In 1954, Paul Fitts developed a model of human movement, Fitts’s law, based on rapid, aimed movement. Fitts’s model predicts that the time required to rapidly move to a target area is a function of the distance to the target and the size of the target. This law is used to model the act of … Read more
Over the years, I have seen different design principles come into play at design reviews. One of the most frequent and important design principles has been gestalt perception. Around the beginning of the 20th century, Gestalt theorists were intrigued by the way our mind perceives the whole out of incomplete elements. Gestaltists believed that context … Read more
Located in Los Angeles, California, the Getty Center is a museum that specializes in pre-20th-century European paintings, drawings, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture, and decorative arts; and 19th- and 20th-century American and European photographs. It is named after famed oilman J. Paul Getty who’s trust funds it. The center is best known for its architecture, gardens, and … Read more
We are seeing the blooming of the Experience Economy in the Information Age. There is so much information we have create Big Data. The trend to larger data sets is due to the additional information derivable from analysis of a single large set of related data. Data sets grow in size in part because they … Read more
Citrix Design team put out this great video, Why Design Matters to Me – Using Design to Make a Difference, where they explain five design principles to craft the total experience that your customer has with your company: Make it Simple by reducing the amount of information that people have to deal with and create … Read more
If you are designing experiences for services then you will need service designers. If it is a space or counter experience then it may include training, architecture, interior design, display design, wayfinding and more. If you are designing experience for a product and that product is a device then you may include industrial designers and … Read more
Wayfinding encompasses all of the ways in which people and animals orient themselves in physical space and navigate from place to place. Historically, wayfinding refers to the techniques used by travelers over land and sea to find relatively unmarked and often mislabeled routes. Urban planners borrowed the term in the 1960s, where they defined wayfinding as … Read more
When iteratively designing and evaluating experiences, the order in which you do this is very important. It starts with content – you must have the content to design the information architecture. I remember learning this lesson when, at one company, Marketing was looking for our Art Director to start creating comps for our next generation … Read more
Overview Skinit is the global leader in consumer electronic device personalization. In 2007 Skinit was preparing to enhance the previously successful Photo Uploader, a web-based application that allows consumers to upload their own photos and manipulate designs for their personal electronic devices. Darryl Kuhn, Skinit CTO, reached out to me to help with the redesign … Read more
Validate that customers’ needs are met and tasks are easy to do. Putting your solution in context for your customers and users, is a key to validating that the solution meets their needs and is easy to use. You need to work with people who fit the profile of your target customers and conduct design … Read more
When you know the problem your site helps you solve, the content better addresses the needs of prospects and customers in the market. This “two-way connection” is based on developing a solid view of the website users— new prospects, clients, suppliers, etc., including: • Who they are • What they need • What they want … Read more
Once you’re confident that you understand your various customers’ workflow and content, it’s time to develop the visual design—color scheme, fonts, iconography, branding, and all graphic elements. Work closely with the visual designer or visual design team to ensure that the visual design elements support the company’s brand and enhance the ease of use of … Read more