July 2009

Beyond Design, 10 Skills Designers Need to Succeed Now

"(...) there are several attributes key to success that don't always get the attention they deserve in most design schools. Ultimately, those attributes will prove as important for a designer's success in today's economy as sheer design skill." (Ken Musgrave - Fast Company)

Posted by PJB on July 15, 2009 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

Mental Models, Service Design & The Problem With Convergence

"What do consumers expect when they buy a bundle of services like Internet, Telephone and TV from a converged provider? Is there a gap between their expectations and what they actually get? And what can the providers do about it?" (Harry Brignull - 90percentofeverything)

Posted by PJB on July 15, 2009 | Classification: Service design | Permalink

Web Design is 95% Typography

"Information design is not about the use of good typefaces, it is about the use of good typography. Which is a huge difference. Anyone can use typefaces, some can choose good typefaces, but only few master typography." (Oliver Reichenstein - Information Architects Japan)

Posted by PJB on July 14, 2009 | Classification: Typography | Permalink

The Spectrum of User Experience

This article is the first part of a series. - "As we all perfectly know, designers are narcissists; programmers are nerds, and whoever wears a tie must be a clueless jerk. Designers, programmers and business people love to hate each other." (Information Architects Japan) - courtesy of uxbooth

Posted by PJB on July 13, 2009 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

What is Global and What is Local?

A Theoretical Discussion Around Globalization - "This article develops a new sociological understanding of the difference between global and local relating to the phenomena of globalization. Globalization itself is redefined as one of society's self-description insofar as, following Niklas Luhmann's theory, society is conceived as a cognitive system that can only handle information (about the world, about itself) only through its own specific operation (communication), so that globalization affects society solely when the later communicates about the former." (Jean-Sébastien Guy - Parsons Journal of Information Mapping I.2)

Posted by PJB on July 10, 2009 | Classification: Information design - Information graphics | Permalink

History of Graphic Design

"This site was first launched in 1999 to accompany my lectures on the History of Graphic Design. I devised this unique format of presenting the information by topics because I saw that students were overwhelmed by the scope of the topic or most texts I also saw that they learned more when the discussions included direct links to what is happening in design today. It seems to work well for visual artists who are not interested in a degree in art history." (Nancy Stock-Allen) - courtesy of AP

Posted by PJB on July 10, 2009 | Classification: Information graphics - Typography - Visual design | Permalink

Flames

"XHTML2, a standard-building project planning a successor to XHTML, has been cancelled." (Mark Bernstein)

Posted by PJB on July 10, 2009 | Classification: Hypertext - Technology | Permalink

Service Design Tools

"An open collection of communication tools used in design processes that deal with complex systems. The tools are displayed according to the design activity they are used for, the kind of representation they produce, the recipients they are addressed to and the contents of the project they can convey." (About SD Tools) - courtesy of tvtongeren

Posted by PJB on July 08, 2009 | Classification: Service design | Permalink

Service Modeling Language 1.1

"This specification defines the Service Modeling Language, Version 1.1 (SML) used to model complex services and systems, including their structure, constraints, policies, and best practices. SML uses XML Schema and Schematron. (...) The Service Modeling Language provides a rich set of constructs for creating models of complex services and systems. Depending on the application domain, these models may include information such as configuration, deployment, monitoring, policy, health, capacity planning, target operating range, service level agreements, and so on. Models provide value in several important ways." (W3C)

Posted by PJB on July 08, 2009 | Classification: Service design - Technology | Permalink

Book: Search User Interfaces

"Search is an integral part of peoples' online lives; people turn to search engines for help with a wide range of needs and desires, from satisfying idle curiousity to finding life-saving health remedies, from learning about medieval art history to finding video game solutions and pop music lyrics. Web search engines are now the second most frequently used online computer application, after email. Not long ago, most software applications did not contain a search module. Today, search is fully integrated into operating systems and is viewed as an essential part of most information systems." (Marti A. Hearst)

Posted by PJB on July 08, 2009 | Classification: HCI - Search | Permalink

A formal description of ZigZag-structures

"The focus of this paper is on particular and innovative structures for storing, linking and manipulating information: the ZigZag-structures. In the last years, we worked at the formalization of these structures, retaining that the description of the formal aspects can provide a better understanding of them, and can also stimulate new ideas, projects and research. This work presents our contribution for a deeper discussion on ZigZag-structures." (XanaWorkshop 2009)

Posted by PJB on July 08, 2009 | Classification: Hypertext | Permalink

Content Templates to the Rescue

"A content template is a simple document that serves two purposes: it's a paragraph-level companion to your website's wireframes (or other IA blueprints), and it's a simple, effective means of getting useful information from your experts to your writers." (Erin Kissane - A List Apart)

Posted by PJB on July 08, 2009 | Classification: Content strategy | Permalink

Starting a Design Studio During a Downturn (1-5)

"Kicker Studio has come a long way since our start in September 2008. Although the recession has certainly taken its toll and kept us from doing what we'd planned, it's also helped us do things we hadn't expected. And those things may have helped us grow in important and unexpected ways." (Jennifer Bove - Fast Company)

Posted by PJB on July 07, 2009 | Classification: Interaction design | Permalink

New media vs. old media: A portrait of the Drudge Report 2002–2008

"The Drudge Report is one of the founding flag bearers of 'new media': a U.S.–based news aggregator founded in the late 1990s that has developed a reputation for breaking tomorrow's news today. The site has become a powerful force in the U.S. media sphere and its founder was named one of Time Magazine's most influential people in 2006. In existence for more than a decade, the Drudge Report makes an ideal case study for examining the 'new media versus old media' argument. How dependent is such a 'new media' aggregator on the 'old media' it draws from, and how does it find its breaking stories? A cross–section of analytical techniques is used to demonstrate how to profile a news Web site, and finds that the Drudge Report relies heavily on wire services and obscure news outlets to find small stories that will break large tomorrow, making it highly dependent on mainstream “old media” sites." (Kalev Leetaru - First Monday 14.7)

Posted by PJB on July 07, 2009 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

How to get a job in usability

"When you're looking for work, it's easy to get discouraged. You'll find that many emails don't get any answers, many applications go unacknowledged, contacts say they'll do something but then forget or get distracted. That's not because you're a bad person, a failure, or doomed never to get a job. It's just what happens. Another friend was looking for a job during one of the previous recessions. He had a year of complete discouragement, and then finally three great job offers appeared in the same week. Hang in there, keep positive (somehow) and eventually you'll get the job you want." (Caroline Jarrett - Usability News)

Posted by PJB on July 07, 2009 | Classification: Usability | Permalink

Wolfram|Alpha: The Use Cases

"If Web 2.0 was about creating data (user generated content, to use the most familiar term for this), then the next generation of the Web is all about using that data. Wolfram|Alpha is premised on using and computing data." (Richard MacManus - ReadWriteWeb)

Posted by PJB on July 06, 2009 | Classification: Social Web | Permalink

Building Respect for Usability Expertise

"Enemies of usability claim that because 'the experts disagree', they can safely ignore user advocates' expertise and run with whatever design they personally prefer." (Jakob Nielsen - Alertbox)

Posted by PJB on July 06, 2009 | Classification: Usability | Permalink

Finding Gold in Your User Research Results

"This article describes a funnel that starts with the product, progresses to the users, and finally, plumbs the depths of the user research itself. I'll attempt to show how each of these stages can inform the next stage and move us toward finding the gold." (Daniel Szuc - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on July 06, 2009 | Classification: Design research - User experience | Permalink

A Practical Guide to Capturing Creativity for UX

"This column explores a few low-tech and high-tech methods of stimulating UX professionals' creativity and capturing creativity when it happens. Codifying the creative process for the digital industry is difficult enough. It helps to have techniques that make our most elusive asset—our insights and inspiration—easier to manage." (Jonathan Follett - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on July 06, 2009 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

The Mystery of Filtering by Sorting

"(...) for most users of consumer-facing ecommerce applications, the difference between a sort and a filter presents a mystery they understand dimly, if at all. The distinction between sorting and filtering blurs, because of a phenomenon I've called filtering by sorting, which leads to all sorts of interesting search user interface implications." (Greg Nudelman - UXmatters)

Posted by PJB on July 06, 2009 | Classification: Search | Permalink

Credit Card Statements: Communication Benchmarks 2009

"We were disappointed that this Communication Benchmarks study found such uniformly poor designs, and we want to encourage industry to do better in the future. However, we would not recommend any of the opportunistic suggestions by graphic designers. These are highly speculative sketches not based on any benchmarking data, nor have they been tested. As the evidence from many previous studies suggests, such speculation is rarely an acceptable solution, and may not even be a good starting point." (David Sless and Alex Tyers - CRI)

Posted by PJB on July 06, 2009 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

Design Ethnography & Mood Maps

"The sole purpose of this exercise is to document and map the emotional states of a user so that it can guide the creation and communication of personas to stakeholders while also informing the design process itself. I'm not one for ux deliverables for their own sake, but this is one that carry's a lot of weight and also goes a ways towards 'traceability' - that is, the ability to show all the real research that went into your personas." (Will Evans) - courtesy of ppf

Posted by PJB on July 06, 2009 | Classification: Personas - UCD | Permalink

User Experience Evaluation Based on Values and Emotions

"In this paper, we explore a user experience evaluation possibility by combining the identification of person's personal values and evaluation of product emotions. By personal values we mean a type of user concern that is guiding his/her choices and evaluations of products or actions in order to reach the desired goal. By product emotions we mean emotions that a certain product evokes in the user. Theoretical reasoning for this user experience evaluation approach is given by reviewing the existing literature. In addition, possible applications of use are suggested." (Piia Nurkka - UXEM09)

Posted by PJB on July 03, 2009 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

reboot 11 closing talk: Bruce Sterling

"On Favela Chic, Gothic High Tech and where we are heading. - Reboot#11 is not a sign of a stable system. (...) The future is an old paradigm and will get out of use." (reboot 11 videos)

Posted by PJB on July 03, 2009 | Classification: Information design | Permalink

The Architecture of Knowledge: The public library of the future

"Information is knowledge. Knowledge is the library’s commodity. As a result it attracts producers and consumers of this knowledge. To survive it should be aware and adaptable to changes and influences in this age of information and communication. What form and position will its physical and conceptual structure need to take in order to endure these changes in the data saturated realm of public and private society?" (Bart Verschaffel - Tomaat)

Posted by PJB on July 03, 2009 | Classification: Information architecture | Permalink

Interview with Scott Berkun

"In 1956 a documentary called The Mystery of Picasso was released, showing two hours of Pablo Picasso doing what he did best: making paintings. This film gave the public a first-hand glimpse directly into this infamous artist's creative process. Public speaker and writer Scott Berkun and I got together for tea to talk about the film and our own experiences around creativity. As both managers of creative teams and creators of work ourselves, we looked at how our processes aligned with Picasso's... or where we could learn from him. As the discussion unfolded, we came up with an interesting set of guidelines that enable creativity to flourish." (Tea with Teresa)

Posted by PJB on July 03, 2009 | Classification: Interviews - Podcasts | Permalink

European Modernism and the Information Society: Informing the Present, Understanding the Past

"Uniting a team of international and interdisciplinary scholars, this volume considers the views of early twentieth-century European thinkers on the creation, dissemination and management of publicly available information. Interdisciplinary in perspective, the volume reflects the nature of the thinkers discussed, including Otto Neurath, Patrick Geddes, the English Fabians, Paul Otlet, Wilhelm Ostwald and H. G. Wells. The work also charts the interest since the latter part of the nineteenth century in finding new ways to think about and to manage the growing body of available information in order to achieve aims such as the advancement of Western civilization, the alleviation of inequalities across classes and countries, and the promotion of peaceful coexistence between nations. In doing so, the contributors provide a novel historical context for assessing widely-held assumptions about today's globalized, 'post modern' information society. This volume will interest all who are curious about the creation of a modern networked information society." (W. Boyd Rayward) - Introduction chapter available for download

Posted by PJB on July 02, 2009 | Classification: Classics - Information design | Permalink

Future Practice Interview: John Ferrara

"Working in the user experience, we want to capitalize upon interfaces that people already have a lot of experience using. If gaming is so ubiquitous, we'd be terribly remiss in not paying careful attention to it. But there's also just so much innovative work going on in games right now. Game designers are viciously competing with each other to create unique, engaging experiences, and you see rapid development of new ways of interacting. There's really exciting work being done in motion control, voice control, gesture-based interfaces, and online collaboration, as well as elegant solutions to significant design challenges in unassuming games. I think these things make games impossible to ignore." (Louis Rosenfeld - Rosenfeld Media)

Posted by PJB on July 02, 2009 | Classification: Interviews | Permalink

Abandoning Service Design

"Service design faces an uphill battle here in the US. There's plenty of interest on the design side but we need more voices speaking to the business side of the equation. For better or worse, Merholz is one of the few people with access to a platform for making that argument." (Jeff Howard - Design for Service)

Posted by PJB on July 02, 2009 | Classification: Service design | Permalink

Interactions interviews Adam Greenfield

"Serendipity, solitude, anonymity, most of what we now recognize as the makings of urban savoir faire: it all goes by the wayside. And yes, we’re richer and safer and maybe even happier with the advent of the services and systems I'm so interested in, but by the same token we're that much poorer for the loss of these intangibles. It's a complicated trade-off, and I believe in most places it's one we're making without really examining what's at stake." (Speedbird)

Posted by PJB on July 02, 2009 | Classification: Interviews | Permalink

The Future of HCI: Intelligent User Interfaces as Agents of Change (preso)

"The predominant interaction paradigm for the last 30 years has been Direct Manipulation. This metaphor is starting to crack under the weight of information it has to deal with. The Indirect Management approach taken by systems such as Intelligent Agents aim to alleviate the cognitive load on users. This presentation shows the constraints we face in the user experience field and some future opportunities and threats." (Christopher Khalil)

Posted by PJB on July 02, 2009 | Classification: HCI | Permalink

Pattie Maes on interfaces and innovation

"There is a wealth of information available, and most of it these days is digitized. I feel that we still don't have good ways to know what information may be available and what is relevant to whatever we are currently doing, to be able to access information, especially while we are in the middle of something. The current computers and the interfaces that we use, they are not really the ideal information-accessing devices." (MHT)

Posted by PJB on July 01, 2009 | Classification: HCI | Permalink

Being an Experience-led organization

"We've heard it before: we should focus on designing for an experience; experiences are fundamentally different design challenges to a product or services; experiences are designed from the outside in. We're also told that we can apply this experience-centric perspective to tackle problems beyond the design of a product or piece of software. But we don't often see examples of these ideas being put into practice." (Steve Baty - Johnny Holland Magazine)

Posted by PJB on July 01, 2009 | Classification: User experience | Permalink

50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills

"Effective writing skills are to a writer what petrol is to a car. Like the petrol and car relationship, without solid skills writers cannot move ahead. These skills don’t come overnight, and they require patience and determination. You have to work smart and hard to acquire them. Only with experience, you can enter the realm of effective, always-in-demand writers." (Smashing Magazine) - courtesy of khalvorson

Posted by PJB on July 01, 2009 | Classification: Writing | Permalink