Infinite Web Design

I saw this error when I tried to open a document or close the application in Fireworks CS4 today. Don’t get me wrong, I really like using Fireworks most of the time (though the Export feature keeps creating additional images folders I don’t want, ever), but this error message really made me laugh. I definitely know how to fix what went wrong now.

(via O’Reilly’s Radar)

Homophily refers to the tendency to associate with people who are like you. This is as common in chat rooms as it is in elementary school lunch rooms. There is a natural tendency to seek out and associate with other people that are like us in some way. It makes us feel like we “belong”, like we are not alone. Sometimes this is harmless and even beneficial, as when quilters find each other and form a club. They get satisfaction and enjoyment out of their shared interest. Sometimes it is very bad, as when young men and women with radical inclinations find each other and push one another toward terrorism, strengthening one another’s resolve to kill. Generally the effects are somewhere in the middle, bringing us together with like minded individuals but limiting our exposure to new and interesting people or ideas.
Continue reading Homophily

I work hard every day to become better at what I do. I sit in my office reading blogs, books, tutorials, and anything else I can get my hands on and work on experiments and projects to hone my programming and design skills. I do this to avoid facing the trunk monkey in my car that attacks me when I go out… or possibly I do this so that I can produce really great websites. However, it is apparent to me that no matter how much I learn it will not be enough if what I build is not useful to people. So the real question is not just how do we build things well, but how do we build useful things?

Good Code, Good Design, a Good Start

It is necessary before we get into this to be clear about one point — good programming and design skills are just the foundation of a useful website. It is assumed that programmers can produce modular, reusable, object oriented code. Valid HTML and CSS are not something to brag about, they are a minimum for not being wrong. Layouts that make sense, appropriate color palettes, and proper application of Gestalt Principles are simply a beginning.
Continue reading Good Software Isn’t Enough

Target has redesigned their prescription pill bottles for Target pharmacies. The redesign was done by a graduate student named Deborah Adler who took on the redesign as a thesis project and had it snapped up by Target. While redesigning a pill bottle may seem somewhat insignificant I see this as a really great moment for Good Design.
Continue reading Target Redesigns Pill Bottle

…vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in, or more simply, lock-in, is a situation in which a customer is dependent on a vendor for products and services and cannot move to another vendor without substantial switching costs, real and/or perceived. By the creation of these costs to the customer, lock-in favors the company (vendor) at the expense of the consumer.
–Lockergnome

So let’s ask ourselves who the fancy pants custom software or website we just built should favor — the customer or the developer? Hmmm, this is the blog for developers so perhaps the answer is the developer? Wrong. But neither is it the customer. This is a trick question and the answer is it should be fair to both parties. One of the ways to ensure that is to avoid lock–in of the customer’s data.
Continue reading Why to Avoid “Lock In”

The recent discussion of RSS readers run amok got me to thinking about how much of such a problem is the fault of the user and how much is due to bad design or default configurations. With any good design there is a trade off between simplicity and functionality and we rely on users to have a certain level of competence. The trick is to make the system work well without placing an undue burden on users to be experts from the start.

So the question we have to ask is if we should blame or punish users who cause problems as a result of ignorance or incompetence. Perhaps our design was too complicated and they couldn’t figure out how to change the settings. Perhaps the various options were not labeled in a meaningful way so they didn’t really understand what the ’server polling period’ (or some other term) was about. As designers we have to ask ourselves if the failures or problems are a result of our own bad designs or a failure to provide adequate instruction to users.

If we want RSS readers to be truly popular with the masses we can’t expect the majority of users to think about server loads and other issues. Pete Freitag has made some interesting suggestions about how we could use cookies and proxy caches to fix some of the technical problems related to IP banning. Thinking about how we can solve the problem without asking users to understand or fix technical problems is a move in the right direction.

I’m not sure where the balance point is with RSS that will leave non-technical users able to happily use a reader while still allowing power users to tweak away. Whatever it is, we need to make sure that we are not asking too much of users or punishing them for not understanding complicated technical problems. I know most people, myself included, have muttered to themselves about the ’stupid users’ screwing things up. We just need to make sure that when we mutter that it’s not a reflection of our own stupid designs failing.

I spend a fair amount of time studying design; web design, print, industrial, whatever, I just like to examine designs and see what makes them succeed or fail. And one of the themes I have seen throughout is that good designers follow the rules, but great designers know and use the rules and then they break them artfully.

I have always been a color inside the lines kind of guy. So I have to make a conscious effort to push past the limits I place on myself. I know the fundamental rules of design, what makes a clean effective design, but I have to step back and then knowingly push my designs past the point where they are correct to the point where they show something fresh and new. Once everything is lain out on a grid and lined up and sized and colored in the ‘correct’ way it is time to either stop and have a passable design or to push forward and do something new, something bold, something interesting.

I’d encourage anyone who has reached the point where they know all about laying out a grid, matching colors, picking fonts, and cleaning up images to look at their work and decide if they are ready to take the next step. Dirty up your design in a spot or three. Create an element that breaks out of your grid, use a color that will stand out, don’t use perfectly straight, crisp lines around everything. The world around us is rarely perfect, yet it is often beautiful. Look around and see how the slight imperfections in the world add character and substance and learn to add that character to your designs. If you’re a born artist this may come naturally, but it is also something you can learn to see and to use in your designs if you make an effort.