A seriously dodgy cover I know but inside Volume 54 there's some special stuff, like that astounding Karl Gerstner designed ad. More on Flickr.

Remember when I was bitching and moaning about the way that search works on Upcoming? Well, it looks like my whining has paid off. As of today, search is fixed.

Thank you, relevant Yahoo employees.

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Tagged with upcoming search

While generally nowhere near as bad as our artist colleagues at obfuscation and assumed elevation through weighty, complex and often impenetrable language, ‘critical design’ has so far eluded me as to its meaning and it’s purpose. This article provides a neat overview and questions whether graphic design is suitably placed, and suitably equipped, to join the party.

Following a link from there, via Marti Guixe, and we find ourselves at this site: an interesting lecture series curated by Erik Kessels on the subject of amateurism. There is a big role for what I’ve refered to in the past as ‘The Enthusiastic Amateur’ in an Off-Brand future. Quite what form this might take remains to be seen.

There are some great bands out there... from rock to hip-hop, from ska to punk rock. Not all of them have cool logos, but some are memorable.

"Whether it's gracing overpriced T-shirts or iconic drumheads, being furtively carved into classroom desktops or intricately inked on the bodies of the most dedicated fans, a band's logo can be just as memorable as its biggest single."

25. Ramones

24. Nine Inch Nails

23. Public Enemy

22. Korn

21. Aerosmith

20. Black Flag

19. Phish

18. H.I.M.

17. The Beatles

16. Bauhaus

15. The Cramps

14. Metallica

13. Abba

12. Wu-Tang Clan

11. Queen

10. Van Halen

09. The Misfits

08. The Grateful Dead

07. Scissor Sisters

06. AC/DC

05. The Who

04. Kiss

03. Yes

02. The Rolling Stones

01. Prince

Love Symbol, incorporates the glyphs for Mars (male) and Venus (female) and made it his own name.

Source: Spinner.

Author: Paulo Antunes | If you want to write an article and have it published here send it via email to abduzeedo[at]abduzeedo.com

I've written in the past about my mom's oddball computer and Internet habits. My mom is far from tech savvy. English isn't even her first language and she's only been using the personal computer for five years or so. Most importantly, my mom started using a computer in her early 50's. She is far from the technically-inclined Internet/Email/Chat/Facebook/Myspace generation of today.

But don't let her lack of competence fool you. There's gold in them there hills. Here are some of my mom's odd habits and some possible lesson's learned:

1. My mom likes spam. Well, let's just say she loves seeing a large number of new items in her Inbox. I knew something's up when she'd tell me she urgently has to check her email. Then I thought to myself: "who the hell is emailing my mother?" It turns she just likes getting email. Also, all those annoying newsletters from Overstock, Sears or Banana Republic? She likes them.
   Lesson Learned: People enjoy the feeling of being involved and connected to others - even if it isn't what we'd view as "legitimate" activity.
2. She doesn't know the difference between a search box and a URL box. This one blew me away. I was walking her through some task on the phone and I asked her to put a particular URL into her browser. She kept trying to no avail. It turned out she was putting the URL into the Google search box. She makes no distinction between interface controls in applications and inside of web sites.
   Lesson Learned: Never assume that a typical user knows of or cares about the technical delineations that we're so conscious of. Yes, an HTML form tag is a world away from the controls within the chrome of a browser application, but many people don't know or care about that distinction. When designing, try to consciously break down the technical walls we respect so much.
3. My mom has one login...for everything. I've set up most of the user accounts for my mom: desktop, email, Yahoo, Facebook and we've made it a point to use the same login everywhere. As a result, mom has no notion of her user accounts being stored in various places. She's actually living the unified authentication dream we're all seeking.
   Lesson Learned: Innovations in technology aren't just about new processor chips and brilliant code libraries. They're as much about creating illusions of seamlessness, elegance and downright smarts. Very often that's as much about trickery as it is about actual technical innovation.
4. My mom likes malware. Months ago, my mom called me laughing hysterically: "You have to come see this! Every time I play a song Scooby Doo comes out and and dances on my desktop!" As soon as I heard this, I knew that some insidious malware had made it onto my mom's PC. As Scoopy danced, Lord knows what that software was doing underneath. Still, it was a pleasant surprise that made my mom really happy, even for a brief period of time.
   Lesson Learned: While a user's experience shouldn't be jarring or unpredictable, people may enjoy something unexpected if done well. I remember really loving the Easter eggs and hidden tricks in games. Another example is Google's ever-changing logo on it's main search page. It's a subtle twist, but people enjoy it.
5. She keeps every one of her contacts as a "task" on her Yahoo account. This one is bizarre. My Yahoo has a nice, full-featured personal contacts application built into it. My mom doesn't have a single contact stored properly in Yahoo. Instead she keeps all her contacts in the Note field in the Tasks portion of Yahoo Calendar. Each contact is a "task" stored haphazardly without any sort of useful sorting or filtering. I asked my mom why she put them there instead of in Contacts. She was annoyed by the question but then explained that she tried this and it worked the first time. So she kept doing it.
   Lesson Learned: There a few lessons here. (1) Don't assume people know what "Contacts" or "Tasks" or "Todos" means. Large swaths of computer users don't have a clue. (2) You can win a user over with immediate feedback of some sort of success, however small. My mom immediately saw that tasks worked and so she kept using it. (3) Don't intimidate users. The "New Task" dialog is far less complex than the "New Contact" dialog. "Less" means less pain for novices.
6. She has never used Google. My mom is locked into the Yahoo ecosystem. Email. Messenger. She views search as search and hasn't fallen into a particular brand loyalty. When her searches fail, she just keeps trying in the same search box. She's not an exploratory user. Instead, she finds her groove somewhere and sticks to it. When she does lock in, she makes a big assumption: "now I have to use it right otherwise anything that may go wrong is my fault."
   Lesson Learned: When things go wrong, many users assume that they've done something wrong - not the tool they're using. If "errors" occur, be wary of who you correct, and speak constructively.
7. She inadvertantly invites me to join crappy services all the time. Rarely does a week go by without my mom inviting me into social networking sites that I would otherwise never bother with (e.g. Hi5). When I bring up these invitations, she doesn't have a clue what I'm talking about, throws up her arms and declares "I have no idea what I'm doing!"
   Lesson Learned: Don't deceive, trick or somehow coax users into doing things they wouldn't otherwise do. Don't make users regret ever leaving that checkbox checked on that signup form. It doesn't engender good things, only mistrust.

Of course, moms teach all sorts of valuable life lessons, but in their blissful ignorance of technology, they (and anyone else that isn't skilled with computers) can inadvertently teach us a whole lot more.

So if you're looking to improve your product experience or want to reach a broader, less savvy audience, what are you waiting for. Call your mother!

I’ve decided to start a quick series of posts on design artefacts. Basically all the documents, diagrams, designs and other outputs you create during the design process. These artefacts include the following items, although I’m sure you can think of more. As the series progresses I’ll link all the items up for ease of navigation.

• Content Inventory
• Competitor Analysis
• Personas and Wireframes
• Site Maps and User Flow Diagrams
• Low Fidelity Paper Prototypes
• Interactive Prototypes
• Usability Testing Reports
• Mood Boards
• Rapid Design Iterations
• Page Designs
• HTML/CSS Templates

These artefacts are often called ‘deliverables’ as they tend to get sent to clients for formal sign-off. Sadly I think we’ve got so fixated with the project management value of these ‘deliverables’ we’ve started to overlook their real value.

During this series I’m going to argue that the benefit of these documents is formative rather than summative. That, rather than being a milestone for checking the validity and progress of your designs, they are actually critical to the formation of the design itself.

If this is the case, which I believe it is, I’m also going to suggest that we stop treating them as traditional ‘deliverables’ and handing them over to clients for approval. Instead I’m going to suggest that we work with our clients in a more collaborative and iterative manner, using a process of passive approval instead.