Finding Information: Factors that improve online experiences.

The Institute for Dynamic Educational Advancement (IDEA) recently completed a survey about how people find information online. They've posted their findings online. In their own words, "...this report outlines key findings from surveys that explored factors that drive online experience as expressed by the three different subject groups – nonprofit organizations and cities, web designers and firms, and the general public." The survey’s major findings are summarized as:

• Designers underestimate the thresholds for an effective site
  
• Easy access to complete information is key to visitor enjoyment
  
• Good visual design and up-to-date information are critical
  
• Visitors want information fast
  
• Visitors want a broad range of topics
  
• Designers are overly optimistic about visitors’ ability to maintain orientation
  
• Visitors still need handholding
  
• Visitors point to the lack of breadth and depth of site content as causing an “Information Gap.”
  

You can view the information online or download the 17 page report in PDF at:

http://www.idea.org/find-information.html

Proud Member of the Pradipta 416

So I woke up this morning to have coffee, and used my iPod touch to check email. I was surprised to see a number of messages with the same title. Little did I know it would lead to some funny distractions throughout the day...

J.Y.

"Insound 20" - creative rock merchandising, that rocks

Insound, an established indie rock purveyor, has just launched "Insound 20". The promotion consists of "Limited edition t-shirts, shirts and hoodies designed exclusively for Insound by Jason Munn of the Small Stakes." The idea of creating a cohesive set of promotional items for a portfolio of bands is very smart. It's a great way to show off an umbrella brand, while also offering their music fans a unique keepsake. Kudos to Insound for some very creative, and well executed product marketing.

Apple posts "MobileMe Setup" instructions page

Apple has posted a page with instructions for setting up (or transitioning) to their MobileMe service that officially launches today. Configurations outlined include:

• iPhone/iPod touch + Mac - Requires iPhone 2.0 Software Update (available July 11).
  
• iPhone/iPod touch + PC - Requires iPhone 2.0 Software Update (available July 11).
  
• Mac setup - Set up just your Mac.
  
• PC setup - Set up just your PC.
  

It's still early in the switch over, so not all aspects of me.com appear to be available yet. The other note on this page states "To access your email from the web, go to www.me.com."

Cooper Journal: Bringing sanity to swat-team design projects

cooper.com: "In a perfect world, interaction design would begin when a product was still just a twinkle in a venture capitalist’s eye. In reality, many software products make it all the way through the development cycle with little thought to the users’ experience, and when executives, sales people, or QA testers finally get their hands on the functioning product and start sounding the alarm bells, interaction designers are brought in to clean up the mess. With increasing demand for design “swat teams” to rescue fully developed but flawed software that is scheduled to ship within months or even weeks, the critical question becomes: how can you avoid getting caught up in the chaos that frequently permeates “crisis-mode” engagements?..."

This is an excellent article from an authoritative source. Read the full article...

EFF Releases 'Best Practices for Online Service Providers' Whitepaper

eff.org: "Online service providers (OSPs) are vital links between their users and the Internet, offering bandwidth, email, web and other Internet services. Because of their centrality, however, OSPs face legal pressures from all sides: from users, industry, and government. As an intermediary, the OSP finds itself in a position to collect and store detailed information about its users and their online activities that may be of great interest to third parties. The USA PATRIOT Act and other recent legislation have also provided the government with expanded powers to request this information. As a result, OSP owners must deal with requests from law enforcement and lawyers to hand over private user information and logs. Yet, compliance with these demands takes away from an OSP’s goal of providing users with reliable, secure network services. In this paper, EFF offers some suggestions, both legal and technical, for best practices that balance the needs of OSPs and their users’ privacy and civil liberties..."

EFF has drafted a thoughtful resource intended to help both OSPs and consumers. Read the full whitepaper online or download the PDF at www.eff.org

Kerning and OpenType Features In Firefox 3

Ralf Herrmann’s Typography Weblog offers some very useful comparisons between typography and layout features of Safari 3 and Firefox 3.

Participate in Firefox 3 Download Day

Mozilla plans to release Firefox 3 on Tuesday 6/17 at 10 AM PDT, and the open-source project is opening a new front in the browser wars. They also want to set a Guinness World Record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours. Regardless of your feeling about the publicity stunt, Firefox 3 promises some strong features for users and developers who support web standards. So be sure to download it!

Are 3-D logos ruining or revolutionizing logo design?

brandchannel is hosting a 'branddebate' on this topic. As they state in their introduction of the topic: "On the front lines of the branding industry - among the designers - an ongoing battle is being waged over an essential branding component: logos, and in particular, 3-D, or dimensionalized, logos..."

It used to be said that format restrictions were a primary functional limitation that informed the decision making process of logo designers. Thoughts like 'it has to look good in black and white', or 'our budget only supports two color printing' often informed the amount of detail and color that made up a logo design. With the web and better/cheaper printing, these two primary limitations have less bearing on the design process (but don't forget about low quality fax cover pages!). Overall, it is now more of a pure design decision. What level of detail, color, and dimensionality will best serve the brand you are representing with the logo design?

Read some interesting opinions on both sides of this topic at brandchannel.com

The Interactive Advertising Bureau Launches Digital Video In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines

The Interactive Advertising Bureau Launches Digital Video In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines: "The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today announced the release of “Digital Video In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines.” Created by the IAB’s Digital Video Committee, a group comprised of 145 leading interactive companies, they are the definitive format guidelines that directly address digital video advertising.

The guidelines focus on the most widely used current in-stream ad products, including linear video ads, non-linear video ads and companion ads. They were created in order to meet the following marketplace needs:

• Simplifying digital video ad buying across multiple sites through minimum common ad specifications for video, overlay and companion ads.
  
• Achieving more efficient operations through a common set of creative submission guidelines.
  
• Increasing consumer understanding of ad interactions and environments through best practice recommendations for creative development and player environments."
  

To view the guidelines, go to: www.iab.net/dv_guidelines

Album Cover Designers: The New Iconographers

When I was younger, I distinctly recalled noticing the dilemma faced, by album cover designers, when cassette tapes were introduced. Going from the large format LP to the small awkwardly vertical cassette cover had a big impact on design solutions. The CD reintroduced a canvas more square in shape but still diminutive compared to a real "album cover". Fast forward to today and you can see the latest challenge for album cover designers, the digital version of album art. Digital music players like iPod and Zune, that can now display album art, have reintroduced the importance of design and branding in music. There was a stretch there, where artwork was not so easily attached to the digital music. Apple's Coverflow (purchased from original creator steelskies) reintroduced the metaphor of browsing through a pile of records, albeit very tiny records .

How will this change trends in album art design? Will there be bolder, larger, simpler designs? Or is this no different from the challenges faced by traditional LP cover designers who aimed to make a large format record stand out on a shelf in a record store? We shall see, but I expect to notice a greater influence as album art designers start thinking like icon designers. One recent example, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails just released a free full length recording "The Slip". Like his last free album before it (Ghosts), each song has its own piece of artwork associated with it. 10 'covers', and a PDF booklet for one 'album'- now that's something new.

ECO-ICONIC

The May/June 2008 edition of Trend Briefing is now online, highlighting three new 'green' trends: ECO-ICONIC, ECO-EMBEDDED and ECO-BOOSTERS. "It's a hands-on take on how the branding and design of eco-goods and services is about to enter a new phase..."