Fabulous! 37 Signals updated the design of emails that Basecamp generates to notify project members of messages, files, to-dos, etc. This might not sound like a big deal, but if you are using Basecamp as a tool across multiple projects and groups, the barrage of emails can become overwhelming. Since they were text-only, the messages were undifferentiated and required reading rather than scanning, even to get a sense of whether action was required. Sometimes it was easier just to delete them all and use project dashboards. The new design looks like a major improvement to me.
Friendly first impressions
Think of it, a sign up form can be almost conversational, as easy and intuitive as writing on a sheet of paper. Luke Wroblewski in a UIE Spoolcast points to the Huffduffer signup form as an example.
I’m totally envious. Talk about reducing a barrier to adoption. I wish all sign up forms (and the ones our team is working on) could be as easy, fun and conversational as this. Even for a bank or financial application. The same requests for information could be presented in an engaging way. Also the Huffduffer signup uses progressive engagement, asking for a bit more information at the next step. There are examples all over the web, from Netflix on, of how well this works to draw people in to getting involved with a site or application.
Posted in ux
“Onboarding” web experiences
Good article in UX Magazine on welcoming users to a new site or application.
As the author, Whitney Hess, mentions, the unique focus of first experience with Tumblr is worth emulating… certainly has caught on virally as the easiest of the blog platforms to get up and running quickly. And the sign up experience at Tumblr is similarly smooth and simple.
(If you haven’t seen Tumblr, check it out. Easy to discover a wide range of content and contributors.)
Wishing the new sign up flow our team is working on now could be as smooth and easy as Tumblr. When you’re trying to welcome new people in, its not the right moment to set up multiple barriers. As this article points out:
They say you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, and on the Web it’s truer than ever. If you don’t capture the attention of new visitors from the moment they arrive and guide them on their initial journey through the site, they won’t learn that the benefit you provide outweighs the cost—their time and effort to participate—and as a result, won’t stick around very long.
In addition, for sign up or any interaction, it’s important to let the user know you understand their context. If they’re on a mobile device, don’t expect the same complexity of inputs (long sign up forms, etc.) as on a larger screen with a keyboard.
The article is part of a new book, Designing Social Interfaces, putting it on my reading list.
Posted in ux
My neighborhood is a small pocket in Atherton and an unincorporated section of Menlo Park. It’s charming in many ways… smaller streets, big oak trees, somewhat isolated from other surrounding neighborhoods. Most intersections have a small “traffic circle” in the middle, frequently planted with a tree, and sometimes even with flowers. There are not many street lights, so it’s pretty dark at night. I noticed at Christmas that one of the traffic circle trees had been dressed up with lights, and it’s still here in February. The lights are solar powered — a small solar panel hidden in the top of the tree. Pretty ingenious.
Virtual Valentines
Sent my last-minute Valentine’s cards today using Paperless Post. It’s an email template and delivery tool that has lots of cute designs for cards, invites, etc. Delivered in a virtual envelope, so a little more fanfare to it all than a standard email. And nice built in functions for tracking opens, responses. In case my Valentines are too busy with real candy than virtual. Used my 25 free virtual “stamps” I got when I created a free account.
Posted in goodies
Infinite flavors
Got a beta account on flavors.me. It’s been fun to play around with aggregating various places I live online, and offers easy ways to adapt the interface. Not as many options as something like Tumblr, but fun nonetheless. Check out my flavors.
Tablets to change the world
On the eve of Apple’s tablet announcement, which, according to at least 20,000 retweets, Steve Jobs thinks is his major contribution to civilization, I’ve been thinking alot about another tablet… the visionary XO tablet from One laptop per child. The Apple tablet, which I’m sure will be amazingly cool, and possibly transform how people work and play, is apparently (again, according to tweets) optimized for games. The XO tablet is still a concept, but is designed to be used by children, for education, in less developed countries. So I hope it comes to pass, in one form or another as the design will apparently be opened up to other computer manufacturers.
Coincidentally, I got this email from Negoponte today, asking for donations to children in Haiti of any original XO laptops not currently being used. I’m in! Getting mine out from under my desk and sending to them tomorrow:
Dear G1G1er,
At the end of 2007 you participated in the Give One Get One program of One Laptop per Child (OLPC). Thanks to you and others like you, 75,000 laptops went to Rwanda, Ethiopia, Mongolia, Cambodia, Oceania, the West Bank, and Haiti.
An additional 75,000 laptops came into the USA as part of the “get” side of the equation. In some cases those laptops have since been put into closets for one reason or another.
We are gathering additional used XO laptops to send to Haiti. If you or the child to whom you gave the laptop is no longer using it, we appeal again to your generosity and ask you to send it to the address below (even if it is broken).
OLPC FOR HAITI c/o Exel
615 Westport Parkway #500
Grapevine, TX 7605175% of the schools in Port-au-Prince have been destroyed in the recent earthquake, but by good fortune, none of our Haitian team was hurt. They have spare parts and OLPC technical staff and teachers, and stand prepared to deploy these XOs.
Because of the XO’s unique features (sunlight readability, solar powered, water resistant, drop proof), it is also an ideal tool for relief work.
If your XO is in use, please ignore this email. We only want your broken or unused XOs.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Negroponte
Posted in inspiration
The ten demandments
These are good basic principles. Our five design principles for the new site are still being word smithed, but each of them is either the same as one of these demandments, or overlaps with one or more of them. Ten demandments.
Posted in inspiration, ux
Experiment in selling online
For Christmas gifts to family and friends, I had used Cafe Press to be able to design and print custom items. In order to be able to get the full variety I wanted in items, I had to actually subscribe to the service, in effect creating an online store front.
After a few people wore or carried the gifts, friends have said they’d like to be able to get them as well. Looks like a great opportunity to experiment with an online store and marketing it!
So I set it up today. T-shirts, Sigg water bottles, sweat shirts and gym bags in all sizes. Check it out.
Still a bit of a mess, Cafe Press interface is not the easiest to customize without really diving into fully revising the html.
However, mess or not, decided it was now or never to start marketing it, since once I’m back at work next week time will be short.
Created a few posts on a blog or two, emailed friends, and will try some other experiments in online marketing with other blog posts, tweets and such.
Trying out typekit
I signed up for a free account on typekit. It looks like a really promising way to substantially improve typography and design online, without resorting to image-based text, sFIR or Flash, etc. I tested the free functionality on a single page. Unfortunately the free account only allows you to change two style identifiers, so depending on how your css is structured (my first test was with a site set up using a WordPress blog and theme), it’s pretty limited. I’ll probably bite the bullet and sign up for the first paid level to see what can be done. It’s less than $30 per year so not so painful. Need to ask the css experts I know how practical this would be for any large site.
