Updated April 17, 2014 People love the little things in a product. They also hate the little things. A car is a miracle of modern science, but people like how the door shuts or how the headlights are cool looking. A person is complex, but we judge their handshake. The psychology is that people can’t deal…
What does UX tell us about the iPad: iPad was a stupid name. The feminine product hook will remain a joke and bleed for a long time. (Pun intended) Similar to the Tea Bagger movement. Dumb name. Tampod. The iPad will kill the Kindle DX and not the normal Kindle. Why? The smaller kindle fits…
I recently read a book by Scott McCloud called Understanding Comics. You might have seen his work on the Google Chrome comic strip. Despite the fact that my blog is most text, I have been a huge fan of the image as a superior communications vehicle than text. A picture is indeed worth a thousand…
Your subconscious is much more powerful than you may realize. It remembers everything and it can make quick judgments based on millions of experiences.. It’s a super computer right in your head. The only problem is that it can’t be accessed in normal ways. It tells you things in dreams and fragments and feelings. However, I have…
Well, it’s over. It was a great run, but the Jets did what they always do. They got my hopes up and then lost at the last possible second. This time they went as fas as Vinny Testaverde did getting to the AFC championship game in 1999. That was a miracle season too with Bill…
The Jets won Superbowl III on January 12, 1969, almost exactly 41 years ago. It was just before I was born against the Colts and Johny Unitas. It was the first time they called it the Super Bowl. Joe Namath was the hero of the show, jogging off the field in the iconic moment with his finger wagging in…
Design is decisions. How do you make those decisions? There are many competing schools of thought. I’ll break them down and give you my experience with them all. A/B or Multivariate Testing Focus Groups Hallway Testing Consensus CYA Going with your gut A/B or Multivariate Testing Google tested 41 shades of blue in their google…
Big release of jQuery 1.4 today. This version has alot of new stuff and tons of optimizations. It should be a smooth upgrade for most people. jQuery was a central part of my daily life for several years. Recently, I have been doing more UX Design and have fallen off the web developer wagon. I…
I bought my wife a Kindle for the holidays. Over the past three weeks, she has purchased and read, 10 new books. Previous to that, her reading habits were normal, a single book every couple of weeks. How did this happen? How did her reading (and purchasing) habits jump so enormously, just based on the…
Put your cell phone in your pocket. “Lock it” if it has that feature. Now walk around for a little while. If your phone has dialed three people and text messaged two more, then your phone has failed the Cell Phone Pocket Test. Just for full disclosure, my phone has failed this test miserably. What…
Devices are going through an incredible period of experimentation on form factor. Some examples: Kindle: Super lightweight, fits in my wife’s purse. Highly targeted functionality. EeePC: 10″, lightweight, long battery life, Windows 7 laptop. iPhone: Fits in your pocket, uses your finger as stylus. Specialized OS favoring apps. Tablets: Swivel screen that folds to reveal/hide…
<rant> Last night, I upgraded to Windows Mobile 6.5 (from 6.1) on my HTC Touch Pro2. I have to say that I am getting really annoyed with this operating system. I don’t understand how they could achieve so little in so much time. Droid and the iPhone are so much better than Windows Mobile that…
It’s been a couple of weeks with the new car. I am still trying to get over the idea in my head that this car is too fancy for me. It’s a nice car and I like driving it. It was a good deal (I think) and we can afford it. Still, I just wish…
My personal philosophy is that at the end of one’s life, you have approximately an equal division of good and bad things that have happened to you. This means that when something bad happens, I feel better knowing that a good thing is due to me in the future. My balance sheet will turn out…