February 2012
1 post
November 2011
2 posts
Heat map of NYC's most popular jogging routes
Super cool visualization of 1000 Nike+ users swarming over NY. The compressed real time video where you get to see everyone out and about is super cool.
http://cargocollective.com/coopersmith#1327371/Nike-Plus-Visualization
Skeumorphism
The newest design buzzword. It means to design things that emulate real-world objects, like how the iPhone notes app looks like a yellow legal pad. For two interesting perspectives:
It sucks: http://madebymany.com/blog/apples-aesthetic-dichotomy
It sucks, but I guess it’s ok: http://www.andymangold.com/skeuomorphism-the-opiate-of-the-people/
I tend to waver, but I think I agree with...
August 2011
1 post
Sneaky Menu design
I read this article, unfortunately, right after I got back from lunch where I bought the curly fries that were highlighted in the bright yellow box on the menu. Now I feel like a sucker! They highlighted a few best (most devious?) practices:
Make the dollar amounts appear visually smaller by rounding up and omitting cents
Make the dish titles scannable, but not the prices (i.e. don’t...
July 2011
2 posts
All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace
Thanks Alex Zane for turning me on to this great documentary about technology and its effects on the philosophies and policy decisions of our leaders. The descriptions of a tech-driven utopia are inspiring and horrifying at the same time.
I certainly agree with many of the basic points here, that information technology has the means to be a great equalizer, to destroy the need for rigid...
Trash the turntables? Not so fast...
Lately I’ve been noodling around with my iPad, using it as a controller for Ableton Live. It’s amazing; if you are so inclined, I highly recommend trying out LiveControl, it’s free and it’s the best clip launcher I’ve ever used. Turns your iPad into a Kaoss pad, custom controller for anything in any device chain, and standard MPC type drum pad/piano controller. Just...
June 2011
8 posts
3 tags
Google+
Just got my account! It’s pretty interesting stuff. My initial take is that it absolutely has the capacity to compete with FB, 1) because it’s a near perfect clone of its key feature of the feed stream but also 2) because it can integrate and enhance many of their other products very smoothly. Some key advantages I see Google+ having:
Circles seems to address some of the most glaring...
3 tags
Great Example of Attentional Spotlight
I always find these attention demos fascinating, but this one has the added bonus of real-world applicability in legal cases. My old boss used to do human factors testimony, using HF to articulate exactly why that path wasn’t lit well enough, for example. I always found it fascinating… Too bad the results came too late to exonerate this guy!
...
Bento
Pretty great concept for a laptop composed of modular touch screens and mobile devices. My mom used to pack bento boxes for me when I was a kid so I find the idea especially cool. It takes things I already do and applies design thinking to to them. For example, there’s already all kinds of hacked apps that let me use my iPad as my primary MIDI controller for Ableton, or as pseudo Wacom for...
Mousing is faster than keyboard?
I’ve always assumed the opposite, given my own proficiency with keyboard shortcuts, but Tog apparently has the proof that the cognitive overhead of having to remember a keyboard shortcut takes longer for us to compute than grabbing the mouse and executing the action by pointing and clicking. He does make a concession that two handed tasks such as selecting with the mouse while doing ctrl+c...
Designing Invisibility
As a Human Factors nerd, I found this particularly fascinating. Modern Camo looks like pixel art, because the pixels are mathematically closer to actual noise than the more stylized camo patterns of the past. Westpoint’s engineering psych dept must be a cool place to work!
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/07/invisible-inc/8523/1/
Touchable Holograms
Very cool tech for creating holograms that provide haptic feedback. Half the system is built using off the shelf technology (Wiimotes) and the other half is a new fangled ultrasonic feedback device, that basically tickles your fingers to create the illusion of touch. I’m really curious to see how flexible the system is; how many planes of touchability can it support? What if one hand is...
Designers need a reality check?
I definitely agree with this article about designers needing to be able to code as well. I’ve always found that the most effective designers are the ones who know the limits of what can be built, which entails at least a cursory knowledge of code. Think of a building architect who has to design a building that existing materials engineers can support. Without that knowledge, all you’ll...
