clock … watching time, the only true currency

A journal from John B. Roberts

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Entries Tagged as 'Design'

Book: Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks

November 26th, 2008 · No Comments

Luke Wroblewski wrote Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks, published by Rosenfeld Media. Looking now, I realize I’ve read all the publisher’s books so far…both of them.
A straightforward, well-argued, well-illustrated reference book, Web Form Design tackles the obvious subject in all its details. I’ve been involved with more web forms in the [...]

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Tags: Books · Design · Tech

Book: Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy With Human Behavior

November 26th, 2008 · No Comments

Indi Young’s Mental Models: Aligning Design Strategy With Human Behavior dives into an approach to building products to solve the right problems. In Young’s words:
Mental models are simply affinity diagrams of behaviors made from ethnographic data gathered from audience representatives. [page 2]
I’m more familiar with personas. Young positions personas as an output of mental models; [...]

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Tags: Books · Design · Non-fiction

New CNET redesign fully live

August 28th, 2008 · No Comments

After the original announcement on June 23rd, and some revisions tested starting July 14th, CNET’s redesign is open to all as of yesterday, August 27th. See for yourself at CNET.com, CNET News, and CNET Download.com. Congrats to all who worked on it. I’ve had my say kibitzing from the outside; I also know how much [...]

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Tags: CNET · Design · Media

Tech news needs a new domain; News.com being prepped for general news

July 14th, 2008 · 2 Comments

Dan Farber previewed the next phase of CNET’s rolling redesign in today’s blog post. See the full image of CNET News here.
My previous comments hold. The body of the home page looks fine, with no complaints. However, I find the reflection in the sub-brands of “News” and “Download.com” quite distracting, and hard to read. The [...]

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Tags: CNET · Design · Domains · Everything · Media · Tech

CNET design changes, good and bad

July 8th, 2008 · 2 Comments

I’m a bit late here, but the new design hasn’t rolled out yet.
CNET’s decision to announce a coming redesign ahead of time is admirable. It shows a new respect for how disruptive change can be to an existing audience.
Current CNET logo, in context

New CNET logo, in context (proposed)
I have a few comments, but IANAD (I [...]

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Tags: CNET · Design · Everything · Media

Thursday night notes and links

April 3rd, 2008 · 1 Comment

Khoi Vinh watches another generation fall under Tintin’s spell. Been there, and also waiting for the movie. Some of the language in these comic albums isn’t PC anymore (e.g., “dirty gypsies”), but Tintin is never one to stand for injustice.
Google News finally answers some of publishers’ questions, and promises more information in the future. Wow…I [...]

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Tags: Bicycling · Design · Links · Media · Video

Sunday night links

December 23rd, 2007 · 1 Comment

Since I’m disappointed with our Sony digital camera, I pay attention to roundups like this one: “Looking beyond megapixels” But I get annoyed when the links leading to the NYTimes branded version of CNET don’t lead straight to the right camera, though. The Fujifilm FinePix f50fd looks like a possibility. (I wasn’t impressed that the [...]

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Tags: Books · CNET · Design · Domains · Everything · Links · Visualization · camera

Book: Making Comics

April 8th, 2007 · 1 Comment

I have no artistic talent, and no plans to start drawing or writing comics — even if I were to call them graphic novels. So, why did I just read Making Comics? This broad how-to about how to, yes, make comics caught my eye because the more I do in business, the more I realize [...]

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Tags: Books · Design · Everything · Formats · Media

Using OpenDNS? Easy test = visit my blog

January 26th, 2007 · 3 Comments

I’m using my blog as a testbed for something new cooked up by Aaron and Noah. If you visit my blog at http://www.pencoyd.com/clock/ (instead of just reading via the RSS feed), you’ll see a yellow button on the right-hand side of the page, under the heading “Are you using OpenDNS?”
The button has two states: one [...]

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Tags: Blog management · DNS · Design · Everything · OpenDNS

Catch-22 in packaging

January 19th, 2007 · No Comments

Joseph Heller wrote an entire (astounding) book on Catch-22, but the always-fun This Is Broken website does it in one small photograph. Go look at “Scissors packaging at Staples.”

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Tags: Design · Everything