Visual Usability

Swipe mobile UIs are hot! Do they promote deep interaction, or just diversion?

Its an interface, not a poster!

http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1927

Quantum Paper is a new design paradigm for consistency across all Google's products across all platforms.

"The framework will include interface, motion, and interaction (as stated before) on all platforms, making for not just clearer and more consistent UI but also a more consistent user experience."

Via @AndroidPolice: http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/06/11/exclusive-quantum-paper-and-googles-upcoming-effort-to-make-consistent-ui-simple/

This blog isn't about embedded consoles, but it is about understanding information on screens, and the development of a new, screen-friendly typeface is worth a link.

Two years ago, the MIT AgeLab and Monotype began to study whether more legible typefaces could make a difference in in-car media. For men, at least, the answer has been yes. In driving simulations run by the lab, male drivers took their eyes off the road for less time when the text on a small navigation screen appeared in a typeface from what's known as the humanist genre. The difference between humanist and grotesque typefaces amounted to the equivalent of turning away from the road over a distance of 50 feet at highway speeds.

"That took what we know intuitively as type designers and actually put some scientific backbone on it," says Steve Matteson, a creative type director at Monotype who worked on the original study.

Since then, Monotype has been working on a new typeface, called Burlingame, which it's releasing this week as the first designed specifically with distracted driving in mind. It's meant for use by auto manufacturers in in-car displays, or in the myriad devices we bring with us whenever we enter a car[.]

Following a link from an @artsy email led to loading this web page with an #animated pointer at the #calltoaction 

Ingenious alternative #capcha is easier to use and helps convey the personality of the organization behind it - nicely done, @foolproof_UX

Results of an A/B test: hamburger symbol with outline vs. text ("Menu") vs. text with outline. Details at http://exisweb.net/mobile-menu-abtest

Menu + border = most successful

“It’s not like we’ve invented a new way to organize information,” admits Matias Duarte, UX director for Android. “We’ve actually tapped into one of the oldest pieces of graphic and information design around--business cards, calling cards, greeting cards, playing cards. They all have the same embodiments because they’re all reflections of a similar set of design problems.”

UI Animation and UX: A Not-So-Secret Friendship

Does the animation provide any useful information about the interaction?

Does it feel like it’s responding to you as the user?