scottberkun.com » The book: Making things happenManagement and creative thinking1 - Why are good interfaces so hard to make- March 12, 2007 1 - Why are good interfaces so hard to make By Scott Berkun, Jan 1999 (This essay first appeared in MSDN magazine, a printed newsletter that went out to Windows developers. It was the first column in what would became a long running series). Last year at Internet World a woman asked me why software ...http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/1-why-are-good-interfaces-so-hard-to-make/ 2 - Making usable products: an informal process for good user interfaces- March 12, 2007 2 - Making usable products: an informal process for good user interfaces By Scott Berkun, March 1999 During the development of a product I&8217;m the only resource for making user interface design decisions, simply because I&8217;m the developer that&8217;s writing the user interface code. Most of the time there is great time pressure to ...http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/2-making-usable-products-an-informal-process-for-good-us... 3 - The essential bookshelf for UI design- March 12, 2007 3 - The essential bookshelf for UI design By Scott Berkun, July 1999 (note: There is now an updated annotated design resources page.) Let&8217;s quickly review the key points from last issue&8217;s discussion of a good UI development process: Base the design on real problems your users have, not guesswork; sketch out many ideas to ...http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/3-the-essential-bookshelf-for-ui-design/ 4 - The importance of simplicty- March 12, 2007 4 - The importance of simplicty By Scott Berkun, July 1999 Web sites and software often compete with each other based on the features they provide. The popular assumption is that the more features a product has, the better it will be. The truth is that features improve a product only if they are ...http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/4-the-importance-of-simplicty/ 6 - The power of the usability lab- March 12, 2007 6 - The power of the usability lab By Scott Berkun, Nov 1999 You cannot build a useful product or Web site without usability testing. If you have never watched someone use your designs in a usability lab, you are taking shots in the dark. You can&8217;t possibly know whether your hard work is making ...http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/6-the-power-of-the-usability-lab/ 5 - How to avoid foolish consistency- March 12, 2007 5 - How to avoid foolish consistency By Scott Berkun, Nov 1999 &8220;A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds&8221; - Emerson People don&8217;t like to learn things. If they take the time to learn something, they expect to be able to apply that knowledge in many places. It follows that good designers conserve ...http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/5-how-to-avoid-foolish-consistency/ 7 - UI that kills: Swords, craft and user interfaces- March 12, 2007 7 - UI that kills: Swords, craft and user interfaces ByScott Berkun, Jan 2000 The greatest challenge in web or software design is creating a work of deep craft. That is, the presence of the designers and programmers coming through to make the user feel as though you were really trying to make them happy. ...http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/7-ui-that-kills-swords-craft-and-user-interfaces/ 8 - Why good design comes from bad design- March 12, 2007 8 - Why good design comes from bad design By Scott Berkun, March 2000 I&8217;ve received several requests to complete the missing part two of an earlier column, &8220;Making Usable Products: An Informal Process for Good User Interfaces.&8221; I read this early column again recently and thought it was awful. So now you&8217;re getting ...http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/8-why-good-design-comes-from-bad-design/ 9 - Fittss law applied to the web- March 12, 2007 9 - Fitts&8217;s law applied to the web By Scott Berkun, July 2000 Interface design is difficult in part because everything requires interpretation. A design that works for one task or one user might not be appropriate for another. In other types of engineering, like architecture or bridge building, designers can always rely on ...http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/9-fittss-law-applied-to-the-web/ 11 - Why great technologies dont make great designs- March 12, 2007 11 - Why great technologies don&8217;t make great designs By Scott Berkun, September 2000 We all love technology. That&8217;s why we&8217;re in this industry. We have an unspoken belief that technology will save the world from all of its problems. We excel at creating technologies and packaging them into boxes or Web sites, but ...http://www.scottberkun.com/essays/11-why-great-technologies-dont-make-great-designs/ |