02.02.2010
Mark Dezelon /
Interaction Design /
Web & Software
An interactive prototype is a useful tool for a designer to relay and test their vision. Send a prototype to your stakeholders for their approval. Have participants use it during user testing. Give it to your developers so they understand the final product.
There are many prototyping tools out there, from Visio to iRise, OmniGraffle to SketchFlow, Flash to Expression Blend, all with widely varying costs, features and limitations. Might I suggest using HTML, CSS and JavaScript? Often used for web development, they can also be used to create your interactive prototypes.
Read more »
01.25.2010
Alexander Hussain /
Graphic Design /
Interaction Design /
New Technology /
Web & Software
Our friends over at Prezi just released a new feature – Reusable Prezis. This new feature allows you to start with an existing presentation that was created by any member who chooses to share their work – you can keep the layout, keep the content, improve it, or just mix it up however you like. We are excited to say that our presentation for the TriUPA Design Challenge is one of the featured Prezis selected for the initial feature rollout. We can’t wait to see how you use it – please share our work with the rest of the world as you see fit and be sure to let us know if you find it helpful for any of your upcoming presentations.
For those of you who don’t know already, Prezi is a fun and unique alternative to PowerPoint. It does away with the concept of “slides” and has helped us find interesting ways to share the “big picture” during our presentations, especially when we are speaking in front of larger groups. It is a relatively new tool for our team, but we have found that it gives us a little edge that helps to set our work apart. We hope it will do the same for you!
06.19.2009
Sheila Crosby /
Interaction Design
One of the challenges we face with our clients is how to visualize large data sets. Today, NY Times published an interactive map capturing homicides in New York City from 2003 to 2009. Subject matter aside, this is a beautiful presentation of the information. The layout is clean, simple and easy to navigate. It encourages exploration by using the familiar Google way to navigate a map.
The reader gets the good news at a glance. Homicides in New York have dropped from 597 to 162. The presentation of the data enables the reader to sort by a variety of specific measurements, i.e. month of incident, information on both the victim and the perpetrator, age of the individuals involved, etc. The map features exactly where the homicide takes place, allowing the reader to see where large pockets of activity have taken place. The design enables the reader to dynamically update the map according to year and even offers the feature of entering in a specific zip code.
I learned a lot about a subject matter that I normally wouldn’t have spent a great deal of time researching. In a perfect world, this would be a map showing the reader where to buy chocolate.
06.10.2009
Mark Dezelon /
ActionScript /
Flash /
Interaction Design /
Web & Software
When dynamically loading different color variations of the same graphic, Flash developers can use flash.filters.ColorMatrixFilter to lessen website loading times. Below is an example of how we use ColorMatrixFilter in our own website.
Among other specialties, I develop Flash prototypes and websites. In fact, I’m part of the team that built the HumanCentric website. And one aspect that’s important to me is the time it takes a user to load individual parts of a website. For example, if a user goes directly to one of our pages, their browser will retrieve a pre-loading Flash application, a main Flash application, a site xml description, a page-specific xml description, and any images specific to that page.
Read more »
