From the category archives:

Design & UI

Replacing the Save Icon

January 20, 2010

The Save icon – that little ol’ floppy disk that exists in nearly every application sitting on your computer and on the Web. A representation of a piece of technology so utterly out of date that it’s meaning has shifted away from its physical existence into a concept of safety and permanence.
As a means of [...]

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Type on the Web – An Evolutionary Shift

November 17, 2009

For designers and anyone interested in typography on the Web, I highly recommend you check out Web Font Specimen and the A List Apart article “Real Web Type in Real Web Context” that explains it. As we near a point where real typographic controls and options are available to us, its pivotal time for [...]

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Drop the Lorem Ipsum – Have fun with Placeholder Text

December 2, 2008

“Lorem ipsum dolor…”
If you’re a design, build wireframes or prototypes, odds are good that you are all too familiar with the de facto standard for placeholder text. It works, especially if you want to ensure that people don’t focus their attention on the text itself. But it quickly gets old.
Sometimes you just need to [...]

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Define then Solve

October 17, 2008

If I had 20 days to solve a problem , I would take 19 days to define it.
Albert Einstein
Solving a problem is easy.
Solving a problem well requires time to understand it.
Solving a problem after defining it leads to a downright sexy solution.

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The Business Model and User Experience

September 24, 2008

When the business model doesn’t match the user experience or… when nobody seems to understand what the business model is, the designer can’t know if they are helping or hurting the company by creating a better experience for the user.
Jared Spool, Why Understanding Business Models is Important to Ix Designers

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In Search of Useful Prototypes

July 29, 2008

Normally a post describing a site launch doesn’t grab my attention, as they cover the same ground (base level descriptions of the design process, technologies used, how great the client is etc.). But the write-up the launch of Dangerbird Records by Athletics, a design firm out of Brooklyn includes a discussion of their home-grown prototyping [...]

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This Ain’t Right: Fight the Orphan Works Act

July 23, 2008

Jeffrey Zeldman pointed out the dangerous Orphan Works Acts making their way through Congress. This act has far-reaching implications for everyone, but the impact is even larger for those who work or publish on the ‘Net. Ultimately Congress is attempting to reduce your rights as a creator (whether you write, draw, design Web sites or [...]

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Searching for Findability

March 25, 2008

Everyone seemed to have their place in the project life-cycle at the web design agency; everyone but little Findability. Occasionally someone would notice his value to a project, but instead of giving him the care he deserved, they’d just fork over copious amounts of cash to ship him off to his sketchy uncle SEO, who [...]

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Spec Work, Pixish, Design Contests and Unicorns

February 12, 2008

Adam Howell sums up my thoughts on Pixish quite succinctly. Sure, the concept sounds great at first, as noted on the Pixish site, the community is set up as “a way to engage creative people online to submit, judge, and source amazing images.” Nice until you dig into it, just a little bit, and realize [...]

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Be a Story Teller

February 5, 2008

These little behind-the-scenes battles are what turn average websites into masterpieces. When everyone else is content to say “The End,” keep bringing it all into focus. Be a storyteller. Let your point of view shine through, and everything you create will have a depth that is sorely missing on the web.
Ryan Sims – Cinematic [...]

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