Sketching
Sketching up a responsive site before going into wireframing and mood boards tomorrow. Using my new UIStencils for sketching, UX Movement's Interface Library 3.5 and the Less Framework stencils for wireframing.
More+- By monocle
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Archive for ‘UX’
Voice control comparisons
This is glorious.
More+User Interfaces and cyberpunk aesthetics
One of the projects I'm working on next year is a research project about cyberpunk as a body of intellectual work. I'll also be look at cyberpunk as a design aesthetic. As part of this research I will be looking at a number of specific businesses that have embodied cyberpunk values. The 3 big businesses that I want to look at are Microsoft, Google and IBM. So I was interested to see a number of advertisements for Google and Microsoft products that still seem to be tied into a very specific cyberpunk style. The android advertisement below very blatantly references Tron, one of the first cyberpunk films. The second references Minority Report. A number of writers have contrasted the cold, machinelike cyberpunk aesthetic in these ads with the human-focused connectivity, 'invisible interface' of Apple products, and the earthy, imperfect future described by Berg. The UX folks at Google seem to...
More+Prototyping
I've been using Keynotopia and Invision to put together some clickable prototypes for an iPhone project. Remarkably quick, great way to get an idea in someone's hands, rather than writing up a dry, flat specification. Basically, you create the screens in Powerpoint, export them to jpegs, upload them to Invision, and then just run through and add clickable areas. Great for simplifying content flows, and makes it very obvious when there's a gap in your information architecture. Running up a 20 screen prototype took about 2 hours. I had it in the client's hands 3 hours later, and had sign off on the project in about 15 minutes.
More+Work Update
Yes.
More+Scrivener as a UX Tool
In my previous careers in journalism, editing and academia, I fell in love with a little program called Scrivener. Scrivener is a writing program, as opposed to a word-processing or typesetting program. I found it after I wrote my Honours thesis, a beast of a document that made my laptop la-a-a-a-a-a-g every time I tried to scroll. Scrivener's non-linear approach, light footprint and research / organisation capabilities drew me in, and I've been writing articles and papers in it ever since. Since starting work as a UX Architect, I spend a lot of time in Omnigraffle and Visio. I create wireframes, I develop IAs, user journeys, workflows and business logic, all of which are easily handled in Omnigraffle. That said, it's always worthwhile to spend some time working on developing personas before diving into wireframes and IAs. Knowing who will be using your site and how will determine how you...
More+Double spacing
This article on Slate about double spacing has inspired some impassioned debate. I've never been a fan of the double space after the period, despite learning to type on a typewriter. It's just never felt right, visually or physically. That said, I'd mostly just chalked it up to personal preference. However, this article adds another reason to avoid double spaces - they're bad for dyslexics. Most of us were taught to double space after periods at the end of a sentence. This practice originates from the typewriting days of the past. Because typewriters used monospaced fonts, people thought that double spacing after periods would make the end of sentences more distinct. However, on the web, single spacing after periods are enough because most websites use proportionally spaced fonts. Double spacing after a period can create “rivers” within text that make it difficult for users to find the end of sentences....
More+Digital publishing and User Experience
This is an interesting take on the future of editing and publishing, in the context of the move to digital publication and the associated business disruption that will come with it. These days, there is a debate going on about the value of the publisher in the larger scheme of things. Facilitated by the Internet, and the vast amount of easy-to-use tools at everyone's disposal, everyone can be a publisher. So, why do we need publishing houses to buy content, produce it, manufacture it, and sell it? What, at the fundamental level, does a publisher do that is worth the money they take off the top? Shouldn't the content creator reap all the financial benefits of their work? One response to this debate is that a publisher is a curator. While true in some respects, I don't think this is the ultimate response. In fact, the role of the publisher...
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