Taking Stock of the iPod + iTunes User Experience
In April of 2003, I chronicled my first experience using the iTunes music store in a blog entry titled Tuning In, Turning Up, and Taking Change. Already it feels like the new thing, making the way things were seem like such an ancient memory (if not ethically questionable). In minutes I had downloaded and purchased [...]
User Personas as Product Design
Lately, I’ve noticed some anecdotal evidence which suggests that brand marketers and product designers have been moving the time-honored practice of user personas away from their normal confines on the product designer’s cubicle wall for occasional reference and elevating them to a place where they’re least expected–smack dab on the final product. Case in point, [...]
Stumbling Towards the Purpose Within
I’ve long accepted the fact that the job I go to everyday shouldn’t be the primary place to go searching for self-worth and fulfillment in my life. Don’t get me wrong. That’s in no way meant to disparage any circumstance or person in my career, past or present. I’ve enjoyed my gigs fondly enough. It’s [...]
Self-Checkout at Wal-mart
Having worked as a design consultant on several point-of-sale systems for national retail, I find myself evaluating self-checkout stations as I come across them in my everyday routine–even when I don’t particularly want to. It’s a sickness I can’t escape these days. One system that I find particularly offensive–and I say that with my “user” [...]
Meet Mr. Usability
The scene opens as Mr. Usability sits and watches TV on a quiet Sunday afternoon. Enter Wife holding a red and white envelope strewn with the familiar Netflix logo. The paper appears tattered and worn, with a tear that almost splits the envelope in half. Wife: You really did a number on this envelope. That’s [...]
