Check out two adorable patterns I made using Repper Pro:
The above pattern is constructed from a photo of a building and blue sky in Chicago. Sadly I don't know this gorgeous building's name. Below, find the original photo:
This cute-as-a-button quilt-like pattern is also from a photo. Can you guess the material you see?
Using Repper Pro is a way to pay tribute to patterns. In fact the folder in which I put all my Repper Pro cuteness is called "Pattern Love". Go to their site to play with their free online version now.
I ran across this adorable idea by Innovative Thunder aimed at bloggers or content creators. If you'd like to offer readers/visitors a free download, do so in exchange for a tweet!
The idea is simple--rather than including the file as a plain Jane link, your reader will hit this button: and they'll be able to download your ebook/newsletter/template file in exchange for tweeting about your free download. Once you select "Pay with a Tweet" you'll get a window that pre-formats a tweet (something like downloaded xyz from link) then you can "Post Tweet and Download Now". What an innovative marketing mix!
UX requires empathy with the user. You need to be able to feel the users delight and disappointment as if it were your own. There are many modes of listening and I found this random but awesome article breaking down the types of Listening:
passive/not listening - noise in background - ignoring
pretend listening - also called 'responsive listening' - using stock nods and smiles and uhum, yes, of course, etc.
biased/projective listening - 'selective listening' and intentionally disregarding/dismissing the other person's views
misunderstood listening - unconsciously overlaying your own interpretations and making things fit when they don't
attentive listening - personally-driven fact gathering and analysis often with manipulation of the other person
active listening - understanding feelings and gathering facts for largely selfish purposes
empathic listening - understanding and checking facts and feelings, usually to listener's personal agenda
facilitative listening - listening, understanding fully, and helping, with the other person's needs uppermost
User testing and user interviews often fall somewhere between 6 and 7. An ideal customer service experience with IT should be 8.
I've been listening to Andy Rooney on 60 minutes and I admire that man. He's been in journalism so long that he's got the kind of perspective one has to respect. So it's with my hat off that I imitate his inflection in this post:
Why is it every I go to a website I have to pick "show 200 per page" or "Show all"?
It seems like even if I've been to that site 1,000 times I have to do that click 1,000 times.
I have what's called DSL in fact, my husband and I have been discussing going the next step up and getting cable so that we can both watch videos at the same time without intolerable lagging. Even with our midgrade DSL, these list pages, with all of their photos and information load fast. But that doesn't matter since I still have to click the option to see more per page. Then I have to scroll past he ones I've already seen the fist time.
Why don't these sites remember that my computer connection can handle more than 25 rows? Why do they make me click every single time I visit their site?
I guess I'm at the mercy of these sites. I'm not going to stop visiting them because of this annoyance. But I just hope just one site changes their ways to save me a click. I'd appreciate it.
If you didn't get a chance to go to any fancy-schmancy conferences this year, read UX Week 2009 in a Nutshell
In October of 2009 I asked What companies have a VP of UX? I was surprised. Since then there's been a lot of moving and shaking in the UX world and a lot more VPs and Directors. I'll be revisiting this topic soon.
I've been following this trend on Indeed.com, a job search aggregation site -- First I search "user experience design" and look at where the positions are (this is a mix of consulting/full time and part time). For a while now, there have been tons of openings NYC! As you can see from the screenshot above, NYC has more than double the UX openings. San Francisco's number is on par with Chicago, DC, and yes, Atlanta, Georgia.
For a while now I've been noticing tons of UX's form NYC & they have a slick style! NYC seems more Hulu while Silicon Valley is more Youtube. Check out Squarespace and compare it to Weebly.
Could the people responsible for this so something totally awesome?
I've been fascinated by Microsoft's new game console, Kinect and apparently it's awesome to use! Fine don't believe me. Watch the video below to se revolutionary applications of a hardware-less interface.
To be loved currently, but in the future, to simply survive, technology must be nice, cool, useful, and work perfectly with us humans, weird, sloppy, moody, confused as we are. Technology is here for us and should adapt to us. Technology should meet our needs.
So I'm floored to see ad campaigns like this Droid Phone commercial, which propose the opposite: that humans are the ones who need to adapt to technology by being more like it. I thought the phone was supposed to be the droid, not the customer.
Do you dream of being like a computer? Do you want to type so fast it makes you look like you're a robot? Tired of those clumsy flesh hands & arms? Buy a Droid, free your inner typist!
and they'll be able to download your ebook/newsletter/template file in exchange for tweeting about your free download. Once you select "Pay with a Tweet" you'll get a window that pre-formats a tweet (something like downloaded xyz from link) then you can "Post Tweet and Download Now". What an innovative marketing mix!
