January 2012
1 post
10 New Year’s resolutions for designers | Feature... →
So much truth in this article! So much yes. Thank you, Mike Monteiro! (@Mike_FTW)
December 2011
3 posts
“…design is a complex, multi-faceted, cross-disciplinary practice that takes...”
– Designers, what’s the rush? | Normative - Design for Devices and the Web
The Back Story for the $300 Million Button » UIE... →
I’d bet this is an extremely common scenario.
November 2011
4 posts
(11/1) Why is so much of Silicon Valley obsessed... →
I was having a similar conversation in a bar recently. Fascinating points made on all sides.
Talk/LISTEN — D. Keith Robinson →
Another great blog post from my friend Keith, who’s been doing web design for about as long as there’s been web design. Here he offers some coaching to get everyone out of the office and talking to their users, which is exactly the same advice given to everyone at a recent software product development conference I was at last week. It seems intimidating or logistically challenging, but...
Lean UX Resources | LUXr : the Lean UX Company →
I’ve been asked a lot lately for resources for software design/interaction design, design for lean/agile startups, or just plain user experience design, especially as a starting point for non-designers or those looking to get into UX design. Here’s a list that includes everything I could think of to recommend off the top of my head, plus a whole lot more.
A recent epiphany of mine:...
An Open Letter To The Design Community →
Last week I went to a Mary Cagan workshop about Building Products Customers Love. From there, I dug into the archives of Cagan’s blog and found some great gems for software product designers. This one is excellent for designers looking to define their role in a software engineering team, right down to what the heck to call yourself.
For the record, as someone who does both interaction...
October 2011
2 posts
September 2011
3 posts
Future Friendly →
Ryan Freitas - What’s the single most important... →
“The words “coincidentally” could easily go in front of a half-dozen of the sentences above. Things just sort of always worked out, even when they didn’t look like they were going to. I have put faith in people, and relationships - perhaps a foolish amount of faith, to be honest - to put me in the right place at the right time. “
Odopod - An open letter to interaction design... →
August 2011
3 posts
Lessons Learned: Winter is coming →
Recently I lamented that I was getting sorta sick of the word “startup.” This article, in a way, describes why I feel this way. There is a lot of noise and hype that surrounds the “startup scene” that this article describes as the “years of summer.” But when winter comes, the hub-bub will fade and all that will be left is the hard work of “real...
Type study: Is anyone paying attention? « The... →
Excellent study from Laura Brunow Miner on the way editorial decisions and design decisions blend to create a successful online publication. A must-read for anyone who designs or writes content for the web.
July 2011
2 posts
D. Keith Robinson →
I think design by committee is a sign of lack of trust. If a designer has the experience and the presence of mind to gather all the information from the people closest to the problem, they can then put their skills to work to solve that problem.
I ask for input a lot to make sure I’m understanding the problem, but if the design doesn’t work, that reflects on me, the designer. The...
The Colour Clock →
This is amazing.
June 2011
3 posts
“Your request has been received, and is being reviewed by our support staff…”
– Dear customer support software everywhere,
Can we please lose the autoreply? It does not reflect kindly on your brand.
It does not make me feel like I’m being heard, quite the opposite. And even if you anticipate a long delay before I get a response, don’t say so.
Maybe develop...
What’s Your Start-up’s “Bus Count”? 7 Myths of... →
Tim Ferris talking about software engineering, with a shout-out to Pivotal Labs and TaskRabbit. We love working with Pivotal and learn a lot every time we do a project with them! There’s some great stuff in here about entrepreneurship and running a startup, too.
May 2011
1 post
The Photoshop Etiquette Manifesto for Web... →
For the sake of your teammates or clients, please follow these guidelines. I know it takes extra time and you can’t be bothered, but it has a MAJOR impact.
March 2011
2 posts
3 tags
TSA Admits Bungling of Airport Body-Scanner... →
In a snafu of epic proportions, it seems technicians, when testing radiation levels, sometimes forget a vital part of filling out a form, resulting in a massive calculation error. It looks like this may be a usability problem with the design of the form.
“It would appear that the emissions are 10 times higher. We understand it as a calculation error,” TSA spokesman Sarah Horowitz said in a...
February 2011
3 posts
Apartment Therapy Web Designer Search | Apartment... →
Cool job opportunity for NYC web design/developer at Apartment Therapy.
Readability 2.0 is disruptive two ways – Jeffrey... →
This feels like the most interesting thing to develop on the Web since people started talking about micropayments in the early days of PayPal.
Landmark …On A Long Piece Of String →
Perhaps it’s just perception or that I’m getting old and crotchety but the sheer amount of attention “shiny” gets over actual substance in the web world is disheartening. What happened to original thought? If someone else’s “style” is your secret sauce, you’ve failed, and your clients’ goals may not be far behind.
Word.
January 2011
5 posts
“This is serious attention to detail. It’s not something people will show off to...”
– How the iPhone mail app decides when to show you new mail | The Invisible
1 tag
1 tag
“Why would anyone want to skip this intro? I think I’ll watch it again.”
– Zero people (via neversaidaboutrestaurantwebsites)
December 2010
7 posts
3 tags
“Merry Christmas” vs. “Happy Holidays” showdown –... →
Fascinating research on how well people respond to the “politically correct” salutation over “Merry Christmas” (Christmas was the clear winner, even over using both.)
“I worry about the medium, because not enough designers are working in that vast...”
– Style vs. Design by Jeffrey Zeldman
Why there are so few design founders - Jason... →
Is design really still undervalued on the web? That seems to be the main premise, but either way, this article has some interesting points.
Showcase Of Beautiful But Unusable Websites -... →
Exploring the sites in this article, my favorite so far is the Theologos jewelry site. It’s like they designed the site to be more like a movie about jewelry.
“We need to embrace the idea that UX is necessarily multi-disciplinary—not just...”
– UX: The Enemy Within - 52 Weeks of UX
Why is there such a stunningly short supply of... →
So many great answers to this question on Quora. Great read for anyone looking to build a design team, or for anyone involved in educating future UX designers.
November 2010
4 posts
2 tags
The real value of startup options →
So far, I have found myself subscribing to the “assume your equity is valueless and be pleasantly surprised if you find otherwise” argument when joining a startup and understanding what the options they offer you are worth.
This article describes another way to look at it, that actually makes sense. At the end, though, it’s still just a guess.
“Liked items are for advertisers, they’re not for you. In Facebook’s estimation,...”
– Managing Facebook Like. Or not. – Jeffrey Zeldman Presents The Daily Report
1 tag
“We’d like somebody who writes <b> instead of <B>, but not...”
– Run-of-the-mill startup seeks mediocre designer (via @jasonfried)
October 2010
7 posts
2 tags
Capt.io is a dead simple notes app done right —... →
Someone was talking about this use case the other day — how to deal with all your “note to self”s — this could be your answer. Program this app to send them all to evernote (or whatever cataloging method you prefer) and prefix them with a tag that works for you.
3 tags
Cordless Dog: Stay →
I use a laptop at work with a separate monitor. I often unplug and go into the conference room to project my screen, then re-plug in to my monitor when done. Then, if I work from home, I’m working on the laptop alone.
Every time I unplug from a display or a projector, I have to reconfigure my windows to where I had them. It’s time consuming and kind of silly.
That’s why I...
1 tag
“No one crumples a blank sheet of paper”
– Frank Chimero - How to Have an Idea
1 tag
4 tags
3 tags
Branding nGen Works | Blog | nGen Works →
Really nice, straightforward case study of the newly released ngenworks rebrand.
3 tags
Inbox Who Cares — How I manage my email
Gmail’s latest iteration on their fabulous webmail service, Priority Inbox, has opened a whole new world of email management for me. I was never very good at Inbox Zero, as much as I like the theory.
I know the idea was to spend as little time as possible dealing with email, but even the time it would take to delete, manage, and archive emails was too much for me. YES, some emails are not...