I have read scores of pundits talk about the iPad being a “consumption device,” that it’s for enjoying content and not creating it. To all these talking heads, I say “phooey!” The iPad is a great device to be creative…
Apple, UX Articles
Banking on the iPad: Evolutionary or revolutionary?
Originally posted on Atmmarketplace.com… The iPad, Apple’s much-hyped new tablet device, was released last month to some measure of success — over 1 million units were sold in just 28 days. Clearly, the device has found an audience, more than…
Apple, UX 101, UX Articles
Lessons in UX – “If we understand the extremes, then the middle will fall into place.”
I just finished watching the great documentary on industrial design Objectified, which has interviews with many of the best designers in the history of the domain, including a personal favorite of mine, Apple’s Jonathan Ive. One moment early in the…
UX Articles
Lessons in UX – why multitasking is not necessarily a good thing
One of the many criticisms logged against the brand new, and super-hyped, iPad is it’s inability to do “multitasking” – users can’t run more than one application at a time. Well, technically they can – except only when running Apple-created…
Technology, UX Articles
Lessons in online reputation protection: Or, “think before you post”
The Internet has been a huge boon for the world, allowing people from different cultures and countries to communicate and share ideas, providing tools for businesses and users to increase their efficiencies and effectiveness… and it has also given us…
UX Articles
Lessons in UX: Are you prepared for “Total Information Awareness”?
In recent years one of the big concerns that some civil liberty groups have expressed about the US government has been around a program called Total Information Awareness. This system was intended to be a massive database of personal information…
UX Articles
Zen and the art of user experience design
Simplicity matters. I can’t even count the number of times I have tried to do something in a software program and the process of attempting the task at hand was either needlessly complicated or hard to find or both. I…
Trek, UX Articles
Lessons in UX: When designing user experiences, don’t forget the sound
As you may have seen from many of my other posts here, I’m a big Star Trek fan. Big Big fan. When I got the DVD of the new Trek movie last week, I immediately dived into the extras to…
UX Articles
Lessons in Ux: What interfaces will work for tomorrow’s users? Find out by playing some game systems
One of the many things I am paying close attention to is the demographic group called “Tweens.” These are young people, aged 11 to 14, who grew up in a world where Internet access and mobile devices are ever-present. These aren’t…
UX 101, UX Articles
Lessons in UX: Want to be a user experience designer? Expose yourself to different experiences.
Everything is designed. That basic insight is something I realized many years ago – and, while the idea that someone, somewhere, created the designs of everything around you, wherever you are maybe is an obvious fact, embracing that idea should…
UX Articles
Lessons in UX: Who wins Black Friday? The retailer who provides the best shopping experience
Yes, I was out at 4 AM on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, in order to get some of the “door-buster” sale items retailers were offering to shoppers who hit the stores early. Yes, sometimes I am not terribly…
UX Articles
Lessons in UX: Are addicting experiences good or bad for users?
Farmville. Desktop Tower Defense. World of Warcraft. Twitter. All of the above have one thing in common: for many many users they are incredibly addictive experiences, sucking hours and hours of time away from them day after day. Updates from…
UX 101, UX Articles
Lessons in Mobile UX: “First, do no harm”
Having just completed an extensive ethnographic research project in the mobile space, my head is still chock-full of observations, findings and notes around how people use their mobile devices every day of their lives. But one thought bubbles to the…
UX Articles
Lessons in UX: Should you facilitate usability tests of your own designs?
This is a topic of discussion that comes up in conversations with my peers about every six months or so. Should you test your own designs? Many, perhaps even the majority, say no – designers need to not facilitate usability…
UX Articles
Lessons in UX (from the iPhone): Take care when providing a “feast of riches” to your users
The iPhone has a problem. There’s too much you can do with it. This is a problem, you may be asking? Yes, it is, because there are so many things you can do with the device (thanks to hundreds of…
UX Articles
Lessons in UX: “A failure of empathy”
The great This Week in Google podcast just had a very enlightening conversation about the new Google Sidewiki. This feature, just rolled out last week, allows anyone who has the Google Toolbar to open a sidebar on any site to…