I failed high school. Badly. My grade point average, to be exact, was 2.2. I slept through Math, literally. I never got past basic algebra. I was good at “proofs” but bad at everything else. I just didn’t see the point. Well, Karma has a wicked sense of humor. Here…
I hate passwords in general. The weird Cr@zyPa$$w0rd style that people ask for today ensures that users will never remember them and just write them down at their desk. They are also difficult to type. The worst offenders are like Dell below. They demand that you use only a few…
Google is trying out a new interface for GMail called Inbox. I asked for an invite and received one that day. Clearly the design has been lifted from Google+. It’s all circles and material design. At first, I didn’t like it because it was too full. Then I discovered a…
We had a UX team exercise today, where we tried to redesign the car wash experience. It started with a picture of a completely dysfunctional UI. Funny, isnt it? Then the team all designed alternatives. My mind wandered to my feelings about the car wash experience in general. As a…
My kids (and many others) often complained about homework and education. “Why do I need to know this?” They were avoiding homework. As a kid, I didn’t do any homework. I had a 2.2 grade point average in high school. I went to community college and then University of Hell,…
Last year, I tried to switch to a newer icon collection. We researched hundreds of different collections and chose one by Axialis. We thought our requirements were this: Looks nice and modern Lots of variety in shapes Big sizes (up to 256) We then went about converting the icons in…
We have had the same couch for almost 20 years. It looks pretty ratty at this point and needs to be replaced. We have been searching around at different places and stumbled upon Monarch Sofas. Really interesting and counter-intuitive UX. The website looks cheap. Made us think it was a…
This year was Superbowl XLIX or “49” to us normal people. Next year, is 50, therefore Superbowl L. Doesn’t quite have a ring to it, but 50 is a milestone. The institution has held up over the years and not turned into a joke that is painful to watch. You…
I have a terrible affliction called “Old”. It is fairly common for people born before 1975. The symptoms are fairly broad. Weakness in the joints, inability to heal quickly, weight gain, hair loss and vision degradation, just to name a few. Seriously, this thing is worse than any disease I…
Are you a fledgling designer? Just graduated from General Assembly or CMU? Well, I am hiring. But wait, I don’t want to hire you yet. You don’t know what you are doing. Here is a challenge to help you get off the starting blocks. First, Redesign your website. Check out…
I play alot of tennis. It is my favorite pastime and I feel I am pretty good at it. MY USTA level is 4.0. The best part of my game is my serve. This is virtually the only physical exercise I get on a weekly basis. Last September, I played…
Apparently CES, the big electronics show is happening today. This means there are announcements all day about new great laptops. I can’t buy one now. I need to wait until they ship in February. In the meantime, I need to get something to replace the broken Samsung Series 9 that…
Every few years, one of my various computing devices becomes old and breaks down. This is what happens to old things, like me. Getting old sucks. Anyway, in this case, it’s a lightweight ultrabook. I have narrowed it down to a few choices. I’ve made some little comparison tables way…
I’m not a big fan of the personality tests like Myers Briggs and Colors. I feel like I could answer the questions either way almost every single time. Also, I feel like the results are always generalities like “You have a long ‘love-line’” that you get in palm reading. I’m…