case study
Lying vs. Simplifying – Ready? Fight!
Lying and simplifying aren’t the same. In fact, they’re not even friends-in-law. They’re archenemies. That’s right. Think Batman and The Joker, Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan, Glenn Beck and Rahm Emanuel. As designers, it’s essential that we understand this, because our lives are spent shooting for simplification. But far too often in our quest for UI Zen, we fall into the bottomless pit of lies, lies, lies.
Patterns of Interaction design: a collection of popular patterns from language selectors, searching, and date pickers. Compiled by Martijn van Welie, Design Director of Satama Netherlands.
“Flow, as a mental state, is characterized by a distorted sense of time, a lack of self-consciousness, and complete engagement in the task at hand. For designers, it’s exactly the feeling we hope to promote in the people who use our sites.”Jim Ramsey, in his excellent article in ALA 250
We like to call ourselves Interaction Designers, a role that uses a mix of technical and artistic skills, but perhaps this t-shirt is a little more accurate.
“You’ve got to nail the human-to-human interaction before you even think about human-computer interaction.”Jason Lynes discussing the importance of communication with our new intern (and we’re still hiring, by the way)
Dan Saffer from Adaptive Path writes about what it means to be an Interaction Designer and what it takes to become one. So You Want to Be an Interaction Designer 2006 is a great read for understanding what we are trying to do here.