Category Archives: Design

Products I like and wish I actually used

Sometimes you see something that looks so cool that you want to use it, but quickly realise you don’t have any actual compelling need or interest.  I’ve raved a few times about products I’m using at the moment and really … Continue reading

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Sprixi – useful image search?

It’s trite, but it’s true – the best products to build are those that people want.  Sage words from Paul Graham, yet I’m always surprised at how many products out there are solutions looking for problems.  That’s why I was … Continue reading

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Iconography

I thought this was a very literal (and ugly) choice for an icon, care of my247.com.au (why are there no decent Australian review sites?) Incidentally, Gelateria Cremona has what is easily the best gelato I’ve ever had.  I can only … Continue reading

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The difficulty of simple design – part 2

In my last post about design simplicity, I touched on the difficulties involved in what does and doesn’t make the cut for a design. Recently I noticed a forum post where one of the developers behind Plex (a really amazing … Continue reading

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The difficulty of simple design – part 1

The hardest part of being a designer is choosing what goes into the product. Deciding what should and shouldn’t go in is actually a very difficult choice.  You don’t want it to be overcomplicated, but you want to have a … Continue reading

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Ranking crowdsourced data with curves

I’m a big fan of user review sites.  I’ve been using TripAdvisor since at least 2002 to help plan my journeys, and Yelp is my new favourite site since moving to the US. Crowdsourcing information is usually a pretty good … Continue reading

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Does anyone actually notice a website being ‘free’?

I know that ‘freemium‘ is a popular business model at the moment, but do everyday web users really notice this when they’re using a site? Personally I always assume a site is free and am surprised/annoyed when it isn’t, unless … Continue reading

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Cuil.com – the next Google?

From the way Mike Arrington carries on about it (oh and a bit more here too), you’d think so.  My initial impressions are quite different (to be fair, he does state “…it doesn’t appear to have the depth of results … Continue reading

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iRobot and lessons for design

It’s funny how something can be a great design, and yet with a few tweaks, it becomes completely awful. Witness the Roomba.  I love my Roomba – I bought it in October 2006 when I moved in to my cottage … Continue reading

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Web Usability panel

I just got home from a presentation organised by WebGuild which was a panel discussion on web usability.  Met lots of interesting people of course, but the highlight for me was of course hearing Tom Chi, Jeremy Ashley, and David … Continue reading

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