Warston

Taking Notes May Actually Make You Much More Forgetful

Thu, 13 Nov 2014 13:06:05 +0100

Taking Notes May Actually Make You Much More Forgetful:

Shit.

"A 10-space coffee card pre-stamped twice will be completed faster than an 8 with no pre-stamps."

Fri, 07 Nov 2014 14:00:22 +0100

“A 10-space coffee card pre-stamped twice will be completed faster than an 8 with no pre-stamps.”

- Fascinating stuff as always over at Cognitive Lode (consumer behaviour research curated and translated for product decision makers by Ribot, a design/creative agency).

This is called the Goal Gradient effect, it means that we would complete a task faster if it’s started for us. I think this should be helpful to people building fitness apps. No one likes to start with 0.

Mark Zuckerberg finally explains why he forced you to download the standalone Messenger app

Fri, 07 Nov 2014 09:50:46 +0100

Mark Zuckerberg finally explains why he forced you to download the standalone Messenger app:

A fair reason indeed.

Mobile Is Eating the World

Mon, 03 Nov 2014 14:40:45 +0100

Mobile Is Eating the World:

This presentation by Benedict Evans is a must-read if you’re working in the mobile/tech industries.

AMA: I'm Julie Zhuo, director of product design @ Facebook

Thu, 30 Oct 2014 12:28:39 +0100

AMA: I'm Julie Zhuo, director of product design @ Facebook :

Read it.

There’s a 30% chance your shrimp isn’t what you think it is

Thu, 30 Oct 2014 12:22:06 +0100

There’s a 30% chance your shrimp isn’t what you think it is:

And this surely does not apply to shrimps only.

Finding New Solutions in Old Philosophy

Wed, 29 Oct 2014 11:48:55 +0100

Finding New Solutions in Old Philosophy:

A beautiful post applying philosophical thinking to UX problems.

"my friend found a table with a chess board on it and sat down and noticed bob dylan leaning against..."

Sun, 26 Oct 2014 18:06:28 +0100

“my friend found a table with a chess board on it and sat down
and noticed bob dylan leaning against the rail and looking at the water.
at first nobody noticed him but eventually he started to get surrounded.
my friend got up and walked right up to him and said
“bob we got the chess board you wanted”
and bob saw his chance and took it. my buddy got to play silent chess with him
the whole trip and as long as bob seemed engaged people seemed to
leave him alone.”

- A collection of stories from Todd Snider about people (randomly) meeting Bob Dylan.

Open New Tab = satellite photo of Earth

Sat, 25 Oct 2014 17:40:39 +0200

Open New Tab = satellite photo of Earth:

Install this Chrome extension and get a beautiful satellite photo of earth every time you open a new tab.

Improving WhatsApp

Sat, 25 Oct 2014 15:20:33 +0200

Improving WhatsApp:

Some ideas on how to improve WhatsApp by Maximilian Kiener. I think the read status indicator is the most elegant of the proposed features.

Drag and drop to share is too different from platform (iOS) conventions and would necessitate educating the users, something WhatsApp doesn’t do since their app is so unbelievably simple and platform-savvy.

Interesting stuff overall.

Your life on earth

Fri, 24 Oct 2014 17:40:18 +0200

Your life on earth:

Amazing. An interactive experience by the BBC which shows how the world has changed since you were born.

The most expensive comic book ever sold, $3.2M. Produced in...

Fri, 24 Oct 2014 15:20:17 +0200

The most expensive comic book ever sold, $3.2M.

Produced in 1938, the comic marked the first appearance of Superman and is considered the genesis of the superhero genre of comics (although there is some debate about that)

Why so expensive?

The reason it was in such impeccable condition was that the while the first owner bought it for 10 cents from the newsstand in 1938 like 200,000 other people did, unlike most everyone else he lived at fairly high altitude in the Blue Ridge Mountains of West Virginia and when he finished reading it, he put the comic in a cedar chest where it remained virtually untouched for four decades. The cool, dark, dry environment of the cedar chest froze time for this comic.

The A to Z of Sketch

Thu, 23 Oct 2014 17:40:20 +0200

The A to Z of Sketch:

Great collection of tips on how to use Sketch more efficiently.

"Remember, the three key things about an intuitive navigation system is that they tell you where you..."

Thu, 23 Oct 2014 17:00:32 +0200

“Remember, the three key things about an intuitive navigation system is that they tell you where you are, and they show you where else you can go. Hamburger menus are terrible at both of those things, because the menu is not on the screen. It’s not visible. Only the button to display the menu is.
And in practice, talking to developers, they found this out themselves. That people who use their app don’t switch to different sections very frequently when they use this menu. And the reason for that is because the people who use their app don’t know where else they can go. Right? They don’t know because they can’t see the options, or maybe they saw it at one point in time, but they have since forgotten.
And if you use this control, you have to recognize that the people who use your app may not realize the full potential of your app.”

- Apple’s advice to designers: don’t use the Hambuger menu. The rest of the article is worth the read, it’s a transcript from the WWDC Designing Intuitive User Experiences session.

Tools for UI animation

Thu, 23 Oct 2014 16:56:27 +0200

Tools for UI animation:

A compilation of tools by the Designer News community.

Improving Your Information Architecture With Card Sorting: A Beginner's Guide

Thu, 23 Oct 2014 16:50:09 +0200

Improving Your Information Architecture With Card Sorting: A Beginner's Guide:

Quite a comprehensive piece.

Yes, this app actually exists.

Thu, 23 Oct 2014 16:48:41 +0200

Yes, this app actually exists.

Apple Pay is the first step in Apple's financial services takeover

Wed, 22 Oct 2014 17:40:18 +0200

Apple Pay is the first step in Apple's financial services takeover:

Apple Pay is a huge deal – much bigger than iWatch – and no one is talking about it enough

And here is a nice summary by Andrew Finn for Wait but Why?

AMPY: Power your devices from your motion by AMPY

Wed, 22 Oct 2014 15:20:21 +0200

AMPY: Power your devices from your motion by AMPY:

This is really cool. Will probably achieve mainstream success when miniaturised, more efficient and aesthetically more pleasing.

"The app links up with the Rotten Tomatoes API, and at the moment its algorithms make suggestions..."

Tue, 21 Oct 2014 17:40:39 +0200

““The app links up with the Rotten Tomatoes API, and at the moment its algorithms make suggestions based on film titles you input. You could also use actors, directors, genres and other parameters.””

- Movie Night, an app developed at TC Disrupt hackathon enables you and your friends to collaboratively decide on a movie to watch. You know, in order to avoid the endless debate. Does it work in real life scenarios I don’t know. But I sure would like to give it a try.