[Design Blogs] Great design blogs

Here are some good design blogs that I really enjoy reading. Thanks to those bloggers who devote lots of their time sharing their ideas and talents to us. Happy designing.

http://www.tutorial9.net/
http://designfabulous.blogspot.com/
http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/

[Google Phone Call] awsome service with tiny problems

Yesterday I found out a new and awesome service that Google provides-- Call Phone via Gmail. Since I'm a Google Voice user (just criticized it the other day lol) the option automatically shows up in my chatting list and it's really easy to make a (free) call to a US number if I'm sitting in front of my laptop with internet access. Wow! I guess I won't use up my minutes anymore (sincere apology to my family plan members). I did notice a small UI problem. When I'm dialing, Google pulls out the contacts from my stored contact list (kinda like autocomplete), but the results blocked the virtual keypad on the screen so I have to type with my physical keyboard instead. I mean, it's not a big deal but it's kinda dumb and even Skype doesn't have this problem.

I searched a bit just wanted to see others geeks' comments on this service, apparently others found more problems than me.

PCMAG.com: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2368315,00.asp

Well as long as it's free (??) I still like it.
Just a note to myself, this is how I send/reply SMS thru my Google Voice using Android.
How to SMS with Google Voice from Any Mobile Phone

[Google Search] the power of autocomplete

I feel so sorry to criticize Google a lot recently because of their ugly UI. I'm 98% sure they are working on it they just haven't figured out what they should do haha. But apparently besides that Google is still doing a great job on user experience design, especially on what they are famous for -- the Search. This morning I just found something really interesting and cool about one of their searching features.

Go to www.google.com and type a key word in the search box, but don't hit enter. Here you'll see a list (approximate 10) results that might be the ones you're looking for. Autocomplete is nothing new. It becomes an essential part of searching since it serves 2 functions:
1)Save some time and energy to go to the next result page.
2)Refresh users' long term memory and remind them what they are searching for.

What we usually get from autocomplete are something really short and simple, which totally makes sense. But, fabulous Google shows the title + the URL of the first result. This feature increase and extend the beauty of autocomplete: by seeing the titles and URLs, users get more detailed information of the top result and it's easier for them to decide if they want to select/modify/abandon this key word search.

Devil and Angel both live in the details.

[Graphic Design] Michael Bierut: 5 Secrets from 86 notebooks

http://vodpod.com/watch/2403137-michael-beirut-5-secrets-from-86-notebooks#

Another interesting talk from Bierut: Helvetica-PERIOD.

[Gmail] Nice features but ugly buttons...as usual

This is a great article I found on PC world making comments on the recent changes of Gmail.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/203046/gmail_revamped_a_handson_look.html?tk=hp_blg
-- Written by Ian Paul

I can definitely understand the great features that smart Google trying to bring to the world, and users will NOT abandon gmail or the other services because of some usability or UI issues. However, I really don't like the button of Compose mail/ New contact. It looks like the buttons in my lo-fi prototypes, which, ummm, usually has nothing to do with aesthetics. I had the same feeling toward YouTube and honestly to say, I think Google is growing backward.

[UCD] Don Norman's view on UCD @ IIT Design Research Conference 2010

Don Norman at IIT Design Research Conference 2010:

“You gotta be careful too, because there are a lot of these research methods, like the rapid prototyping, like the ideation, like the brainstorming methods, like the ethnography, and so on, there is actually no real evidence that it makes a difference. Apple computer is a good example. You think they do design research? No. When I was at Apple, we did a lot of design research [...] We did a lot. We worried about all these fundamental things. We did user studies. We went to people’s homes. [...] You know what Steve jobs did when he arrived? He fired all of us! And guess what resulted? Better products! Which have revolutionized the way we use machines. And he fired the usability groups as well.” – Don Norman at DRC 2010

Watch the original video here:

Don Norman at IIT Design Research Conference 2010 from IIT Institute of Design on Vimeo.

This is an inflammatory conversation. Norman's view would definitely make UX practitioners panic. I think he as a master in this field was trying to remind UX designers one important and fundamental thing: think more about products. Know the products by numbers, know the products by technology, know the products by needs. UCD makes products better, but technology change makes products to the next level. Norman indicated that 99% of innovation is the incremental type (driven by UCD) and the big jump is rare (created by some freaking smart teenagers I think).

To all newbies and to myself-- Don't panic. Keep working hard on design and research, but at the same time make yourselves competitive technology wise. If you're a super genius then go follow Steve Jobs, but if you're smart do your best to make the world a better place :)

[Google Search] Searching alternatives

My company restricted Urban Dictionary…but as a non-native I need it all the time. Google provides a cool way to look up information without entering the web pages, which means a lot to users like me who got banned from using some sites because of secure issues.

I could not get into www.urbandictionary.com itself, but if I searched for it, the first result showed me the Title, the URL, a few quick links to submenus, and a search box. I typed the term I wanted to know in the box and the “Search urbandicionary.com” button lead me to a list of searching results; I still couldn’t see the full texts but 3 lines of explanation was good enough for me to understand the meaning of the vocab. Alternative is always good.