tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51017562012-01-24T10:54:57.556-08:00David Stewart's BlogDavid Stewartnoreply@blogger.comBlogger142125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-92150982049051420172011-12-15T14:31:00.000-08:002011-12-15T16:03:48.696-08:002011-12-15T16:03:48.696-08:00

There are few things I hate more in the world than Fox News and Infographics. Although my dislike comes from different things, they both share a common disregard for representing data and in fact, do many things that actively work against the truths that lie in data. Let's start with Fox News. I'll just set aside all the misinformation and hate they spew and the entire novel one could right on

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2011/12/infographics-and-war-on-data.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-4929389346036158132011-12-11T20:47:00.000-08:002011-12-14T06:32:40.559-08:002011-12-14T06:32:40.559-08:00

As I entered Sunset Presbyterian Church this morning the sound of our music ministry filled the halls. I love this team. They rock. Seriously. Jay McKinney and his team along with the amazing production of Janet Fraser never fail to reach my heart and move me in profound ways.  However, this morning something made me roll my eyes. O Come, O Come Emanuel. Not another Christmas service. Ugh. This

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com4http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2011/12/real-reason-for-season.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-56401274194607680032011-12-07T10:05:00.001-08:002011-12-20T15:58:16.372-08:002011-12-20T15:58:16.372-08:00

The Crew Yesterday I worked from home. No, I didn't "work from home". I flat out worked. Like a mad man. If I list out the things I accomplished it's kind of mind blowing: Combed through pages and pages of user interview notes to find tasks for a mental models exercise. Conference call with sales to iron out some SOW issues. Caulked the bathroom sink. Hung Christmas lights in the front

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2011/12/working-home-without-air-quotes.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-76706222147257697792011-06-27T13:23:00.000-07:002011-06-27T13:23:35.230-07:002011-06-27T13:23:35.230-07:00

This started out as a simple comment on this post by Gizmodo. After a few paragraphs I decided I should just blog it: I drive a 1964 Buick Skylark. No power windows or doors, no gps, no fuel injection or electronic ignition or air bags. Even the one luxury it does have, power steering, is not like the speed sensitive stuff you have on modern cars. It will kill you if you aren't careful. It's a

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com1http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2011/06/this-was-supposed-to-be-comment-on-how.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-61849229884926877382011-06-13T11:30:00.000-07:002011-06-13T11:30:26.778-07:002011-06-13T11:30:26.778-07:00

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2011/06/from-webtrends-blog-data-makes.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-18269961817815749262011-06-13T11:24:00.000-07:002011-06-13T11:24:42.782-07:002011-06-13T11:24:42.782-07:00

With the release of Analytics 10, the culmination of over a year's worth of work, I blogged about our design process. Analytics 10 Part 2: The Design Process

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2011/06/analytics-10-design-process.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-24959209471984094042011-03-30T20:12:00.000-07:002011-03-30T20:12:45.403-07:002011-03-30T20:12:45.403-07:00

I was cleaning out my screenshots folder (read: procrastinating) the other day and it turned out to be a fun little ride down memory lane. I don't remember why I took some of them but a few of them made me laugh. Some of them are things I found funny, others are bugs I found, and some are just random. Check them out:

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2011/03/best-screenshots-of-2010.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-26060097405643324032011-03-09T14:45:00.000-08:002011-03-30T20:05:58.346-07:002011-03-30T20:05:58.346-07:00

Updated: We're back together. I just couldn't stay away. I tried a few runs with the Adidas MiCoach, but in the end I came back to the loving embrace of Nike+ (with Runkeeper as well). MiCoach is very cool. Although the site is in flash, it has some very robust coaching features. Very flexible and easy to set up. However, the in-run display and app experience were lacking. The in-run display is

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com1http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2011/03/when-technology-fails-people-die-or.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-87246393969671310432011-02-11T13:37:00.000-08:002011-02-11T13:39:40.008-08:002011-02-11T13:39:40.008-08:00

Nobody reads Entertainment Weekly. Sorry, that was mean. I'm sure people do. But most people just look at the cover while waiting in line at the grocery store. And really only when Megan Fox is on the cover who, by the way, is filming a new rom-com with Adam Scott and some other dude (worked in a plug, your welcome). For comic reference: https://twitter.com/#!/elizabethbanks/status/

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-i-dont-care-that-adam-scott-is-not.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-90500916266024513182010-12-02T15:19:00.000-08:002010-12-02T15:19:22.424-08:002010-12-02T15:19:22.424-08:00

A short but growing list of things every Dad should share with his son: On hands in pockets: Thumbs out, cool. Thumbs in, itching your balls. On bathroom exits: Thumbs in pockets, spread. Feel loose? Your fly is down. On talking while you pee: Grunts are fine. Talk with friends. Never respond to, "hey, look at this." Ever. Make your own HR bubble. Never trust anyone else's. Never say "I

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2010/12/notes-for-my-son.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-55348942306796485772010-11-19T10:20:00.000-08:002010-11-19T10:20:54.630-08:002010-11-19T10:20:54.630-08:00

In the UX world we often get hung up on how many clicks it takes someone to do something. A product's usability can be effectively measured by how many clicks it takes to do a task. If you reduce a task's clicks from 20 to 10, give yourself a pat on the back. However, I think we're missing an important step. The mouse move. We all know about the deadly triangle of interaction where a user

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-many-clicks.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-89694237837770935282010-11-19T09:50:00.000-08:002010-11-19T09:50:41.045-08:002010-11-19T09:50:41.045-08:00

Groups suck. They really do. A friend of mine remarked how he liked the fact that his Facebook chat window was grouped in some manner. I thought I might like this idea too. I found the first thing in the Facebook UI and excitedly clicked it. I gleefully added 55 friends to this group. Some of these people are closer personal friends, some are just acquaintances. The common thread was that I met

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com1http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2010/11/dear-facebook.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-74530939593139269272010-11-15T18:18:00.000-08:002010-11-15T18:18:02.438-08:002010-11-15T18:18:02.438-08:00

This is my mantra. My motto. It came to me on my run this afternoon. A run I needed. I ran, I prayed, I got an answer. Love. Run. Repeat. I don't care if you believe in God. These are words to live by. They aren't a guarantee, they aren't new, easy, or a cure-all. They are the words I say to myself with each foot fall. Love. Run. Love. Run. Love... One of the most important things as a

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2010/11/love-run-repeat.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-81272147369633122082010-09-10T22:00:00.000-07:002010-09-11T13:50:35.741-07:002010-09-11T13:50:35.741-07:00

2 years ago, I was NOT what you'd call an avid runner. I was out of shape, overweight, and trying to get back. That is where my iPhone, Runkeeper, and the data it provides, stepped in and changed everything. I had a Nike+ Armband but the display malfunctioned because of a manufacturing defect.  I took it to the Nike Store and they gladly took it back and offered to replace it. Unfortunately, it

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com10http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2010/09/nike-gps-vs-runkeeper-rundown.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-56153198981980587682010-09-07T09:23:00.000-07:002010-09-07T09:25:08.723-07:002010-09-07T09:25:08.723-07:00

The Ping feature along with AirPlay and TV show rentals in iTunes 10 got a lot of hype in last week's press event. But the features I discovered this morning have me in fanboy-rapture.  Improved Syncing — It used to be that when you added a bunch of music, videos, photos, and apps to your iPad or iPhone you were likely to get some sort of message saying it couldn't be done for lack of

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2010/09/two-amazing-improvements-in-itunes-10.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-89625273474395688132010-07-19T21:17:00.000-07:002010-07-19T21:17:52.717-07:002010-07-19T21:17:52.717-07:00

My Mom sent me this email. It hailed the wisdom of Motor City's golden boy, Lee Iacocca and what he had to say about leadership in his book, Where Have All the Leaders Gone? (2007). It contained an excerpt. Here are some of the points taken from the email: "Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the h... is our outrage with this so called president? We should

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2010/07/lee-iaccoca-would-be-rolling-in-his.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-74388226472954445392010-06-14T14:05:00.000-07:002010-06-14T14:05:05.923-07:002010-06-14T14:05:05.923-07:00

Microsoft unveiled the new Xbox 360 design today at E3. Dayumm! This new black beauty definitely got added to my WANT list. I love my Xbox and I'm currently addicted to Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2. I made the switch to Xbox a couple years ago after waiting and waiting for GT5 to come out (which as of this post, it still hasn't) and never looked back. Xbox represents

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com2http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2010/06/new-xbox-360-beautiful-but.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-71287961886829827072010-05-07T15:37:00.000-07:002010-05-07T15:45:31.881-07:002010-05-07T15:45:31.881-07:00

This is probably NOT a bug, but it is weird. I was prototyping some alert concepts for Webtrends Insight and pasted some alert text in to a new alert dialog idea. Now, maybe the last font I used was a 479.1 pixel Telegraphico, but I don't remember it, certainly not at 479.1 pixels. Either way, this is what I got. This message is quite clear. I need to drink beer. Specifically, Photoshop CS5would

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2010/05/photoshop-cs5-wants-me-to-drink-beer.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-45258111066917998802010-05-06T21:56:00.000-07:002010-05-06T22:27:16.008-07:002010-05-06T22:27:16.008-07:00

Today I cleaned a couple weeks worth of co-worker fingerprints, 2 year-old slobber, cat hair, dust, and other awesomeness off my MacBook Pro's display. Nothing like a good wipe down. But when I got to the office supply room I was surprised to see some innovation. Now, we're making progress. As you can see in the photo, we've gone from tiny, tiny text and loads of branding to clearly labeled "wet"

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2010/05/todays-20-minute-rant-read-right-kleen.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-39392880854326996152010-05-06T09:21:00.000-07:002010-05-06T09:31:35.085-07:002010-05-06T09:31:35.085-07:00

You remember 8 mile? I do, vaguely. The song "Lose Yourself" and a hooded Eminem pacing and vomiting in a crusty bathroom are stuck in my head.I imagine this is what @wired magazine's design team went through when they were designing the Wired tablet app. I mean, you got one of the most amazing magazines ever. It's techy, the iPad and tablets are techy. You've got compelling content that speaks

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com2http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2010/05/one-shot-wireds-tablet-app-fail.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-19869058187206866642010-05-04T09:50:00.000-07:002010-05-07T07:53:19.920-07:002010-05-07T07:53:19.920-07:00

I'm sure I my constant ranting about Adobe's new Creative Suite 5 release is getting old. Both my twitter followers and surrounding co-workers must be tired of hearing about the latest UX faux pas from Adobe every 5 minutes.But here's the thing, it's really infuriating. For better or worse, my job requires me to work with Adobe's line of products. On a daily basis, I work in Photoshop,

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2010/05/more-cs5-ranting.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-21069428298683869852010-04-30T16:40:00.000-07:002010-04-30T16:59:43.686-07:002010-04-30T16:59:43.686-07:00

Ever since Adobe introduced the tabbed file window in CS4 I have had a serious problem. The tabbed file window is great in many ways but it has a fatal flaw. A flaw that I run into every fucking day. Content-aware fill, 3D motion, applying paint effects, and moving a refs arms around might be something YOU do everyday. It's not for me. Those features are cool, but I'll use them once or twice

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2010/04/adobe-photoshop-cs5-fail.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-27906260027558547382010-04-13T15:39:00.000-07:002010-04-13T15:43:53.366-07:002010-04-13T15:43:53.366-07:00

This was my first year at SWSX. It was an inspiring rush of creative energy and geek fun. Here are some highlights:Put More Xbox in Your UX:Josh Knowles from Gilt Groupe and many other well know projects talked about rewarding and empowering users through challenges, accolades, and the structure of rules. His example was the game of soccer, a simple game of kicking a ball around made infinitely

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com2http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2010/04/im-still-drunk-on-awesomeness.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-28771762207922589542009-06-29T16:09:00.001-07:002009-06-29T16:09:57.024-07:002009-06-29T16:09:57.024-07:00

Download now or watch on posterous Google_Street_View.m4v (6788 KB) I noticed this new feature a couple weeks ago on Google Maps but I really didn't appreciate it until I actually used it. Trying to locate the PF Chang's in downtown Portland, I was able to zoom around the Pearl District like a super hero. Simply amazing. I took some video of it just to show

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2009/06/google-street-view-just-blew-my-mind.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5101756.post-74062531936773224872009-06-29T15:32:00.001-07:002009-06-29T15:32:01.839-07:002009-06-29T15:32:01.839-07:00

An old picture I found in the National Archives. They're copyright free and very cool. Posted via email from David's posterous

David Stewartnoreply@blogger.com0http://skylark64.blogspot.com/2009/06/trying-posterous.html