Category : Visualization

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…

The last several weeks here at Kristian Andersen + Associates have been a very busy time indeed. Last week, as we wrapped up our work for ExactTarget’s Connections User Conference, we decided to treat ourselves to a new office toy – a Nintendo Wii and a copy of Rock Band 2. Perfect for unwinding after a hard day’s work, or simply to make complete fools of ourselves when the mood takes us.

I’d already been playing Rock Band for a couple of months, the guitar being my instrument of choice. I’ve managed to work my way up to playing on Hard level, and even on Expert on a few of the more simple songs. Late Saturday night I had the…

The visual display of data and information is about to explode — or maybe it already has. It's been an area of design expertise for many years, but we're now faced with more mountains of data than ever before, and they're staggeringly high.

The image above, a visualization of 50 years of space exploration, is one example how data visualizations have risen in popularity. They've gained an aura of coolness, kind of like rock posters (in some circles anyway). Firms such as Visual Complexity focus exclusively on this design niche. And we've seen more and more data visualization websites like We Feel Fine and DAYTUM pop up over the last couple of years and…

I'm just now getting around to synthesizing the notes I took at Edward Tufte's course in Indianapolis back in August. If you ever have the chance to attend a Tufte course or seminar, don't hesitate (I was really surprised I didn't see more people from the Indy design community there). Not a moment went by in which he wasn't poignant, concise,and engaging. To top it off, every attendee received a copy of each of his four books.

There were more quotables in that eight hour course then you could shake a stick at. Here are a handful the choicest thoughts I took away:

• Don't waste time visualizing information than doesn't need it. People aren't stupid.
• Never dumb things down.
• Overproducing information is dishonest and manipulative, and reveals a lack of performance.
• Don't get original, get