Skills for Present and Future UX Practitioners
The era of the lone designer is pretty much over. When it comes to selecting the best candidates for work in experience design positions, design rationale and the process are becoming more important the the actual quality of the portfolio. There is considerable movement away from a skill set and towards a problem solving mindset or world view. Individual skill sets (javaScript, design, coding) are becoming commoditized. A generalist with shallow understanding of design, code,... Read More
The Singularity of My Career
I love brevity. Conciseness. Densely packed goodness with a creamy middle. You can imagine how relieved I felt when my whole career, my reason for being was reduced to a single class at the University of Michigan. All that I am and all that I know in a single graduate class at a mid-western college. Awesome. Awesome to the max. Read More
Adaptive Path MX versus UX
After attending both MX Week 2007 in San Francisco and UX Week 2007 in Washington DC, I think I enjoyed MX more. Both were fantastic conferences. If I could boil it down to a single observation, it would be that MX leaned strategic and UX leaned tactical. If strategy and tactics were found on the Table of Elements, strategy would live several rows south of tactics. Being much denser, I found it hard to capture all that I witnessed. But that density has proven to be a set of new... Read More
Company
Dilbert. Office Space. The Office. And now … Company. Every so often, something comes along that just nails corporate life so perfectly. I recently finished reading Company by Max Barry. Company is a ruthless and hysterical sendup of all things that make corporate life ever so much fun. The ending kind of starts to run out of steam but the humor will last long after you forget how it ends. At the very least, check it out from the library. Or better yet, do what I did and... Read More
Irish Virus in DC
I have been in Washington DC metropolitan area now for several days and have visited no less than four faux Irish pubs. Let me be clear that I did not seek out these establishments. It’s just that they are everywhere. A local informed me that they are a “virus” and there is no end in sight. Funny, I never heard anyone call Starbucks a virus. Man, I hope we catch the Irish Virus in my city. Read More
Surrounded by Live Bloggers
I just noticed as I sit here at UX Week 2007 that I am surrounded by people live blogging. Judging from the screens I see all around me, WordPress is the clear favorite. Way to go, WordPress! Read More
Why, Muse Why?
Sigh, I know that it is nearly a law or something that major label bands have to have a Flash website. But Muse’s site is a clear example of why I hate total Flash websites. I wonder how much they paid for such an unusable mess. Read More
Charlie and Lola
My son loves Charlie and Lola. Before I get lectured about how awful it is for children under the age of two to watch television, let me just say that he rarely ever watches television. A MacBook playing the DVD on a flight across country or a distraction from late night (teething) wailing is usually the right time for the sweetest little show to come out of Brittania in quite a while. Read More
