Written by David Charney
Posted: May 9, 2009 (10 months ago) | 0 comments
I was at Siggraph a few years back and these guys were presenting their new usability ideas and theories that surrounded a new UI. They tried to go for the cool factor as a means for better usability but without the many other attributes they were failing fast.
One of the components they had on screen was similar to what I have created here - except for their first example had a little close button in the top right corner of the main panel. Basically there were these little info panels that could display contact information - or really any kind of information on screen. They could throw these different panels out and re-align them quickly. It sounded like the usability testing they did involved a focus group of themselves and that everything was working great except for one thing. They explained that the close button was too small in the top right hand corner of their info panel. They kept missing it with a mouse or touch screen. There can be many panels on screen and so closing them needs to be quick and effortless. Their current system was unacceptable to them and their “new” approach to usability… but they had a trick up their sleeve.
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Written by David Charney
Posted: May 8, 2009 (10 months ago) | 1 comment
I just got back from RIApalooza 2 (and felt the need to drink around seven liters of Mountain Dew). There were 100+ people who attended and ranged from Silverlight, Flash, and Flex developers to UI/UX designers (and everyone in between).
The speakers were UX evangeilsts, platform evangelists, evangelist evangelists, consultants, and developers, who came from Adobe, Microsoft (Alphabetical order on the first two - no favorites), Clarity Consulting, Digital Primates, Magenic, The Iona Group, and Roundarch. Their ideas, theories, and best practices were all very different but they all had in common the desire to create better RIA today and in the future. Here is a list of what went on:
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Written by David Charney
Posted: May 6, 2009 (10 months, 1 week ago) | 0 comments
My company, Illumen Group, has just introduced a new blog called Illumenate. [www.illumengroup.com/illumenate]
Illumenate looks to advance new ideas, new technology, and best practices for learning, training, and marketing professionals.
Articles will be posted on educational/learning/training/marketing news, tips & tricks, theories, case studies, technologies, etc. We will have articles written by David Denz, Tony O’Dell, Chris Okamoto, myself, as well as by our advisers and subject matter experts.
Written by David Charney
Posted: April 19, 2009 (10 months, 3 weeks ago) | 0 comments
I don’t know why I didn’t upload this a month ago but here is a new iPhone design for MyDoppleGang concept. I took an early design I had done and converted it to fit on an iPhone.
MyDoppleGang lets you take a picture of you or your friends, and find other people (Dopples) who look just like the picture! Mix it up by finding people that look the same but with unique characteristics, such as being old, young, or even the opposite sex.
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Written by David Charney
Posted: April 18, 2009 (10 months, 3 weeks ago) | 0 comments
The Travelers - In Synch Challenge site has been around for a while but is still the definition of a site that uses fantastic user centered design. I work in the education and training space every day and this site still jumps off the page for me. It takes a fairly dull topic and delivers a visually enhanced, engaging user experience that drives the user to explore, interact, and be challenged - all while learning. There are few sites who do such a great job utilizing video, 3D animation, audio, strong instructional design, and engaging challenges to tell a series of educational stories. My hat is off to B-Reel and Fallon who did an excellent job putting this together and Travelers Insurance for taking the initiative to provide a great learning application.
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