Comments for think blog http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog User Experience Design Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:59:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Technology, Meaning, and Finding The Balance by think blog » Time for Apple to Become Spider-Man http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/2011/12/15/technology-meaning-and-finding-the-balance/#comment-101281 think blog » Time for Apple to Become Spider-Man Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:59:32 +0000 http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/?p=2704#comment-101281 [...] writing this post on my MBP that is currently charging my iPhone. It’s a challenge for me to simply watch a TV show without referencing my iPad at least once to look something up or [...] [...] writing this post on my MBP that is currently charging my iPhone. It’s a challenge for me to simply watch a TV show without referencing my iPad at least once to look something up or [...]

]]> Comment on Teavana Doesn’t Get It by Brad http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/2010/09/28/teavana-doesnt-get-it/#comment-101060 Brad Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:49:42 +0000 http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/?p=917#comment-101060 Tenighir, sorry to hear that. Next time, give <a href="http://www.adagio.com/" rel="nofollow">Adagio Teas</a> a try. I've ordered all my tea from them for the past several years and never had a problem. They seem to get what Teavana doesn't. Tenighir, sorry to hear that. Next time, give Adagio Teas a try. I’ve ordered all my tea from them for the past several years and never had a problem. They seem to get what Teavana doesn’t.

]]> Comment on Teavana Doesn’t Get It by Tenighir http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/2010/09/28/teavana-doesnt-get-it/#comment-100985 Tenighir Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:28:18 +0000 http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/?p=917#comment-100985 Ordered my teas in late December, then received an order confirmation. So far, so good, right? By January 19th, when I had not received a notice of shipment, I sent an email to customer service. Three days later, a response email stated that while my order was very important, there was a high volume of backorders and that it would be several days to research the problem. Okay. However, my email inbox continued to receive ads from marketing ending with the slogan, "Life is short. Drink some tea." THAT lit my fuse, as I am quite aware that time is passing and I have no tea to drink. I sat on hold for more than 30 minutes, waiting to speak to a living being. Once I did speak to the voice, all she had to offer was an apology and reassurance that the order was pending. Asking to speak to a higher power, I sat on hold again. After a fair amount of time (8 minutes), I was informed that the supervisor was in a meeting. I asked that the supervisor call me. The customer service rep upgraded my shipping. I asked for a tracking number for the order. None was available yet. The order will ship from Connecticut via UPS. I am skeptical and, after this experience, will never use Teavana's online ordering service again. Ordered my teas in late December, then received an order confirmation. So far, so good, right? By January 19th, when I had not received a notice of shipment, I sent an email to customer service. Three days later, a response email stated that while my order was very important, there was a high volume of backorders and that it would be several days to research the problem. Okay. However, my email inbox continued to receive ads from marketing ending with the slogan, “Life is short. Drink some tea.” THAT lit my fuse, as I am quite aware that time is passing and I have no tea to drink. I sat on hold for more than 30 minutes, waiting to speak to a living being. Once I did speak to the voice, all she had to offer was an apology and reassurance that the order was pending. Asking to speak to a higher power, I sat on hold again. After a fair amount of time (8 minutes), I was informed that the supervisor was in a meeting. I asked that the supervisor call me. The customer service rep upgraded my shipping. I asked for a tracking number for the order. None was available yet. The order will ship from Connecticut via UPS. I am skeptical and, after this experience, will never use Teavana’s online ordering service again.

]]> Comment on Designing Better Play by Lesly http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/2012/01/19/designing-better-play/#comment-100745 Lesly Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:02:29 +0000 http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/?p=2899#comment-100745 Thank you for this blog post. As someone who worked in the children's museum field for 20 years I can tell you that much care and value is placed on exhibit design and development by both designers and educators. The goal for many is to create environments that provide opportunities for open ended child directed. Play is about the process and not the end product. I can also bet kids are using these exhibits in ways the designers and educators never imagined! Thank you for this blog post. As someone who worked in the children’s museum field for 20 years I can tell you that much care and value is placed on exhibit design and development by both designers and educators. The goal for many is to create environments that provide opportunities for open ended child directed. Play is about the process and not the end product. I can also bet kids are using these exhibits in ways the designers and educators never imagined!

]]> Comment on Year-End Insight Mashup by kristen http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/2012/01/04/year-end-insight-mashup/#comment-100518 kristen Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:11:22 +0000 http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/?p=2758#comment-100518 Love it Joel! Love it Joel!

]]> Comment on Where For Art Thou, Whitespace? by Brad http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/2012/01/12/where-for-art-thou-whitespace/#comment-100334 Brad Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:48:38 +0000 http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/?p=2768#comment-100334 Glad you got something out of it, Scott. You're spot-on about the amount of content we're inundated with every day. I'm sure your readers appreciate the attention you pay to letting your content (and them) breathe a bit. Good luck! Glad you got something out of it, Scott. You’re spot-on about the amount of content we’re inundated with every day. I’m sure your readers appreciate the attention you pay to letting your content (and them) breathe a bit. Good luck!

]]> Comment on Where For Art Thou, Whitespace? by Scott K. Johnson http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/2012/01/12/where-for-art-thou-whitespace/#comment-100329 Scott K. Johnson Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:01:09 +0000 http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/?p=2768#comment-100329 Thanks for this post Brad - I got a lot out of it. As we are flooded, no -- bombarded, with more and more information all of the time, learning how to better use whitespace and make my content easier and more comfortable to read and digest is something that I'm eager to learn more about. Thanks for this post Brad – I got a lot out of it. As we are flooded, no — bombarded, with more and more information all of the time, learning how to better use whitespace and make my content easier and more comfortable to read and digest is something that I’m eager to learn more about.

]]> Comment on Where For Art Thou, Whitespace? by Brad http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/2012/01/12/where-for-art-thou-whitespace/#comment-100298 Brad Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:00:23 +0000 http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/?p=2768#comment-100298 Excellent points, Phil! It would be interesting to hear the designers of both sites talk about the decisions they made that lead them to these two similar, but just-different-enough layouts. It may be that HuffPo felt their audience appreciates less scrolling in exchange for a more "urgent" feel. Or perhaps they just like screaming. Either way, you're 100% right that while there are some basic tenets and rules of page design, so much comes down to art as much as science. Excellent points, Phil! It would be interesting to hear the designers of both sites talk about the decisions they made that lead them to these two similar, but just-different-enough layouts. It may be that HuffPo felt their audience appreciates less scrolling in exchange for a more “urgent” feel. Or perhaps they just like screaming.

Either way, you’re 100% right that while there are some basic tenets and rules of page design, so much comes down to art as much as science.

]]> Comment on Where For Art Thou, Whitespace? by Phil http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/2012/01/12/where-for-art-thou-whitespace/#comment-100296 Phil Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:54:10 +0000 http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/?p=2768#comment-100296 Love the comparison between HuffPo and The Verge on this topic. Inadvertently or not, the Verge also made some UX decisions that improved their use of white space: Selecting features to keep on the main page vs. what to put into full articles, decreasing clutter and giving items more padding. HuffPo has tons of social features: sharing, comment counters, "tags", redundant "read post" links, related post links, oh my! The Verge also seems more comfortable with scrolling. HuffPo cramps content vertically almost as if they fear you won't scroll if each item took up more vertical space. The Verge has also increased the max width of their page to 1024 vs HuffPo's 980. While 44 pixels may seem trivial, it has likely afforded them more horizontal space to expand into. A great demo of how great design is a complex dance between Interactive and Visual elements. Love the comparison between HuffPo and The Verge on this topic.

Inadvertently or not, the Verge also made some UX decisions that improved their use of white space:

Selecting features to keep on the main page vs. what to put into full articles, decreasing clutter and giving items more padding. HuffPo has tons of social features: sharing, comment counters, “tags”, redundant “read post” links, related post links, oh my!

The Verge also seems more comfortable with scrolling. HuffPo cramps content vertically almost as if they fear you won’t scroll if each item took up more vertical space.

The Verge has also increased the max width of their page to 1024 vs HuffPo’s 980. While 44 pixels may seem trivial, it has likely afforded them more horizontal space to expand into.

A great demo of how great design is a complex dance between Interactive and Visual elements.

]]> Comment on The Fold is Dead. Long Live The Fold. by think blog » Where For Art Thou, Whitespace? http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/2011/11/22/the-fold-is-dead-long-live-the-fold/#comment-100285 think blog » Where For Art Thou, Whitespace? Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:37:11 +0000 http://www.thinkbrownstone.com/blog/?p=2689#comment-100285 [...] is one of those terms, much like The Fold, that has come far enough into the standard lexicon of most modern professionals that everybody [...] [...] is one of those terms, much like The Fold, that has come far enough into the standard lexicon of most modern professionals that everybody [...]

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