to write down the skills and things I think I’m good at, and then ask others what they thought I’m good at.

What I (think) I’m good at:

• Hacking technologies
• Listening
• Formatting Documents
• Understanding (Technical) Structures
• Organizing Information
• Being critical towards design
• Sound engineering
• Answering E-mails
• Helping people understand technology
• Playing Call of Duty and other online games
• Playing Guitar/Leading Worship

As an exercise, I thought I’d ask some friends what they thought I’m good at. Here are their responses.

Andy Hsiau:
being calm, being there for people when they need it, being knowledgable, good at sleeping, good at picking out hoodies, good at having bed head but still look appropriate, good at carpooling

Tommy Wu:
what you do well…….. you communicate well…. you have a get it done attitude… you have common sense…
hmm.. and i think you put your heart into your work..
sorta, like you put your heart into music

Aileen Hong:
helping me with my cellphone

If you’re one of my friends (or even a random person whose stumbled to my blog), feel free to comment and let me know what you think I’m good at.

In any case, my team and I were tasked to develop the research positioning of the need for a mobile application for the Metrolink transportation system.

[Download Presentation]

The way I best describe this is if Dropbox and a non-retarded version of Microsoft’s OneNote made a baby. It’s a cloud-based note taking application that is multi-platform (android, ios, windows, mac). So if you’re like me and have multiple digital devices, you’re able to add, delete, and carry around your little brainy ideas with you wherever you are.

And the best part? IT’S FREE!

Use it, and punch idea management in the face. Pow!