ux quick bits

Moving slowly but surely to workingnicely.com

Hope to find you there! workingnicely.com

Nice Christmas power-of-blogging story

Christmas presents from those with a little extra to share to those without anything for their children this year.

900 gift cards were sent out by 683 people who were so thrilled to help. 435 people who needed small Christmas miracles received small donations for medicine, food and presents under the tree for their children. No large corporations got involved. No one only offered to donate if they got something out of it themselves. With no sponsorships, no ulterior motives and with only a simple need to reach out and help a perfect stranger 683 everyday, normal people (Jewish, Christians, Atheists, Muslims and more) sent out over $39,000 worth of donations to make sure Christmas came.

December 15

Designing for women, designing for people: fight the “shrink it and pink it”

What does “designing for women” mean? Does it have to be different to designing for men?

There’s a good article in the New York Times about Erica Eden, industrial designer at Smart Design.

It shouldn’t be so refreshing, this is 2010 afterall, but the “pink girl version for girls” is still so frustratingly ubiquitous!

Also referenced is this case study on design and gender - adapting and updating scrubs for hospital staff so they are much more comfortable and practical for both men and women.

Check it out and, more importantly, design for people, not stereotypes!

September 28

Consumer, aesthetic, dark, cerebral or thrilling: Which kind of media consumer are you?

Are there identifiable dimensions and demographics of media consumption? According to one study, yes, there probably are.

People who fit the “Consumer” dimension are likely to enjoy anything that involves people and relationships:

daytime chat shows
romantic films
pop music
cookbooks

The “Aesthetic” dimension enjoy creative and abstract material such as:

poetry
opera
foreign films

The “Dark” dimension relates to edgy and hedonistic material like:

heavy metal
horror films
erotica

Whereas the “Thrilling” Dimension includes:

adventure and fantasy
thrillers
sci-fi

And finally, the “Cerebral” dimension tend to enjoy:

documentaries
news
current affairs

I think I’m a little bit of each, well maybe not so much of the dark!

September 26

Two fun videos.

In the first one (above), you can just enjoy the story and be amazed by the set and how small everything really is.

It was filmed using CellScope technology (a Nokia device with a microscope attachment) and a Nokia N8, with a 12 megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss optic, but you can look at the geek details later. For now, just enjoy!

In the second one, you decide what happens in the story inserting a verb into the sentence “A hunter ____ a bear”.

Less personal than the last video I posted, but great fun and definitely interactive. It’s a lot like those books where you decide how the story ends.

September 12

Interactive music videos for a personal user experience

The Arcade Fire have released a single with a video featuring YOUR hometow n!

Yes, type in your place of birth, load it up and, thanks to Google Maps, see your hometown as the back drop to the story.

You can even write your younger self a postcard.

We all automatically associate song lyrics with our own lives, but the video enables us to do this one a visual level too, deepening and personalizing the user experience.

An excellent, interactive design that makes the song that little bit more meaningful to everyone who views it.

September 4

The internet for women: a productivity and communication tool

Women of all ages are getting more and more into social networking according to a recent study by comScore, “Women on the web: How women are shaping the internet”.

The study mainly focuses on American women and draws some both predictable and unexpected conclusions.

Twitter is used by more women than men, but it is used in different ways. Men enjoying tweeting more and finding breaking news, whereas women use it to follow others, have conversations and search for special promotions.

Sharing photos, social retail and emailing are also activities dominated by women.

The days are gone where the average user internet was a 20 year old male!

You can download the report here.

August 12