-
On Iteration
“It’s not an iteration if you only do it once!” – Fred Sampson, in the UPA Voice Developers & designers: Please, please don’t just implement your first idea. Think about it for a few minutes. Sketch it on paper a few times a few different ways. Nine times out of ten you’ll find that your…
-
Code Poetry
What a brilliant poem. Read it for yourself: StubbornSoft & MammothSoft
-
Some advice from Don Norman
Just when you’re looking for some inspiration, a quote from someone famous is bound to help: The most important consulting rule that I follow is: “Never solve the problem as stated.” Why? because it is invariably the wrong problem, usually being the symptom rather than the cause. Find the root cause and solve that, and…
-
Screen-placement testing tool
All sorts of automated tests happen on projects at ThoughtWorks. There are Unit Tests, Functional tests, GUI tests, and others that make sure the software we’re building runs well from the most back-end function all the way to the user’s interface. One thing we don’t test, however, is where particular elements land on a screen.…
-
Creating Visual Design Options
One of the ideas that I try to progress when I join a new project is that much of my job will simply be about exploring options. If I do my job right, more than half of the options will end up in the trash bin, so that’s to be expected. Many people have a…
-
Evolution vs. Revolution in Digital Design
iPhone presentation Originally uploaded by Dan_H. One distinction many people make when defining a design project is whether the design will be another evolution of an existing technique, set of tools, or technologies, or if it will be a revolutionary implementation. This decision is most often made implicitly, generally without any direct thought about revolutionary…
-
It’s not about touch screens
In a few months, remember that you heard it here first: Technology pundits are sure to hail Apple’s iPhone and soon-to-be competitors for using touch screens in their designs. I submit, and will continue to maintain that it is not the touch screens, but the interactions that those screens afford. Many others will try to…
-
On Mobile Phones and Commitment
I was talking with a friend the other day, and the fact that he does not have a cell phone came up. I, of course, was amazed. Immediately I said what most mobile-toting folk would say: “I don’t know what I would do without my phone!” His response was simple: “No, it’s easy. You know…
-
Sharing Photos
From the burrows of my brain flows a fresh design idea. Hey Canon, feel free to implement: So, you know how when you’re taking a picture with a group of people and the person who was elected to take the photo has to take it 12 times with 12 different cameras? Why don’t they make…
-
Who rocks the house? IU Informatics Rocks the House!
5 teams, count ’em…5! Simply amazing. Five teams from the IU Informatics HCI/d program were chosen for the CHI 2007 Student Design Competition. Let’s review the participants and outcomes in all of the previous SDC’s: 2006 – 2 teams selected from IU, one of which won the competition 2005 – 4 teams selected, one of…