Interface Design Is About Passion and Experience. Don’t Forget To Build With Compassion When Designing Your UI.
There are some applications I never used or expected to use for more then a few days. And in any given week I try out about 10 – 15 new applications. I do this because I love analyzing and predicting new trends, design patterns, and visualizing work-flows. Usually, I end up with using 0 of these applications after a few months.
I’ve been banging my head against a wall trying to figure this question out for some time now. Can existing in an agile development cycle truly create the best ui design? I’ve worked in Agile development environments. I’ve worked with structured project management. I’ve worked in locations where I am the project leader.
The other day I was pumping some gas at the gas station only to be accosted by the latest in drive by guerilla marketing. Nowadays, it is quite common to find little kiosks setup outside of major business selling everything from makeup to car polisher. It’s as if the strip mall has come to us. It’s like carnies are part of everyday life now. And this is where my story begins – (cue flashback).
The other day I came across an interesting article “Stop Developing for Internet Explorer 6” . My initial thought was great I finally can stop developing for IE 6. Of course, that was just a pipedream. On many of my applications I still have a large captive IE 6 audience. Unfortunately, I can’t quite yet yank the rug out from them and force upgrades.
IE 6 gives me headaches beyond belief. Instead of developing standardized code. I sometimes have to bastardize the syntax. Even when using my own modified reset.css style sheet inspired by Eric Meyer there are still issues that pop up that cause additional work.
IE 6 is a demon that still won’t go away. Sadly, I still have to make my time sacrifice to the demon. I can only hope that Google Chrome will solve IE 6 issues sooner so we as experience, web application, and web designers don’t have to suffer through the tortue and pain of a relatively new browser on the scene.
You didn’t think I was going to reveal it so quickly did you? Of course not, I like everyone to learn a little bit before they get the answer. There is nothing wrong with being forced to think a bit.
Let me back up a little and begin there. The other day I was driving home from work and recently started on a new UI project. I was going through my normal routines when presented with a project. I start to ruminate over all the things I can do and how all the various functions of this new application would tie together. As I pondered this in between paying attention to traffic and driving, one core question popped into my head. A light bulb snapped and thus this article was born. I realized just how many designers, and developers, forget to ask one magic question.
Maybe they are strapped for time, burned out, or whatever the reason might be. You need to ask yourself this question!
I highly recommend Luke Wroblewski’s book “Web Form Design Filling in the Blanks.” I first came across this book many months back and since then it has retained a coveted spot on my reference shelf.
First off let me state it’s been awhile since I have posted. This is mainly because projects have kept me busy.
Lately, I’ve been trying to push the power of paper-prototyping. It’s a tough concept to get across though because some just don’t see the value. In fact, the customer, BA, Product Owner, just want you to show the customer a mocked up (coded) prototype. This is nerve racking because problems and issues in the design can be ferreted out much quicker using the paper prototyping method.
The idea for this design blog first came about two years ago at 
at SXSW Interactive.
Inside, I cover articles on many topics icluding: lessons, prototyping methods, agile UX methods, design reviews, design challenges, application features, and of course design experiences, just to name a few.
With all the blogs out there you may be asking yourself who are you to give advice? That's a fair question. If you have a moment feel free to read about my design history.
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