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The last resort of failing tech companies is UX design – it won’t save them

Jan01
by on January 1, 2019 at 1:00 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Design & Dev, syndication


Facebook is using billboards to demonstrate their commitment to fighting fake news. Uber is running TV spots to illustrate the company’s commitment to doing good. Once considered disruptors, digital companies are now using the same strategies oil and tobacco companies used back in the ’90s to project the illusion of an optimistic future — while their design teams are still tied to aggressive, revenue-driven, short-term metrics. Tech companies have often been on the wrong side of the conversation for the past few years, by creating tools and systems that support unhealthy business practices in the pursuit of growth. For decades, we have been…

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a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

Here’s why calendars look the way they do

Jan01
by on January 1, 2019 at 1:00 am
Posted In: Around the Web, Design & Dev, syndication


What is the first image you visualize in your head when you think about a calendar? Probably a table with numbers arranged in seven columns and five rows (or six row depending on day one) to display the full month ahead. We use it every day, whether on your phone or on your wall. Same design no matter the medium, the same format has moved from posters to digital apps without any alteration. We are surrounded by objects that have history, sometimes that span centuries, and we completely ignore it. Anytime I encounter design patterns that are so well embedded…

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a couple of laughzillas on a blue diamond background

Here’s why telephones and calculators use different numeric keypads

Dec31
by on December 31, 2018 at 1:00 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Design & Dev, syndication


Picture the keypad of a telephone and calculator side by side. Can you see the subtle difference between the two without resorting to your smartphone? Don’t worry if you can’t recall the design. Most of us are so used to accepting the common interfaces that we tend to overlook the calculator’s inverted key sequence. A calculator has the 7–8–9 buttons at the top whereas a phone uses the 1–2–3 format. Subtle, but puzzling since they serve the same functional goal — input numbers. There’s no logical reason for the inversion if a user operates the interface in the same way.…

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