Erin Lynn Young

Axure 6.5 Beta! Woo hoo!

Erin Lynn Young — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:41:34 +0000

Just realized on Friday that Axure 6.5 Beta has been released.

Some of the features I’m most excited about are basic ones that I’ve been waiting on for a while.

Text Links in rich text that can have interactions and annotations
Default styles for Text Links including default Mouse Over and Mouse Down styles
Rotating shapes and images
Search integrated into selection menus (selecting widgets, values, etc.)
Drag and drop image files from Windows Explorer or Finder to the diagram
Ability to upload to AxShare directly from Axure RP

Anyway, I’m an Axure geek and I’m excited to start using the latest version.

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Status Message Fail

Erin Lynn Young — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:39:29 +0000

Dear Microsoft,

Thanks for trying, but 26,195 means nothing to me. How many did you start with? How far have you gotten? How much longer do I have to wait? Please throw me (your patient user) a bone here!

Love,

Erin

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Quotes on UX Design

Erin Lynn Young — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:27:23 +0000

A thread on Quora is accumulating notable quotations about design & user experience. These are some of the ones I don’t want to lose track of:

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.
— Hans Hofmann

Questions about whether design is necessary or affordable are quite beside the point: design is inevitable. The alternative to good design is bad design, not no design at all.
— Douglas Martin, 1989

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
— Antoine de Saint-Exupery

As far as the customer is concerned, the interface is the product.
— Jef Raskin

When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.
— Buckminster Fuller, the chemical scientist

You can use an eraser on the drafting table or a sledge hammer on the construction site.
— Frank Lloyd Wright

Users spend 99% of their time on other sites.
— Jakob Nielsen

Here are some of the collections referenced in the thread:

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Simple & Smart Opportunity: An Emailed Receipt

Erin Lynn Young — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:08:08 +0000

“What’s an email address where I can send your receipt?”

Such a smart tactic.

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The Best Kept Secret in Mobile Design Patterns

Erin Lynn Young — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 01:35:14 +0000

OK, I’ll admit – it may only be the best kept secret because I haven’t ever really told anyone about it.

But basically, iphoneux.tumblr.com is my little spot for quickly posting screen grabs capturing design samples I like from iPhone apps & the mobile web.

I’m really just getting started with it, but I thought it was worth sharing. Check it out.

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Why Register?

Erin Lynn Young — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 18:22:52 +0000

I stumbled upon this design sample on a recipe at AmericasTestKitchen.com. It’s an interesting way to let the user know that registration is required to access the content they want. Does it work? I can’t make any promises… but, I registered (and their recipes are very, very thorough by the way!)

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Oh, Facebook Ads!

Erin Lynn Young — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:27:49 +0000

This ad popped up for me on Facebook today, and I found it intriguing for so many reasons:

Does Facebook know that I’ve been researching castor oil? (FYI, our little one is a week overdue.)
Are daily bathroom visits not a normal thing?
I’m not entirely sure what a “flush” is, but I know all I need to know about a product that markets itself by its ability to make one poop.

Yes, I have a lot of time on my hands as I await Greyson’s arrival. But, still.

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Design Pattern Libraries

Erin Lynn Young — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 17:30:15 +0000

Over the years, I’ve been stockpiling useful blogs and design pattern libaries so that I have a go-to list of resources when I’m in need of examples. Here’s my list, in no particular order, which I hope to keep updated over time.

Change Log

May 16, 2010: Original Post
October 22, 2011: Updated to include Mobile Design Pattern Libraries
November 21, 2011: Added Theresa Neil’s Mobile Design Pattern Library
December 1, 2011: Added my iPhone gallery

Web UI Design Pattern Libraries

Interface Design Pattern Browser: A true UI design pattern explorer produced by the Interface Design Team of the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam
Design Snips: Categorized snippets of good digital design.
Welie Interaction Pattern Library: An interaction design library pioneered by Amsterdam’s Martijn van Welie, an Interaction Design Consultant with a Ph.D. in HCI.
Open Source Design Pattern Library: A community where designers, developers, and other people interested in patterns can come to reference material, collaborate on patterns and designs and share knowledge.
MephoBox: A CSS gallery focused on collections of individual elements.
Konigi: A showcase of visual design and interface design
Quince: A community-driven UX and UI pattern libary that also offers private design pattern storage. Definitely one of the most complex and actively managed sources of design patterns.
Pattern Tap: This categorized collection of “good web” spans visual and UX design.
UI Pattern Factory: Last time I checked, this was SOURCED from the Flickr library above. A UI Design Pattern library sourced from the Flickr group.
Elements of Design: Although this is actually a design showcase, its separated by element and may therefore provide some modular design pattern inspiration.
Ext GWT Explorer Demo: This showcases interactive RIA patterns accompanied by code.

Mobile UI Design Pattern Libraries

UX on the iPhone: My informal collection of design samples from iPhone apps and the Mobile Web
Flickr Mobile Design Pattern Gallery: Over 600 examples from the upcoming book ‘Mobile Design Pattern Gallery: UI Patterns for iOS, Android and More’, O’Reilly Media 2011, Theresa Neil,
Pttrns.com: Strong collection of iOS patterns
Designing Mobile Interfaces Patterns Wiki: Accompanies O’Reilly’s Designing Mobile Interfaces
Mobile-patterns.com: Compiled by Mari Sheibley, lead designer at FourSquare
Mobile Game Patterns: Compiled by Ryan Hoover, Director of Product Management at San Francisco-based mobile startup, PlayHaven.
Android Patterns: I enjoy this collection because rather than screen caps from real sources, this site compiles sketches of solutions and describes the challenges they solve for. I’d love to see a collection like this that goes beyond Android.
A thorough compilation of UI Guidelines for mobile and tablet web app design, provided by Maximiliano Firtman, author of O’Reilly book Programming the Mobile Web

Design Blogs

Knotebook: A community blog about design, ideas, trends, WordPress, and more.
Blink Design Library: An informal collection of design examples with commentary from Blink, the Seattle-based user experience consulting firm (love them!)

More Design Pattern Library Lists

If you didn’t find the type of pattern you were looking for in any of the above, here are a few other lists of design pattern libraries, many of which you’ll find on my list, as well. Someday I’ll match these lists back into mine, but for now they are separate links.

Designing Social Interfaces Design Patterns Wiki: This is a companion site to a similarly titled book. It features an awesome list of links to design pattern libraries, with an emphasis on those that address social.
25 UI Inspiration and Design Pattern Resources from Speckyboy.com
Smashing Magazine’s 40 Helpful Resources on User Interface Design Patterns

What design pattern libraries are missing from my list? Please share your favorite resources in the comments so that I can add them.

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Why I Won’t Call You “a Creative”

Erin Lynn Young — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 04:32:02 +0000

As news rolled through my Twitter feed this week from Cannes Lions, one article in particular caught my attention. FastCompany’s interview with David Jones, CEO of holding company Havas, reported a changing tide at the self-proclaimed “International Festival of Creativity.” Formerly attended primarily by ad people, the event now hosts a stream of technologists and marketers from Silicon Valley giants like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Twitter.

The article reminded me of my first toe-dip into the agency world.

“There’s been a big internal debate about where this new discipline – UX – should sit within the agency,” a Creative Director told me. ”But as far as I’m concerned, you’re a creative.”

I’d been called creative before (thanks, Mom!) but never had I been called “a creative.” What was “a creative”? And who would decide whether or not I was one?

As I soon learned, the agency typically reserved the elusive label for designers and copywriters. So while some saw UXers as creatives, others decidedly did not. After a while, the mixed messages wore on me; Certain decisions were exclusively within the jurisdiction of “the creatives,” a club to which I only sometimes belonged. As a thinker who often spent my time in the shower dreaming up innovative interactive solutions to client challenges, it always stung to be reminded that some questioned the place of architects and technologists at the creative table.

Which is precisely why coverage like that from Cannes Lion this week makes me smile. Creativity is far too big to be the sole jurisdiction of one of two disciplines, and technological innovation shines a light on that fact.

Creativity is the responsibility of every coder behind a software build. It’s the mandate of every entrepreneur. It’s the difference between the technologists the client wants to work with and those he doesn’t.

These changing tides challenge more traditional agencies to bring technical chops to the strategic table. In Austin, we’ve seen local firms rise to the occasion. This month alone, Austin-based agency Springbox announced a new freeware offering called Mobilizer. In partnership with a team they call T3 Innovation Labs, T3 announced a new software service called Perimeters.

Although they’re each aided by brilliant copywriting and elegant design, it’s the technological innovation underlying each of these products that makes them showpieces for their founders. For the increasing percentage of projects like these, it’s the creativity of those outside the “creative team” that’s fundamental.

So, I’m taking a stand. I’m personally done with calling those in any certain roles “creatives.” Join me if you agree that creativity should be expected from every member of the team.

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Harvest Knows How To Announce New Features

Erin Lynn Young — Mon, 16 May 2011 23:42:36 +0000

I love it when apps I use release new features, but I always have an opinion about them. That’s one reason that Harvest, a beloved time-tracking & invoicing application, really has it down. It appears that a good feature announcement is as simple as 1-2-3.

1. A contextual notification about the new feature

Harvest embeds a collapsible notification at the top of affected screens in the application, so I never miss news of the latest updates. It’s there until I hide it myself. The notification links directly to someplace I can get the details.

2. A corresponding blog entry describing the feature

In personal, concise language, they explain the recent release and the reasons they did what they did. And, smartly, they almost always pair it with a quick video demonstration showing me how to use it.

3. An open ear

The best part is always the end of their blog entry. That’s where the open comments begin. I’ve often got something to say after a change, and apparently many others do, too. Responses typically range from “FINALLY!” to “Holy moly, you screwed up my flow big time!” Harvest makes a good effort to respond to these comments, sometimes asking for more specifics and often guaranteeing users that their latest feedback has made it into the queue.

Like most users, I love a company that listens and a product that’s constantly improving. I’m always left with the warm fuzzies after I go through this sort of exchange, even if the feature itself isn’t important to me — because I feel valued.

Long story short, I think that Harvest has mastered the delicate art of new feature releases. I’m looking forward to the next one!

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