3 UI Design Books for Your College Class May 7, 2008
Posted by Ryan in : Tech, Reviews, Books, Design, Web Sites, Graphics, interface, Teaching , 1 comment so farMy friend Jake called me a few days ago to tell me he will be teaching a User Interface Design class at Ferris State University in Grand Rapids, MI next Fall. After my congratulations, he asked me to help him pick out a textbook for his students. Here were my suggestions:
I loved this book from the moment I picked it up and learned why the iPod makes us happy - it’s the Golden Proportion, or the Golden Rectangle, as some might say. Then, at the bottom of that page, you get “links” to some other design topics you may find helpful when discussing the Golden Proportion, like The Rule of Thirds. Anyone who designs anything, from software to hardware and anything between, needs a copy of this book.
I told Jake to have a copy of this book around for the class to reference, but I wasn’t sure if they all needed one.
This is the one book out of these three that I don’t own… yet. I saw this in the book store while searching for a book about Processing, so you can also find it near the graphics books. Information Design is the name of the game, and Mr. Tufte has some of the most beautiful and useful designs you will ever see. He even goes in to how they displayed and photographed some of his sculpture outdoors. Absolutely breathtaking.
This book would be a great resource for a Level II UI Design class, but I think it is perhaps too detailed for beginners.
I’ve heard a lot of folks tout Don’t Make Me Think
Since my friend was looking for a book about UI Design, I found this on my shelf and made my final recommendation to use Eric Eaton’s book for his class.
Design Whys starts out by telling you what this Interface Design stuff is all about, and walks you through specifying and planning a project. Then you get an introduction to the common UI elements: links, buttons, form elements; what makes a link clickable, colors, designing for different browsers and devices, why use a link vs. a button, basic typography. The section on Advanced Interface Elements breaks us out of what’s normally possible on the web to cover things that would now be considered AJAX-y forms, applications, metaphorical interfaces, and custom or experimental UI elements, like those created with DHTML, Flash or 3D.
After the first 200 pages of the book, he launches us into a case study of some useful websites (at least as they were in 2003). The sites in the book are no less useful, beautiful, or innaovative than they were 5 years ago, though. It’s interesting to take a look at what folks were doing back then that the world still hasn’t caught up with. We seem to be constantly wanting to homogenize the experience (maybe I’m guilty of that as well). There’s room to be daring on the web, and I don’t mean large fonts, pastels, and rounded corners.
I hope Jake takes my suggestions to heart and picks the best candidate. If you have a UI design book you swear by, or you have a comment or question about one of these books, I’d love to hear it.
Hacking as Art April 28, 2008
Posted by Ryan in : Reviews, Books, floridacreatives, Arts, Programming , 2 commentsLast week, I started the discussion of programming as a form of creative expression with some of the kids at work, and Kevin pointed us to John Littler’s Art and Computer Programming article. That led Eric to post a link to Paul Graham’s essay on Hackers and Painters, which I gobbled up and loved.
Again, I’ll say that I don’t like the use of the word renaissance, since the medium itself has hardly affected 5 generations of men and women. This next wave where we move toward semantic web and a mixture of online and offline applications shows lots of promise, but I won’t agree that this era can be referred to as a rebirth for many years to come, when I’m old and I’ve had some time to look at it from a distance.
Just that first essay where Paul talks about getting a day job and hacking at night is certainly how I’ve always felt about podcasting - I love it, and I’d love to get paid for it, but to do it 40 hours a week would really feel like implementing someone else’s plan instead of creating the art myself.
From Paul Graham’s original Hacking and Painting essay:
If a hacker were a mere implementor, turning a spec into code, then he could just work his way through it from one end to the other like someone digging a ditch. But if the hacker is a creator, we have to take inspiration into account.
I say this all the time, but one reason why I think so many folks at the Florida Creatives Happy Hour are programmers is because of the nature of the medium. We hack in our spare time, we release the apps quietly, thousands of people anywhere in the world may use and love the results of our labors of love, but we don’t get to see them face to face - painters, filmmakers, actors, poets, all have the ability to be present with their audience the first time they experience it. Television and radio are more removed. Web apps further still. We crave that human interaction, and the validation you can only get from your peers and your audience. That’s why all the hackers are there.
One of these days I’ll get some Processing projects going, and have some literal art created by a hacker to show off. When I get some free time, you’ll see. Whenever that happens.
Giving the client what they need, not what they ask for April 10, 2008
Posted by Ryan in : Markteting, Cervo, Reviews, Trends, Books, Design, Restaurants, Web Sites, Teaching, Storytelling, Programming, Freelance , 2 commentsJust now I was buying a new domain name because of a misprint in my AXIS interview - it’s probably a common mistake, so it was worth the $7.
Anyway, there was an ad for some wannabe-posh restaurant on I-Drive - “Bola”. link
OK, seriously, who has a flash website that plays music? With late-90’s slideshows?
I also love that when I link to the “blog” - check out the design they chose for that. All of the posts on said blog have this huge text right below the title and right next to the very stale and infrequent date of the posts - “No Responses”.
Way to go on the authenticity, D*****bags! It’s not the designer’s fault, there was a breakdown in communications. Somebody has also dropped the ball on doing a follow-up with the client once the dist settled.
If you really want to create a compelling experience on a website these days, I think the only option is to use video. If your restaurant is so “high-end”, hire a damn video crew to come out once in a while and throw THAT on your site - or maybe even your non-blog.
Check out some of the stuff MindComet is doing, for example. They don’t mess around. I can’t say I always love every site they put out, but they know their strengths. I definitely appreciate the need for experienced marketing folks working along side talented designers and developers. I don’t slight the person who created this project, they just had too many things to think about all at once.
I’ve recently been re-reading a book by one of my role models - Hillman Curtis. It’s called MTIV: Process, Inspiration and Practice for the New Media Designer
I actually had “New Media Developer” printed on my business cards for a while, and people would ask “What does that mean?” I’m sad to say I didn’t have a story for them at the time, but now I think I’d have a thing or two to say about it.
In MTIV (Making the Invisible Visible), Hillman, who is a world-renowned designer with clients like Adobe and bestselling bands on his client list, tells you how he gets his work done. In fact, all of his books are like that - he goes through his creative process. He’s got some steps, he identifies the goals at each step, and he gives lots of anecdotal support. He’s clearly been working at a very high level for a long time.
People who have read this book and really understand it would have never designed that site for BOLA - at least not in the last 18 months or so.
However, even at a job I had for a couple of weeks managing an online store for a print shop, I not only had to put my propeller hat on, but my marketing/customer/business hat on, and normally the propeller hat gets priority. That means I’m donating 40% at best to thinking “is this even a good idea, does this communicate the message, will visitors understand the story?”
Then a few weeks later, I’ve started writing code, laying out the homepage, or what have you, and it hits me - THIS SUCKS! Did I design this? Then I remind myself I’m “not a designer” (which is bollocks because I’m always calling myself a “front end guy”), and I come to terms with the reality of the situation. We’re not communicating effectively here, we’re masturbating and pretending the result was a web page.
How do we fix it? Drive back to Sanford, tell the client “I’m sorry Mike, I had my head up my ass when I designed this… will you pay me to fix my own mistakes?” Nobody is going to go for that! Sure, you can give them a spiel about ROI and conversions, and maybe wrapped in the warm fuzzy blanket of “SEO”, which might as well be voodoo and divination to most clients, you might even be able to convince them to spend 30% of the original budget doing what you really should have done in the first place, in 15% of the time, without your trusty subcontractors, in your spare time, just so you feel good about work that you’d already written off as “finished”.
No, you can’t fix it. Clients don’t go for maintenance contracts any longer. Most of them don’t even want to pay you for hosting, let alone support.
The ONLY solution is to do it right the first time. That means making checklists, getting your freelancer buddy support system to consult and make sure you’re not leaving any huge gaps (oh, you do have some sort of a peer support system, right?), and above all, making sure you understand what the client needs.
I’m only feeling the slightest bit hippocritical right now, and if you’ve worked with me in the past, and you’re quietly thinking I’m full of shit as you read this, consider this my formal apology for underdelivering. In most situations during my “freelance” (”slacker”) career, I didn’t put 110% to anything work-related, and it wasn’t until my “Tabula Rasa” day (Jan 17th, 2006), that I had even decided to push myself to improve, and it looks like it’s taken about 2 years and 3 months.
So, FullSail grads, budding New Media Designers and Developers, and folks that have been doing this “since the early days”, and are planning on making a concerted effort to create stunning work, every single time, even if it’s for half of your rent money, here are a couple of tips:
- It might take 27+ months to feel as though you’ve arrived
- You MUST make sacrifices in your personal life for professional improvement
- Freelance is not a hobby, it’s making a living. Mom and Dad can’t pay the bills forever
- Go buy a copy of MTIV
- Keep your head out of your text editor (or photoshop) while you’re asking the client how you can work together to effectively communicate the story of his/her business
- Don’t use flash slide shows with music on every page
What every small town local bookstore should do April 1, 2008
Posted by Ryan in : Markteting, HowTo, Video, Film, Shopping, Trends, Books, Travel, Contributors, OrlandoScene, Teaching, open source, Branding, Storytelling, Love , 2 commentsI jsut finished reading Rent Girl
However Michelle Tea and this book are not the subject of this blog. At least, not directly.
I picked up this indy book at an indy book shop - I was on vacation, visiting Tempe, Arizona, walking to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, hiking the Grand Canyon, getting yummy sandwiches from the co-op and drinking local beer. And next to the Trader Joe’s in the adobe-colored shopping center (really, they all were) was this little book store, Changing Hands.
Changing Hands Bookstore, Tempe Arizona, corner of McClintock and Guadalupe. There was a café, I think, and there was a section up front with fun games - the kinds of stuff you’d see on the bookshelves of Barnes and Noble next year once they hit critical mass. Like all indy book shops, there was a table near the customer service desk with eye-catching books, new arrivals, and the ever-present signed-or-to-be-signed books. And here was Rent Girl
I only read a few pages on the plane, it was too naughty. I actually couldn’t wrap my head around this book until recently, somehow I feel that by absorbing some women’s media I can try to understand the industry a bit better - things aimed at guys are too easy to understand, low hanging fruit - women’s music, film and books are another beast.
But I digress. I want to plant a seed at Changing Hands in Tempe and Urban Think in Orlando and the Bookmine in Jacksonville, and all the other places where you feel proud buying a naughty graphic novel. This advice isn’t exactly ground-shaking, but I think it makes sense:
Every small town book shop should:
- Print their own books.
- Teach classes about how to print your own books.
- Sell said hand-made and self-published books.
- Sell books by local authors on the internet.
- Show and sell art on the walls.
- Have free and open wi-fi.
- Record video/audio podcasts with visiting authors.
- Have a space in-store and online for customers to have a conversation, either about books or what happened on last night’s LOST.
- Be a place where you want to come to read a book.
- Be a place where you would hang out with your friends.
- Be the first place you want to visit when you get off of work.
- Have space for local groups to hold meetings.
In London I saw a store that only sells Chess and Bridge supplies. They’ve got the largest selection of that stuff you’ve ever seen - no big box store could compete. And on the same block is a store that only sells Flutes. I’m told there’s a store on the other side of the river that only sells French Horns. Granted, in a big city there is a need for places that specialized, but I think even a small town book store can take some tips from these places.
I saw another place that was a grocery, bookstore, gift shop and restaurant all in one. They wouldn’t let me take pictures in there, it was so unique. They press their own olive oil.
In a certain way, Stardust Video & Coffee here in Orlando has achieved so much of what’s on my list, but the utility of the store, renting movies, was not lucrative enough for them, so they opened up to being more cafe-and-performance-space than video rental space. They’ve recently added a second stage with a strict “no dry-humping” policy, and they also sell hard liquor in addition to their amazing selection of beers, decent wine, tea, coffee, baked goods and original food.
I suppose if there was a local printer, they could achieve something similar without needing to do the actual printing themselves, but I guess that’s part of the point of the bookstore, yes?
As a “video and coffee” establishment, I don’t see where Stardust is the last word on video other than the selection, but I always felt like I wasn’t smart enough to rent there, that the right to rent a film was reserved for someone with a more cultured taste than I. However, the Thursday night Broken Speech Poetry Slam or the local rock shows they have are completely accessible, and I’ve played drums on stage at Stardust many times. Maybe that’s just partly attributed to my training as a musician, but why do I feel I’m below the film?
I guess I’m trying to encourage these book shops to become the Third Place that we are all craving here in Orlando right now. In the land of corporate coffee, the local coffee shop has evolved, mostly in order to survive. I think the local bookstore has a few more steps to take before they’re all grown up.
Which bookstores have you noticed fitting into their niche?
…continued…
This is an old meme I found via Tara Hunt and Pinko Marketing. I’ve been trying to describe local media (or at least the goals of the media I’ve been trying to produce) and what’s supposed to be for sale at Petentials and similar sites. The point isn’t to sell 24,000 of an item priced $1 but 1,000 of an item priced $24, let’s say.
Boutique (from my mac dictionary): French, literally ‘small shop,’ via Latin from Greek apothēkē ‘storehouse.’ Compare with bodega .
Some people are getting my reference to boutique mixed up with luxury brands. Personally, I wouldn’t be caught dead with Louis Vuitton bag and I’m sure most Boutiquers wouldn’t be either. The difference, as the diagram suggests (and there are many more differences than I quickly plotted in this image) is the motivations for buying. I said, “Bought for connection” because, as Sanford commented in the previous posts comment section:
“People go out of their way to purchase certain goods - like moleskine notebooks - or buy cheese from specific vendors because it broadcasts something about who they are. This statement can be personal/internal, shared with a small audience…”
The “small shop” concept is the feeling I got at Villandry in London - it was right in the heart of downtown, near the international embassy district, but instead of being generic, they were hyper-specialized. It was the kind of place you’d bring your aunts and uncles who were visiting town, to show off the awesome places that can grown up in your backyard, and they’d sit back and go “I would never buy anything in here, but I’m in awe of the place.” That’s how I feel at Stardust, that’s likely how some folks feel in the front room at Dandelion Communitea, or the co-op area at Infusion Tea in College Park. What does it all mean? How did these people come to create this art, or this custom stationery, or eco-friendly teacups, or press their own olive oil? Why are there hundreds of movies I’ve never heard of, and how in the hell can they organize them by country and director instead of genre? Who does that?
Boutiques do that. The perfect local bookstore would do that.
Take a look at people who use open source software, you’ll find the same aesthetic. Hand-made, personalized, specific, and powerful in the hands of a well-informed user, but you don’t need to be the guy who wrote it to use it or change it. You think there should be a French translation? That’s up to you. A sixth checkbox? Hack it in, contribute it to the repository. Make this the best tool for you, and therefore the best tool for folks who know where to look.
I could go on all night. Maybe I’ll go on this weekend at BarCamp. But I don’t title it “indy bookstore”. What is it?
A Very Dem-Centric Way To Hack The Publishing System November 1, 2006
Posted by Ryan in : Tech, Markteting, Blogging, Links, Trends, Books, Earth , add a comment
Ever since I met Gina, I have been trying to be more hip to the sustainable, green, and otherwise eco-friendly life. It is really hard right now, and it shouldn’t be. Things like An Inconvenient Truth and this brand new book WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future are helping, and hat else can we really ask for at this point?
While reading We Make Money Not Art, I heard about this book, and WorldChanging’s efforts to hack the publishing system. I realize now that I’m writing this post that I was about 3 hours early. I guess it’s the thought that counts.
On November first, at eleven minutes after eleven a.m. (Pacific time), please go to Amazon and buy the book.
Better still, go to Amazon and buy the book on the first, and in the meantime blog, email, talk up the book and do whatever you can to encourage everyone who you think cares about sustainability, innovation and social change, everyone who wants more solutions in the public debate, to join you on buying the book on 11/1 at 11:11 a.m. Please help spread the word.
New Katharine Kerr Released! August 2, 2006
Posted by Ryan in : News, Reviews, Books , add a commentMy favorite author of all time, Katharine Kerr, has put out her the first of three new books that follow the Deverry storyline.
I don’t leave much time for non-internet/programming geekery, but Kerr books are an exception. I got engulfed in her writing when I was on an 8th grade band trip to Atlanta, and I rabidly read and read. She has been writing this series since I was born, and will gladly continue to write. There are 13 books in total now, counting The Gold Falcon.
I started re-reading the whole serries this year and got about half way through before I got kind of busy. It wasn’t really that I got bored, just that I didn’t want to get to the last book and have nothing to read. Now that I have a book waiting for me on the shelves of my local bookstore, I can confidently pick up my fanaticism.
You should also check out her sci-fi works, Freeze Frames, Polar City Blues and Snare.
These three books don’t have much in common with each other, but they have loads in common with the Deverry books. Highly recommended for women readers - lots of strong females, but plenty of guys too.
Kissimmee’s Monument of States April 29, 2006
Posted by Ryan in : Orlando, Books, Travel, photos , 1 comment so far
Having grown up in Kissimmee, I am no stranger to its hostorical landmarks. In fact, I like to share the features of my hometown with friends and visitors. One such attractive structure is the Monument of States at the Kissimmee Lakefront Park. Featuring stones, artifacts and plaques from all 50 US States as well as several foreign countries.
For a bit of statewide or national recognition of the monument, you can also check out the monument and hundreds of other interesting Florida landmarks in Weird Florida
If you are ever in Kissimmee, the Historic Downtown Districs is extremely charming, and a great place to shop for antiques and knick-knacks, get a bite to eat, and take a walk through a piece of Florida’s history.
Kissimmee’s Monument of States on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Digital Camera! New Computer! Gaming! December 29, 2005
Posted by Ryan in : ryanprice.org, Reviews, Books, Games , add a commentSo the computer is only 2 months and 3 weeks late, but whos counting? I actually decided NOT to plug it in today, because I know it will consume my life for a while, just gadgeting around. I need to get up in the morning and work for 3 hours before I do this (or as long as it takes to add a new preference to Unity. I also found out the RAM I bought is no longer good for my new machine, so now the decision is re-stock fee vs. eBay. If anybody is looking for 2GB of 184-pin RAM, ask me. I need you to beat $200 to make it worth my while.
I think I need to start keeping a log of every single change I make to my work, just so I feel accomplished. I always say I need to work or I worked really hard, but I am the only one I can prove that to. I guess if there were another developer working on stuff it would be more practical.
I have a 5.2 MegaPixel Hewlett Packerd digital camera. It does the job, and its just what I asked for. I will post some pictures after I get some things set up around here.
Gaming is fun. Last week we went to Sci-Fi City and got some games. 2 games I have not played in years.
- The Great Dalmuti is Asshole (the party game) with pretty pictures. Thats about it.
- The Settlers of Catan is the computer game Civilization brought to the table. All I can say is that it is one of the most fun and challenging games you can play. Stategery is the operative word here. Nathan doesnt like competitive games, but in this game you are competing against the evironment (the robber) and yourself as much as the other players. Especially when we added the expansion pack called Cities and Kights of Catan which brings in the pirates and adds extra resources to collect and more goals to acheive. One of my favorite games of all time.
I want to go back and get Robo Rally before the 30% off sale is over, but I have already spent a bunch of cash on this crap.
A very old friend deserted me waylaid my plans to see her this Christmas break. I have to say Im not entirely surprised. :( I still havent heard back from said friend with the normal Im sorry, the spouse and I were busy, or somewhat.
EDIT: She called me today and bitched at me for writing such things, and explained that her phone was dead. She is forgiven, even though I did not try to make her feel as bad as she felt.
I started reading my favorite books again - the Deverry series (starting with Daggerspell) by Katharine Kerr. I am picking out SO MUCH more detail than my 8th grade self. I am also getting pretty anal about the ancient Welsh words, which is helping me build the picture in my head a bit better. I wish I was more familiar with what a Welsh accent sounded like in comparison to Irish. Most of the voices come out Irish, with a bit of Scottish thrown in.
There are 11 books total, 4 Deverry books, 4 Westlands books and 3 Dragon Mage books. She is planning 3 more books as well, which are planned to be released in June, but I have been hearing that for the last 3 or 4 years now, so Im not holding my breath. If it does actually come in June, then hooray for me because I should be done with the 11th book by then, and re-bought Black Raven because it is missing
Got to clear off my bed so I can actually get in there and sleep at some point. Damn I wanted to get to bed earlier than this. Maybe my new toy will wake me up in the morning. If anybody reads this before 11AM and I have not re-posted, call me. Even if I have re-posted you can call me. We will say Merry Belated Christmas or Happy Hannukah to each other.
After much delay,
End of Line.
