Writing
Filters and Facets: An Explainer
June 10, 2017
Filters and facets are tools we use to narrow down a set of items to find that specific thing we’re looking for — or to widen out to a broader set if we’re not seeing what we need. Filters and facets are powerful ways to help users help themselves.
Constraints: They’re not just for design
December 7, 2016
I recently partnered with Harvey Mudd College psychology professor Debra Mashek to help her students learn about scrum as part of her Psychology of Collaboration course. As I reflect on what we learned that day, I’m struck by the value of constraints that scrum brings through the basic ceremonies.
Empathy Then and Now: Henry Dreyfuss and Indy Young
June 13, 2016
I've been a follower of Indi Young’s ideas for many years, and I was excited to read her recent book, Practical Empathy: For Collaboration and Creativity in Your Work (Rosenfeld Media, 2015). I was a latecomer to Henry Dreyfuss. I put Designing for People (Allworth Press, 1955) on my professional book wish list a few years ago. I received a copy as a gift this past Christmas, and I started reading it as I was finishing up Young's Practical Empathy.
Image courtesy of The Shopping Sherpa. Creative Commons license.
Durability of Information Spaces, Part 2
Lessons from Watches and Cars
May 2, 2015
In which I explore durability in general and in product design more broadly. I want to keep gathering ideas as I look toward a model for evaluating the durability of information spaces.
Durability of Information Spaces, Part 1: Lessons from Architecture
April 11, 2015
When Dan Klyn spoke at our 3/27 LA UX Meetup, he raised the question of durability. Dan commented that our design work for digital spaces is still nascent. Not only are our information spaces not so great for people, they are not durable.
Schrödinger’s Prototype
April 3, 2015
A clever title for some musings about how we get to truth for information spaces. At last Friday’s LA UX Meetup, Dan Klyn talked about Strategy and Structure: Doing it Right and How You’d Know. It was a fun and thought-provoking presentation. Dan laid out four steps we can use to help design information spaces that are good for people, where the structure reflects stakeholder strategy, and where the work is all based on enough truth.