Cognitive Overload

Back in the 1970’s, 3 friends clubbed together to buy themselves a TV for the house they shared. Each of them managed to save £10 for the TV so out they went. Eventually they came across a shop that had, in the window, an excellent model with 3 preset channel buttons plus 1 spare. It… Read More Cognitive Overload

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Temptation Bundling and Commitment Devices

Temptation Bundling and Commitment Devices are rather like the carrot and the stick of personal motivation; Temptation Bundling is where you only allow yourself a particular treat when you’ve done something you don’t particularly like doing (like only watching your favourite trashy tv soap while working out at the gym). Whereas Commitment Devices are ways… Read More Temptation Bundling and Commitment Devices

Form sequencing

Whenever the subject of information flow in forms was raised I discovered conflicting evidence for vertical or horizontal flows, ordering and grouping. In trying to establish the definitive answer I carried out three different user tests: a sort test where users were asked to arrange data into a two-column structure, a flow direction test where users were asked to… Read More Form sequencing

Websafe Hex Greys to Letraset ProMarker conversion

So, I was playing around with some marker mockups and wondered how accurate I could get them it terms of colour. My weapon of choice for these things is the Letraset ProMarker and, in particular, the Cool Greys. Here, without further ado, conversions of the four basic websafe greys into Letraset ProMarker colours: #333 =… Read More Websafe Hex Greys to Letraset ProMarker conversion

Facebook’s “Year in review” and how the business failed to understand the way its users interact with it

So, as we approached the charitable, loving, family oriented season of goodwill that is know as Christmas this year (2014), those clever bods at Facebook (‘Move fast, break things’) decided to treat us all to a flashback of some of the highlights of our year just passed. As it turns out this wasn’t such a… Read More Facebook’s “Year in review” and how the business failed to understand the way its users interact with it

Fonts, borders, and Rounded Corners for responsive sites

Responsive design is great but there are some things that can be a real pain to deal with. The first is font sizes. Since fonts don’t respond to the browser size we need another solution and the easiest to add and manage uses a tiny bit of javaScript: document.body.style.fontSize=(window.innerWidth / 100)+”px”; When this piece of… Read More Fonts, borders, and Rounded Corners for responsive sites