Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Visual.ly is an infographics clearinghouse. They're set up as a marketplace - where people who need infographics can connect with people who make them. Even if you're not shopping, it's a great stop for inspiration.
What I get from browsing this kind of material, apart from seeing good work from good designers, is an appreciation of the many different ways to clearly present data.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Design Philosophy Shapes a Nation
In his November 29th Per Square Mile piece, Tim De Chant tells us about looking down from a flight between Boston and Chicago to see the ribbon farms in what used to be Nouvelle-France.
The idea is that long, thin farms were established along an existing transportation route, in this case the St. Lawrence River (but the concept applies equally well to roads), this maximized efficiency in getting good from many farms to market (more access to transportation for more farms), and provided other benefits that he describes much better than I can.
The ribbon farms arrayed to share river frontage more compactly were a French tradition, and are uncommon in North America. Square farms -- parcels plotted out and transportation figured out later -- became the standard. That led to lots of road building and shaped the landscape we see in the US and Canada today.
The idea is that long, thin farms were established along an existing transportation route, in this case the St. Lawrence River (but the concept applies equally well to roads), this maximized efficiency in getting good from many farms to market (more access to transportation for more farms), and provided other benefits that he describes much better than I can.
The ribbon farms arrayed to share river frontage more compactly were a French tradition, and are uncommon in North America. Square farms -- parcels plotted out and transportation figured out later -- became the standard. That led to lots of road building and shaped the landscape we see in the US and Canada today.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Don't Get Struck in Analysis
Michael Allen's Leaving ADDIE for SAM, reviewed at http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/1012/, looks worth a read. The preface is available as a free download from Allen Interactions (yes, they will want your contact info).
The point is that the time-honored ADDIE model (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate) used in instructional design is not exactly, shall we say, nimble. It's slow, cumbersome, and does not always lead to a good, finished product. It's too easy to get sucked into endless trips back to the drawing board.
He says "The foundation of any traditional process is an accurate analysis. You can’t move forward until the analysis is complete and flawless – the problem with that is no analysis can ever be complete and certainly not flawless. So, training departments get stuck in the Analysis Paralysis – and the schedule slips and keeps slipping."
Allen suggests SAM --the Successive Approximation Model -- as a replacement. Sketch a broad picture of the product you're designing, then go into depth, then iterate/refine -- but only a few times. I've worked on too many project that are in revision as soon as they launch -- I think he's onto something here.
Dell Inspiron One 2320 Desktop Intel Core i3-2120, 500GB, 23" Multi- (Google Affiliate Ad)
The point is that the time-honored ADDIE model (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate) used in instructional design is not exactly, shall we say, nimble. It's slow, cumbersome, and does not always lead to a good, finished product. It's too easy to get sucked into endless trips back to the drawing board.
He says "The foundation of any traditional process is an accurate analysis. You can’t move forward until the analysis is complete and flawless – the problem with that is no analysis can ever be complete and certainly not flawless. So, training departments get stuck in the Analysis Paralysis – and the schedule slips and keeps slipping."
Allen suggests SAM --the Successive Approximation Model -- as a replacement. Sketch a broad picture of the product you're designing, then go into depth, then iterate/refine -- but only a few times. I've worked on too many project that are in revision as soon as they launch -- I think he's onto something here.
Dell Inspiron One 2320 Desktop Intel Core i3-2120, 500GB, 23" Multi- (Google Affiliate Ad)
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Form and Function
Form has to support and follow function. Pretty things that don't work...don't work.
The image posted below - I still see it as taking an elegant shot at integrating aesthetics with accessibility - drew a Facebook comment from Jonathan David Post, and he's right.
And Mr. Post's comment:
"This is a cool solution visually but maybe not the most functional. A few problems: Too steep. Too long. No railing (If you slip what happens? Tumble to your death?). What if there's a crowd of people going up/down? Roll through them?
My mother's been disabled my whole life so I tend to notice poorly designed ramps and doors..."
The image posted below - I still see it as taking an elegant shot at integrating aesthetics with accessibility - drew a Facebook comment from Jonathan David Post, and he's right.
And Mr. Post's comment:
"This is a cool solution visually but maybe not the most functional. A few problems: Too steep. Too long. No railing (If you slip what happens? Tumble to your death?). What if there's a crowd of people going up/down? Roll through them?
My mother's been disabled my whole life so I tend to notice poorly designed ramps and doors..."
The original image came from DoSomething's page, the post was on October 4, and you can read more good comments, both supportive and critical, there.
Just goes to show - there's always more to think about.
Friday, September 28, 2012
A Flavor of 'Why'
Regarding security issues, user choices, and design decisions: sometimes people do things just because they can.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Apple's Patents
Hmm. Maybe the courts should view this kind of issue more like a
copyrighted artwork and less like a patented physical invention. See Information Week's Babcock on Apple's patent win over Samsung.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Design for Mobile First
Think of users working from their phones or tablets. The point is to keep to simple. But I don't think I'd agree with the title of this piece from Slate. You have to know you'll be scaling to the desktop, too.
Forget the Desktop
"This isn’t a radical proposal. Many Web designers build their sites according to this principle—Jason Kottke and John Gruber’s blogs were designed for desktop browsers, but because they load quickly and aren’t cluttered by extraneous elements, they look like they were built with mobile devices in mind."
Forget the Desktop
"This isn’t a radical proposal. Many Web designers build their sites according to this principle—Jason Kottke and John Gruber’s blogs were designed for desktop browsers, but because they load quickly and aren’t cluttered by extraneous elements, they look like they were built with mobile devices in mind."
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