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In all likelihood you probably read the first five (or perhaps only two) words of the first paragraph before skipping down to here. Many of you can probably recite the first line off by heart, but most likely all of you know what the text's name and primary usage is. Used as placeholder…
In the last few months here at Kristian Andersen + Associates, we have become increasingly more involved in iPhone application user experience/user interface design. Our existing experience with UX/UI design for the web was a great jumping-off point, plus we're all day-one iPhone users and are virtually tethered to them right throughout the day.
Our most recent app engagement began in the usual way, collaborating with the client on multiple rounds of wireframes and process maps, dialing in the inner workings and structure of the app itself. When we started to move forward into the initial visual prototypes the ideas for the navigation and overall aesthetic came fast, but we quickly realized something just didn't 'feel' right. It didn't take long before we realized why and just…
Recently I was fortunate enough to become certified in Landing Page Optimization (LPO) after attending a one-day course presented by Dr. Flint McGlaughlin of MarketingExperiments, an internet-based research lab that conducts experiments in optimizing sales and marketing processes. The primary goal of LPO is to optimize the content and appearance of landing pages to make them more appealing to a target audience, in order improve the conversion rate of website visitors that become sales leads or customers.
Having been a designer for nearly 12 years I’ve designed my fair share of websites and landing pages, and I was skeptical about how much I could really learn from this course. However, as we dug deeper into the science of LPO I…
Below is a presentation on Personal Branding that I presented at the Notre Dame Campus Communicators Summit on January 7, 2010, in South Bend, Indiana.
Let me come right out and say that I think the term "personal branding" is pretty lame, but there does seem to be some common understanding as to what the term means. So in the interest of fostering continuity and establishing a shared vocabulary, that's what I'm running with. I hope that in 10 years, I will still be using…
Lately we've been talking a lot about the elements of a successful design project. We thought it would be interesting, and helpful to other readers, to hear a bit more about other folk's successes and how they were achieved. Tell us about the client, the challenge, and the solution.
As UX continues to establish itself as an integral player in business, there is an unquestionable need for methods, frameworks, and other repeatable/scientific processes. But what do you do when the science isn't working? Or when the rules run out, and there's no clear next step?
Too Much Science in Business?
In a recent interview, Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management, argues that "corporations are pushing analytical thinking so far that it's become unproductive." An over-reliance on science puts businesses in a position where they try and prove ideas through reasoning. This approach leaves very little room for intuition and leaps of faith, which is why, according to Martin, American innovation has become increasingly…
I recently read a post on Fastcompany.com winning proposal at the WPA 2.0 competition, to design a series of Algae Pontoon Parks in New York. The parks will connect Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Governors Island and employ algae to capture carbon emissions along urban arteries.
Below is a brief description from Port Architects and their plans to capture these emissions, through their project, Carbon T.A.P.
1. ) Algae is one of the most robust classifications of life on earth. Thriving on every continent, it is highly adaptive to any physical environment where it is able to derive energy from photosynthesis and the uptake of organic carbon, particularly in the form of CO2.
2.) Unfortunately though, atmospheric CO2…
One Small Project is a movement initiated by Wes Jans, PhD, RA associate professor of architecture at Ball State University, through which he seeks to connect fellow architects, students, artists, and designers with "Squatters" and the world's working and urban poor. By building small projects, Wes provides an opportunity for these two group to work alongside one another.
I had the honor of working with Wes during my time at Herron by helping him create a visualization of his One Small Project for an upcoming exhibition titled "small architecture BIG LANDSCAPES". The exhibit – scheduled to open at the Sheldon Swope Museum in Terre Haute, Indiana, in the spring of 2010 – will showcase the works of various artists…
It might have caught your attention several weeks back when professor Elinor Ostrom from Indiana University was announced as a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics, alongside Berkeley'sOliver E. Williamson, for her work in economic governance and the organization of cooperation. It was pretty awesome that she was the first female laureate in the 40 year history, but what was more meaningful was the work for which she was rewarded. As one of her interviewers summed it up:
Elinor's cooperation theories have the potential "to catch the public imagination... people getting involved in their own governance."
Trendwatching.com, one of the world's leading consumer trends firms, released their report on NOWISM this month.
As a consumer, I can certainly understand the urge to have everything right now. But as a provider of a service, I’ve learned that there are benefits to those who wait. Here at KA+A, we serve a bevy of clients whose jobs are to fulfill customers who need their product or service on-demand: they need the latest data on their customers right now; they needed a new feature of the product yesterday; and they need to get the software rolled out in their company with little or no training. Satisfying these needs are no problem – their businesses are founded on…
