Color in design is very subjective. What evokes one reaction in one person may evoke a very different reaction in someone else. Sometimes this is due to personal preference, and other times due to cultural background. Color theory is a science in itself. Studying how colors affect different people, either individually or as a group, is something some people build their careers on. And there’s a lot to it. Something as simple as changing the exact hue or saturation of a color can evoke a completely different feeling. Cultural differences mean that something that’s happy and uplifting in one country can be depressing in another.
Posts Tagged ‘User Experience’
Color Theory for Web Design: The Meaning of Color
February 9th, 2010Technology Changing How We Work, Play, Shop
February 5th, 2010Virtual saleswoman and other technology changing how we work, play, shop
Our avatars are coming. Those mobile and 3-D and interactive technologies being created around us are about to beam us into a new world, filled with workday holograms, avatars and stuff we called magic only a few years ago. Read more »
Realism in UI Design
February 4th, 2010The history of the visual design of user interfaces can be described as a gradual change towards more realism. As computers have become faster, designers have added increasingly realistic details such as color, 3D effects, shadows, translucency, and even simple physics. Some of these changes have helped usability. Shadows behind windows help us see which window is active. The physicality of the iPhone’s user interface makes the device more natural to use.
In other areas, the improvements are questionable at best. Graphical user interfaces are typically full of symbols. Most graphical elements you see on your screen are meant to stand for ideas or concepts. The little house on your desktop isn’t a little house, it’s «home». The eye isn’t an actual eye, it means «look at the selected element». The cog isn’t a cog, it means «click me to see available commands».
Read more »
Steve Krug – The Least You Can Do About Usability
February 4th, 2010Gaming Usability 101
January 16th, 2010This list of ten features should be embraced by game designers
Steve Krug argues in his book Don’t Make Me Think! that a good program or product should let users accomplish their intended tasks as easily and directly as possible. The less time it takes a person to complete a desired task (even if only by a few seconds), the more satisfying it becomes. When that happens, people are more likely to use a product in greater frequency and return for more. So in the spirit of improved usability, here are ten standard features every videogame designer should embrace. Read more »
The Future of Brain-Controlled Devices
January 4th, 2010
Games such as Mindflex use headsets with simple electrodes to monitor levels of concentration and relaxation.
(CNN) — In the shimmering fantasy realm of the hit movie Avatar, a paraplegic Marine leaves his wheelchair behind and finds his feet in a new virtual world thanks to “the link,” a sophisticated chamber that connects his brain to a surrogate alien, via computer. Read more »
Need Usability Experts for Your Company’s Applications?
January 2nd, 2010Immersive Game System Allows Physical Interaction Between Players
December 28th, 2009In the virtual reality game, the player’s avatar mirrors the player’s actions. Credit: Tedjokusumo, et al. ©2009 IEEE.
(PhysOrg.com) — With a new immersive multiplayer game system, researchers are further blurring the line between gaming and the real world. Using a mouse and keyboard sounds kind of quaint compared to the system developed and tested by Jefry Tedjokusumo, Steven ZhiYing Zhou, and Stefan Winkler of the National University of Singapore (Winkler is currently with Symmetricom in San Jose, California). Read more »
Avatars Can Surreptitiously And Negatively Affect User In Video Games, Virtual Worlds
November 13th, 2009ScienceDaily (Nov. 11, 2009) — Although often seen as an inconsequential feature of digital technologies, one’s self-representation, or avatar, in a virtual environment can affect the user’s thoughts, according to research by a University of Texas at Austin communication professor. Read more »
Video Games Climbing the Ladder of American Pastimes
November 9th, 2009Study Finds Americans Spend More Time and Money on Games than their European Counterparts
TNS, Gamesindustry.com, and SPIL GAMES today announced the launch of the 2009 Today’s Gamers International Survey results for the U.S. market. The survey focuses on demographics, time and money spent, and gaming trends across Europe and the United States involving all game platforms.
According to the survey, American men and women spend significantly more time and money on video games than their European counterparts. Of the U.S. citizens polled, 83% play video games and many rank it as their favorite pastime ahead of popular activities like surfing on the Internet and watching television. Read more »
Web Design Trends for 2010
November 5th, 2009With a new year on the horizon, it’s time to pack away the old, worn web designs and prepare for the brave, new face of tomorrow. Although trends don’t start and stop on January 1st, there is a definite shift from what we craved at the beginning of the year to what we are seeking tutorials for at the end of the year. Most of the time, this shift is subtle. It’s a perfection or re-interpretation of a currently hot trend. Trends help us evolve as designers. As we master the skills of design aesthetic, we continue to push forward to what’s next or what needs to be fully discovered. Read more »
Preview Mouse 2.0: Multi-Touch Meets the Mouse
October 14th, 2009Lynn Marentette has just reported, hot off the press from Microsoft’s Applied Sciences Group at UIST 2009.
MS presents novel input devices that combine the standard capabilities of a computer mouse with multi-touch sensing. The goal is to make multi-touch interaction more widely available and applicable to the desktop environment. To chart the design space, they present five different multi-touch mouse implementations. Each explores a different touch sensing strategy, which leads to differing form-factors and hence interactive possibilities.
The following video is courtesy of Microsoft’s Applied Sciences Group:
Video Game User-Experience Research: New Situated Research Game Brochure
October 9th, 2009Matthew Sharritt, President of Situated Research, recently created a brochure giving an overview of our video game user-experience research:

Situated Research: Video Game User-Experience Analysis (PDF)
Please feel free to download, view, print, and redistribute this brochure to others! We have a unique talent to help game developers create better games, and we need your help getting the message out there so people know about us. Read more »
Steve Ballmer – Three Screens and the Cloud
September 27th, 2009Steve Ballmer discusses some of Microsoft’s new technologies and the future of computing: cloud computing and revolutionary user-interfaces to support content on multiple devices. Read more »
Don Norman Talk at UX Week 2008 on User Experience and Design
August 10th, 2009Video by: Vimeo
Posted By: Situated Research, LLC
What is Credibly Mashable (UX)?
June 29th, 2009
The Credibility of a product is absolutely critical, whether it is coming from a brand-new startup, or an established corporation. There is a great deal that goes into the Credibility of a product, from the people that hype it, to its visual presentation. However, there are a few basic elements that go directly to the foundational aspects of product Credibility upon which the rest of the product’s truthfulness is built. Read more »










