Challis Hodge’s UXblog

If you’ve heard a client say this once you’ve probably heard it a thousand times… can you make the logo bigger? (audio)

Make The Logo Bigger (video)

Finally, tattoos for my consumer electronics! [Adafruit Industries Laser Etching] Not sure if they do piercings!?

See it in action!!  See galleries here.

Adafruit laser services is an appointment only laser etching service in New York City, NY USA - get your laptop, iPod, cell phone or any other gadget laser etched and learn about high powered lasers in person! You will be the one that presses the GO BUTTON to fire the laser beam! Pricing starts at $100 USD for laptops/powerbooks and $30 USD for smaller devices like iPods and cell phones. We take credit cards, but prefer cash. Your artwork should be in EPS and/or AI (Illustrator) - but don’t worry, we’ll help you prepare it. We also offer bulk rates and services for businesses.

I can’t wait for the reality TV show!!

A recent article in Boxes and Arrows by Luke Wroblewski illustrates a technique for deriving color palettes from nature. This isn’t a novel idea but it’s nice to see it getting some attention. We need to bring the living, breathing world into our work as much as possible. Color is certainly a place to make that happen.

Perhaps no other design element has as much influence on how we feel in a space (a website, a home, etc.) as color. Colors can instantaneously change our moods and alter our opinions. They can make us comfortable, put us in a state of awe, or get us excited. In the case of interface design, color combinations found in nature are especially useful. From complex web applications to informative “brochure-ware” sites, naturally occurring color combinations have the potential to distinguish (by helping create a more memorable website), guide (by allowing users to focus on interactions), engage (by making page layouts comfortable and more inviting), and inspire (by offering new ideas for color selection).

This technique is no substitute for a thorough understanding of color theory. Upon further exploration I think you’ll find that nature does a pretty good job of defining and illustrating certain areas of color theory.

Of course if you find yourself in a bind there’s alwats the Palette-O-Matic 5000 ;-) (doesn’t work in all browsers).

Picked the reference to this paper up from WebWord. The author, Kiana K. Matthews, makes some good points about the connection of usability engineering and HCI to the world of aesthetics and visual design. While this isn’t so much of a necessary argument today there are still some purest usability engineers who denounce anything resembling aesthetics, visual design or graphic design. I can still remember some of the heated arguments on the usability list servs like Utest and Chi-Web over the subject. Funny how many of the so-called usability gurus have changed their position on the issue over time. Ah, but I digress. The paper is definately worth a read.

We haven’t seen the book yet, but judging by the site, Martin Dodge and Rob Kitchin’s Mapping Cyberspace is worth a look. For all the talk in the industry about navigation and information architecture, there are ideas here that could still use more hype. For instance, “sometimes structure *is* content.” The landscape as a whole can be as interesting and informative as any of the places on the map. Check out the gallery for a lot of inspiring scenery. We’re not sure much of this is ready for direct application to the workaday web; a lot of it was created for very narrow or specialized audiences. But it’s great to have all this material in one place. It reminds us that it’s possible to fit a *lot* of information in a single view, and that there are new exciting ruts for us to get stuck in well beyond the “sites and pages” metaphor. We also like the fact that Dodge and Kitchin draw attention to the social interactions that take place on this new landscape. Not pages, places. Not interactions with pages, but interactions in and through places, social
exchanges shaped by place.

On-line Library of Information Visualization Environments
Speaking of visualization… most of you blogites are probably already aware of the University of Maryland’s “Online Library of Information Visualization Environments,” or OLIVE for short. But just in case, here’s a reminder.