I recently watched Coraline with the kids. The movie was pretty clever and well done, but I found it highly derivative. Here is what it made me think: BeetleJuice (1988) – My goodness, the artwork was so reminiscent the genius BeetleJuice, but more importantly, I found a strong similarity to the main characters (Lydia/Coraline) and to her relationship…
I was listening to Barney Frank today on NPR. He said, regarding the healthcare debate, that republicans and democrats are basically on the same page on the big picture. They both believed there is a real issue that needs serious attention. However, he described that when you went into the details, that ideology created huge…
This happens all the time. You have a design and it could go in several directions. All directions have pros and cons. What do you do? My technique is to mockup (quickly) as many of the alternatives as possible. Give them all a chance to survive the bright light of day. You will find (quickly)…
I love well done satire.
The US Government started this program called “Cash for Clunkers“. It gives $4000 to anyone who is trading in an old piece of crap for a new shiny car. The goal is to increase the overall gas efficiency as well as spur the automotive industry. They allocated $2 billion dollars. The money ran out in…
What is the best way to gather user research? I believe Dian Fossey is a great role model for how to achieve great results and learn about your users lives. Dian didn’t ask the gorillas “So, tell me what kind of personality you have?” Obviously, the gorillas would not have intelligent things to say to…
I saw this fun contest on Twitter called PerfectBusiness. The rules were simple: Boil down a great business idea into a single tweet. Now here is a contest that I could do well with. Here was my idea tweet: @PerfectBusiness #micropitch : Pandora for unsigned bands. Seed real artists, listen to unsigned similar artists. Focused…
I need your help. It will just take a second. Problem: I think people are sending me mail which is not arriving at GMail. It’s not in the spam folder either. Could you help me? Send me a mail to glen {at} kokopop.com. No content needed. Subject: can be any word you choose. Post a…
What you call things is incredibly important. The words you choose carry baggage and implications that people will adopt. The words help people remember and frame an idea. Take for example the current Healthcare debate in the U.S. There is so much complexity and so much riding on one single monolithic bill. Everyone assumes that…
I have been reading this great book called Made to Stick. (Great so far) In it, they talk about Proverbs. Proverbs are short phrase-like ideas that encode a much deeper meaning into them. They are much easier to remember because of the encoding. Examples: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush…
I currently flip flop between TrillianAstra and Digsby as my Instant Messenger of choice. Trillian is a beautiful looking application, but some of the interaction design is lacking that I find really smooth in Digsby. The little widget on the right of my blog is ingenious and one of the reasons I usually go with…
Yesterday, I was introduced to this product called Balsamiq Mockups. After seeing Flash Catalyst and Microsoft Expression Blend 3 in action, I was hoping for something easier, simpler and more fun. I got all three. Using Balsamiq required no training or anxiety. Part of the reason is the limitations (constraints) the product imposed. You couldn’t…
I received an email about attending a Microsoft demo of their product Expression Blend. Specifically this part called SketchFlow. I spent a little under an hour trying to use it to see if it would help me communicate designs better. A little under an hour was all I could take without losing my grip. Warning: …
Clearly, the band on the Titanic under-reacted. Many government officials are under-reacting in response to the threats of global warming. Under-reaction is to either do nothing at all and ignore the issue or to do something toothless and symbolic. Under-reacting usually results in the problem festering until it gets so bad it is a crisis. On the…