Short-term Memory and UI Design

Not too long ago, I attended a talk by Jeff Johnson hosted by BayCHI. He introduced his new book Designing with the Mind in Mind, which reveals the psychology behind user interface design. His lessons covered everything from Gestalt theory to blind spots, but what I found most interesting was the influence of memory. Short-term [...]

Letterpress Printing

I recently completed a series of workshops at the Center for the Book in San Francisco in order to be certified to rent their letterpress printing equipment. After spending so much time on the computer designing complex interfaces and using programs to layout pages of content, it was refreshing to get back to good old [...]

Emotional Contagions

Think of the last time you felt moved by a television commercial. Was it the story it told that triggered your emotional response? Was it a song? Perhaps it was just an image of another person showing emotion. Each of these examples has an explanation and a reason for being used in communications — especially [...]

Hesitation

Measuring hesitation can be valuable. Already, devices like Google’s Android uses information from the phone’s GPS to detect traffic speed. The data is then sent to Google maps and appears as a visual overlay of information — red means there’s a traffic jam. Hesitation can also come in forms that indicate if problem solving is [...]

Tron Returns to the Big Screen

After the impressive success of James Cameron’s Avatar, a pioneer of computer-generated imagery (CGI) returns to the big screen. Tron Legacy, a sequel to the 1982 cult classic Tron, is due to be released this December. The first fans to see the trailer were appropriately at the Comic-Con and are already buzzing. Anyone who has [...]

YouTube Testing HTML5

Google has expanded its adoption of HTML5 by releasing a beta version of YouTube using the new yet unapproved code (Feb 2010). However, the only browsers that support the code are Google’s Chrome, IE with a Chrome frame, and you guessed it if you read our earlier article, Apple’s Safari. The opt-in page http://www.youtube.com/html5 states [...]

A User Experience in Budapest

Our interaction with computers is rapidly changing as new devices, online applications, and operating systems continue to compete for a place in our daily routine. It is the role of a user experience designer to detect errors, ease the learning curve, and make these new interactions seem effortless and welcomed. While attending lectures on interaction [...]

Pantone Announces 2010 Color of the Year

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a color for 2010. Last year it was Pantone 14-0848 Mimosa, a bright yellow encouraging a positive outlook towards the anticipation of a gloomy year. This year, in continuation of the uplifting colors theme, Pantone has unveiled its color for 2010 — 15-5519 Turquoise. It reflects a serene tropical environment [...]

HTML5 on the iPad

In last month’s article “How Tablets Could Influence Online Marketing“, the issue of enabling Flash on mobile devices was raised. On January 27th, Apple revealed the much anticipated tablet we now know as the iPad. One disappointment (though expected) was that, like the iPhone, it would not play Flash. So what’s the big deal? Why do [...]

Oya Attends the Crunchies Awards

It has become a tradition to welcome the new year by attending the Crunchies Awards hosted by TechCrunch. Clearly in competition this year with attracting an audience that might otherwise be at CES, the ceremony welcomed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg, Google’s VP of Engineering Vic Gundotra, Linkin Park vocalist Mike Shinoda (he has an app), [...]