Those of us who pay attention to these kinds of things have long been itching for a stab at this day. Long considered some of the most confusing process flows and overall frustrating experiences on the web, E-bay has generally stuck its nose up at fundamental rules of interaction design under 2 basic (yet just as weak) premises:
We’re making money, it must be right and an internal fear of rocking the boat.
But now, as a maturing user segment starts to expect a smoother and richer experience, ebay finds itself in uncharted waters…falling revenue.
Herein lies the challenge that has had all interaction designers salivating at for awhile. How to give a best-in-class icon of a business, a long needed best-in-class user experience. Oh, and don’t forget to do it without upsetting a 5 billion dollar customer base that has been trained how to do things incorrectly for 10 years.
This could be interesting.
– Wired News (06/08/07) –
Apple’s Mac OS X update, Leopard, is expected to include a toolkit for building Core Animation program interfaces, which developers think could stimulate interface experimentation on a grand scale and perhaps transform the desktop into a highly refined 3D environment. With Core Animation, next-generation developers will be able to create unique, intuitive interfaces easily. Numerous developers are already migrating toward small-scale, task-specific applications, and Core Animation tools may indicate a shift in Mac application design that favors animated and lightweight applications that function like widgets. One upcoming Leopard application, Time Machine, is a content-version-control system that backs up the hard drive automatically and periodically, but users can also move through time with a 3D visual browser that offers a virtual “time tunnel.” Another application, Spaces, supports the management of multiple virtual workspaces, and users can flip back and forth between the workspaces with a visually exciting navigation system. Delicious Library developer Wil Shipley expects future interfaces to also facilitate the direct manipulation of documents. There is more to animated interfaces than mere eye candy, according to madebysofa interface designer and engineer Austin Sarner. “Animation in general creates continuity and more direct feedback to a user experience,” he notes. “In addition to obvious graphical speed boosts, the elegance [that animation] can add to a UI is pretty substantial.”
-Michael Wolff, the co-founder of Wolff Olins / Creator of the 2012 Brand-
When something is so swingingly attacked as the 2012 logo has been, it tells you more about the people doing the attacking, and their taste, than about the design in question,” said Michael Wolff, the co-founder of Wolff Olins, the branding agency that designed the logo. “Prejudice is comfortable and lazy.”
-from boxes and arrows, by Uday Gajendar –
Amid the hype of Web 2.0, “rich” has become the prime buzzword for fresh, sexy digital products, marked by glossy buttons with AJAX actions. But what does rich really mean? Using the concepts of Classical rhetoric as a framework, Uday Gajendar looks to transcend the hype and dig into the value of richness for digital products.
the full story…
London just released its Brand for the Olympic Games 2012 to, um….a bit of controversy in the ol’ design communtity. Many a designer threads are bounding with “terrible, terrible” and “they should be embarrassed” type responses to the brand.
As it doesn’t resonate personally with me, it doesn’t have glossy floors and not a gradient in sight. Kudos for having the huevos to not be afraid to fail.
www.london2012.com
–from consumer electronics–
The Pew Internet & American Life Project categorized American adults based on technology ownership, use and attitudes:
- Omnivores (8 percent): Voracious users of information gadgets and services
- Connectors (7 percent): Connect to people and manage digital content, with high levels of satisfaction
- Lackluster Veterans (8 percent): Frequent Internet users, less-avid cell-phone users, not thrilled with connectivity
- Productivity Enhancers (8 percent): Focused on personal and professional communication
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I am sick of widgets.
Widgets are a perfect example of narrowly viewed opportunism. The latest snake oil, widgets become a self-fulfilling prophecy that agencies and companies convince each other of their possibilities and grandeur. Widgets become the hot ticket… the “must have” item of the summer.
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I had some trepidation going into this year’s GEL conference. Last year I came away from New York actually inspired to have a modified approach to my craft. Would this year’s GEL live up to that same expectation?
The answer? Well? No, it didn’t. But in fairness to GEL and its host Mark Hurst, I have still yet to decide how much of this is an actual reflection of the conference, and how much of this is a reflection of myself?
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So, it’s been a year in waiting and I’m on Jet Blue (which interesting to note, before takeoff, Jet Blue announces, “Enjoy the Jet Blue Experience”. It’s always refreshing to see Experience as a business model showing itself in the real world.) and on my way back to the Big Apple for GEL 07. Anyone not familiar with Good Experience Live conference, get on the bandwagon quick. I’m been to my share of conferences in the past. Some you come away with new information, a new skill if you’re lucky. Some are simply for networking. Some are a waste of time.
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