SteveJBayer's Blog

The value of products with affordances

SteveJBayer — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 02:46:36 +0000

As per Don Norman’s (author of “Design of everyday things”) video below from 1994 about objects and the affordances that they enable:

“The value of a well designed object is when it has such a rich set of affordances, that the people who use it can do things with it that the designer never imagined.”

While value may not be what affordances create/lead to, a well designed object does in fact enable their end users (and possibly even viewers of those interacting with the objects) to do activities that the designers of the object did not anticipate.

TweetScheme: A color scheme for TweetDeck inspired by Twitter’s website theme

SteveJBayer — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:59:53 +0000

While I had initially been comfortable with the default Tweet Deck color scheme, as of recently I have become more inclined to have my own personal color swatch (similar to the color swatch on my Twitter account) on apps and websites.

I haven’t really had academic/formal training in color theory; however, I am aware that the theme of an application or a site has an effect on how visitors approach (and interact with) an application or a website. The color swatch on my twitter account (on the web) reflects my real personality and I had wanted TweetDeck’s appearance to be similar however TweetDeck v0.37.4 for windows seems to have issues with customising colors.

Despite not being able to replicate my Twitter account’s color swatch on TweetDeck due to a buggy and restricted color palette selection application, I was able to create a color combination/scheme on TweetDeck that reflects Twitter’s default page styling. With the newly discovered ability to style TweetDeck to appear similar to Twitter’s own website, I noticed that when Twitter’s website color scheme is applied to TweetDeck, it (the color scheme) also makes TweetDeck entertaining to view and use at the same time.

The below Image is of TweetScheme’s color combination/scheme (that restyles TweetDeck into an application that resembles Twitter’s own website:)

The Colors/Font codes (they can be applied via the settings option in TweetDeck) for the above are:

PBC: #6699CC

SBC: #6699FF

IABC: #FFCC66

PTC: #333333

STC: #333333

or as TweetDeck tweets out the color code:

BG1: 6699CC BG2: 6699FF INPUT: FFCC66 TXT1: 333333 TXT2: 333333

I have named the above Custom Color Scheme for TweetDeck as “TweetScheme” as the visual appearance may inspire a more forward and entertaining approach to TweetDeck and similar applications that may or may not be connected to the communication platform known as Twitter.

NB. I had viewed http://tweetdecktheme.blogspot.com/ for themes and some of the themes there (FriendFeed Blues) inspired the initial color scheme/theme which ended up as “TweetScheme” a color scheme/theme for TweetDeck inspired by Twitter’s website theme.

Design includes graphics, it’s not the other way around

SteveJBayer — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 05:35:12 +0000

While exercising alphabetical placement in language ordering, I had noticed that application development process can benefit from alphabetical ordering placement:

Conception of ideas for a Product
Design of a Product
Engineering of a Product
Graphic decoration of a Product
Marketing of Products

After creating the above placement of stages in the application design process, I recalled that “Art and Design” courses may well be interpreted as “Graphics and Design” leading to issues of negative cognitive dissonance where design appears as a subset of graphics when graphics is actually a subset of design.

The surname Meyn is a branch of the surname Medèn

SteveJBayer — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:32:51 +0000

While reading about the Meyn (a surname from the maternal side of the family) municipality in Schleswig, I noted that the Danish equivalent/predecessor of the surname Meyn is Meden. A quick scan online presented the results that the surname Meden is more numerous in Sweden than in Denmark and the original spelling of the surname is Medèn.

While I am certain that the surname Meyn originated from the Irish name Ó Miadhacháin (written today in English as Meighan/Meehan,) I have yet to find direct evidence of how the Irish Meighan/Meehan lineages connects with the Swedish Medèn lineage.

There could well be multiple spelling changes that occurred while the Irish surname Meehan or its original spoken name Ó Miadhacháin, most probably traveled to (the lands known today as) Scotland and then Norway before being derived as the surname Medèn which is found in Sweden today.

A couple of legendary Experience Design articles

SteveJBayer — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:19:24 +0000

The following are a couple of articles that I find note worthy to the point that someone who has read them could really know what is interaction design, experience design and branding.

Why it is important for applications and websites interfaces to not display warnings as a response to user actions:

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/neveruseawarning/

What branding is really about:

http://www.jonkolko.com/writingBrandUX.php

Arrival of the surname Meyn in South India

SteveJBayer — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 02:16:22 +0000

The maternal side of my family has the surname Meyn. I have read written documents stating that a Captain/Commodore Christopher Meyn arrived with the Dutch navy in the 1660s.

In 1663, the Dutch liberated Cochin from Portuguese rule and started building factories in Cochin.

Source:

Colonial Voyage: Portuguese India

Arrival of the surname Bayer in South India

SteveJBayer — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 02:05:37 +0000

There were 2 brothers who arrived in Cochin in 1775 from Germany.

In 1775, the VOC was administering Fort Cochin and Haider Ali was attempting to capture the whole of the land now known Kerala.

Sources:
Fort Cochin In Kerala

Meyns were earlier known as the O’ Meighans

SteveJBayer — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 07:04:54 +0000

I hypothesise that the name Meyn (my mother’s maternal surname) was previously written as O’ Meehan. The O’Meehan surname is derived from O’Meighan and the O’Meighans are a branch of the McIntyre line.

Meyn is a famous name in Northern Germany near the Denmark region and the name Meyn, seems to be the Scandinavianised version of the Celtic/Gaelician name O’ Meehan.

Link about the O’ Meighans:
http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Meighan

Previous to being Gaelicianised, Meehan/Meighan could have had the Milesian surname, Maithan/Maothan as their predecessor.

My thoughts on Tab Candy and the future of Tab Handling in Web Browsers

SteveJBayer — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:32:14 +0000

Tab Candy (by Aza Raskin) is to be included as a part of the Firefox 4 web browser and Tab Candy seems to be on the way to revolutionize tab handling in web browsers.

What I’d like to see is the use of Tab Candy (or a similar browser app) as a desktop or workspace for the Firefox web browser. Similar to how operating systems have a desktop for users, a web browser could have Tab Candy as the browser’s version of a desktop.

The following video is a preview of Tab Candy:

How I started viewing Tab Candy as the Browser’s Desktop

While viewing Tab Candy’s visualization of tab groups and the editing functionality of tab group labels, I started to recall the program Fences for the Windows Desktop that allows users to group desktop icons.

While Tab Candy does much more than allowing the grouping of tabs and the editing of their labels, its visual similarity to Fences made me realize that Tab Candy could be a step towards a viable desktop or workspace for the browser.

Additional flows to access Tab Candy:

The preview video shows how Tab Candy is accessed by clicking on a button on the right most side of the tab bar to access Tab Candy.

Alternatively, with the Firefox button being a default fixture on the top left of the browser window in FF4, Tab Candy could be hypothetically accessed when Firefox users click the Firefox button and then click a (hypothetical) link titled ‘Show Tab Candy.’

Additionally if open tabs had the option to be minimized or hidden from view, instead of closed, Tab Candy could be the underlying desktop or workspace.

The future of Tab Handling in Web Browsers

Tab Candy’s zoomable view, search and visual display of grouped tabs are large steps forward in improving browser tab handling. With the (as yet to be developed) addition of a visualized display of tab history (so that users can see how they arrived at a tab) Tab Candy could answer the majority currently requested tab handling features.

The usage of Tab Candy as a desktop or workspace for the browser could provide the possibility of adding more yet to be asked for (and possibly essential) features.

Brad Pitt is a Design Thinker

SteveJBayer — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 16:53:08 +0000

I had been aware that Brad Pitt was an architecture aficionado quite while ago but that information seemed to have sunk into the deeper recesses of my memory until I read the following blog post:

http://www.designthinkingexchange.com/top-twenty-design-thinkers/ (link originally found in the LinkedIn Design Thinking group)

The following article about Brad Pitt’s approach to design cements my impression of him as a Design Thinker:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/arts/design/03pitt.html

Current status of the project:

http://www.nola.com/homegarden/index.ssf/2010/05/make_it_right_gets_real_as_new.html

While Design Thinking is actively practiced by many today (even when unaware of doing so,) it’s refreshing to see a celebrity practice design thinking.