I regularly encounter people, or posts, that refer to all criticism as bad. That it stifles creativity, especially for us sensitive artsy designer types. I could hardly disagree more. Criticism is a key part of discovering new ideas and working collaboratively. I am not brilliant enough to get by without help from others.
Read MoreOne of the things I pride myself on is practicing technology and process agnosticism. However your organization works, whatever you want to build, we can work that way.
Except for one thing we hold near and dear. We always want to be sure we’re making a quality product. By quality, we mean things along the lines of the formal business definitions. ISO 8402–1986 has a good one…
Read MoreYou need to do a retrospective or post-mortem, but find the process vague, uninformative, entirely too negative, or it causes arguments?
Yeah, try the After Action Review method instead. It’s a collaborative, inclusive assessment, and one you can perform after any major activity or event. Not just bad projects, but good ones. Not just at the end of projects, but at the end of each phase.
Read MoreHere’s your manual on being a good, productive, collaborative, and not-annoying, information worker in a modern, western office.
Read MoreHow the tech press and retailers have decided the iPad is The Only Tablet. Walk into the local electronic repair/resell place, try to buy a used Android. None. They all but laugh at you. They may actually giggle a bit.
Um… they are wrong. Bias breaks stuff. Broken down by OS (instead of the manufacturer every dumbass analyst insists on!), 70% of tablet sales are Android…
Read MoreWhat is bugging me most about this is how much everyone accepts it. Perfectly smart folks who think we need to design ethically are saying that it’s jerky, but (paraphrased several) “of course a company can’t support updates forever.”
To which I say: why not?
Why have we all internalized that disposable, very expensive, things are the norm?
Read MoreSo, the provider of this very blog I am writing on, Squarespace, hates mobile. Not just that they are responsive, no ability to be adaptive. And are pretty bad at any code efficiency; the 50+
No, I mean, you go to edit your blog on the phone because you are on the go and forgot something and…
Read MoreThis time, something that is literally rather than metaphorically dark: inverted polarity–display methods, or dark mode.
So let’s set aside all the rumors, opinions, and hot takes on this not-as-new-as-you-think design style and take a look at what it actually means to be in dark mode, why it exists, and what the research on dark mode actually says…
Read MoreHow auditing sand for Y2K compliance should not have been a joke. A look at Y2K+20, including why things are failing again, and how there was no crisis because we all did our jobs.
Read MoreWhether you’re a student in college, a design professional, or an author of a book, you have all experienced the clutter of notes, reminders, memos, drawings, and documents scattered across the surface of your desk. There comes a point in this chaotic, unorganized display, when your tidy instinct begs for some order.
Read MoreThe Peel Away pattern is like the Tabs, and many others in this chapter, in that it simulates a real world interaction.
Read MoreExtending the physical-simulation conceits of theTabs and Peel Away, other types of Simulated 3D Effects can be used to pretend the screen, or items on it, are dimensional, physical objects.
Read MorePagination control can be implemented very simply in any type of interface. This does not mean that quite complex, graphical or interactive methods may not be used instead.
Read MoreWhether text or graphics, the Location Within can easily be implemented on any interface. Some OSs will have a built-in style for at least some cases, which should be used.
Read MoreMobiles are not different from desktops because they are small but because they are connected and personal. Good products don't just meet a niche, but leverage the native intent of the interface. Lately, we have heard some gnashing of teeth as developers try to figure out how to make things that are useful for the Apple Watch. Meanwhile, users of Pebble wonder what the fuss is about as much has already been figured out regarding wearables.
Read MoreWhen more information is in the page or element than can fit in the viewport, you need to provide a method to access this information.
Read MoreA Pop-Up is a child "page" smaller than the viewport, that appears on top of the parent page or display context which spawned it. For mobile, these should almost always be "modal," with the Pop-Up having exclusive focus.
Read MoreMobile encompasses more than just “mobile phones” and has evolved over the years.
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Steven has written, edited, or otherwise contributed to several books on design:
Read MoreSteven also gets quoted in, collaborate with others, or otherwise get published in articles and posts that he did’t write all by himself.
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