The Met announced this week that all images of public domain artworks are available under a CC0 license. That means ~375K images are free to use and re-mix for scholarly or commercial ends. To maximize reach, the Met is working with partners like Creative Commons, Wikipedia, Pinterest, and Artstor (that’s us!). Some technology advances, like the ability to make …
Friday 5 — 2.3.2017
It’s hard to tease out what makes for a great use of color in interface design but like Potter Stewart, we know it when we see it. Explore these practical tips and tools for using color in UI design. Andrew Chen identifies the smart questions to ask to make sure you aren’t falling for the …
Friday 5 — 1.27.2017
It’s a mobile, social world, as this 2017 report by Hootsuite and We Are Social confirms. A few stats stood out: The shift of web traffic to mobile devices, the dominance of Facebook, and the hyper-penetration of mobile devices in some regions of the world. UX Matters tackles a question close to my heart: the difference …
Friday 5 — 1.20.2017
Within a week, all Slack users will have threaded messaging, an improvement designed to reduce the noise of the non-hierarchical discussions. And they spent a lot of time getting the feature design just right. Only ~3% of apps still have active users 30 days after download. Brian Solis lists 25 ways micro-moments can lead to more useful …
Friday 5 — 1.13.2017
Even if you’re cooling on your virtuous New Year’s resolutions, keep the one about sending better email. Commit to designing and delivering content that will drive opens, clicks, and conversions. Is on-site search the red-headed stepchild of SEO? Claiming that 30% of visits include on-site search, this article makes the case for improved optimization, and outlines steps …
Friday 5 — 1.6.2017
Paul Ford gave online donations to 33 charities, and you won’t believe what happened next. Actually, you would — he found a number of opportunities to improve the user experience in online giving. The headlines remind us that artificial intelligence is coming, and we’re all at risk of losing our jobs to the machines. Consider these four factors …
Friday 5 — 12.23.2016
Do you have 49 other people you’d like to video chat with over the holidays? Facebook Messenger can help you out, with up to six people streamed simultaneously, and up to 50 in a carousel-style display. Remember the good old days when digital experience meant only an html webpage? Scott Brinker explains how digital proliferation — from …
Friday 5 — 12.16.2016
Google released its 2016 year in search, with a pretty nifty user experience. Pokémon Go was the top term globally, but you can explore by type of search as well as other facets like geography and volume. Handy eye candy as the search engine comes under fire for some terrible fake news results. This week …
Friday 5 — 12.9.2016
Is Snapchat’s somewhat impenetrable experience design a feature and not a bug? Josh Elman explains the difference between intuitive design and shareable design. The latter reflects the deeply social nature of how humans learn, and capitalizes on people’s desires to learn and to teach. Just when I finally mastered NYC’s Whole Foods color-coded checkout lines, Amazon Go opened in …
Friday 5 — 12.2.2016
Thanks to the 200+ readers who filled in the survey. Great feedback on areas of digital to cover, and I am equally impressed that the most common write-in entry was for NYC food and drink recommendations — see below. Your experience of email is starting to look a lot like your experience of the web. Animation and …