Kindle: Please learn to share with others

I’d been curious about Amazon’s Kindle since it came out. But it seemed too expensive to justify trying it out… until I saw a tweet about a $50 savings coupon available on the Oprah site last month. Taking a peek in the Amazon store, it looked like there was more and more content available on it… books, magazines, newspapers, even blogs. So I took the plunge. $300 and a couple of weeks later, here’s a perspective on the good, the bad and a fundamental, but hopefully fixable, flaw.

Other takes on Microsoft

I’m working on a web design project where we have been asked to use a UI skin and grid system which has some similarities to common Microsoft interface skins… glassy, similar menu bars, etc. The other designers and I agreed we don’t want our work to come off as related to Microsoft. However, Microsoft actually has current and developing extensions into all kinds of new interaction models and even visual presentation.

Looking for Snagit for Mac?

Many of the visitors to this blog are coming to read a post about a year ago on alternatives to Snagit for Mac. There are now two great (and free) alternatives available: Skitch and JingProject.

Design tools and documents for a templated site

On our team, we’re exploring the best process for web design as we work from explorations of flows, into wireframes, finished page designs and on into developed pages. It’s often an iterative process as we refine how pages and interactive elements will interrelate, the best content to include, media and form factors for the content, and how to optimize for user experience. Also, a key objective in the process is to be sure the finished design document relies on the components and css of our templates. We’re a relatively small group, so the more seamless and agile we can make the process of wireframing through design and development, the better.

Designing the interface, who’s this persona?

There’s so much research and thinking going on, and great work, to create well-crafted interfaces for software and web apps. However, it boggles my mind thinking about what the future will be like as more and more apps enable the user to create their own interface, both in terms of the visuals and the arrangement and availability of functional elements. At Word Camp, Liz Danzico shared the persona-based research they did in the process of redesigning the Word Press admin interface. I saw the following screen on my 13-year-old daughter’s computer this morning, and wondered, if her persona had been included in research, what would they have discovered?

The fold is gone, or at least less important

Woah. People really USE the scroll bar. This is like turning a major preconception about web page design on it’s head. Read this detailed and well-presented story from AOL’s Director of UI, exploring when, and whether, the old concept of the “fold” on web pages (taken from the old newsstand analogy) really matters.

Icons and graphics in email newsletters

Apple, milking the iPhone craze, sent out a variation on their usual email newsletter design today. It incorporated some icon-like graphics and new buttons with cta’s.

Wonder if these icons and varied buttons are worth thinking about incorporating in some email designs?

Getting noticed: good design is noisy too

Right on the heels of posting about the merits of transparent design, a project today turned that approach right on it’s head. When you’re designing a banner ad, or a “pod” on a content page, you want to get noticed. The first objective of a banner ad is to attract attention. If it fit in seamlessly with its surroundings, or looked just like the banner ad you saw (and overlooked) yesterday, why bother? It would just be filler. You can’t get your message across, much less expect a response, if you can’t pull them over to your corner in the first place.

Personalizing gmail and del.icio.us interface

Quick tip: Speaking of creating applications that people can modify to suit themselves, here’s a way to modify your gmail or del.icio.us interface to be friendlier and lots better looking. Thanks to Web Worker Daily.

Not getting noticed: Good design is invisible

Dateline WordCamp 2007! Wow, so much to learn, and so many great geeks, but one of the most interesting presentations for me was from Information Architect/Usability Expert Liz Danzico of Happy Cog and Boxes and Arrows. She spoke to how great design for interaction is invisible to the user: you only notice design for function when it’s bad. When design works there’s no friction, and you can just go about doing what you intended. Good design anticipates what you need without making a big deal about it.

However, anticipating what people need isn’t the easiest thing in the world to do, and can have unanticipated pitfalls.