May 29, 2006

What is user centered design? How is it different than regular design? What is the end goal of user-centric design?

"The key to successful web applications is how much it puts the user in the center of the process". What this means is that any design, for any webpage or web-application needs to take into consideration the user, not the looks.
- webreakstuff.com

Art design: How does ths website reflect my or my clients aesthetic? Closer relationships to vanity publicshing or fine art.

User-centric design: What are we offering our users. How do we make it clear to our users how they can maximiaze ther experience of our website.

When is it important/neccesary
When you are offering a service or creating a website that requires users in order to accrue value (most websites).

When is less important/neccesary

When your website is primarily an aesthetic vehicle without the requirements of clarity, comprehensability, and usability that a site with a broad user base requires.

commonly misunderstood to be user-centric when they are not

tagging

Tags require the search query before we know what we’ll be searching for. Tags require people to create the map before they’ve traversed the territory; they suggest the map is the territory, a veritable impossibility considering the territory constantly changes.

In cases where we’re not sure where we’re going, we develop default categories, nebulous ‘other’ realms, gigantic formless piles with little use beyond remembering that we wanted to pile something somewhere. Tufte points to ancient mapmakers and their habit of proclaiming “here there be monsters”, and for librarians, certainly, these piles house the uncategorizable bugbears that refuse to acknowledge existing taxonomies.

It’s a much more natural human instinct to create a pile and name it later once we have a better idea about the pile’s boundaries. People prefer traversing the territory before drawing the map. If the map really came first, Lewis and Clarke would never have found the Northwest passage because Columbus would never have found America.

- thinking and making.com

User-centric doesn't mean that design disapears or is replaced by a blank slate on which the users collectively write their preferences. It means the needs of the user and their preferences are worked into the design and given equal consideration alongside the end-goals of the site manufacterer or the limitations of the technology.

Reflections on what background philosophic or social positions a design manifests phycially through it's user interface.

Power distance : How much can a user do, how much security does that site display directly, what are the directives for the first tme user, how clear is the help are their roles displayed next to a users name. Is there a recognizable leadership structure ( site moderator site admin) within the sites visible framework, can you tell how many people are online with you? can you hide or the fact that you are online or not

April 27, 2006

A love song to boag world. Only follow this link if you are a webdesigner. Otherwise you won't piss yourself laughing and the point will be lost.

February 4, 2006

I don't remember much about last night except th it was a festival of Madonna..

...and that at some point to Laurens consternation Kevin and I both admitted that we listen to techno/electronica when we are designing.

...and that it's kind of like a dance party except that only things spinning are the hard disc and our ergonomic desk jockey chairs.

...and then to demonstrate design inspired - party animal behaviour Kevin threw his fist in the air and yelled "ZELDMAN!"

oh yeah.. and the video.

I truly believe that the world would be a better place if we all watched this video before leaving the house each day.

January 17, 2006

I know it sucks. and it's ugly.

but I really wanted to put up the picture of whoever that old dude is giving the metal wave - and I don't have time to do a big redesign.

So say hi to m. flink. He's my new mascot. Rocking le quebecoise since 1735 or whenever he and his catholic buddies headed up le fleuve st laurent and began busting beaver nuts left right and centre .

Just in case you were wondering the bottom of the monument does in fact feature a friendly indian or two and some gamboling beavers.

Plus the cast-iron rock salute.

Heavy.

December 12, 2005

Check out the icons at the bottom of this map of active US hate groups

I think this is an examples of good design - maybe being used in the wrong place? Instead of being terrified of the number of KK groups in the southern states I just wanna to pet them on their wee little heads.

October 31, 2005

I just spent too long trying to set up Ubuntu just so. Which means I didn't get a chance to set the permissions on my new wiki just so.

...and in the end I couldn't figure out why my browser wouldn't do a bunch of key things like for example; let me log in to this blog..

Reminder, the time I spend failing at tasks is just as much about learning as the times in which I am successful.

Ran into Patrick who mentioned that he is hard at work re-templating his blog for CSS Reboot

What a freaking cool-looking event that I have missed, next year...watch out Patrick.. ; ).

In other news, oh wait there is no other news.

Oh wait there *is* other news.. The awesome ladiezzz who brought you Blogher '05 have kindly asked me to be part of their planning team for '06.

wicked wicked wicked...

So now here's the ish, I have to have the money come summer to pay my taxes for two years, pay for any scholastic program I may get into in September '06 and get to Europe and back in time for Blogher '06 in July.

Peice of cake.

Does anyone want to buy a slightly damaged kidney? I owe Jane 20 bucks so she's gonna get some of the money but whatever.

September 5, 2005

I should make an entry for CSS. Oh look I just did. poor flink, it's like a closet with absolutely no coherent logic anymore. There's evening dresses hanging next to seldom used bunny costumes over here, it's a problem.

SO I did it. The nifty corners in CSS deal. I stood over that tricky little CSS widget and got it in some mother of a hammerlock, and made it beg for mercy.

No that's not quite true, I sat in Laika until I looked rude and bit my lip and listened to Beck. But it sounds better to make these things sound like real struggles.

here's what I have so far. It's really not even close to done, you should see a bunch of randome stuff, but focus on the two objects in the upper area with rounded corners, that's the main issue. That the corners be rounded and that there be significant padding around the text.

If you don't see that please tell me.

Okay so next on my to-do list;

1/ figure out drupal templating,
2/ apply nifty design tricks (like above mentioned corners) to drupal and text pattern sites.
3/ figure out a good replacement scheme when using lapha pngs.
4/read more actual texts about CSS so I can start teaching it coherently
5/in pursuit of above goal also memorize certain integral laws regarding inheritence so that you don't always have to go back and check.

++ I want to figure out a better way to do shadows than the ones I have been using too, and learn real typography, and fly, and have perfect skin again like when I was sixteen, and ride a unicyle, and have an extra set of incisers for looking very threatening when I scowl.