U.S. Federal Highway Administration Has Fuzzy Vision

I’m a bit of a symbols geek, so I often peruse symbol standards and libraries. I’m continually frustrated by how poorly designed most symbols are, but what really galls me is when their quality and […]

Amazon’s Commingling of Questions

The customer reviews and Q&A sections of Amazon’s product listing are among its best features, yet both are way, way, way below the fold for them to impact the customer experience enough. … Yet both features have a serious flaw on most all listings where different styles can be selected with a tile button or drop-down list, because each of these selections is a different product!

Who to Blame for Password Management Problems

Have you had your passwords stolen recently (or in 2012)? Have you tried password managers only to discover they don’t work reliably on all sites, leaving you with a mish-mash of secure and brain-dead-guessable passwords? […]

Apple Store’s Doors’ Ignores

Be warned, he who designs glass houses. I happened to be in San Francisco the day Apple opened its new Union Square store, and braved the crowds to see what all the fuss was about. I […]

How to Win Customers With a Dab of Glue or Two

It’s known that Apple’s design teams “obsess over corners”—but that level of caring about detail need not be confined to electronics, or even excluded from disposable goods to earn a lasting bond with customers. I […]

Be Better Than Free

An interesting experience with technology over the past two days gave me some insight that will help guide you in building amazing products. The Experience My ThinkPad was running low on disk space, and I […]

Polish, Perfectionism, and Presentations

Earlier in my career, I obsessed over small, seemingly insignificant details, because I thought they were important. Some were frustrated by this, and I know at times I took the process to extremes. But now […]

Design Rule #005—Follow the Specifications

Years ago, when I was the Technical editor of CADENCE magazine, reviewing the latest hardware and software products every month, I came to the conclusion that engineers don’t read specs. The conclusion was not based […]

Innovation Inspiration #024—Read 10-Year-Old Books

I had planned on not writing this post until I had finished reading Seth Godin’s Purple Cow, but the remarkableness of it dictated not waiting. The concept is simple—the most successful products have stood out from the […]