I’m sitting outside on a busy street in central Kuala Lumpur with a bunch of mates when a peddler walks up. He pulls out a small cardboard box and extracts a colourful cylinder from within. He then proceeds to blow a tiny bit of air into the cylinder. The thing flickers, then lights up. Read the full post for the rest of the experience.
Read postTag: design
Introducing Wirify: The web as wireframes (archived)
Wirify is a bookmarklet that lets you turn any web page into a wireframe in one click. It’s lightweight and works in many modern browsers. We believe Wirify will help user experience professionals analyse and redesign existing websites and also aid learning and teaching in the field. Read the full post for more.
Read postDesign detail – Plans and signup on the same page
We recently redesigned the signup process for Naview and changed from a Plans page and a separate sign-up form to having Plans and Signup on the same page. Read the full post for details on the thinking behind the redesign.
Read postGreat ramp-up experience on the new Flickr photo page
Flickr have redesigned their photo page and their interactive tour of the new layout and features is exemplary. Read the full post for observations on how Flickr provide a great ramp-up user experience.
Read post17 guidelines for better information architecture…from 1991
Kent L. Norman published an interesting book titled “The Psychology of Menu Selection: Designing Cognitive Control at the Human/Computer Interface” almost two decades ago. This post lists some the menu design guidelines provided in the book, adapted for information architects to use with today’s websites.
Read postTip: Reuse your designs with OmniGraffle shared layers
When designing wireframes you typically have common elements like header and footer that you want to include on several separate screens. Read the full post on how to use OmniGraffle Pro shared layers to maintain and reuse these common elements.
Read postDesign detail: An easier music video directory
We helped redesign an online service called Dancentral, “the ultimate dance music video directory.” See the full post for ‘before’ and ‘after’ screenshots and further details.
Read postDesign detail: An easier login form
Jakob Nielsen recently posted an article urging designers to stop masking passwords on web forms. We came up with several additional ways of improving your website login form – read the full post for details.
Read postTest your screen designs with Infomaki
You are redesigning an existing website or working on a completely new design. How do you make sure your design helps users achieve their goals easily? By testing with real users.
Infomaki is a new open source tool from NYPL Digital Experience Group for getting quick feedback on how easy your website is to use. Read the full post for our experiences on how to run effective, lightweight usability testing using Infomaki.
Read postWhat is usability and why should I care?
Usability measures how easy user interfaces are to use. It also refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process. Usability is about focusing on the users’ best interests.
When users’ needs, interests, and preferences are considered first, they are more likely to access your website than the competition’s, and subsequently buy your product or service. Read the full post for more.
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