Pleasure and Pain

Measuring the impact of new technology on human experience

Pleasure and Pain: photos by Whitney G. Hess

Entries Tagged as 'Design'

UX Bookshelf

July 19th, 2008 · 6 comments so far

In the right sidebar of my blog I promote my UX Bookshelf. I use Amazon Associates just to get the smallest kickback (I’ve never actually made any money with this, but I’d like to!). The other day I noticed that they have a new carousel widget (released in April) that allows you to display up [...]

[Read more →]

Tags:····

My Beef with the NYC Taxicab Touchscreens

July 7th, 2008 · 5 comments so far

If you’ve ridden in a NYC taxicab in the past 6 months, you’ve likely noticed the touchscreen TV in the back seat. At first I thought this was a great innovation — GPS-powered maps to show the distance between me and my destination, real-time local news, restaurant reviews and events listings.
Then I tried using one.
As [...]

[Read more →]

Tags:···

University of Phoenix needs an education

July 2nd, 2008 · No comments yet

Here’s my rant for the day.

I was looking up a definition on Dictionary.com when I saw this skyscraper from The University of Phoenix.
The list of degrees they offer scrolls down (from top to bottom) instead of up (bottom to top). Hit play to see what I mean.
Why is this bad? Well, the degrees [...]

[Read more →]

Tags:·

The user experience of a staircase

June 22nd, 2008 · 5 comments so far

As I was going over the Triboro Bridge on the way to JFK on Friday, I saw a metal staircase high above the traffic that construction workers use to access the top of the bridge tower. Seeing it from a distance made me appreciate for the first time that a staircase is great design. It’s [...]

[Read more →]

Tags:···

Group Video Chat: A Usability Evaluation

May 23rd, 2008 · 2 comments so far

Back in January when I started this whole “getting to know the community” thing, I met a couple guys named @matto and @snook, a.k.a. Matthew Oliphant and Jonathan Snook respectively. Matthew had been following me based on David Armano’s recommendation, and I had followed him back because, well, I basically didn’t know anybody on Twitter. [...]

[Read more →]

Tags:·····