Hafiz Lubis

Design Matters: Miss Universe Pageant Needs Good UX

1/04/2016

Image: ABC News

Awkward, shocked, and confused. Three words that express the situation when the host of Miss Universe 2015, Steve Harvey incorrectly announced that Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutierrez Arevalo as the winner of Miss Universe 2015 pageant on live television which aired around the world. Here's a clip from Miss Universe 2015 (turn up the sound volume):

Many speculations were up to the air, whether Steve, who is also the host of famously Family Feud Game Show, Comedian and Author was done it on purpose - to boost rating of the show. Miss Universe was aired on NBC before until the TV network decided not to air the pageant show along with Miss USA after Donald Trump made statements about illegal immigrants from Mexico in his presidential campaign kickoff speech. Since then, FOX took over the show for the first time.

ICYMI: Here's the card Steve Harvey got handed & announced Miss Colombia as the winner pic.twitter.com/VlGMms6mfl

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 21, 2015

Well, from my view, and many others might think why it could happen. I read a blog post by Kevin Whipp on Creative Market, which quoted a thought from Eric Thomas (Senior Partner and Brand Specialist at SAGA MKTG), as he writes,

"Welcome to the silliest and most sloppily arranged piece of design to hit a multi-million dollar, overproduced, international beauty pageant to date. This is like showing up in flip-flops to the Oscars. And with months in the making, and thousands of hours worth of prep time, how did this part get overlooked?"

He then suggested his design that has points out the layout arrangement, so the host can read it flawlessly. I believe it's not the only reason for what happened on that day. However, it could be a good suggestion for the show.

It's better than Miss Universe's result card

It's not the only design that people suggested, John Havel on The Hustle also tells about how the result card should be. He added that Steve Harvey was set up to fail. The card also has spelling mistakes.

I couldn't agree more about this; they should design the result card in reader view. It's like creating a mobile app or mobile website; they should consider the user experience. The font must be easy to read, the font arrangement should be well positioned, as well as the size and the color. In fact, the live television is tight on time duration so that the mistakes should be avoided.

Read also: Seriously, I Love Grammarly

Doing a live TV is never easy. Even for the people behind-the-screen. I know it because I was working in several reality competitions like X Factor and Idol in Indonesian version. Even a pre-recorded show like MasterChef is always putting everyone under stress. Every second count, we make sure everything in control and the communication is going well.

My second guess why Steve Harvey announced it wrong, maybe he overwatches the Idol or X Factor kind of show (so, it stuck in his mind), cause most of the time the host declares the winner directly, before announcing the runner-up. Once again, it just a thought.

It's not the first time I watch this kind of awkward situation. Sarah Murdoch, the host of Australia's Next Top Model, announced the wrong winner back in 2010. It was on live TV too, tragically with no result card on hand. The producer fed the winner information over earpiece only. They thought it was a great idea but then ended unexpectedly. See the clip below:

Seriously, I love Grammarly! (English Version)

1/03/2016

Baca dalam Bahasa Indonesia

There is a quote that says “to judge someone, we can see from their writings.” Moreover, in this digital age, all can be reflected in what we write on social media or other new media. We tend to make mistakes in spelling, or grammar which sometimes embarrassing if read by our boss, client, customer or someone we love.

via GIPHY

Usually, I insert words or phrases into Google Translate, Microsoft® Word or do a manual check in the dictionary. You also may have your way. However, the result is not satisfying, and some still interpreted literally. So, the message of the sentence is broken due to the odd choice of words.

Don’t worry, the mistakes sometimes experienced by professionals in their field, I also had made mistakes too — when creating a post of social media, script, press release or other writings in English. I’m not a native English speaker. However, it’s not an excuse. I need to improve my writing.

“To find out your real opinion of someone, judge the impression you have when you first see a letter from them.” — Arthur Schopenhauer

When I knew there is a web application that could check my grammar and context of the writing in English, I am so excited. The web app is Grammarly. It founded by Alex Shevchenko and Max Lytvyn in 2008. Their headquarter is in San Francisco, United States. Grammarly claims that it used by more than 4 million users and more than 600 leading universities and companies.

Do we need Grammarly?

If you are a student, a professional writer, public relations, secretary, employee, business people, bloggers, and people who just want to write English better, then I think you will need Grammarly. No matter what condition your writing is, Grammarly adjusts to your needs, as well as giving you confidence in writing English.

The benefits of Grammarly

This app has a variety of benefits, including Grammar Checker, Proofreading, Plagiarism Checker. I also like their thesaurus service (Words by Grammarly) which helping me to find many types of words.

250 Points of Grammar

Grammarly checks the text you write for determining the use of the right words with more than 250 current rules of grammar, which include everything from a subject-verb to the purposes of the structure of articles to provide proper placement.

Live correction by Grammarly

Contextual Spelling Checker

This app can provide input use of the correct spelling, correcting embarrassing writing mistakes, for example, “worthed”, which should be “worth it” — many people misspells it, thus confusing those who read.

Vocabulary Enhancement

The words used in your writing can make an impact for people who read. However, you do not have always using too many flowery words or technical words known only to certain people. With the recommendation of Grammarly, your vocabulary will increase, and there will be seen as a great writer as well.

I used Grammarly for this article

Plagiarism Checker

When writing, especially if you are a blogger, author, usually you will need inspiration and increase vocabulary by reading the writings of others. Without realizing it, what you know, stuck in mind. So the text you write actually the same as what you read. It also becomes easy for you to give credit to the original author. Grammarly detects through your writing with eight billion web pages in the world.

I used an article from Huffington Post for an example

Grammarly Apps that need to be downloaded

Besides Grammarly for web, they have add-on applications that need to be downloaded, such as:

Grammarly for Chrome

The additional applications will help you to write without mistakes in Gmail, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and wherever you are writing on the Internet.

Grammarly for Microsoft® Office

If you are more comfortable to write in Microsoft® Word, then installing this app is a must. Not only that, this application has integrated with Microsoft® Outlook, so it will prevent you from grammar errors before sending an email.

Grammarly for Windows

With this application, you can quickly access the Grammarly on the desktop computer screen.

5 reasons why I like this Web-App to help me writing in English

Do not worry, you can use the basic service for free. However, if you need more comprehensive services, the premium plan from Grammarly is worth every penny. Why? These are the reasons you need to know:

You like having Proofreader or editor itself, which would cost less than hiring someone.
Just like a personal assistant who is ready to accompany you 24/7, Grammarly available to help whenever needed, as long as you connect to the Internet.
You will be a Pro because your writing ability increased with the assistance of Grammarly.
Good writing will improve your grade scores in school, college or in the workplace.
A good score would potentially lead us to get a better job better.

If you are a group of educators or students who needs to proofread your papers and to improve your writing skills, they also have a specific plan for this. It's called Grammarly @edu. You can choose either a Campus License (unlimited access to all students and instructors) or a Volume License (up to 50 users). If you have questions in mind, you can go to their support page (support.grammarly.com).