It’s so plain and simple, nothing fancy. I love it.

With all the different web apps popping up with too eye-candy designs, and fancy aesthetics, 37signals design looks pale in comparison which gives a feeling that it’s not for non-sense. And, yes, I love straight-to-the-point, nothing fancy UI designs. I guess back in the early days of Web 2.0, 37signals looks fancy if you compare it to the corporate websites.

But one thing I realized just now is that 37signals has a very delightful content design. Their brief instructions, blurbs neatly place around their app is the strength of their design. Just enough, witty thoughts around their app makes you feel the people behind it really cares for their product.

• You can start with usability books by Steve Krug – but the thing with Krug’s books is that they are mostly about websites (note that websites are different from web apps). If you are into creating software applications, I guess it’s best you start with Alan Cooper’s book.
• If you think books are too expensive, and you do not have much patience of reading them. Try following designers’ blogs or even just their tweets. Creating Passionate Users blog by Kathy Sierra is a nice fun read — it’s such a waste that she stopped blogging. If you’re into eye-candy designs, you can check Smashing Magazine – from there you will find a good list of different designers who you can follow.
• Use as many software applications you can — from desktop to web to mobile and all sorts of applications. Then, observe how these applications are put up. You would notice that one application may be good at their interface design, another may be good at their workflow design, another maybe good at their content design. Just now, I notice that one thing that makes 37signals (note: I’m not a big fan of 37signals) is their content design. Their copywrite , their short instruction, their eeny weeny warning texts are simply delightful. So be mindful and observant in using applications  – from their landing page, to sign up, to their settings page.

After I click their Download button on their landing page, their ‘thank you’ page kind of delights me. It gives me a feeling that rockmelt team is genuine with their gratitude.

So what happen to me in a year:

* 2 web application products that were shelved off. I never see it as failure but as a very good learning experience. I guess I learned a lot of great deal about user experience design and such. In a way, I could say I have now more mature view about UX.

* 2 tech blogs focusing on Philippine scene which I’ll also be resurrecting soon from being shelved off. I really really love those 2 blogs. So help me, God.

My plan for this blog is, as usual, I’ll talk about my own view of user experience. I’ll try to write stuff that will make more sense for a 3rd-world country setting. Then, I’ll be posting here user interfaces and designs I find delightful. I guess I will be doing most of the latter since that’s easier to do.

This really looks good. But the thing is this is not usually how others work, not in our case do. With everybody in the team all developers, mostly they just code away then rewrite. Though, I believe this is a better way to do it. But I guess there are 1001 ways to kill an application. =)

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This book has been sitting on my desk for a month already but I keep delaying reading it. Instead I hop from one usability book to design related book to find answers to my question — How to design a workflow of a complex software application which is google to be used by a certain group of people but can also be applicable to a broader group of people?

I kind of ran out of books, plus all the previous books I read always makes reference to About Face of Alan Cooper so finally I decided tocut the chase, and pore myself into this ‘textbook.’ And, boy do I want to bang my head! Not because the book is bad. But because it is too beautiful, I want tosold myself for nt directly picking it up. I kind of ‘wasted’ time on other books (but not really. Books are always a treasure.)

It is something I want to finish fast so I could learn fast. But at the same time, it is something I want to take it slow — to relish the moments, to read and re-read it until I miss nothing.

I just read Chapter 1 but I learned basic important matter of software designing and that is Goal-oriented Design. Aesthetics and task-centered are all cotton-candy techy terms. It does not relate to best products. It’s the Goal-Oriented Design.

I promise to post a summary of important thoughts for every chapter so expect it from my future posts here.

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For a number of ‘pop’ blog sites I created, I notice that the ‘About’ page is rarely visited. It is something I cannot explain why because I am big fan of ‘About’ page. If I read an interesting post or not an interesting post, I always heed to the ‘About’ page before leaving a site. But somehow, it is not the case for most website viewers.

So sometimes I think, why go through the hassle of putting an ‘About’ page when only 1 or 5 in a month of viewers will only read that page?

So is being a non-hit page enough reason to not make an About page? Let us not forget about the 20/80 rule which goes something like that of all the users/subscribers of your application or website, 20% is the only most active, most interested, and are willing to pay for your product. I guess those very few people who landed on your About page is the 20% of your audience. As such, they do deserve an About page filled with relevant information as they are the most interested audience of yours. They do not deserve to left empty-handed.

So go create an About page with much passion, even if nobody will bother to read it.

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Posted via web from Posterose