The Royal College of Art’s graduate show has opened, and this year, the show-stopper was a plug. Min-Kyu Choi impressed every passer by with his neat, apparently market-ready plug that folds down to the width of an Apple MacBook Air. “The MacBook Air is the world’s thinnest laptop ever. However, here in the UK, we still use the world’s biggest three-pin plug,” says Choi.

Read more on iconeye.com

What design researchers can learn from hostage negotiators
“In essence, both parties are attempting to establish a relationship, both are trying to keep the communication flowing, and most importantly, both are trying to extract valuable data.”

Murals for the Library Initiative

And check out the identity for the Library Initiative.

Typekit has gone from invite only to open registration.

What is Typekit? Think of it as YouTube for fonts. With it you can consistently display non-standard fonts on websites. Previous solutions haven’t been as easy to use, nor have they been as respectful of type foundries’ rights. Despite a (currently) somewhat limited amount of fonts from which to choose, Typekit is win-win.

Take a look at “Attention font nerds” above. It isn’t an image. You can copy the characters. They’ll be indexed by search engines and be read by screen readers.

A word of caution

Typekit might let us express ourselves more effectively on the web but it could also lead to some ransom note looking pages. Please be responsible with Typekit. When in doubt, limit your font use to one serif and one sans-serif per page. Use size, color and weight for emphasis.

Content is not a nice-to-have extra. Content is a star of the user experience show. Let’s make content shine.

Here’s a quick before and after from the recently redesigned District of Columbia Public Library website. Even without clicking the images to see them full size it is clear that the second one is easier to read.

Before

This page coldly presents library policy.

After

This revised page is conversational and answers real questions.

There’s no point putting information on the web, even if you think it is interesting or useful, if it isn’t easy to find, read & process.

By the way, I’m fully aware that the most convenient thing on this Get A Card page would be an actual form with which to apply for a card online. It is on the way. Hurrah for iterative changes and continual improvement.

Opening quote by Colleen Jones via inspire ux.

Sure, there’s good food to buy but that’s not the only reason I’m a fan. While not really liking the sort of half baked tiki/naval/Pacific Islands aesthetic of the store, I like being there. I know that as soon as I pass the produce section I’ll find some coffee to sample and sip while I shop.

Also, I look forward to seeing what employees have drawn and written on the signs. Here is my favorite from earlier today.

I’d like to know how many people take the time to read these little quips.

What’s a good indicator that an organization is effectively capturing the hearts of their customers? Without solicitation, a customer makes a commercial for you.

Active Furniture is inconvenient on purpose. Reminds me of one of the times I heard someone say that they didn’t want their library’s furniture to be “too comfortable.”

10/GUI is an attempt to move away from the mouse, into realistic multi-touch computing. Don’t forget, somebody (Douglas Engelbart) had to invent the mouse too.

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

This is a nice way to facilitate some positive interaction.

Check out the URL too. It is semantic and, especially for an airline, pretty short.

http://jetblue.com/help/contactus/help_contact_compliments.aspx

With its old-timey feel it really stuck out among the (sterile looking in comparison) printed signs.

Let me caution, however, that this is nearly varsity level signage strategy. The imperfections of this sign are an asset only because it is surrounded by decent looking professionally designed signs. Much like library websites need to be easy to use before they can be filled with social goodness, signs in a library would have to be cohesively well designed before they could benefit from something like this.

⌘ Grid aligned webpages using firebug & gridfox.

⌘ Mark Boulton’s classic Five Simple Steps to Designing Grid Systems.

I’ve often wondered if the “close doors” button in elevators really do anything. Turns out that sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t but they do alter our perception of what’s happening.

For more on placebo buttons and the illusion of control, see the NYT article For Exercise in New York Futility, Push Button.

[pic via]