In a recent interview, Michael Beirut noted that wine labels are one of the purest branding experiences: All wine bottles contain the same basic product (wine), so if you don’t know anything about a particular bottle of wine the graphic design of the label and the shape of the bottle are quite often the only … Continue reading Designing the Bottle: Opening the Wine, Unboxing the Brand
In this final chapter of Pronoun vs. Pronoun (see previous chapters User vs. You, User vs. Tron, and You vs. I), we will now weigh in on the great schism between Me and You. Almost every web design team I’ve ever worked with has had to, at some point, wrestle with the “Me vs. You” … Continue reading Me vs. You (vs. i)
This is just a reminder that, in Tron, the citizens of the computer system worshipped their users. And make no mistake, “users” was exactly what they called them.
There’s a huge debate going on in the UX community about the use of the word “user”. Some argue that the word demeans the people we are trying to help, that it distances us from them, and that it makes us unable to truly empathize with their wants and needs. Words like “people” and “humans” are suggested instead, reminding us that our users are, in fact, human beings just like us. But these arguments ultimately feel a little phony to me…
Quick, what does this sign on the bike trail say?
If you’re like me, you will probably initially read it as saying “XING ROAD”. Then, maybe after a fraction of a second, your brain kicked in and told you that maybe you should reverse the order. You do this mental correction because you’ve probably grown accustomed to reading on-the-street signs in this way. You’ve seen “AHEAD STOP” before and (unless talk like Yoda you prefer to) you probably instantly read it as “STOP AHEAD”.
Will Wright‘s cryptic, clip-art crazy PowerPoint slides make sense when he’s right there talking about them. Microsoft’s PowerPoint is frequently blamed for the poor quality of many presentations and for a supposedly- disastrous state of communication in both the private and the public spheres. Public speakers are lambasted for their wooden stage presence, crippled by … Continue reading In Defense of PowerPointism
The word “experience” comes from the Latin word “experÄ«rÄ«”, or to try. It’s strange, then, that in modern English the two words, “experience” and “try”, have such different meanings: when we try something we tend to take a sip or a nibble, get our toes wet, or go for a test drive around the block. … Continue reading Experience or Don’t Experience. There is no Try.
My IA Summit presentation was an experiment in what is a new presentation style for me. I have long admired the rapid-fire presentation style of Lawrence Lessig (aka the “Lessig method“) and in particular the example of Dick Hardt’s keynote at Identity 2.0. Also, I’ve always wanted to achieve the same aesthetic and pedagogical dazzle … Continue reading A Peek into the Sausage Factory (IA Summit Presentation Post-Mortem)
It’s been a little less than a week since my IA Summit presentation. To my great surprise, it went really well. I mean really well. In the next day or so I will be posting a summary of my experiences preparing and discussing my topic, which was, in a word, style. Many people came to … Continue reading Interaction Design Style (My IA Summit 2007 Presentation)
I am speaking next Monday at the 2007 ASIS&T Information Architecture Summit in Las Vegas. My topic will be “Interaction Design Style“. It will be a highly visual romp through a variety of topic having to do with the concept of style and how it fits into the design of interactive systems: The definition of … Continue reading Come to my Stylish Talk at the 2007 IA Summit