Monthly Archives: January 2009

Cheap and Free Alternatives to Morae: Usability Testing Software.

I’ve spoken to a few people recently who want a free / cheap PC app for recording usability tests, i.e. a screen recorder that does picture in picture. On a Mac, the solution is easy to find – it’s Silverback … Continue reading

The role of paper prototyping in the discovery of DNA’s structure

If you don’t know the story of how the role and structure of DNA was discovered, you really should read the full article that I quote below, or even better, read The Double Helix by James D Watson (a charmingly … Continue reading

Prototyping with Excel – weird or wonderful?

While I had this on my screen yesterday, the reactions of people walking past ranged from chuckling (“Is that for real?”) to asking enthusiastically if I had a copy to lend out. I’m not going to write my opinion here, … Continue reading

No rest for the wicked: a UX designer’s job is never done

Parag Deshpande asked me to explain about Wicked Problems, so here’s a quick rundown. I’m not going to write a long post since this has been written about extensively elsewhere (including wikipedia). So, what is a Wicked Problem? It means … Continue reading

Why you shouldn’t rush into a solution too quickly

Here’s a lovely series of pictorial slides from Iain Barker on the perils of rushing into a design solution too quickly. Taken from Iain’s OzChi ’08 presentation “Context is everything”

What initial wireframe sketches should look like.

Check out these initial sketches for the Scribd user interface. This is what they should look like: messy and conceptual. For some reason, a lot of people still don’t get this. Being able to draw is a bonus, not a … Continue reading

Objectified Trailer

Objectified is a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design by Gary Hustwit, the same guy who did Helvetica. If you haven’t already seen the trailer, here it is. Read more here.