Noise Between Stations

January 2004

  • Design Research

    •

    0 min read

  • HFI Research Key Findings

    •

    1 min read

    Kath Straub at Human Factors Int’l releases a great list of Key Research Findings from 2002-3. It is one of the most useful design references I’ve seen recently. There’s a singular lack of research in this field – as opposed to trial-and-error – a problem compounded by the difficulty of finding and applying it. I…

  • Management/Geek Support

    •

    1 min read

    Whether a technology comes in to a company via management or geeks was recently mentioned by Tim Bray, and reminded me of how my last project changed from iPlanet (hateful thing, that) to the IBM HTTP Server – in mid-project! I think the sudden switch was a coup by the techies, made acceptable by it…

  • Mike goes over the deep end

    •

    1 min read

    ‘It’s during those times of waiting her out that I’ve recently taken to metering the sound level of her cries with a Radio Shack Sound Level Meter (part no. 33-2055). Now that I have metrics on our baby’s cry, I can benchmark her to other babies.‘

  • Career Change Justified

    •

    1 min read

    I went and spent all that money on a masters degree in music technology, and realized it wouldn’t be long before everyone would have the same skills as soon as the ease of use improved and PC processor speeds made dedicated hardware obsolete. Witness Apple’s GarageBand. Glad I’m a designer.

  • The Effects of Menu Graphic Design on Navigation Research

    •

    1 min read

    I was psyched to find The effects of menu design on information-seeking performance and user’s attitude on the World Wide Web by Byeong-Min Yu and Seak-Zoon Roh (JASIST, Volume 53, Issue 11, Pages 923-933). It’s only a couple years old and fairly rigorous, but I can’t recommend it. It looks as if in the process…

  • Books of 2003

    •

    1 min read

    Jess has a nice roundup of IA Books from 2003. I’m personally considering Brenda Laurel’s Design Research.

  • CSS and CMS

    •

    1 min read

    Designing a site now that has to push the envelope of how CSS must be able to tweak the layout, much like CSS Zen Garden but for an ecommerce application. We’re also using a content management system, so the interplay of CSS and CMS becomes interesting. I think I can simplify the CMS templates so…

  • Norman on Powerpoint

    •

    1 min read

    Don Norman says, PowerPoint is NOT the problem…. Any dense, detailed information that requires study to understand can NOT be presented in a talk ­ it can be summarized and described, but the study and concentration required for understanding should be done elsewhere. Talks are for summaries. Amen. Link courtesy PJB. Also see the Laurence…

  • NYC Taxi Tips

    •

    1 min read

    My heart breaks when I see newbie tourists in Manhattan. The young woman the other day carrying armloads of luggage in the rain politely asking the cab driver if he drives to Queens. Here’s two tips to avoid the worst: Taxis must drive you anywhere in the five boroughs of New York City, period. The…

  • Software Project Management Resources

    •

    1 min read

    Wow, the page for the Columbia University software projectment management course is a great list.

  • Security update

    •

    1 min read

    We just noticed a fighter jet flying low over the Hudson River along Manhattan. Spooky.

  • User Research

    •

    0 min read

  • One-Question Survey

    •

    2 min read

    The One Number You Need to Grow by Frederick F. Reichheld is a great, short article on using one-question surveys that measure loyalty correlated with customer behavior. Highlights: ‘Every month, Enterprise polled its customers using just two simple questions, one about the quality of their rental experience and the other about the likelihood that they…

  • NYC Design Shops

    •

    1 min read

    …I hadn’t heard of before: Flat, IDSociety, Bartok, and Four Eyes. Later: Digital Pulp, Sharpe Partners, Fabric, and Blue Dingo (interesting site).