During the redesign of my portfolio website in 2014, I thought about the advantages of using a socially-driven portfolio with a built-in audience (behance, dribbble, tumblr, etc.). It connects you to an existing user base instead of relying on search engines or your smaller circle to showcase your design work with others. Free publicity! I thought
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Although the word slips from my tongue from time to time, I dislike thinking of existing fans of products and curious people on computers as mere users. I’ve said before that the title of “user” sounds more fitting for a drug addict than a prized participator. Obviously, humans are also thinkers, talkers, interpreters, dreamers, feelers, responders, and
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You probably know the table of nutrition facts on almost any food package in the US. This FDA label is an informative and seminal work, possibly “the most reproduced design of the 20th and 21st century.” The proposed 2014 redesign seems like a subtle improvement, with small changes such as more realistic portion sizes, in
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In an era of fidgety fingers attached to portable devices, does your app pass the banana? People interact with smartphones and tablets differently than desktops and laptops. Our tiny, pocket sized computers have shrunk, yet we remain the same size (assuming you’ve already gone through puberty). As we try to design and adapt with all the historical
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If you look back at the early video game consoles, they were pretty basic. NES, or Nintendo Entertainment System, was a successful game system that relied on a controller with only eight hardware buttons, or five when considering the directional-pad as a single pivoting button. Nintendo knew what typical thumbs could do comfortably with speed
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Design junkies often preach of design principles and rules that lead to good design. But sometimes, design values aren’t as absolute as they appear. As design pros, we’ve been taught to produce and redesign things to be more simple, more engaging, more functional, and more enjoyable. While most of the time they’re for the better,
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There has long been dissent about the best wording for interacting with different interface elements, such as links and buttons. Will using Click make enough sense when used on a touch screen or using voice command? Is it too ancient to use for youngsters on mobile devices who have never used a mouse? Is Tap
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This is an unsolicited review of the candy that goes under the name Unreal. But instead of the taste, I’m addressing the design and the branding. My wife and I both have a sweet tooth. So it’s easy to just grab the most sugary, processed thing that can be considered edible. Being a design addict
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Over the past year, I’ve been hand-picking some of the top free design-related talks, interviews, films, and other videos from Vimeo and Youtube. I wanted to be able to share them in one place, but you can’t make a Youtube playlist from external videos, and likewise for Vimeo. That’s where Dropmark came in handy to
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