March 2012
24 posts
2 tags
Working with Developers: Force the Discussion
“Ideally, the developers and I are to work closely together during the design phase… but it typically works out that they gloss over the document or attend a few meetings and get a basic understanding of what we are planning on doing, but never pay attention to the full details. Then they tend to come to me with questions or ‘Are you crazy? I can’t do that!’ when it’s time for them to put together...
February 2012
18 posts
2 tags
Working with Developers: The Results
“I get most frustrated when, after providing a pixel-perfect mockup, I see the finished implementation during the testing phase, and it’s drastically different than what I spec’d (fonts, colors, sizes, spacing, alignment, positioning, etc).”
This comment was left by one of the respondents to the Working with Developers survey I circulated in December and January. It is a perfect illustration of...
4 tags
Working with Developers for Fun and Profit:...
I’ve spent all weekend preparing for tonight’s IxDA Pittsburgh event. Here are the details.
February 27, 2012 - 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Hosted by AlphaLab 2325 East Carson Street Pittsburgh, PA 15203
IxDA Pittsburgh invites designers and software developers to an evening about how we work together, hosted by AlphaLab. Enjoy two great presentations, chat amid the AlphaLab offices, and enjoy snacks and...
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My Sister from Another Mister
I don’t know Jenna Bilotta, but we must have an awful lot in common. My research for Working with Developers for Fun and Profit turned up her December 2011 article, How designers and engineers can play nice (and still run with scissors). Her advice is like a page taken out of my own playbook and covers many of the same points I’ll be making, such as “Use the tools they use” and “Participate in the...
3 tags
Working with Developers Survey: Languages
One of the questions in my survey asked what languages respondents were proficient in. I categorized the languages by type and turned the responses into a treemap with the help of Many Eyes.
As you can see, client side languages are the most popular, with HTML and CSS leading the way. That is no surprise. JQuery is the most used JavaScript library. I think it significant that JS libraries are...
1 tag
Eating My Words in 3-D
Nearly a year ago, I wrote a post deriding the 3-D film fad. I had a particularly bad experience with Toy Story 3. I’m going to change my tune… slightly. Now, before I go any further, I have to make you understand something: I love Star Wars. I love all Star Wars. Yes, that’s right, I love Episode I: The Phantom Menace. But the purpose of this post is not to debate the merits of that film, so...
4 tags
Implementation
I’ve been using Robert Kosara’s Parallel Sets visualizer to analyze the results of my Working with Developers survey. It’s a fantastic tool for finding trends, comparing respondents’ answers across multiple questions. It basically turns a series of survey questions into a tree, drawing the path each respondent took from question to question. The tool allows you to select which questions and...
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Seat Feature Creep?
Prior to my trip to Ireland for Interaction 12, my last trip across the Atlantic was nearly a decade ago, and that was the last time I had been on a plane as big as the Aer Lingus jet that carried us home from Dublin. They pack a lot of functionality into airplane seats—they’re rather impressive. I’m very curious, however, about this little doohickey.
The icon makes its purpose obvious. The...
3 tags
Curses! Foiled again!
I just received the 8 GE LED globe bulbs I ordered for the light in my master bath. At $15 a bulb, they aren’t cheap, but they are rated to last at least 8 years, and they will save a lot of energy, using only 2.8 watts a piece. Each bulb came in standard packaging—a plastic bubble sandwiched within a cardboard frame suitable for hanging from a peg. The designer of the packaging was thoughtful...
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Interaction 12: Schwag
Following the conference each year, I write one post about the schwag. There are posts for 2008, 2009, and 2010, but I somehow missed last year’s list. Without further ado, I present the schwag bag of Interaction 12.
After two years without bags, we once again have a bag. This one is a two-pocket, black satchel graced with a two-color screening of the conference logo.
The name tag was one in a...
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Interaction 12: IxDA Interaction Awards
Friday night of the conference found attendees gathered in the Round Room of the Mansion House, home of the Lord Mayor of Dublin. It was a spectacular venue for the very first IxDA Interaction Awards ceremony, sponsored by Google. With over 300 submissions from 33 countries, the judges had their hands full. The jurying was documented in professionally-produced videos that were used to announce the...
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Interaction 12: Growth & Logistics
Interaction 12 was the fifth annual conference of the IxDA. I’ve had the good fortune of attending all five of them. Sincere thanks are due my company, Inmedius, for caring enough about my continuing education and professional growth to send me. I’m also grateful to the organization for keeping the conference affordable.
Every conference has had its own unique flavor, largely due to the host...
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Interaction 12: Local
The Local Leader Workshop was held Wednesday morning at the Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design, and Technology (IADT). The meeting was a great opportunity for local leaders from around the world to compare notes and share ideas for local events. Joshua Kaufmann and David Farkas shared with us the new redux initiative that will help local groups hold conference redux events.
Our goal is to...
1 tag
Interaction 12: Dublin Observations
Last night, I posted culinary observations about Dublin. Tonight, I’ll finish my cultural observations, and then I’ll move on to posts about the conference proper.
Everyone walks fast in Dublin. While this could simply be due to the fact that it’s a larger, busier city, I don’t think that fully explains it. I’ve been to many larger cities; the speed of pedestrians in Dublin was pronounced. I tend...
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Interaction 12: Dublin Dining
Interaction 12 was the fifth in a string of outstanding conferences put on by IxDA. I’ll be making a number of posts about the conference in the coming days, but to start off, I’d like to share some observations I made of Dublin, this year’s hosting city.
I’ve been to Scotland a couple times several years ago, but this was my first visit to Ireland. I remember well that in Scotland, when you...