I have one password for everything, and it is very secure. It originates from a popular special we used to run at Domino's pizza while I worked there. Oh it's alphanumeric by the way- don't you worry. It was called the 2-2-2 special. 2 pizzas, 2 toppings and a 2 liter of Pespi. It was a phrase I said over 3,000 times during the summer of 1992 while I worked the phones at Domino’s Pizza in between delivering the pies. My earth father had, in a moment of absolute lunacy, told me and my band he would match whatever money we could save up for a P.A. System over the summer, and we did everything in our power to make him sorry.

128 bit Encryption (Illegal for Export)Back then, I had no passwords, no email, no bank account logins, nothing. I think logging in to the Domino’s payroll system involved hitting the F5 key and hitting the arrow down key until my name was highlighted. I got to college, got my first ATM card (more lunacy form the earth parents) and had to come up with a 4 digit pin card. I was instructed to make it very easy to remember, but something a criminal wouldn’t be likely to guess. Now if you saw some of the places I risked my life delivering pizza to, you would assume criminals would be very familiar with the 2-2-2 special. Some reason, I didn’t think it would be a problem and settled on a version of that particular special.

Nowadays, I have (at last count) over 38 logins and passwords, and all of them involve some version of that Domino’s 2-2-2 special. I have not once had a problem with identity theft (identity crisis- yes (witness the breakdancing years of 1985-1988), but I attribute its uncrackeable-ness to its humble source. My wife’s password usually involves “password” with a number at the beginning or end to meet the alphanumeric requirements. Curiously, she’s never had problems either.

You probably know I'm a big fan of PopCap games 'Bejeweled' and 'Peggle'. Peggle is currently my favorite, and occasionally offers bits of wisdom to help insure success within the game. This one is my all-time favorite.

 It says: "Consider the sound of one hand clapping. Now consider the sound of a tree falling in the forest. Now combine the two, add some cowbell and you've got yourself a hit record!". HA! Now that is funny stuff. Almost as funny as some of the Bulwer-Lytton contest entries I've read, though the Lyttle Lytton contest seems to be a step up in subtlety. Both the Bulwer-Lytton and the Lyttle Lytton are competitions to see who can come up with the worst opening line for a novel. Bulwer-Lytton winners tend to adhere to a strict form, wheras the Lyttle Lyton can be more random.

 My favorite from the Lyttle-Lytton 2006 entries:

"I can't!" screamed Jake to whomever was outside the airplane's single lavatory.

 Peggle, I applaud you for making games that are fun and hilarious. Let me know if you need any ideas, because I've got a good one.

Amazon has just announced their new e-book reader, dubbed the    Kindle. It is supposed to be for reading electronic documents what the iPod is for listening to electronic music. They are even one-upping the iPod by highlighting the Kindles lack of need to sync with a mothership computer.

Kindles Character Issues

My quarrel is with the motion graphic treatments on the Kindle video. In a bid to demonstrate the untethered nature of Kindle, the video features random letters falling down from the sky, semi-Matrix style. The problem is- the letters never connect in any way with the Kindle, and the randomness of the letters only serves up a healthy plate of visual confusion when the point was to demonstrate simplicity... Simplicity even beyond the iPod-iTunes connection. Now no one is going to beat Apple in the Minimalist-Typography awards, but I think Amazon’s video could lose the effects all together. If nothing else, show a stream of words, sentences, paragraphs, anything flowing into the device.

Here is an quick reworking of that title image- a little better:

I was driving around the UK recently, and had a British friend ride along with me to critique my left-side driving skills. We were on a "Carriageway" (so cute) and I came alongside a British Patrol car- a BMW wagon minus the car seats in the back but with Bright Yellow and Orange stickers. It was going about 5 miles under the speed limit, but because I was out of my comfort zone, I slowed down, unsure whether I was speeding or not.

The Friendly UK Police

My friend told me to go ahead and pass him. Evidently, British patrol cars in England drive deliberately under the speed limit so that traffic can freely overtake them without fear or worry of being cited for speeding. Not the case here in the States, as I can attest both as a civilian driver, and the owner of two Ford Crown Victorias (one a genuine Police Interceptor).

As many of you know, some of my work involves creating banners for online advertisements.  As a creator of banners, I laughed myself silly at this ad from Bowflex. Mentioned in an earlier posting, context can really affect the overall impression something presents.

Mary Lou Retton as the 6 Million Dollar Gymnast

For the last few years I have tried to enjoy "gaming". I had the original Atari 2600 (thank you Santa Claus!) and have had many gaming consoles since. Somewhere after the Nintendo64 I have really developed a problem enjoying games. I've tried everything, from Call of Duty, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and haven't been able to find anything that sustained my interested for more than 10 minutes. Call of Duty was too intense and I just don't need that kind of stress in my life right now.

I have happened across Pop Cap Games "Peggle" and "Bejeweled", games in a genre called Casual Gaming, and I think I have found what I've been looking for, especially in Bejeweled.

There is something Pop Cap has gotten right in their games that I think everyone who designs for humans could benefit from studying. They are forgiving and you feel like they are routing for you. In Peggle, if you shoot one of 10 balls and don't hit anything, they give you a 50/50 chance at a free ball. I feel like the odds are probably actually more like 60/40 in my favor, as I get a free ball more than not.

The result is I end up with Peggle scores like 15,420,240- incredible scores, where games can go on and on. Awesome- I love it. 

I have always had difficulty removing bottle stoppers and happened across this article I thought might offer other problem bottle stopper peoples some help. I love the deluge option at the end "... if desired by the operator". This comes from one of my favorite books, The Boy Mechanic.

Probably one of the most used features on any cel phone I've ever owned is the Call Log feature, you know the thing keeps a record of events on the phone, outgoing calls, incoming calls, missed calls and the like. I use it to dial people's numbers, even more than Contacts- I'll only use Contacts if I haven't been talking to someone recently, and know their info is not likely to appear in the Log. I use it to tell time- If I've told my earth wife "I'll be home in 45 minutes", I can later check the Call Log to get an idea of when I called her so I'll know if an infraction did indeed occur. It's the single most useful feature on the object of my affection, the Sony Ericsson w710i.

Now, all I'm asking Audi, the creators of my wonderful A3 earth vehicle, is to create an "Event Log" for my car. When did I turn my car on? When did I turn it off? When did I pop the trunk? When did my airbag deploy? The useful information goes on and on.

 
A3 with Event Log Action

The ongoing battle with my oven has been continuing for some time now. Last night, the oven's questionable iconography got me again. I put on a pot of water to boil and turned on the burner with the smaller icon, which is in fact the larger burner.

 

The burner that I turned on had an empty pot sitting on it. I didn't realize empty pots could get so hot. It was a fancy two piece pot, the kind with a really thick bottom piece, and the bottom piece started coming off! You should see the pot- black melting stuff started coming out of the sides. I could instantly boil water in that pot for over 2 minutes- Awesome!

I will endeavor this weekend to make new icons for my oven. Perhaps I'll do a walk-through with instructions.

Putting a bed of background ambience like honking horns and emergency sirens behind the radio traffic report is a bad idea. While at first blush it may seem an appropriate context, the first thing I do is turn my radio down (all Hail VOLTOR!) to check if there is a real siren near me, or a real person honking their horn at me. Even a bed of music distracts me from this important piece of information- there are no second chances and if I don't get it the first time I 'll be wishing I had gotten that MegaBiscuit at Hardees/Carl's Jr- the one you need a hands free device to eat.

Choosing an appropriate context is like creating a silhouette- you want to find a background which brings into relief the foreground, not something that competes with it. Think of yourself as a world-reknowned chef, and you are choosing a plate on which to present your 10oz Petite Sirloin. Which is it?

 

Making your idea/statement/philosophy stand out is often more about the context in which it's presented than the thing itself. Musically speaking the melody is important, but the arrangement behind it can really make the difference between a good piece and a stellar piece. No one understands this better than Hollywood Film Composers, a profession I have dabbled with. Film Composers routinely add an emotional quality to an otherwise dead performance, often with spectacular results. They can manipulate a scene's context often to the point of hilarity (check Dawson's Creek, another former employer of mine). In web design, context is often manipulated solely through padding and margins. Links, tabs and various other bits of information are given importance not by color or position, but through the scarcity of other things surrounding it.

Just thought I'd do a quick survey. My icemaker uses the Straight Line and Circle Off/On icons. I've never been able to tell which one is which. Perhaps my knowledge of electronics is hurting me- both the circle and straight line could be thought of as metaphors for infinity, or at least continuity, an electronics concept that applies when a circuit is on, or working. Which one do you think is on, and which one do you think is off?

Michael Douglas calls in the Napalm
Have you ever watched a movie, you know, been caught up in all the action and drama, when someone uses a cel phone and suddenly it looks like they're calling in NAPALM runs on the VIETCONG? You remember those phones the Vietnam vets used with the huge rubber ear and mouthpieces and the 6 foot long antenna? Suddenly, the movie just looks kind of old and it takes me out of it for a while.

I suppose men's fashion hasn't changed much in the last decade, and with the exception of the now defunct "Claw-Bang" hairstyle of the late 80's or early 90's, women can exist within a 10 year old movie time frame without setting off too many triggers. But the moment Michael Douglas pulls up the 7 pound beast in Wallstreet, I completely forget about the movie and start trying to guess what year the film was made.

Cellular phones began getting smaller with the advent of digital transmission technologies, which needed less power to transmit, which required smaller batteries to run. Battery technology has progressed rapidly in the last few years, also making phones smaller. There was a point around 2002 when phones got so small it became ridiculous. I remember people pinching the phone between their thumb and forefinger, moving the phone from their ear to their mouth as they alternated between talking and listening.

Thankfully, the micro celphone trend seems to be over, and cel phones seem to have found their comfort zone at a respectable size. We may be forced to deducing movie creation dates by the other technique: PPCD, or Police Patrol Car Dating, a technique that relies on the changing cop car body style to infer a creation date (and that also relies on the fact that no Hollywood film has ever been made that doesn't feature a cop car- Handy!)

As the designated "Fern Keeper" at my earth house, I keep a close eye on the weather forecasts. If it gets down near 32 F, I'll bring the ferns in so they don't freeze (and the shedding leaves also make for good sliding on our hardwood floors). One thing that has always confused me about weather forecasts is the way the "lows" are displayed. A sample WeatherChannel output below:

 

 

In the Mac OSX Weather widget above, it's difficult to tell whether it will be 46° Thursday morning or Thursday night. You may find it hard to believe, but lately I've seen some local weathercasters (nee Meterologists) change the graphic to a much better design. Those same people who will loop 3 frame lightning animations over a 1990's era 3D map graphic have come up with a more useful way of displaying this information. I haven't gotten a good screen grab of the forecast yet, but have Photoshop'd the Weather Widget above to show what they are doing.

 

 

Can you spot the difference. The lows have been offset to represent an overnight event rather than a specific day. Much, much better than the traditional way of listing the lows. I'm forced to applaud the weather guys here, abusers of 3D stock animation, in figuring this one out. My ferns love you for it, and lets hope the Weather Channel will follow suit soon. Hakuna Matata! 

 

As the Alison Krauss song goes, sometimes nothing is better than something. Artists call it negative space- it's the effect on something created by nothingness. Music composers use it as an arranging tool to give contrast to softer, less dynamic sections of music. Painters use it to create a feeling of space or to make something feel smaller. Expression Engine's website, which I think is really, really nice, has a product matrix that illustrates why sometimes nothing is better than something. Here's the product matrix:

At  the thumbnail resolution, it almost looks like every product has every feature. They have drawn red Xs where a feature is unavailable for a particular product. This would seem to be the logical choice, but there is an even clearer way to illustrate this, which is by putting nothing instead of the X. I've taken the liberty of Photoshop'ing their matrix.

When you show nothing, even at this tiny thumbnail resolution the user is able to easily distinguish what features are missing from Expression Engine's Core product. Artists have learned to use negative space with great effect. Web designers could do likewise. 

Anti-aliasing used to be all the rage, but I'm over it, and I'm here to tell you why. There's a sense of immediacy that comes with pixelated controls. I think it is being influenced by the explosion of Web 2.0 Software as a Service applications that feature links and rollovers that are often displayed with very little anti-aliasing. Somehow anti-aliasing has come to look, well... "Soft" and "Slow" to me.

Here are two versions of a toolbar in some software I designed, called Traffic.

This looks like a fine Toolbar. I designed the Icons in Illustrator, they look really cool when blown up, but for some reason they just don't feel "Fast" to me. Drawing in Illustrator is nice because you don't care about the resolution. One problem is, once you take down to the pixel UI rez, the scaling interpolations, whether it's BiCubic, Bilinear, or whatever will wreak havoc on your work.

Here's the toolbar, drawn by hand in Photoshop with a 1 pixel pencil:

Some reason, the pixel-drawn, non-anti-aliased graphics feel "Faster". Subconsciously I, and perhaps the user, know that there is a performance penalty to be paid for anti-aliasing, drop shadows, and semi-translucent drag items, though technologies such as Apple's Core Image have tapped the GPU heavily to minimize the impact. I'd be curious what you think- which one feels more polished or nicer. Some reason, I've really grown weary of anti-aliasing and I think this toolbar comparison shows why. 

My earth wife and I have always prefered Lowe's to Home Depot and I think there's an interesting reason- colors. Lowe's is Blue and White, and Home Depot is Orange.

 

Orange is a color I normally associate with caution, slowing down, or general brokeness. Blue and White are happy colors which make me feel organized and confident. I haven't read any color studies but am convinced my earth wife and I prefer Lowe's (a longer drive) over Home Depot (closer to home) because of their color scheme.

 I don't think it helps to use that Stencil Font either- Home Depot and Lowe's are places where you get construction materiele, but using orange and the stencil font connotate what is happening at the store, not your house. I want the store to feel finished, organized and helpful, because my earth house is got some serious clutter issues.

The dilemma is when to break with tradition and when to supersede it, is it not? My human great-aunt had a 1971 Green Ford Pinto. Its radio had 1 volume knob (on the left) and 1 tuning knob (on the right). Between the two knobs hung a plastic trash bag, compliments of the Cape Fear Ford service department. As there were probably only a few radio stations to choose from, 5 preset buttons were enough to map the entire local radio transmission spectrum, without having to fiddle with the tuning knob. As such, most of your fiddling would probably be with the volume knob.

VOLTOR- We hail thee!!!

 Here's an older car stereo from the 70's decade of the 1900's. It design is obvious: Volume on the left, Tuner on the right, heretofor referred to as VOLTOR. This model has an 8-track cassette opening in the center, directly under the tuning indicator. This timeless classic has created a design dilemma in my so called "mind".

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Could someone please tell me where the Rear Window Defrost is on my 2001 Ford Crown Victoria? I can't get out of my driveway because the back window is frosted over and I can't see out of the back.

I am able to represent a range of human emotions. Whether through technnological prowess or modifed algorithms, I can approximate most normal human behaviours when critiquing earthly user experience. For instance, I just wrote behavior with a "u", as if I were a white-skinned genetically predetermined Anglo-Saxon. Ha! I am not, I am simply fooling you with alien trickery and special shenanigans. The most easily reproduceable human emotion I can emulate is stupidity and I feel that when I am looking at my GE oven hotburner graphic right now.

 
Oven- A Human Perspective

The designers of this graphic have cleverly portrayed the burner in iconographical form, but have shown it in perspective, resembling a similar angle at which humans might view the burners. This would at first blush seem like a good idea, but after my first trip to one of your so called Emergency Rooms, I have decided it is not a good idea and I will tell you why.

Size Matters First
I'm not sure if you can't pick up on the problem here, but the icon on the left to me represents more than anything the bigger burner. I understand that the designer has indicated with perspective that it is the front burner, but the first thing that strikes me is the relative size of things, long before the relative position caused by the perspective illustration. Am I the only one who has this problem? 

If they were to have made every circle the exact same size, as if drawn from a top down perspective, I don't think I would have ever burned myself. I have Photoshop'ed the icon as a study.

Perspective Gone, No more burn

I'd think there's something to this problem, of the order in which you humans register relative things. For me it is size first, long before position. This graphic I think I will tape onto my stovetop. 

A question I keep getting in my fan mail bag is "What is VOLTOR Forrest?" or some derivative of. VOLTOR is an acronym for the conventional car stereo design layout- Volume knob on Left, Tuner knob on Right. But it has come to represent, over the "years" (my years are different than yours due to our longer "orbit" (but then orbit's not really the word either- it's neither circular or elliptical) (and by the way you should avoid concurrent and/or nested parenthetical expressions at all costs, regardless of your "planet's" movement))).

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