12.30.2009
Miranda Capra /
Usability /
Web & Software
When my husband and I went home for the holidays, we got his parents on Facebook. They’re still not sure whether or not they should thank us – time will tell. But the process of explaining Facebook was much easier because we had them use Facebook Lite. This is a new version of Facebook, still in beta, that has pared the interface down to the essential features. It’s different from Facebook Mobile, which is designed for mobile phones and also has a more limited feature set, but doesn’t translate well to large-screen displays.
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12.18.2009
Miranda Capra /
Consumer Products /
Gestural Interfaces /
New Technology /
Usability
Our friends at Amberlight have written a review of Apple’s Magic Mouse.
If you haven’t heard, the entire surface of the Magic Mouse is touch-sensitive, and the mouse supports several touch gestures for interacting with your computer. So head on over to our other blog, TouchThinking, and read all about it!
TouchThinking is a gestural interfaces blog that members of the International Usability Partners contribute to (including us, HumanCentric).
12.16.2009
Andrew Wirtanen /
Trends /
User Experience /
User Research /
Web & Software
I dread going to the mall during the holiday season (Black Friday to Christmas Eve). But, this past Sunday night I was able to find a parking spot very easily. I went into a store to make an exchange and found that there was no wait. Then, I did a little browsing and went on my way. Surprisingly, my experience actually wasn’t that bad.
But, I think I know why it was so easy…
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12.14.2009
Alexander Hussain /
Trends /
Usability
In our high technology world it is easy to forget one of the most tried and true tenets of product design: simplicty sells. Just in the kitchen there are and unbelievable amount of simple devices that we all use everyday: measuring cups, spoons, forks, cutlery, cups, plates, bowls – the list goes on and on. Now what would you say if I wanted to build a new kitchen device that would replace all of these devices with a single product? Your first question may be - how would it work? How big would it be? How could you sharpen the knives? Wouldn’t the built in bowl get in the way of the fork? Are you crazy?
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12.09.2009
Brian Chiarizia /
Industrial Design /
Mobile
Several months ago the industrial design team had an internal design competition with the intent of creating a “HumanCentric” mobile phone that we could then use to showcase some of our interaction + graphic + UI design skills. The designers brainstormed, sketched and argued as a group and then had one hour to render their vision for what our HC mobile phone should be. The final design that was selected is pictured above.
12.02.2009
Miranda Capra /
Usability /
Web & Software
Last week I needed to create a special website for a client project. The specific website is unimportant, but it’s a service that several companies offer – you create an account and configure the site, and they host it. I looked into two different companies for this web service…
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