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The Flat Design Era

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:32:28 -0500

When LayerVault 2 launched earlier this spring, we believed that we were taking a risk by pursuing an entirely flat interface.

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All Kinds of Awesome

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 10:49:36 -0500

All Kinds of Awesome:

some awesome words by Frank Chimero

Magic Ink: Information Software and the Graphical Interface

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 17:48:02 -0500

Magic Ink: Information Software and the Graphical Interface:

A somewhat timeless piece by Bret Victor.

Great speech from Jason Santa Maria on web typography.

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 15:13:00 -0400

Great speech from Jason Santa Maria on web typography.

"You have to go wholeheartedly into anything in order to achieve anything worth having."

Wed, 13 Jun 2012 23:31:57 -0400

“You have to go wholeheartedly into anything in order to achieve anything worth having.”

- Frank Lloyd Wright

Brainstorming Doesn’t Really Work

Tue, 01 May 2012 23:08:49 -0400

Brainstorming Doesn’t Really Work :

New Yorker article on brainstorming and team dynamics. Highly recommended read for those working in creative teams.

Cognition and the Intrinsic User Experience

Tue, 01 May 2012 23:01:00 -0400

Cognition and the Intrinsic User Experience:

Nice article on understanding the cognitive processes and nuances people go through when finding and consuming content. Always useful to keep in mind when architecting an experience.

(via Austin Kleon on 10 Things Every Creator Should Remember But...

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:04:53 -0400

(via Austin Kleon on 10 Things Every Creator Should Remember But We Often Forget | Brain Pickings)

20 things you can do this year to improve your user’s experience

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:22:00 -0500

20 things you can do this year to improve your user’s experience:

The new year is as good a time as any to review and improve the way you work. With a good user experience now widely seen as the key attribute of many high-tech products, it makes sense to review your own products to see how you can give them that user experience edge. Here are 20 quick, simple and virtually free ideas you can apply in 2012.

— David Travis

Complexity and User Experience

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 11:44:00 -0500

Complexity and User Experience:

How to keep the user experience focused while maintaining a good level of power and control. A nice read for those who strive to keep their products in check without sacrificing important functionality.

Responsive Web Design

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:08:00 -0400

Responsive Web Design:

A few reasons why a business can benefit from using responsive web design.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 23:51:00 -0400

Quiet: The Power of Introverts:

Susan Cain brings up some interesting points on how creatives possess less traditional qualities of typical ‘extroverted leaders’. She argues that as creatives start to take on more leadership roles throughout organizations, the traditional definition of what a leader looks like will need to change. Apparently, she also writes a good book.

"I [internalized] this idea that it didn’t matter whether I was called an artist or a designer or an..."

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 13:48:00 -0400

“I [internalized] this idea that it didn’t matter whether I was called an artist or a designer or an illustrator or whatever else it was. The core value was always the act of making things, and the transformation of an idea that you hold in your mind that becomes real or material. That, to me, still is the glory of any creative activity.”

- Milton Glaser

Architecture needs to interact

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 11:30:36 -0400

Architecture needs to interact:

Nice comparison piece on traditional architectural design and interaction design.

"19th century culture was defined by the novel, 20th century culture by cinema, the culture of the..."

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 10:00:06 -0400

“19th century culture was defined by the novel, 20th century culture by cinema, the culture of the 21st century will be defined by the interface.”

- Lev Manovich

"People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it..."

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 10:29:00 -0400

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things.”

- Steve Jobs on product development, from “Steve Jobs: Get Rid of the Crappy Stuff” in Forbes

Why Persuasive Design Should Be Your Next Skill Set

Tue, 07 Jun 2011 23:59:00 -0400

Why Persuasive Design Should Be Your Next Skill Set:

Great article on persuasive design and its impact on user experiences.

Social Design Strategy

Wed, 18 May 2011 09:25:22 -0400

Social Design Strategy:

“Great products and services depend on their users having great experiences. But it’s not about what users do or how they do it, but rather why. Why they do what they do, why they keep coming back and why they tell their friends. Social Design explains the why behind these great experiences.” - Eric Fisher

(via Will Wright on Game Play and Education | Konigi) I worked...

Tue, 17 May 2011 23:37:00 -0400

(via Will Wright on Game Play and Education | Konigi)

I worked on several projects at Carnegie Mellon that strived to bring game play into education and learning. I’m excited to see people actively working to improve education by studying how our mind works when we play games.

Myth #31: UX design is a step in a project

Thu, 05 May 2011 14:21:42 -0400

Myth #31: UX design is a step in a project:

Well stated description of the UX design process with links to various resources about UX design.