February 16, 2007
Information Design Watch
From Dynamic Diagrams
Design for Understanding
In This Issue:
DESIGN
- New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards
- What is in a Name? The New Apple
DEVELOPMENT & IMPLEMENTATION
- CSS Sandbox
TECHNOLOGY
- Web 2.0 at the World Economic Forum
USABILITY
- Your. User. Is. Not. You.
DYNAMIC DIAGRAMS NEWS
- Information Design Consultant Needed
DESIGN
New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards
Posted by Henry Woodbury
The 1970 New York City Transit Authority Graphics Standards Manual makes for a compelling set of photographs:
The iconic strength of Massimo Vignelli's signage comes readily through in black and white, but I would think almost anyone who has travelled by New York City subway will think of these numbers and letters in color:
Long ago I jotted down a quote by art collector John C. Waddell from a design article in the New York Times Magazine:
When I think of the East Side, it's green; when I think of Lincoln Center, it's red. Massimo and Lella Vignelli did that to my head.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/triborough/sets/72157594441672864/detail/
What is in a Name? The New Apple
Posted by Lisa Agustin
On January 9, Apple launched its latest must-have, the iPhone, along with Apple TV, a device for delivering video content downloaded from Apple's iTunes service to consumers' television sets. The same day, the company announced a name change from Apple Computer to Apple, signalling a strategic shift that focuses less on personal computers and more on consumer electronics. Knowledge@Wharton considers the question of whether Apple's new strategy will succeed, and how well it will do when competing alongside Samsung, Sony, and Microsoft in the quest to dominate the digital living room. Apple's talent for design will most certainly be a plus in this regard--not only in terms of the cool-looking hardware it's known for, but also its ability to make technology user-friendly:
Apple's design skills go beyond new gadgets to encompass softare design. One of Apple's real design feats was making it easy for consumers to buy music legally wtihout excessive digital rights managment [DRM] software. [According to Wharton professor Eric Clemons:] "Apple's iPod and iTunes store are quite tightly coordinated to make theft of content of illicit transfer of content cumbersome. It's surprisingly easy for consumers to forget why there are restrictions and where the restrictions came from."
Ironically, this "tight coordination" may also be a stumbling block for Apple:
...Consumers could eventually chafe at Apple's attempts to vertically integrate is products--and thereby lock customers in--instead of working with other devices. Vertical integration refers to efforts to own multiple parts of a product chain. For instance, Apple operates its iTunes music sales channel, controls the [DRM] software and sells the devices to play content... It's unclear whether this vertical strategy will ultimately win out with consumers, who may demand support for multiple standards.
While digital convergence has yet to be achieved, from a consumer's perspective it will be interesting to see the range of products that are sure to emerge while the battle to rule the digital living room wages on.
hhttp://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1641
DEVELOPMENT & IMPLEMENTATION
CSS Sandbox
Posted by Henry Woodbury
Smashing Magazine has a list of 53 CSS Techniques You Couldn't Live Without.
Despite some dead links, and the parody-inviting title, it's a good resource. Most of the designers to whom the article links provide well-designed code; many provide thoughtful explanations of why you would even bother with it.
One example is the list of tricks to generate rounded corners with CSS. I've run across some of these in the past and been unimpressed. A CSS technique that requires javascript or a dagwood sandwich of nested tags makes me suspicious. Yet if you continue on to Greg Johnson's Spiffy Corners site, you find a reasonably efficient sandwich with thoughtful reference to alternate approaches:
There are solutions for rounded corners using pure CSS. There are solutions that create anti-aliased corners. There are solutions that don't require JavaScript. But to my knowledge, there has yet to be a pure CSS solution for rounded corners that does not require images or JavaScript.
Herein lies the value of the list. Most of Smashing's life-saving techniques are good only for spot use, but spending a little time with the code and commentary can give a web designer a lot of insight into how different CSS attributes interact.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/01/19/53-css-techniques-you-couldnt-live-without
TECHNOLOGY
Web 2.0 at the World Economic Forum
Posted by Lisa Agustin
Is Web 2.0 just another tech buzzword or Something Bigger? "The Impact of Web 2.0 and Emerging Social Network Models," a session at this year's World Economic Forum, was the latest venue for the ongoing debate. The panel consisted of major players (Microsoft and Nike), those on the cusp of the revolution (YouTube and Flickr), and even a government representative (Commissioner of the Information Society and Media, European Commission, Brussels) who shared insights for what's next online. Panelists agreed that the next phase of the Web is one that leverages the power of community, even if it's too early to tell what the business implications of this empowerment may be. Overall, the session didn't reveal earth-shattering predictions so much as discuss changes that are already underway:
Interestingly, talk of ad revenue and business models led to a brief discussion on what Web 2.0 may mean for useful user metrics in the future. "Page views are dead," stated Flickr founder Caterina Fake. "On a social networking site, connections, the amount of messages, and time spent on a site is what's important. But the [overall] measure of usefulness is still to be developed." Whatever Web 2.0 finally turns out to be, Nike CEO Mark Parker urged that companies and other organizations will be at risk if they don't "embrace this empowerment and understand what it means."
http://gaia.world-television.com/wef/worldeconomicforum_annualmeeting2007/default.aspx?sn=19781
USABILITY
Your. User. Is. Not. You.
Posted by Henry Woodbury
That advice from computer science instructor David Platt could be carved in stone. It pretty much applies to everyone that makes anything for other people, but Platt has a particular target in mind. Programmers, he asserts, don't think like users:
People who write software programs value control. The user, on the other hand, just wants something that's easy to operate. To illustrate his point, he notes that computer programmers tend to prefer manual transmissions. But not even 15 percent of the cars sold in the United States last year had that feature.
Business executives don't think like users either. Frankly, users don't think like users. Here's David Thomas, executive director of the Software & Information Industry Association's software division:
You don't want your customers to design your product. They're really bad at it.
What you want to do is ask people what they want, then compare it to what they actually do.
Platt's Suckbusters web site is here. A typically entertaining lede:
The common technique of confirmation, popping a dialog box into the user's face and asking, "Are you really Really REALLY sure you want to do that?" is evil. It's unfriendly, it's distracting, and it's completely ineffective. Have you ever, even once, said, "Whoa! I didn't want to do that. Thanks," and clicked No? Have you seen anyone do that? Have you even heard of anyone doing it? I haven't. It shouldn't exist. Anywhere. Ever.
http://in.tech.yahoo.com/070102/137/6arvb.html
DYNAMIC DIAGRAMS NEWS
Information Design Consultant Needed
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