User Experience
Viewing 14 Posts
Jun 02, 2009

Elegance is Simple. Not Vice Versa

I've written about "simplicity" being important in design. While that's true, I'd like to clarify that it's really "elegance" that's important - not so much simplicity. Here's the difference: Elegance calls for an interface with all the facets necessary to do what it needs to without any extra features or components. Because the word "elegant" means to select carefully, the fundamental idea is to take away until you can't anymore.

May 10, 2009

Designing Simplicity

Designers are not artists. Design is a form of art, but it is about problem solving and is constrained by a number of facets. Artists engage in the manipulation of a particular medium to produce an aesthetic, personal response - a situation in which there are few constraints. As such, art is valued for its originality and ability to express an idea. Design, on the other hand, must be relevant to a particular user or task and solve a specific problem. Were it an aesthetic response, it might only work for some people. Design is intended for mass production and widespread distribution, concerned with finding the best way to communicate some information to everyone and resolve any confusion along the way. Design is never evaluated in formal terms, but rather, how effective it is at solving the problem at hand.

Feb 17, 2009

The Importance of Consistency

I'm a designer who really doesn't like unique interfaces. Sometimes they're cool, but more often than not, they suck. They end up taking an interesting piece of functionality and making it way too hard to learn or use. Some claim they did this to "preserve the brand," claiming they have to ensure that the user must be aware what product they're using while they're using it, that how else will they get the user to get their other stuff?

Nov 09, 2008

The Bottom-Up Approach to Design

There are two approaches to take when designing an interface: bottom-up and top-down. In top-down, you first consider what the user needs are. Take a long and broad look at all the people in the world who could potentially use your product and figure out what features and components they would like as well as what workflow would best suit them. This I call "top-down" because you start with a large audience and narrow it down. This methodology can be alright if you have no idea what you want to do and you want to start by solving some existing problem.

Sep 22, 2008

Usability Testing is Limited

"Usability Testing" seems like one of those buzzwords you use to impress clients. It's supposed to show you did research to come up with the interface results you did. But in my opinion, usability testing can go so far and I tend not to rely on it for designing a UI.

Aug 30, 2008

Transparent Technology

Some people may claim that Microsoft is a tech company that focuses on technology that's never been done before. I might agree. Apple's core value is "innovation" but to me, it's innovation on the user experience front. We've seen touch-screens before, but not like the iPhone. We've seen personal computers before, but not like the iMac. In their case, Apple spends its time tweaking existing technologies to make it so easy for the user that it's like magic. "It just works," is the common sentiment on Apple products.

Aug 22, 2008

The Art of Presentation

I've seen and done a lot of presentations in my five+ years in the "user experience" industry and I get it. After teaching lectures to all sorts of students and then teaching at Apple to external developers and internal employees, you learn a few key things that most everyone is missing.

Jul 05, 2008

The Relationship With Design

When I tell people I'm a designer, their initial reaction is that I make things look pretty, which is entirely inaccurate. In fact, I don't do that at all. I mean sure, I can make pretty layouts and interfaces, but design goes way beyond that.

Apr 01, 2008

Good Design = Concept + Visual Appeal

Okay, I'm going to amend a post I made a couple days ago on "Understanding Typeface Meaning." In this post, I said that I felt that learning art history (as far as design goes) would only separate myself from the average person as I design more. I also said that I've seen some artwork that's supposed to be really historically important conceptually and I don't get it because I don't like the visual appeal.

Mar 28, 2008

Understanding Typeface Meaning

Is understanding the history and meaning of typographic choices necessary? While I do agree that understanding the history behind typography and typefaces to utilize knowledge of its origins and essence in design, it's unfortunately the case (at least it seems to be, to me) that the majority of the world won't understand what you, as the designer, will. This is not to say that you're necessary designing for the broader public, but the group of people in the world who will understand your work at a deep, meaningful level is small in comparison.

Feb 11, 2008

Fishing for Feedback

It's really important to continually let your users know what's happening as they use your application. There shouldn't be any point in their user experience where they are confused as to what's going on. When you're in an elevator, the lights and 'dings' tell you as you move from floor to floor (regardless of whether or not they're actually correct). Imagine having to ride an elevator 30 floors and never knowing how much you've progressed... that would suck.

Dec 25, 2007

User Experience Design: A Definition

When it comes to technology, "design" is a long-term engagement between the user and the product. It is the user's whole experience: from interacting with the product to how the product looks and feels to what the user takes away from it.

Dec 04, 2007

The Handy Dandy Kitchen Helper : Site of the Future!

Ah, the Honeymooners. And ah, multi-faceted websites. I wish that someone would invent a household utensil that would do the work of all of these (said, of course, in the Art Carney accent). Ever find yourself staring at an application that has virtually no functionality and a completely overcomplicated interface to cover it up? You look at it and say "ooh pretty" and then realize "wait, what does it do?"

Nov 23, 2007

The 'Novelty' of User Experience

In the movie industry, people don't want to see something new. No, they want to see the same stories over and over again told in different ways. We all know that the main character will live and the hero will get the girl. What we want to see is HOW.