OK so I’ve been quietly lurking and observing and shaking my head (and fist sometimes!) as I read through the recent fierce & incessant debates raging on the IxDA list over “UCD” vs “ACD” vs “genius” or “beauty vs usability”…Sigh. Folks, let’s give it a fracking rest. Geez!! Maybe because I was trained in a […]

FYI to those interested: here are the various session proposals I recently submitted for the next IxDA conference (to be held in Savannah, GA next year). They are available for public viewing and commenting, so please feel free to comment. To paraphrase IxDA’s message, your comments will allow me to help clarify, tighten, and otherwise […]

Lately I’ve been pondering this notion of “integrity” as a central ingredient in a well-designed communication, product, or service. This came up in a big way recently with the online outrage over IKEA’s decision to change their official font from a variation of Futura to Verdana, a commonplace font for web/screen usage by Microsoft. Of […]

This came up recently on the ixda discussion list regarding (yet again) in an argument about UCD/design issues…sigh. One thing that caught my eye, however: a respondent asked about the notion of “balance” and what it really means in the context of designing, how there’s multiple viewpoints on the concept. I totally agree, “balance” is […]

With the rapid and broad proliferation of “user-centered design” and “user experience” and “good design” among corporations large and small, comes a somewhat frustrating issue for IxD: now everyone thinks they’re a designer! And this of course leads to tedious academic arguments about what is truly design or “big D” design, etc. which becomes quickly […]