[gb] Studio / The Blog / Tag: ui/ux

He goes on to talk about making an “investment in space” – I really like that term. The reason most things end up too cluttered is because it’s easier than creating space. Doing the hard work to eliminate, curate, and plan out a good use of space truly is an investment.

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Whether you know it or not, you’re designing on a visual budget. How much you’ve got to play with depends on the nature of your content and your audience. Always ask yourself, “how much attention span do I have left to spend?” Don’t get greedy and try to fit more in. You’re almost always on a tighter visual budget than you’d think.

Rob Morris, A Case for Space

04/12/10

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Gowalla for iPad

04/09/10

I’m a big Gowalla fan. It’s a gorgeous app and the icon (they call them items) gaming element is what hooked me.

I’m also incredibly excited to start designing apps for Apple’s new iPad. If you’re a ui/ux designer and you’re not excited, you probably haven’t seen this thing in person yet.

Keegan Jones from Gowalla posted a set of behind-the-scenes photos of their new app for the iPad. It’s beautiful—and it takes me places in my head: what will a Facebook app for this device look like? How about a recipe app, or schematics for repairing stuff? If you can dream up something for this incredible 10-inch screen, you can make it happen in a way that you couldn’t on either the desktop or a mobile phone. And that is why I’m so excited.

(feel free to ~~stalk~~ follow me)

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The is both astounding and yet, surprisingly believable to me at the same time. For whatever reason, some people like complexity. It allows them to tinker and fiddle and master something that others can’t (or won’t) take the time to master. It makes me wonder how many preferences or options in personal computing are essentially placebos: calming, albeit unnecessary, options. How many of us would be lost without the tinkering that is a modern operating system in use?

(via Daring Fireball)

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Simplifying the interface of the terminal would not be accepted by most users because, as ethnographic studies show, they take pride on manipulating Bloomberg’s current “complex” interface. The pain inflicted by blatant UI flaws such as black background color and yellow and orange text is strangely transformed into the rewarding experience of feeling and looking like a hard-core professional.

Dominique Leca, The Impossible Bloomberg Makeover

03/28/10

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Pete Usborne

03/19/10

I don’t remember how I cam across Pete Usborne’s site, but he has some of the most beautiful work I’ve seen in a while.

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I might be over-posting on these iPad-related quotes, but I kinda think this stuff will be of growing importance. If you’re “in the industry” and still “underwhelmed” by the iPad’s release, give this one a read.

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As an industry, we need to understand that not wanting root access doesn’t make you stupid. It simply means you do not want root access. Failing to comprehend this is not only a failure of empathy, but a failure of service.

Mike Monteiro, The Failure of Empathy

02/04/10

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As a geek we like features and power. Do not underestimate the general public’s disdain for all of our beloved “pointless preferences”.

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And then I realize: you can’t resize it.

And a bright light did shine upon my liberated face and a voice did whisper a thunder: You’re free. Free of pointless preferences and finger-baiting adjustments.

Neven Mrgan, Free

01/28/10

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31Three

The Portfolio of Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain

01/04/10

Jesse’s 31Three portfolio site is fantastic, but even more amazing are the depth of projects he’s done and the clients they’re for: Campaign Monitor, Cameron Moll, and Expression Engine to name a few.

I also love Jesse’s approach: he works on one project at a time and only 6-8 clients a year. I don’t think it’s easy to get to a place where you can do that as a visual designer, but it’s a worthy goal.

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The New Failwhale: Twitter Homepage

Take Two.

09/08/09

With all of the talent at their disposal, I really don’t understand the new Twitter homepage (you have to be signed out to see it). Apparently, neither did Fred Yates. He put together a thoughtful article pointing out some of the good changes they made, but also took it a step further and made his own changes to the new design. I think he nailed it. Frankly, I hope Twitter simply implements what he’s done for them.

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iPhone Application UI Design Patterns

08/01/09

Some excellent observations by Mike Rundle on current design trends in iPhone app user-interfaces. I haven’t yet gotten the chance to work on an iPhone app design project (hint: hire me), but I’m looking forward to it.

(via @maxvoltar)

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There are no tiny features when you’re doing things properly. This is why as a UX designer you need a good understanding of what it takes to implement a feature before you nod your head and write another bullet point.

Des Traynor, There Are No Small Changes

07/31/09

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It is designed to be completely invisible — a super normal registration interface. It’s only worthy of remark because it was incredibly effective. We saw a noticeable increase in our registration rate compared to the old page.

We stopped being clever. Instead, we built the most effective solution for the problem at hand — and nothing more.

Rob Goodlatte, Choosing Simplicity

07/16/09

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Designing Spry

07/06/09

Spry is one of this year’s Boulder TechStars teams. They’re doing some really interesting work in managing development projects, among other things, but as they get closer to Demo Days they needed a new design. From their own post:

“We knew from the start that Spryplanner was going to need a different UI. Our initial layout was put together by an engineer (who shall remain nameless) familiar with firebug and the inner workings of css/xhtml. And yes, the engineer was on [sic] of THOSE types, i.e. all squares and greys. Don’t fault him, he never claimed visual creativity.”

I don’t have much time in my schedule considering the other projects I’m working on, but I’ve really enjoyed taking a quick crack at Spry’s overall UI design. The tight timeline and wealth of information that needs to be organized is different than a lot of web app design I’ve done and, actually, a lot of fun. Simple is hard, but really effective.

The screenshot above is an early iteration of my design for the project. I can’t wait to see where they end up.

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In Defense of Eye Candy

We don’t compartmentalize our experiences.

05/01/09

This is one of the most significant articles I’ve read on A List Apart in a long time. Some good research backs up the notion that good aesthetics is also very important alongside form and function.

The important thing to remember is that when we study subjects we break them up into different categories or disciplines: design, function, aesthetic, usability, etc. So, it becomes very easy to overweight certain areas or think other areas don’t matter at all. But, in reality, we experience all of these things together, at once, in a way that’s hard to compartmentalize or quantify.

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Convertbot

Pure Design Goodness.

03/28/09

I’d previously written a post about Weightbot, the other Tapbots product.

Recently they released Convertbot, along with this demo video. Once again, I think they’ve managed to make something super simple, sexy, and useful, all at the same time.

Phil Coffman has an excellent post talking about why he thinks Tapbots is getting everything right. It’s worth a read.

DesignWeds:
User-Interaction Fail

How not to sell digital media online.

02/11/09

For this week’s design post, another video. I take you through a recent online purchase I made and point out some serious stumbling blocks in the user-interaction design. Do people test these things?

Links from the video:

Mute Math
The Autumn Film’s Free Music
Backstage

DesignWeds:
Fade-in Images

On Blake Allen’s Excellent Site.

01/28/09

I’m trying something new this week. I found a great little ui/ux design touch that was easier to show than talk about or do a screenshot of.

Blake Allen (blakeallendesign.com) has added a nice touch to the large images on his site in both his blog and portfolio sections. As you scroll down the page, newly appearing images fade-in just as they become visible.

The little things matter. Adding subtle motion-design to your site enhances the user experience. In Blake’s case, it took me a while to notice exactly what he was doing, but I was aware that something was different, and I liked it.

Expect to see a lot more motion or interaction touches like this in the coming year. It’s definitely a trend.

ASIDE: You can view the video in HD on the Vimeo page.

Jared M. Spool, The $300 Million Button

01/21/09

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DesignWeds:
Weightbot

Delicious Design for the iPhone

01/15/09

I am trying to get back into the swing of writing these Wednesday design posts. I don’t know that many of you even read them, but it’s a good exercise for me and makes me think differently and view my work (and others) through a different lens. That said, I thought I’d ease myself into the new year with a post on somebody else’s work: Weighbot, the deliciously-designed weight tracking program for the iPhone.

This app is slick. I had read a review at one point saying this app was not only gorgeously designed, but had excellent ui design as well, so I thought I’d check it out.

(emphasis mine)

Bonus: “Truly smart software shows me some respect by letting me tackle the task at hand with minimal interruption.”

(via Koz’s Web)

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The iPhone also made me see tons of flaws in the software I’ve created – the biggest being that I’ve tried to please power users by making too many non-essential details configurable, and doing so in a way that intimidates new users. I mistook complexity for power, and that wasn’t smart.

Nick Bradbury, Smart Software Should Get Out of Your Way

12/06/08

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Notes from Adobe installer management

12/03/08

Look, I always appreciate it when a company (any company, but particularly a big one) steps up to the plate and is willing to publicly discuss things their customers are unhappy with.

But I’m reading these posts between the lines, and I’m not liking the message. As best as I can tell, the normally easy, painless process of installing/updating most applications on the Mac is being seriously disregarded by Adobe in favor of ease-of-development on their end and cross-platform compatibility.

This is a dangerous path for Adobe. When they’re apps are an integral part of your business, like they are for me, it’s easy to feel like they’re more of a partner, but that’s not really the case: I pay them money for software.

I’m seriously disappointed, as a customer, that they seem willing to sacrifice my user experience for my chosen platform in order to make their lives easier. Heck, even Microsoft has an incredibly painless and friendly installation process on the Mac for Office. So, it’s possible. Adobe just seems to be choosing not to.

(via Daring Fireball)

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We Build Web Apps. We Build Brands.

Rob Morris, A Case for Space

04/12/10

04/09/10

Dominique Leca, The Impossible Bloomberg Makeover

03/28/10

03/19/10

Mike Monteiro, The Failure of Empathy

02/04/10

Neven Mrgan, Free

01/28/10

The Portfolio of Jesse Bennett-Chamberlain

01/04/10

Take Two.

09/08/09

08/01/09

Des Traynor, There Are No Small Changes

07/31/09

Rob Goodlatte, Choosing Simplicity

07/16/09

07/06/09

We don’t compartmentalize our experiences.

05/01/09

Pure Design Goodness.

03/28/09

How not to sell digital media online.

02/11/09

On Blake Allen’s Excellent Site.

01/28/09

Jared M. Spool, The $300 Million Button

01/21/09

Delicious Design for the iPhone

01/15/09

Nick Bradbury, Smart Software Should Get Out of Your Way

12/06/08

12/03/08

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