Another Useful Blog
Thoughts on usability (engineering) and user interface design...and other issues that pop up in Markus' mind.
May 10, 2013
Getting to the Heart of the Appeal of Video Games
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110803133553.htm
December 08, 2011
Steve Jobs Lost in Translation
Most of you know that after the recent events, the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson was rescheduled and published earlier than initially planned. This led to rescheduled international publications that of course had to be translated first and then rushed to the market. Unfortunately, in case of the German translation (done by six translators) this shows all too clearly with issues ranging from "weird" to just plain wrong translations. So here are some "highlights".
November 21, 2011
Forget About the Details in UX Design
Well, because there is a right time for everything, and this also applies to dealing with details. Or, put differently: just because you are obsessing over details does not mean you are contributing to UX in a significant way, quite the contrary may be true.
September 12, 2011
A Cynic's View on the UX Community
On the downside, tweets have to be short, leaving little room for context or differentiation. In addition, there's also a tendency to make messages "stick" by phrasing them in a strong and simplistic way. In some cases, this tendency continues in the sources the respective tweets point to.
Suppose "outsiders" (e.g. potential clients) go online and sample some of this information, would they have to be very cynical to arrive at some (or all) of the following conclusions regarding the UX community?
August 15, 2011
Oscar Wilde on art, criticism and usefulness
"It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors. Diversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex, and vital. When critics disagree, the artist is in accord with himself. We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely."
(From the preface to "The Picture of Dorian Gray")
May 23, 2011
We are doing this for over 20 years...
But then, as this TED Talk by Terry Moore shows, just because you are doing something for 20 years or more does not necessarily mean that you are doing it right or in the best possible way. Challenging assumptions from time to time and being open to learning new and unexpected stuff can make all the difference.
May 04, 2011
(At Least) Two Sides to Every Story
Twitter is not only a constant source of information, but also a constant source of opinions. With the way Twitter handles dialogs, you may at some times receive only one point of view, e.g., a link to a piece about the benefits of wireframing, but you may miss out on the other side of the story, in case it is contributed by people who you are not following.
It can often be valuable to reflect on both sides of a story, regardless of which side of the fence you are standing on. Therefore, I collected three examples from the field of UX design, which each one including two points of view that I conveniently subsumed under a catchy (i.e. simplified) heading and classified as “pro” or “con”, respectively. The individual sources are more nuanced, of course, but the headings and pro/con-distinction provide some starting point.
If you stumble across any more “UX design pro/con” stuff, let me know.
"Cognitive Load Should be Reduced"
Pro: http://uxmag.com/articles/cognition-the-intrinsic-user-experience
Con (or rather, more diffentiated): http://www.solidstateux.com/interaction-design/think-like-an-instructional-de...
"Wireframing is a good thing"
Pro: http://sixrevisions.com/user-interface/wireframing-benefits/
Con: http://www.attackofdesign.com/why-wireframes-can-hurt-your-project/
"UX designers should be jacks of all trades"
Pro: http://www.uxforthemasses.com/what-makes-good-ux-designer/
Con: http://www.elisabethhubert.com/?p=1229
"UX and marketing go along well"
Pro: http://uxmag.com/strategy/a-designer-and-a-marketer-walk-into-a-bar
Con: http://www.adaptivepath.com/blog/2010/11/18/the-pernicious-effects-of-adverti...
