Get Off The Speed. That Dog Is Not Your Child!

Ego Morphing

"The Marlboro Man. The ads caused consumers to switch brands because it was suggested they'd take on similar rugged traits."

Source: http://twitter.com/DrewEricWhitman

Are people now marketing within CAPTCHA codes?

Below is a snapshot of a recent CAPTCHA code that came up.



I'm unsure exactly what the '3' is for, but you get the idea.

This does however highlight the potential of using CAPTCHA codes for advertising or branding. eg. 'TrustRAA' could be one for the South Australian based users (a local advertising strap line for the Royal Automobile Association line of insurance products). Or 'VisitMelbourne' for the international 'visitmelbourne.com' campaign, for example. Or even 'BrinksterFreeHosting', to let people know about Brinkster's free web hosting (with no ads).

Disclaimer: There may need to be other random characters inserted within the CAPTCHA to ensure bots do not guess potential popular phrases (and thus defeat the original purpose of the CAPTCHA code verification).

Realtime comments on websites

Wow, was just on a retail website, and expected to be able to realtime comment on it (ala Twitter style*). LOL

The website was http://www.three.com.au/INQ and I just wanted to make the note that;
1. Twitter is where it's at now, and
2. The technology provided on the Three INQ is not that special, considering websites such as friendfeed.com and iPhone applications such as Fex that do the same thing. But, always good to be able to market a cool application that is simple to use.

*Meaning that I felt like I should be able to respond as if I were having a (Twitter) conversation with them. And for all users to be able to view other's comments.

Cool fashion blog

Am loving this cool fashion blog right now.

http://friendinfashion.blogspot.com/

Are you more likely to spend more when purchasing online?

Does anyone else find that they may spend more online than in a physical store?

I noticed I have just done this recently - when placing an order for books online. Amazon.com and other sites (such as BookDepository.co.uk) provide books for a lot cheaper than retail, so this makes it easier for a start.

But is it only the cost-effectiveness? Or can it also be contributed to the use of non-physical (electronic) money?

I know in poker the use of poker 'chips' is used, as opposed to 'physical' money. One reason for this is that users are less attached to chips than wads of cash. And thus more likely to gamble more.

I am fascinated by this concept.

Take a look at books online for 'Why We Buy' (Amazon.com)

---
My scenario: I spent a lot more than I would have in a physical book store, and also purchased a sole book from a separate site, for roughly what I may have over here in a physical store, when including postage (although not available over here in physical store). Perhaps it is also that I have been engaged with the site for some time - with my goal being to purchase these books from this site - and then human behaviour dictates that I follow through with my goal. Another factor could also be that when purchasing books online (and especially from overseas, for Australian users) is that one may purchase more items in one bulk order, to make postage costs work out effectively lower per item.

Another similar example is how making things easy for customers can increase sales substantially. Take for example Apple's app store. Customers have pre-entered their credit card details, so only have to use a simple once click process to make these small app purchases (plus enter their password in a popup window - a seemingly 'nothing' thing). If users had to enter their full contact and credit card details each time, sales would be overwhelmingly lower. Of note, is that Apple has created a model for this to be used, however this may not be applicable for all businesses.

Billboard

Good design has this effect

"He said overseas research suggested iPhone users conducted 50 times more Google searches than other phone users."

www.theage.com.au/news/technology/debt-fears-for-users-of-webphones/2008/08/14/1218307070117.html

USING ALL CAPS reduces legibility by about 10%

www.useit.com/alertbox/navigation-menu-alignment.html

Windscreen wiper cooling techniques

Butchers paper to keep the steering wheel cool. Parking ticket for the windscreen wiper.

Diversification of a fitness store

A sign on a fitness store.

That appears appreciative of dropping off sick people.

Semantics of color in different cultures

'Surya is considered an expert on the semantics of color in different cultures.'

Love it!

http://www.microsoft.com/design/People/Detail.aspx?key=surya

Traductions

'Yes, the meat pie of meat of meat pie of pizza pie will be ordered.'

The text after translation from English to French and back again several times, from the original, 'Yes, pizza will be ordered.'

Courtesy of babelfish.

Sao's

"Sao's are stiff like cardboard." Quote by Em, Communications Specialist

Viva usability!

"Steve Job's real contribution is his willingness to bang heads together at Cingular to force them to upgrade their network for the "trivial" reason that it affords a smooth user experience on the device. You could never imagine Ed Zander (Motorola's CEO) call up the head of T-Mobile late at night and yell until they changed their system enough to make the Razr easier to use."

Jakob Nielsen, Alertbox email, Tue 16 Jan 2007

Air guitar t-shirt

...complete with sensors.

More info at www.theage.com.au/news/technology/hi-tech-tshirt-really-rocks/2006/11/13/1163266457568.html

Signs The World Has Gone Mad

mag (october 2006)

the simple things

chivas on the rocks and some aural delights. what more could a man want? this is the way to spend an evening.

Elvetaor btutnos and the cgontiive prcoses ivonveld

Intially a comment to my brothers blog post at www.blogger.com/publish-comment.do?blogID=8764553&postID=115451369870849845&r=ok, which he urged me to post in its own right.

Lift doors. So true. They both look very similar and can take a while to cognitively process which one does which. What would be the best way to represent 'open' and 'close' for the doors? Using english would be obvious, but limited to english reading people. So depends on surrounding circumstances and boundaries for the task. Nothing is black and white. Everything is grey.

I think the reason why you, and i, and i would hedge my bets that it would be the same with the majority of people (whether they are aware of it or not), would struggle with this (ie. take a few seconds to process and determine the desired button) is:

1. Because the two buttons consist of the same symbols (generally two arrows and a line from memory). Just did a quick google for 'elevator buttons' - i chose 'elevator' as opposed to 'lift' as i thought it would produce more meaningful results - ps. i love side tracks and deeper notes as this is how my (and i believe your) mind works. lol. Anyway, one page listed this, 'No one can recognize the standard open-door icon quickly enough to prevent the door from shutting in the face of a would-be passenger.'http://www2.isye.gatech.edu/~jjb/misc/elevators/elevators.html. Which supports the theory proposed.

2. That ones mind needs to cognitively process several symbols in an indepth way - ie. Viewing two sets of buttons closely related - causing potential anxiety of some sort to ascertain the difference, and often under a time pressure to 'hold' aka 'open' the lift door for someone to enter. Ascertaining the meaning of the sequential order they are in, i feel may be linked to the concept of the paragraph composed of jumbled letters - which can easily be read by most humans. Technically, they could both be read as the same symbol (meaning) - as both are familiar symbols. I believe the thought process behind ascertaining the meaning of the elevator button symbol is that one looks at the two arrows on the one button, determines which way they are facing, and then consciously (and i think this may be where the major time lag occurs) matches this with the word 'open' or 'close' which i believe would generally be the keywords someone would be wanting as an action from the button press.

My initial recommendation from top of head - which would at least, i feel be an improvement - would be to use the words 'open' and 'close' as well as the symbols - which would give english readers the 'instant' recognition of the keyword action they desire - as well as catering for non-english reading people through the use of the current symbol. Whether one could design a better symbol is the next step - and something i would like to think about more.

It is interesting to consider the likely thought process that went behind the design of these button. As when one has drawn it on paper and looks at them together it appears like a clear straight-forward way to design them (Envisaged mental thought process of designer: yep, that makes sense and appears to be the most relatively simple way to design them). However, this does not include the situational factors - that i feel soooo many people and businesses fail to recognise or be aware of - and that can play a CRUCIAL role in the success of things. Based on, i believe, the fact that humans love things to be simple to use - and can turn off or give up if they are not. User interface design is so my passion if you cannot tell. I feel it is just common sense, but hey, people skilled at communication would likely consider their skill to be common-sense ...perhaps. What do you think Nathaniel? It is interesting, as i mention your full name, you would have had certain emotions and thoughts running through your head. And this is the kind of thing that you and i are quite acutely aware of. Are others? Anyone? Anyone? haha, coz i know you will 'get this' too. I decided to put 'get this' in quotes to highlight it more, as some people may not have understood what this means. 'understood this' may have actually been the best words to use, however that would nullify the need for the last couple sentences of insights. lol, anyway, i digress - and i do not apologize for that - nor think that you would expect an apology.

I would love to produce a set of standards for elevator control panels - ranging from labelling of floors (ie. under ground floor labelling) to the actual design for the 'open' and 'close' buttons. Hey, i may do this, just for something to do. :) Side note: have you ever thought about how a 4 storey building generally only goes up to level 3 on the elevator control panel?

Cheese

A popular word to get wickered (vandalised on wikipedia).

Cheese: "This one gets vandalized regularly. One anonymous IP said that cheese was made out of the ‘pubic hair of migratory elephants.'"

http://men.style.com/news/the_list/073106