seanbonner’s photo of Esther’s new tattoo makes me want one.

Edward “to clarify add detail” Tufte, who criticizes the PowerPointing of America, earlier this year posted a video on the iPhone’s UI design. He loves the photo viewer (except the grid-lines between images are too big), he loves the web browser (except the navigation bar takes up too much space), he calls the weather app an elegant way to demo your iPhone to friends (but says it’s devoid of information), and calls the stock market app cartoonish.

The biggest takeaway, however? “The metaphor for the interface is the information.” And on that point, he says the iPhone got it mostly right. There are definitely some examples to learn from.

This handful of business cards is good for a little design inspiration. And here’s 70 more if you need an extra shot. Thanks to Frank for the tip.

From the New York Times: How Design Can Save Democracy

…recently, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law issued a report outlining the importance of well-designed, easy to understand ballots.

Duh. And, I guess we’re giving up on electronic voting.

All I know about Denmark is what gets imported: Legos, of course, but also a tradition of exquisitely clean and functional design. That’s why, as I prepare for my talk in Copenhagen later this week, I’m incredibly conscious of my own design and a bit jealous of Jessamyn’s outstanding use of orange.

Anyway, that’s where I’ll be all week. Any tips? Anybody up for a drink?

Etre’s Colour Check.

color, color check, color blindness, color blind, web design, design

Liz Danzico of Happy Cog Studios spoke today about her consulting with Automattic on the design of the WordPress admin interface.

As with so many of the presentation today, I’m really hoping the slides will be published soon, as there are some great ideas coming out.

Liz spent a lot of time watching WordPress users at blog. At work, in cafes, and in their homes with coffee and cigarettes, Liz saw real users of all types doing everything they do with WordPress. The slides show some of the results, but I couldn’t see all the details.

She also spoke of the recent trend in using nouns in user interfaces (again, the slides showed some interesting examples), while WordPress organizes things around verbs (“write” and “manage”). Existing WordPressers responded poorly to a wireframe of a noun-ified admin panel, but I thought it looked kind of interesting (though I can’t say that it would actually be better).

There was more, lots of great ideas, so I’m hoping to see the slides again soon to shake my memory.

Liz Danzico, design, application design, wordpress, WordCamp, WordCamp 2007

Robert Hoekman, Jr is speaking now on Designing the Obvious, his book and philosophy:

These principles include building only what’s necessary, getting users up to speed quickly, preventing and handling errors, and designing for the activity.

I just added the book to my must read list, but what I’m hearing here sounds like instructions to a sculptor: chip away all that is not David.

Designing the Obvious, Robert Hoekman Jr, design, web applications, WordCamp, WordCamp2007, WordPress

Calliope Gazetas works for The FontShop and freelances under the name 99 Monsters. One of her projects includes skinning the Burning Man environmental blog.

Calliope Gazetas, design, portfolio

Jason Brightman’s work includes XXLmag.

Jason Brightman, design, portfolio

I was especially young and impressionable when I discovered Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things, but I still claim it’s required reading for anybody who’s read more than one post here at MaisonBisson. That’s self selection at work, but let me put it this way: unless you’re the only consumer of the things you create, then you need to read this. Now.

I feel foolish to have only recently discovered Norman’s website and essays. It’s there that I found he’s giving the commencement address today at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering Professional Masters Programs. He summarizes his prepared statement thusly:

If you work very hard, perhaps you too can get a silly hat like this (wearing my silly racoon-tail hat from the University of Padua). What is the moral? Take your work seriously, so someone might award you the hat (and the honorary degree that goes with it). But, as the hat illustrates, never take yourself seriously: strive to do things that matter, that make a difference, but have fun while doing so.

It’s cutesie, but I kinda like the message, and not just because today is also my birthday and I’m especially susceptible to schmaltz. Eh…

Design of Everyday Things, Donald Norman, Nielsen Norman Group, Poetry of Everyday Things, commencement address, design, engineering, speech, usability

I was this close to posting soldierant’s Gobbledy Gook map, but, well… I guess I wanted to make a point with his user experience map, done in collaboration with the smart folks at Experience Dynamics.

Take a careful look at the role of your competitors and a user’s expectations and goals. Yeah, we’ve all got some work to do.

Too bad the free seminar schedule hasn’t been updated for 2006.

Update: I forgot to properly credit Ryan Eby for pointing this out to me.

design, design success, diagram, experience dynamics, map, soliderant, usability, user centered design, user experience

stock.xchng has nothing on Flickr for searching, finding, sharing photos, except that they’re uploaded with the express intention of offering them for re-use. Some are available free, others free for non-commercial use, others with their own license terms.

But stock photos aren’t really the bottom of the barrel. No, for that you have to look at pixellogo. It’s there that you’ll see the sorts of things you can do to put some pop in a limp design. Meaning, it would seem, is secondary.

But don’t let any of this criticism suggest I’m not above taking tips from stock houses.

tags: stock photo, design, logo, photo, pixellogo, stock, stock houses, stock logo, stock logos, stock photos, stockxchng

I was never a very good graphic designer, but the part of me that thought I was still pays attention when I see software like Linotype’s free FontExplorer, described somewhere as “the iTunes for fonts.”

tags: design, font, fonts, graphic design, graphic designer, graphics, linotype, software, type, typefaces

37signals takes on Google and suggests some improvements.

tags: 37signals, consulting firm, design, google, google search, improvements, improving google, search, search improvements, usability consulting, web, web design, web search

Daniela Turudich knows vintage fashion. Her books include not only hair, but how to recreate a vintage wedding, vintage recipes and candy making, and Beauty Secrets of History’s Most Notorious Courtesans.

Here’s the description from Art Deco Hair:

Art deco has long been associated with uncompromising style and sophistication, and this guide to recreating the sassy, controversial styles of the ’20s and ’30s offers a glimpse back at the hairstyles of this era. The instructions needed to replicate these fashions on the modern woman-from the controversial bob of the Roaring Twenties flapper to the luxurious finger waves of Hollywood’s early screen stars-are provided, and the techniques behind Marcel and water waves, the simple bob, and Eton and shingle cuts are also included. Hundreds of vintage illustrations, photographs, step-by-step instructions, and diagrams take readers through the history of the hairstyles that laid the groundwork of style for the modern American woman.

Update: Here’s some great hair from 1927 in the LeastWanted gallery.

tags: 1920s, 1930s, art deco, book, books, daniela turudich, design, fashion, hair, hairstyle, hairstyles, retro, retro fashion, vintage, vintage fashion

Guido Ooms has some pretty neat ideas. Engadget got high on his Anti Gravity Machine (you must watch the video), but there’s a lot more to see. I wish I could link to examples of his furniture, bottle holders, personal transportation devices, or dohickies, but his Flash-based site won’t let me. His Glassbulbs are pictured here, but go visit the Oooms site and click on the “products” link to see more.

tags: anti gravity machine, design, neat ideas, netherlands, ooms, personal transportation, studio