Archive for the 'Favorites' Category

My $.02: What’s a Blog? (Seth Godin)

Thursday, February 21st, 2008

I agree with this post from Seth Godin, and since comments are off I’ll add my $.02 here.
I think that following the “musts” is an act of fear and laziness. I’ll be the first to say that people perform better within the boundaries of constraints, but not if you use them as a crutch. The […]

The Journey or the Destination?

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

I read a great post today on Ask the Wizard (via 37signals) regarding the lack of a need for a business model when starting a new project. This is the type of thinking that anyone who wants to build a successful product should consider. Everyone would love to make money with their product, but […]

Defining the Initial Release

Saturday, January 12th, 2008

I’ve been diligently working on the IA for my side project and come to the point where I have to make the tough decision as to what will constitute the first release. I could go in one direction that would convey the concept and could be done relatively quickly, but holds back a great deal […]

Familiarity vs. Innovation

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Often times an interface designer will come upon a situation where he/she has discovered a superior, yet unconventional solution to a given design problem. The solution may be one that requires less time, less clicks or simply makes more logical sense, but at the same time may have a learning curve associated with it. Should […]

5 Things Application Designers Can Learn from Gambling

Monday, December 10th, 2007

Gambling involves betting a portion of money towards the goal of a larger return. This is not unlike what we do when building an application. We select the features we will implement with the hope that those features will form a valuable tool that is greater than the sum of its parts. But the similarities […]

Designing with Blinders On

Thursday, December 6th, 2007

One of the most common mistakes I see designers make, is letting look-and-feel decisions influence functionality. This is often caused by jumping into a design program too early, and trying to tackle everything at once. The temptation to move a button, or delete a column of data for the sake of aesthetics can seduce even […]

“Creative Freedom” is an Oxymoron

Thursday, November 29th, 2007

During my career as a designer I’ve often been bestowed the great and wondrous gift of “creative freedom”. In my earlier days, I waited and waited for this day to arrive…for this was when I was finally going to show the world what I was made of. When that day did come, the excitement and […]