May 2013
2 posts
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New Frontiers in Publishing
I’m currently involved with a startup in digital publishing. My work will involve bringing the design thinking perspective from other fields I previously worked in to a field that is notoriously conservative. So naturally when I read the post of David Pogue about e-book piracy, I was dumbfounded by this gem of an admission:
Traditionally minded publishers are very much opposed to the idea...
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Visualising Data | Tactile visualisations: Inuit... →
While we are on the subject of physicality in interfaces (see my last post) I urge you to have a look at what Andy Kirk wrote about tactile maps. These maps are a great example of design as problem solving and introduce you to several affordances that are grossly underrepresented in current design.1
The indigenous people along the arctic circle have overcome many challenges of the environment...
April 2013
6 posts
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Bond Reporting Standards | Bella consults →
How would you quantify a statement like
We believe [terrorists are coming]
against
It is probable that [again, something terrible].
This is one topic to really tickle my fancy: Data Visualization, Semantics and Intercultural Communication all rolled into one. Even though I disagree that setting standards in phrasing is the right course of action, I very much enjoy the research from...
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Prezi Interface Considerations
I had some opportunity to develop high concept Prezis with various clients in recent months. In doing so I learned a lot about how far you can push the technology and in what scenarios the software plays to its strengths.1
Mind you that Prezi works best as an interface for content you prepare with authoring tools outside of Prezi. If you have a means to create vector graphics in a flash file...
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what's really great about Fantastical →
Some interesting words from Dr. Drang about how critical a properly implemented feedback loop is for human computer interaction. Just days after I lauded Apple for being quite savvy about this whole human-computer interaction thing, he presents a case where they fall short. Rightly so.
I don’t use Fantastical, the tool that he discusses, but I do endorse his comments about usability...
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On Social Affordances, Google Glass & the iWatch
I think1 Google Glass makes for a wonderful case study to introduce yet another design theory buzzword to wider recognition: Social Affordance. The problems and pushback that Google faces with their newest toy can largely be attributed to their lack of understanding of this concept: Technology is never an end unto itself. Rather it is the use, that, well, users get out of a given technology.
...
March 2013
3 posts
3 tags
WatchFrom abstraction through application to theory in reverse chronological order. Part three: Abstraction.1
Max Hattler: Collision on Vimeo ↩
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February 2013
3 posts
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Lost in computer mediated communication...
I recently had a text chat conversation with an online acquaintance of mine, a wonderful fellow who shall not be named. My perception of him was shaken, however, when he concluded our spirited exchange about how to manage complexity in visual representations with the word “bye.”
Only that he did not, in fact, write “bye.” I was about to get comfortable for some football...
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UX and Localization
It is more by happenstance than by design, but I came across lack of localization as a user experience issue on several occasions recently.1
I don’t think that it is by chance that most of the issues revolved around a lack of empathy for non-angloamerican users. Many of the biggest web services and tools still stem from the US. Being from the US entails that you experience the hegemonic...
January 2013
2 posts
1 tag
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Worldbuilding in Presentation Design →
Happy New Year everyone!
I told you I’d write more about presentation theory and I finally made good on it. Better than most New Years resolutions after a week, I’d say.
Anyway, it has taken me some time to get up to speed working full time with BrightCarbon, but I am starting to get the hang of things. Which bodes well for those of you who would like to see more stuff like this:...
December 2012
1 post
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November 2012
3 posts
5 tags
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WatchI was digging through some old bookmarks of mine that were relevant to upcoming work in which I will attempt to wed presentation design and motion graphics. That’s when I came across this little gem from Marco Bagni, a motion graphics artist from Berlin. Obviously not all of it translates to the way I envision dynamic infographics1 to work, but wow, lots of inspiration in a very compact...
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October 2012
1 post
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Transparency Update
As it were there are some rather exciting things happening in my life, some of which may actually be of interest to you, my readers. Me moving to a new place in eastern Germany is probably not one of the latter. But one thing that pertains to both my professional endeavors and to the things you may enjoy reading about is that I have decided to team up with a presentation consultancy that is run by...
August 2012
6 posts
2 tags
Contingency Plans and Slideuments
Sorry if the following is a bit non sequitur, but I need to write down an idea that came to me just now. I was thinking of how to stage an apparent technical breakdown in a training situation for high stakes presentations to drive home a point about always providing a fallback for when technology lets you down. Create something that is truly memorable. That led me to think about how to create a...
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No Longer The Sense Of An Ending →
I have to admit when it comes to Hypertext Theory I am old school: The web is not a hypertext medium.
Be that as it may, one very interesting article I found at the often commendable Content Magazine illustrates how a theory like that of hypertext can (and should) inform our design decisions in how we create meaningful structures. You’ll see that Information Architecture is not something...
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What Part Of Your Presentation Do You Want To Be...
My answer is a resounding: It depends.
When you want to maximize the impact of your presentation, you will have to invest some effort and deliberate the design constraints that apply to your case. Generic descriptions of the communication objective and content like “business material” or “memorable” are insufficient to determine how you should tackle the task at hand.
...
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Technology Does Not Innovate. People Do. →
The one thing we should never lose sight of when we talk about technological innovation is that technology is never the agent.1 So any process about innovation has at some point or another to account for the intrinsic motivations of the people who use and create technology. Because it may well be that there is a systemic incentive in the decision making process that stops innovation wherever it...
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Intrinsic Knowledge, The Cubicle And Storytelling
You should know that for all my obsession with theory and methodology I very much value the kind of knowledge that comes with experience. The problem with that kind of knowledge, however, is that it is usually locked into the brain of the person who has accumulated said experience.
This is rather unfortunate, because it is really difficult for us to share information that we use instinctively....
July 2012
3 posts
1 tag
Good design is invisible: an interview with iA's... →
This is a great interview with Oliver Reichenstein, because it allows us to tap the vast resource of his idiosyncratic knowledge1 about design fundamentals and inspiration.
Incidentally, the lack of methodical knowledge production is one of the main problems with the field of design. It is full of opinionated people, be they self-conscious or self assured creative types, but it is completely...
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Usability Fallbacks
I’d like to introduce the concept of the usability fallback to you. The redesign of my site prompted me to think about web design approaches again and I’m going to share my thought process. There are a couple of things I learned, too.
My new design is based on the idea of giving the content center stage and imbuing it with a sense of device agnostic functional minimalism.1 Since I...
A New Hope
The lack of posts recently is due to me overhauling my online presence. I designed a whole new concept, something a tad more presentable, I hope, showing off my penchant for minimalism and experimenting with subtle interaction cues.
I am not a web designer by profession, but I do try to keep up with design trends and practices, if only so I can make informed decisions when I provide consultancy,...
June 2012
4 posts
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First Principle: Disambiguation →
Here is a post to familiarize yourselves a bit with some communication concepts that you may find helpful if you are introducing a computer into the equation: How do you communicate with a machine?
Bear in mind that the article is strong when it gives you examples to ponder, such as the case of failed communication being part of communication. It is less strong in extrapolating sound theoretical...
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The Little Things: Markdown, Footnotes and...
You may have noticed that I have begun to liberally sprinkle footnotes on my posts. This is due to a change in my writing workflow that is now heavily featuring markdown. One of the perks of writing in markdown is that tumblr has an editing option for it. If you did not know, look for it hidden in your options panel. Anyway, using footnotes necessitates the use of superscripts which break the...
May 2012
5 posts
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WatchStorytelling is a powerful tool to manage complexity. This is because you can attach pieces of unfamiliar information to a structure that is familiar to your audience. For the effect to work, then, it should be clear that you actually need to study what kind of narrative structures allow for embedding of information, and which kind of narrative among those structures is one that your audience...
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A Multimodal Framework for Analyzing Websites as... →
If you are like me and enjoy the occasional in-depth confrontation with the theoretical underpinnings of communication on the web you may have come across the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication1 before. If not, perhaps this paper leaning in on intercultural communication on the web from the most recent issue may wet your appetite.
Which thankfully is open access, unlike many other...
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UX Magazine: UX Design as a Two-Way Conversation →
I’d like to present you with a thoroughly enjoyable article that may serve as a reminder why communication is a founding principle1 in design that goes beyond semiotic tokens. This is all the more true for user experience design, where interaction between a user and a machine has some of the very properties humans look for when they communicate with each other.
As a side note: Being a...
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WatchIn case you were wondering about my prolonged absence, I prepared a video to illustrate the events that kept me from posting. I kid you not, what transpires in the video is only ever so slightly exaggerated for narrative effect. There really were calls the moment I hit the upload button for deliverables, there were airplanes and ridiculous races against the clock.
As of now I am due for some...
March 2012
8 posts
1 tag
“Fiction is an art form, and like all art forms it relies for much of its effect...”
– Charlie Stross driving home a point that is true for all forms of communication, really.
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Finding Details of Typography in Prezi
.prezi-player { width: 500px; } .prezi-player-links { text-align: center; } Typography on Prezi
Having made the case that we need to look for examples of inventive information architecture on Prezi that acknowledges the functional paradigm of its medium, today I present you this example by Travis Hitchcock. Prominent indicators link pieces of information (nodes, if you will) to each other,...
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Understanding Information Architecture (or lack...
.prezi-player { width: 500px; } .prezi-player-links { text-align: center; } Understanding Information Architecture on Prezi
I pondered a while how I should approach this Prezi presentation about information architecture by Peter Morville. For one thing I really like the content. It gives you a nice impression of what information architects do. But then I feel that it is being let down by the...
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February 2012
8 posts
3 tags
Use cinematic techniques to spice up your... →
Well, what can I say: there is a lot that can be learned from cinema which also applies to presentation design, even when things don’t move. Personally I very much propose that you also do invest a little time to learn about animation if you are serious about presentation design. Nothing says “change of state” like a visual representation that actually changes state....
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Datawrapper, a project by DataStory →
Yay, more automated creation of visualization!
You may remember that we are still waiting for visual.ly to open their lab and release the kraken. Erm, I meant their creation tool. Well, here’s a working alternative for you to check out. It’s free, too.
I’ve seen some of the results embedded on German news sites and they looked decent enough. The tool creates solid charts and...
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Politeness Is Overrated
The scientific literature mentioning politeness is generally dominated by contributions from a rather select subset of linguists. From Lakoff’s analysis of gender mandated speech patterns (Lakoff 1973)1 to the de-facto standard of politeness research put forward by Brown and Levinson (Brown&Levinson 1982)2 it is the scientific discourse that built upon their work that has the greatest impact...
