Sad Design Moment: Facebook Event Fail

A sadder design moment than this drained all my energy today, so the theme of tonight's post is simplicity. (That moment will be featured in my next post. It's a doozy.)

A ray of sunshine poked through when I saw a new Facebook Event invite. (I was awaiting my invitation to go with some buddies to Six Flags next week. :)

But my excitement was dissipated by this. And a one...

Yay! I'm popular(ish)!

And a two...

Six Flags! Six Flags!

And a one, two, three...

...Six Flags?

Tsk, tsk, Facebook. Luckily, Six Flags and I will recover. We may not have plans for branded smart phones, but you can never take our will to have fun.

Or Mr. Six's will to SERVE.

Happy Design Moment: Mighty Morphin' Note Pads

This submission is brought to you by my "good UX" colleague, Will Hacker. He works at Cars.com, and focuses on mobile products. (Thanks, Will!) He also writes a fantastic UX blog you should check out sometime. 

OK--  enough about Will. Time for the money shot:

BAM! 

Behold, the Mighty Morph PICASSO Note Pad by Schleeh Design. Can't speak for Will, but I don't use note pads very much at home. But they are great to have when I need them. (Read: when my phone has died, and my note pad app with it.) 

And it is for that reason the PICASSO Note Pad represents the UX ideal. It meets needs and is enjoyable at the same time. 

I haven't been this excited since I realized the color possibilities for Venn diagrams. 

PICASSO is a great choice for those of you that want some high-profile art while satisfying your needs and enjoying the note taking experience. But if that's too much for you, the Striped Morph Note Pad may be more your speed. (It looks great next to Will's tchotchkes!)

"DO YOU SEE! DO YOU SEE!"

Do you prefer one MORPHIN' note pad to the other? Do you think both of them are awesome, or suck? Feel free to leave a comment.

(P.S. Thanks for reading. 1,200 views in 2 weeks-- I'm not worthy!)

Sad Design Moment: Google's CAPTCHA Gotcha

"Bad blogger!" I have been saying to myself this week. Sorry for the radio silence, readers. But I am back, and ready to wag my finger at a sad design moment.

This moment was brought to you by Nikola Ranguelov, one of my favorite UX colleagues, and Local Leader of IxDA Chicago.

Too bad the robot wouldn't appreciate Nik's exemplary use of pink.

As stated in Nik's comment to my blog-- his 4th comment by then --he is hit with CAPTCHA every single time he leaves a comment here. For first time commenters, I understand getting hit with this. I even require users to sign in, just so I'm not harrassed by robots. But not only is he signed in, he is signed in with his Google account-- to leave a comment on a Google-hosted blog. 

No conditional logic, Google? Not even for users that have been using Google from it's beginning? Not even for users that are validated five ways from Sunday? Not even for users that have commented and been proven human multiple times?

I investigated further in Blogger. Maybe there was some condition I wasn't aware of, or some way I could only have first-time commenters see CAPTCHA. (Robots don't leave good comments.)

Nope.

So it looks like it's all or nothing. Commenters, if you want me to remove CAPTCHA for all comments, let me know. But from a UX perspective, Google has all kinds of technology to verify you are who you say you are. Making users exert additional effort, when technology could solve the problem, is the easy design out.

So-- who has comments for me and/or Google?

Happy Design Moment: Milk Carton Pet House

Second happy design moment-- this is the first reader-submitted post idea. Special thanks to my UX colleague, Roy Torres, for sharing!

Keep em' coming, and I can be as lazy as this cat. #dreambig

A recent post from Design Milk showcased the Milk Box by MOISSUE. This is a great example of designing for enjoyment, which UX designers are also responsible for. (It's a tougher task with cats, if the sour puss above is any indication.)

Historically, feline disapproval of design can be traced back to this.

Design Milk's post went on to say how designers could take the Milk Box a step further, and decorate it any way they chose. But the promotional photos showed decorations on walls too. That may be a little much, since your cat doesn't have a big enough brain to appreciate your unique design aesthetic.

"Sweet, my new litter box is here!"

But in the end, this is a happy design moment because 1) it is enjoyable, 2) cats look cute in it, and 3) you could stage a cat re-enactment of Hansel and Gretel.

Cat lovers-- any additional thoughts on Milk Box?

Sad Design Moment: iPad 2 vs. Sunlight

I encountered a sad design moment today, one that was particularly sad because I see it all the time. 

A woman was desperately trying to read her iPad 2 in direct sunlight. Not sure what information she needed, standing outside a Walgreen's. But I could see her disappointment, as she held the iPad above her head, directly between her face and the sun.

I was too slow to snap a picture. So for any of you that don't know how hard it is to read an iPad 2 (or 1) in sunlight, this photo will give you some idea:

On the plus side, this person appreciated his breakfast more.

But don't take my word for it. The marketing team at Amazon Kindle developed a commercial showcasing how Kindle owners are superior to iPad owners. 

1) Kindle owners can read things. 2) Kindle owners are sexy. 3) Kindle owners spend too much money on sunglasses.

According to The Huffington Post, Apple's iPad 3 promotional video shows people using it outside-- suggesting better readability in direct light. But if iPad forums are any indication, even the new retina display doesn't solve this problem. 

Some people say wearing polarized or 3D glasses helps. But I've never been a fan of any design solution that 1) doesn't solve the original problem, and 2) makes you look like you time-traveled from California in the '80s.

Hiiiighwaaaay to the danger zone!

If any iPad 3 owners can refute this, speak now or forever hold your peace.

Happy Design Moment: Treadmill Desk

Even just saying-- "treadmill freaking desk!" --made me happy. I hope this shows up in an office I work in. Mashable divulged yesterday all the dirty details of a new mass-market entry, the LifeSpan DT. (They also told us how cool some Mashable intern assignments are. Double win if those interns are paid to test treadmill desks.)

Ever since last year's "Sitting Kills" infographic, I hoped for something that would get me moving around more during work. The health benefits are obvious, but as a bonus, I could get rid of excess energy like a gerbil. Then I would have gerbil-like abilities to focus and get stuff done.

"I ran 5 miles today. What did YOU do?"

And the two sets of benefits also benefit each other. With more focus, I could rise up the ranks at work or start my own thing. The longer lifespan gives me more time to 1) achieve those goals, and 2) enjoy the fruits of my labor. Skydiving as an old lady is on my bucket list.

"I walked then, so I could plummet today!"

So long story short, someone please send me a treadmill desk.

Sad Design Moment: Starbucks.com

I was trying to determine how many calories were in my tomato mozzarella panini in IE. Guess I'll have to look somewhere else, preferably somewhere with less loading happening everywhere.

The "clear" functionality also made me sad. I didn't notice the header, so I wasn't sure what the highlighted items meant. Then I clicked "Sandwiches, Panini & Wraps", hoping to see my panini listed to the right.

Looks like this site could use some more caffeine-- and a UX designer.

Welcome

Welcome to Happy/Sad Design Moments. My name is Jayne, and I'll be your blogger today. This is my design blog, to praise designs that make me happy and tease designs that make me sad. I also hope it will improve my standing in the UX/design community, as currently, my standing is best expressed with this photo:

Are those bunny or devil ears? 

I am a couple months shy of finishing a master's degree in HCI. I have also spent a year and a half doing UX work, of both the office and freelance variety. The more I interacted with my UX peers, the more aware I became that good and bad designs were everywhere. But for those in UX, those moments didn't just go unnoticed, or cause momentary grumbling. They had the power to lift or break our spirits.

As a child, hats also broke my spirit.

UX professionals already discuss good and bad designs from web/mobile sites, apps and interfaces. This blog will too. But it will also discuss good and bad designs encountered in daily life, meaning (almost) no topic is off-limits. Because almost everything has a design, system or process that either makes life better or worse. 

So it is a design blog. But it is also meant to share the joys and annoyances of life.

Filled mostly with pictures and short captions. (I'm not much of a writer.) For added laziness, I am also extending you the opportunity to submit your happy/sad design moments to jayne.spottswood@gmail.com. 

If you'd like to share in the joy or shed a tear, please keep reading. If not, please don't hesitate to go do something else.

If Irish kicking in the air isn't your thing, there's always YouTube.