Citizen Chan

sexpigeon: Path puts a silly amount of trust in its avatars,...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:43:13 -0500

Path puts a silly amount of trust in its avatars, especially given their tiny size. I never know who the shoes are.

Path is more tappy than typey. That’s fine, I suppose. It certainly makes for a clean flow.

Path is tappy and its content reads like the content of taps. “I am in a place,” you tap. “:)”, come the replies.

Path is pretty in the same designy way as our modern museums. They are shaped like battleships and grain silos and crumpled souffles. There is much said about flow and fatigue and how one of these has been optimized and the other one reduced.

These museums are very exciting when they open. You show up and marvel along with all of the other fans of architecture. Maybe you return for one of those nights where they stay open late and there is a band and drinking. “A great space,” you think. Maybe one day you’ll be rich and rent out the atrium for a private party.

The art doesn’t get talked about so much at these museums. The museum itself is the “social object,” as it were.

Eventually the particulars around which the museum was designed fall out of fashion. A fresh crop of architects finds it to be too flashy, or too dull, or to have been guided by faulty principles. There is congestion where there should be flow. Certain rooms are simply exhausting. Maybe it is even an eyesore.

This is good for the museum. Now they can really fuck up the place. Fill a room with a thousand cubic feet of lead. Let Matthew Barney dangle from a rope and scribble some shit high on a wall where no one can see it. Or: just let their rooms be dull rooms filled with rousing art.

Path is a monument to Path. It is no place to scribble in. I wish it longevity so that it might find shabbiness.

Thought You Should See This: 7 Things Michael Bierut Loves About Design

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 06:02:07 -0400

Thought You Should See This: 7 Things Michael Bierut Loves About Design:

thoughtyoushouldseethis:

Pentagram partner, Michael Bierut closed the first day of Design at Scale, and did so with mastery and aplomb. He laid out the cliches of what designers supposedly like… and then neatly shot down each one, with a series of things he actually loves. Hugely entertaining and, as with all…

Varsity Bookmarking: Dear Graphic and Web Designers, please understand that there are greater opportunities available to you.

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 02:10:01 -0400

Varsity Bookmarking: Dear Graphic and Web Designers, please understand that there are greater opportunities available to you. :

pieratt:

You have an inherent need to solve problems, visually and conceptually. There is enormous value in this, but you may be misplacing your talents.

The internet, at this time in history, is the greatest client assignment of all time. The Western world is porting itself over to the web in mind and…

letterheady: Bill Watterson, 1991 | Source Bill Watterson’s...

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:06:13 -0400

letterheady:

Bill Watterson, 1991 | Source

Bill Watterson’s letterhead, as used in the early-90s. A previous design, used in the late-80s, can be seen here.

(Bill turns 53 today. Happy birthday!)

brianwood: I am offering a free download of the entire 132-page...

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 12:41:41 -0400

brianwood:

I am offering a free download of the entire 132-page Public Domain 2 artbook. It’s about 115 megs, nicely high res, and looks great imported onto my iphone and ipad. It represents about a decade of sketches and random art.

If you like it, please pick up a copy of the signed and numbered ltd ed print book! Khepri’s selling the remaining stock, both editions, and its the only place you can pick it up. There will be no further editions of the book beyond this. Also be sure to check out the mini-screenprints.

Enjoy!

Click to download (direct link to pdf, right-click to save)

The Two Best Things on the Web 2010

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 18:09:12 -0500

viafrank:

Late last week I started drafting a list of my favorite things on the web from this year. After a review of the list, I realized most of it was droll, forgettable, ephemeral, and not really worth documenting in the grand scheme of things. Basically, it mattered at the time of its release, but time had not treated these things well: they were more flow than stock.

My top two choices, however, stood tall as perhaps the best stock I’ve had the pleasure of reading on the web, both in terms of their scope, but more interestingly about how they treated their content and audience. There’s a pattern here that I enjoy. I’d like to introduce you to them, and hopefully in the process make a bit of a point about the direction I want the web to take in the next year. I’m optimistic.

Top Two Things on the Web in 2010
Read More

agentmlovestacos: Steampunk Iron Man, the Marvel Costume...

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 13:03:52 -0400

agentmlovestacos:

Steampunk Iron Man, the Marvel Costume Contest Winner at New York Comic Con 2010. Wow. Photo by Judy Stephens.

graphicly: hello-zombie: holy crapsomeone modded their scooter...

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:37:09 -0400

graphicly:

hello-zombie:

holy crap
someone modded their scooter into the GREATEST SCOOTER EVER

io9

graphicly: threadless: kevinnuut: Iron Man. Designed by...

Thu, 27 May 2010 12:38:07 -0400

graphicly:

threadless:

kevinnuut:

Iron Man.

Designed by a.d.17, this shirt is up for voting on Threadless. Personally, I don’t know how you can’t give it a 4 or a 5, it is adorable and sharp.

Iron Man shirt doesn’t look too happy.

Google needs a 'try again' button

Sat, 01 May 2010 03:10:00 -0400

Google needs a 'try again' button:

The following is so true. So +1 / like / vote up / ^.

I wish Google had a “Try Again” button that would fetch a new set of results based on the algorithm’s different set of assumptions about my search intent. The button would come in handy when I am stuck, can’t think of another way to rephrase my query, and don’t feel like manually combing through pages and pages of search results. Kind of the opposite of “I’m feeling lucky.”

Regarding the faceted wood panels: “the pattern of the...

Sat, 01 May 2010 00:37:00 -0400

Regarding the faceted wood panels: “the pattern of the panelling is a series of trees with intersecting branches. they devised a 3 point co-ordinate system to map out the pattern onto the walls of the heritage wing, given the 3 dimensional nature of the panelling and that each intersecting point had a totally different x,y and z co-ordinate. this system allowed local craftsmen using fairly primitive tools to achieve a high level of fit and finish for the interior works”

Eye Candy vs. Bare Bones in UI Design

Sat, 01 May 2010 00:31:34 -0400

Wow, so there is a reason behind rounded rectangles and the use of gradients! Been a believer in using less contrast between text and the background, totally understand the gradient argument, but doesn’t mean I’m going to start rocking them again. Subtle/soft is fine but I still want to toss them into the ‘fad’ bin.

rock85:

The general public seems to be kind of shallow when it comes to user interfaces. They think “prettier = better”. A couple of gradients here, some fancy translucent buttons and there you go: an interface that’s just overflowing with awesomeness.

Fact is though, fancier graphics do not equal a better interface. Most UI/UX professionals agree that graphics should be kept firmly in check or they’ll take over the entire application, sacrificing usability over eye candy. Should we then abandon eye candy altogether? Ban out all gradients, icons and go with a bare bones version of the application? Going bare bones would focus the user purely on the task or goal the application is designed to do. Sounds like exactly the thing we want to achieve.

Ironically enough both approaches, when designed without care, yield the same result: decreased usability. Eye candy distracts, whereas bare bones fails to attract. So which one is the lesser of two evils? What are the pro’s and cons of both? Are graphics even important? That last one is easy: we’re (usually) designing graphical user interfaces, or GUI’s. The very presence of the word “graphical” denotes that graphics are a big aspect of the interface. But graphics are not important because the term GUI mentions it; graphics largely define the application’s appeal towards the user. If the application doesn’t have some kind of aesthetic value, it will not only fail to attract the user’s attention; it will also fail to hold the user’s attention.

Attracting attention by having a pretty front-end is important, as it makes the user *want* to use the product. They are attracted to it just as they are attracted to a beautiful person. The first glance establishes a relationship with the user. Pretty graphics imply “Hi, I appeal to your senses; don’t you want to interact with me?” They make the first experience with the application a pleasant one.

Note: by “first experience” I don’t mean the very first time you ever laid eyes on the application. By first experience I mean the first few seconds after starting the application, when you are only looking at it, prior to actually doing stuff with it.

The saying goes “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. We all know this to be true, as the cover’s quality is no indication of the quality of the book’s content. But even though we know to judge a book by its cover, we inadvertently do. We are attracted by pretty covers, so we are more likely to pick a book with a fancy cover from the shelf for further investigation. Books with “humble” (or downright ugly) covers have a larger chance of remaining unnoticed or even knowingly ignored.

So now that we’ve got the user’s attention, we need to hold it. Keeping him distraction-free will allow him or her to reach a state of flow: a state in which he is immersed into his work with the application and in which he feels happy just by doing the task. When in a state of flow, you leave self-consciousness for what it is and no longer think of your individual self but are fully focused on your task. A sense of joy takes over, your mind is entirely devoted to the task, time seems to go slower and everything around you fades into the background.
So where do graphics fit into this story? Do they help in facilitating a state of flow?

Why yes, they do! One example of this is the rounded rectangle. Often considered as “mere decoration” when used in a UI, they apparently also have a lower cognitive impact than regular rectangles. Credit for uncovering this to the greater public goes to Keith Lang in this article on rounded rectangles. Windows 3.1 style graphics, which are still used in some applications to this day, are harsh, full of visual obstacles and hard to scan. The obstacles, like big borders with sharp edges, constantly interrupt the eyes’ movement across the screen, making it hard to navigate the application.
Subtle gradients and “soft edges” (created by subtle drop shadows or embossing) lighten the visual impact of the screen on the user, making it actually easier to use. But that’s just one small part of the whole.

Bare bones GUI’s prioritize the task at hand and all variables that it has to deal with. They say: “Users use me because they have some task to accomplish, and I want to help them reach that goal ASAP”. A commendable approach.
Unfortunately, by focusing on handling the task, they neglect to spend some tender love and care on handling the GUI itself. They may succeed in facilitating fast task-completion times; they fail at being pleasurable to use. And because they fail at being pleasurable, the user has a hard time entering a state of flow. Emotion plays a big role here. If the user has a negative state of mind, he or she will also have a harder time using the application. This state of mind might not have been induced by the bare bones UI, but it won’t help alleviate it either.

As Donald Norman pointed out in his book “Emotional Design”, prettier things are actually easier to use, or are at least perceived to be. This book is all about the relationship between aesthetics and experience; a mandatory read for all this interested in any kind of design.

So, a level of aesthetic (i.e. eye candy) is definitely recommended for usable interfaces. But it’s easy to get carried away when implementing awesomeness into your UI. Most code-libraries feature some effects like “Fade”, “Move” or “Glow” that only need an argument to use, and it’s all too tempting to add them to spice things up quickly. But these features are exactly the things that distract when not implemented properly (or implemented when they shouldn’t be implemented at all). Remember the <blink> tag?

Another example is using photographs or other fancy imagery as the backdrop for a graph. I’ve actually seen this being done: a picture of a coral reef with a line-graph (with a 1px yellow line) superimposed. It might be fancy, it might be exactly what the customer wanted; it is NOT usable.

With the advent of the iPhone and ever-increasing processing power, graphically rich UI’s are far more prevalent than they have ever been. Gradients in applications used to be a rare thing, now it’s rare to see an application without one. The gradient is just an example of how eye-candy is quickly becoming standard practice in UI design. But there’s a fine line between helpful and harmful eye candy. Analyzing if the eye candy is either helpful or harmful requires constant vigilance but also, every once in a while, some time off. Looking at your awesome-looking UI after a good night sleep allows you to look at it objectively, and determine whether the eye candy additions are truly awesome and helpful, or quite the opposite.

Some recommended reading:
Stephen Anderson: In Defense of Eye Candy
Wikipedia on Flow
Keith Lang on Rounded Rectangles
Lukas Mathis on Realism in UI Design

nerdinlove: Ventricle Vase I’m usually not a big fan of...

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 23:06:35 -0400

nerdinlove:

Ventricle Vase

I’m usually not a big fan of color schemes that run a wide gamut, but the color scheme for this vase totally makes it. Ventricle theme is just icing.

At $44 a pop for a set of two I’ll be sticking with my...

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 08:13:14 -0400

At $44 a pop for a set of two I’ll be sticking with my chopsticks / regular old fork. Last month I was having lunch with my cousins and came up with an idea for a Knork. Yeah, it’s a play on Spork and rather having a fork / spoon combo, it would be a knife / fork combo.

I’m a lazy eater so I usually don’t bother with both a fork and a knife (if I can get away with it). For the pastries or other food that I don’t necessarily need a steak knife to cut it with, I usually end up using my fork to break it into parts. So that’s who the Knork will be targeted to.

One side of the Knork will have a serrated edge like you see in most dinner knives, the type you can’t possibly cut yourself with. And since you won’t have another utensil to hold the food down while you cut across it, the Knork will be optimized for literally tearing apart foods.

Thoughts? I did a quick search and saw that someone thought to put a spoon and knife together. SHOOT, just found the Knork, someone came up with the idea and name way before me. Guess it was never that original.

SUBWAY COLD CHANGING PRINT 100% POLYESTERA revolutionary print...

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:47:22 -0400

CAPP3L Wellington Jacket

Subway Cold Changing Print/Black

SUBWAY COLD CHANGING PRINT 100% POLYESTERA revolutionary print that changes right before your eyes! Once you hit 32ºF/0ºC the light gray print changes to a shade of black and the black Kanji writing disappears and is replaced by red.

The Subway Cold Changing Print for the CAPP3L Wellington jacket might be cheesy, and not functional but I like it. Would be awesome to incorporate it into future Ride Qi masks. I assume Ride / K2 licensed this color changing fabric from some other corporation but if they actually developed it on their own, bravo. I bet they’ll more than make up their R&D costs by licensing it to safety clothing manufacturers.

Was looking through next year’s Ride softgoods catalog earlier today, looks like they reduced the number of men’s jackets in the CAPP3L line and I don’t see any jackets with the cold changing tech. Disappointing…

SS United States

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:28:00 -0500

SS United States:

Will be sad to see this ship go if it does get scrapped. Was recently reading about radiator humidifiers and thought the ship’s profile would make a wonderful ceramic humidifier much like the ‘La Fabbrica del Vapore’ by Giulio Iacchetti. I love how Iacchetti’s design gives a nod to the Bauhaus-style factory skylights.

Checked out Li-Ning’s first and only U.S. store today in...

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 17:25:00 -0500

Checked out Li-Ning’s first and only U.S. store today in Portland’s Pearl District. Really dug the Kung Fu & Tai Chi line which I feel they should concentrate and expand on as items in the line clearly differentiates itself from its Western competitors. The line possesses a nice fusion of Western and Eastern influences.

The Mandarin collar on this full-zip sweatshirt is neat (I’m a sucker for Mandarin collars, wish they were as widely accepted as traditional lapel suits).

The side-slit sleeve cuffs on this casual hooded is also nice, especially with the sewn red border which is tastefully tied-in at the top in the hood.

The Bank of Knights Templar

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:37:00 -0500

Earlier tonight while watching a History program on the Knights Templar, I found the portion of the show covering the Templars’ banking services intriguing. I had no idea the Templars were so innovative! They pretty much created the first banking system and transaction checks!

…the Order in 1150 began generating letters of credit for pilgrims journeying to the Holy Land: pilgrims deposited their valuables with a local Templar preceptory before embarking, received a document indicating the value of their deposit, then used that document upon arrival in the Holy Land to retrieve their funds. This innovative arrangement was an early form of banking, and may have been the first formal system to support the use of cheques; it improved the safety of pilgrims by making them less attractive targets for thieves, and also contributed to the Templar coffers.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar

One of the things left out on that particular Wikipedia page but mentioned on the program was that the Templars encrypted the letters with a cipher based on a Maltese Cross.

With all the symbolism associated with the Knights Templar and the fact that they were the founders of the first bank how cool would it be if a Bank of Knights Templar still existed? What would be their logo? Most likely the Templar Cross, but they also have an assortment of seals to choose from, e.g., Dome of the Rock, Two Riders, Eagles, etc.

On another note, I was talking to a friend about this yesterday and recalled that there is already a financial firm called Knight. I really like their understated logo, most likely because the style of the flag reminds me of some old LEGO sets I used to play with.