February 2011
28 posts
Frank Chimero - The Shape of Design →
A 40 minute video of Frank Chimero talking about designing to inform, persuade, and delight and how to use storytelling to communicate design.
Anatomy of a Gesture →
A closer look at types of gestures, how to communicate what gestures are available, and how to select and design for appropriate gestures.
January 2011
27 posts
The Miseducation of the Doodle →
Doodling is not a mindless activity to waste time - it is actually a vital and essential technique to help us formulate, evaluate, and solidify ideas. So go doodle!
The Dragonfly Effect →
Four components to moving people to act through design and social media:
1) focus: identify a single concrete and measurable goal,
2) grab attention: cut through the noise of social media with something authentic and memorable,
3) engage: create a personal connection, accessing higher emotions, compassion, empathy, and happiness,
4) take action: enable and empower others to take action.
Isaac Asimov on Science and Creativity in... →
What vintage science fiction has to do with the future of self-directed learning.
We’re deeply fascinated by how the past envisioned the future. Previously: retrofuturistic artwork, Orson…
The Cooper Journal: Passive magic, design of... →
Yet more devilish details. Cooper examines how passive input enhances experiences without interrupting the person.
Lean UX: Getting out of the deliverables business →
Do you feel like you produce too many deliverables and still don’t capture the essence of a project? Give Lean UX a look.
Note & Point →
Presentation slides don’t need to suck. Here’s a gallery of presentations that are actually pretty!
Little Big Details →
The devil is in the details. It’s often the unnoticed nuances of design that make big differences in the quality of the experience. Here’s a nice collection of “the little details” that make better experiences.
Pleasant Things Work Better →
By Dana Chisnell
With the principle of “make it pleasant, make it pleasing,” products can make users smile.
Evolutionary psychology tells us that humans are programmed to prefer…
The A-B-C of Behaviour →
Jodie Moule, a psychologist and co-founder & director of Symplicit, an experience design consultancy based in Australia, describes on Johnny Holland what it takes to change someone’s behaviour.
PICKED: 100 Years of IBM & The Dawn of... →
We tend to think of the evolution of technology as this disembodied force that changes, for better or for worse, the way we live. But, in fact, it’s the product of individual innovators and…
What Is Reality? A BBC Horizon Documentary →
What walking through walls has to do with tropical fruit and the search for the God particle.
We’re big fans of Horizon, BBC’s iconic popular science documentary series, whose claims to fame…
A Netflix Design Principle: Simple Trumps Complete →
“Simple trumps complete” – a 5% feature (used by less than 5% of all users) is a distraction for all the other users, and is better removed, unless its really critical (a small number of users do…
BibliOdyssey: Victorian Infographics →
Fantastic collection of Victorian infographics. Worth digging into and looking.
How App-Like Design Can Turn Your Site Visitors... →
Lisa Wehr is the founder and CEO of Oneupweb, a leading digital marketing agency representing some of the nation’s most recognized brands for more…
Understanding the Kano Model - A Tool for... →
The Kano Model helps explain why the delight of innovative, new experiences fades over time as the experience goes from being new and unique to more commonplace.
The Dark Side Of Usability →
When we really want people to learn how to solve problems, perhaps we should not create interfaces that do so much work for people, because people do not internalize (i.e., learn) the intricacies of the problem and the methods of the solution as well.
The Gestalt Principle: Design Theory for Web... →
Ever popular, the Gestalt Principles make yet another appearance in the world of web design.
GestureWorks Open Source Gesture Library – Update →
The gesture library from gestureworks has been recently expanded to contain a total of 200 illustrations. The library now contains multi-touch as well as stroke gestures in a variety of…
From Pattern to Component →
By Tyler Tate
Software thrives on the transformation of abstract design patterns into concrete, reusable components.
In 1899 the largest automobile producer in world, Benz & Cie, made…
Accessibility First—for a Better User Experience... →
Like LukeW’s “mobile first” approach, this process states that thinking about accessibility first will lead to better and more usable experience for everyone.
UIEtips: A Look Back at 3 of Our Most Popular UIE... →
Three of the best articles of the year - worth a read.
Four UX Portfolio Tips →
Some good advice for building a portfolio that will be noticed and appreciated by the people trying to hire you.
User Experience for Developers →
And also for anyone else new to the field. A nice summary of how to get started with an overview and introduction to the field.
Portraits of an Industry in Flux: Digital... →
UX Magazine provides an insiders look at the smoetimes difficult transition from print to digital and the role the UX professionals are playing.
Communication Arts - 2011 Typography Annual →
For all of you typo-philes out there, a great collection of the best.