Just Simple

During the last month or so I have found some interesting links for user interface design.

I do believe that the best way to test if your design is working is to have user testing. However that doesn’t mean I can’t learn and put into practice some theory.

http://www.asktog.com – Bruce Tognazzini’s website.

Along with Donald Norman and Jakcob Nielsen, Tognazzini is considered one of the fore fathers of user experience. The language for me is a little bit complicated but the information presented is invaluble. I have seen time and time again his theories being tested by other web developers without relaisation they are testing his theories. Tognazzini still presents his ideas and theories to this day to share with other designers and interface developers.

http://www.uxbooth.com-UX Booth.

This site will take some getting use to when navigating. Personally I ignore all post that state “55 best way to……” I feel they are a waste of my time since they hold no real information. Other articles however contain invaluable information about the user interface. I believe this site is worth having a look at.

http://52weeksofux.com/ – 52 weeks of UX.

Like 24 Ways, 52 weeks of UX asks designers to contribute their ideas. Although none of the information for me is new (Most has been presented in “Universal principals of design”) it is interesting to read other people’s ideas on theories I have learnt.

Since the announcement of the apple ipad there has been a huge argument over what is better HTML5 or Flash. While the ipad has had it’s fair share of bashing it’s not the real issue. Products improve with time and user testing. The ipad is meant for the average user or designer, not a technology nut. Which is where apple have been very successful, in time the ipad will succeed whether it will be through e books or by some other means.

Apple have announced that they will chose not to support flash and since then numerous blogs have popped up arguing for either side of the debate. Examples of these examples can be seen below.

Don’t want Flash

The Flash Blog

While I believe that it’s fantastic people are showing this type of passion, is this really the right argument or discussion? This argument is coming from a coder’s point of view, rather then the consumers point of view. Which is why I believe this argument is invalid.

As a designer the argument over which is better is irrelevant to me. As a coder the argument is relevant, however I am a designer first, coder second. Design should be all about the end user, not what we prefer to use as coders. I believe the real discussion should not be about HTML5 vs Flash but should be about “Rich Media Content”.

As designers we aim to make interaction easier for the end user. Questions we should be asking ourselves should be:

What does the end user want to interact with?

What does the end user want from their media content?

Design and coding should not be we as developers / designers want. It should always be about the end audience, perhaps if we discussed Rich Media Content instead of arguing about HTML5 vs Flash we could grow as better developers / designers.

Leadwire- “What is Search?” from Aaron Blecha on Vimeo.

I found this on the DRAWNblog earlier today. It’s a very effective example of kinetic type done by Aaron Blecha.

The advertisement is eye catching and really screams at you with capitals. It’s also a good example of how little animation can also be the most effective way to portray a message.

Aaron Blecha’s website is quite well done. It’s worth having a look if you have the time.

Link to Aaron Blecha’s site:

http://www.monstersquid.com/

10/GUI is the latest interface making the rounds on the internet

A fairly interesting and daring concept from this student, it will be interesting to see if it gets made. Probably not the best solution for everyday users of computers but for full on internet and programmers it’s a dream (from what I’ve heard from programming friends).

My criticisms is the learning time for such a new interface and the linear desktop. However new users introduced to the mouse for the first time had a fair bit of learning time themselves.  The linear desktop would not scale well on a traditional interface due to the sizes of different applications.

Take a look at what you think, personally I’m excited by the idea of this interface. So you could say I like it.

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

For the offical 10/Gui website click here:

10/GUI

I found an interesting magazine the other day. It has some interesting articles and design work from all around the world. I love the front cover of their first issue.

For a link to the site:

Uppercase

A friend recently introduced me to this site.

Nathan Jurevicius is known for his vinyl toys and quirky style of illustration. Each of his characters are unique and are easily recognisable. His site “scary girl” has an arrange of unique characters, all of them can be easily translated into vinyl toys.

Scary girl is about a girl washed up on a shore, who goes through many adventures all based on folklore.

An interesting aspect of scary girl is that it is enjoyed by both adult and children a like. The graphics are wonderful, the characters are original and the story line is easy to follow. I’ve played the game when I had the time and did enjoy it.

For a link to the site:

http://www.scarygirl.com/

I found a fairly interesting site the other day which could be useful for future reference. While the site focuses on the management and design side of web development which is a rarity throughout my research.

He goes on about the employability skills as well time management skills. He also shows basic princpals on the gestalt and layout. What makes this site useful is the examples he uses in real web design.

I found this site fairly useful and interesting, I suggest other students have a look, even if you know the basics it’s never too late to freshen up on them.

Here’s a link to his site:
http://www.andyrutledge.com

Logo lounge is a resource for various logos from different companies. I found this to be a fairly good resource when designing my logo (which is going through another iteration). I suggest all students have a look at this site at some point in their design career.

For a link to their site:

http://www.logolounge.com/

I came across an interesting site the other day that I thought was worth sharing. Coltex I believe is a Japanese advertising company (please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong). I found their site on FWA and I was struck on how unusual the navigational system is.

Instead of using a conventional navigation with hierarchy they have opted to use a story telling navigation. I found this to be quite interesting but also universal. I understood without any words what I was looking at and how it was meant to play out. This site definitely goes against the archetype of interface design.

However when saying that I found a few things wrong with the site which could be annoying in the long run. There is no real navigational structure where you can go back and forth. You have to go where the interface takes you. Which can be confusing and annoying.

The site itself is beautiful and would be nice to see it translate into a western audience.

For a link to the site:

http://www.coltex.co.jp/

I found an interesting article on future technology on news.com.au today.

The article doesn’t go into great depth about what the technology could achieve but rather talks about what is being developed. As a potential interface designer it’s interesting to see where new technology is going and how the interface will be used.

I found the foldable phone and the XO -2 particularly interesting.

Here’s a link to the page:

http://www.news.com.au/technology/gallery/0,23607,5037461-5014321,00.html#