There has been a lot of negative press around Twitter around the blogosphere lately. I still run into a lot of clients especially who ask me what the point of Twitter is and I explain the concept of micro-blogging to them and the beauty of API which 9 times out of 10 draws a blank stare. But my focus today is about usability and Twitter. I just freshly downloaded and installed Firefox 3, and to my utter joy and astonishment 95% of my add-ons updated automatically and now work in the svelte new interface that is FF3. One of the add-ons that didn’t upgrade properly was my twitterbar extension which has proved very useful, if not a little clunky over the last few months. So in search of an upgrade, I went to the FF add-ons webpage and searched for a new Twitter extension. And lo and behold, I found something that made me feel joys in my soulz. A little plugin called TwitterFox. In every way it exceeded my expectations (which were still resting on the laurels of Twitterbar). I installed, and the interface, functionality and workflow was beautiful. I tweeted how it was going to change my twitter experience forever. I even caught a few @ messages I had missed before. I was so happy, that I forgot momentarily about Twitters woes and the questionable ‘meant to be a CMS but is something else altogether’ system its built on. Oh well, at least I still have my beautiful red TwitterFox icon.
I found this case study/ presentation on Flickr today by Juhan Sonin and there were two things about it that really struck me.
The first is just how much information there is on the web about any subject you want to know about. So since I’m interested in interface and user experience it’s all there and given an infinite amount of time and resource, I can tap into all of it and become better at what I do. Fantastic.
And the second is that this case study/presentation on interface has become its own effigy, by being converted into screenshot format and uploaded to a site which was originally intended for people to store their holiday snaps etc. etc. It’s a great idea, and I love it how a site or webtool can take on a life of its own as users driven by need, reinvent the brief for which the site was originally designed.
Hurrah, I finally got my lastgraph user information crunched for lastFM. It is a very cool tool I must say. The poster functionality is superhot and appeals to all the right parts of my data/geek personality.
Lastgraph timeline (click for the full size image)
Lastgraph poster (click for the full size image)
Lastgraph poster red super detail version (click for the full size image)
BMW show that they are thinking outside the square with this beautiful concept on skinning cars. It is great to see leading designers and manufacturers continuing on a path of innovation and pushing the boundaries of the everyday. After all, it’s very easy to get caught up in conventions that are outdated because of familiarity. This is something that I need to build into my everyday thinking as an IA. It is extremely important as an IA to know the conventions of the web and design sites around usability. But the real exciting part of the job is finding the opportunities to break conventions in an innovative way. This is what BMW are doing with this design concept. They are shocking people in a really attractive way to think outside the square. This is design on the edge (to use a cliché) where creativity redefines convention. Bravo BMW, bravo.
You know a sites popular when you are 2000th odd in a queue to see a visual representation of user data on your last.fm account. And that’s the case with this beautiful tool from lastgraph. As you can see though from the screen grab below, I’m still waiting for the result. But the teaser images promise so much.
I'm an Information Architect working in Wellington New Zealand who deals a lot with web standards, conventions and best practice every day. This is the place where I place findings, musings and facts as a repository for myself and anyone else who might benefit.
I'm an Information Architect working in Wellington New Zealand who deals a lot with web standards, conventions and best practice every day. This is the place where I place findings, musings and facts as a repository for myself and anyone else who might benefit. 
