User Interface Trends » ui

Spec Wreck

Sarah Selser — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:38:08 +0000

Why is it so difficult to build to spec? (Just to be clear, I’m referring to all design fields, not just the software industry.)
Is compromise just an inherent part of the process? How detailed do our specs really need to be? Lately, my specs have become pretty lean. This seems to work well on a small scale because additional verbal communication adequately bridges any gaps, but what about on a larger scale when verbal communication might not be an option (due to different time zones, etc.)? Is creating detailed specs, only to have to compromise during development, really the best way to go?

Future of UI Interactions?

Kate Vander Ploeg — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 18:21:58 +0000

Trend: Changing UI Interactions

The touch screen has changed the way we think of interacting with ui’s (its also changed how we drive – admit it, it is WAY harder to text while driving and I am convinced that it has brought about or at least sped up texting while driving laws). So how will our computer and device interactions change next? Or will they. Here are a few interesting sites. Feel free to share more!

Trends at SXSW Interactive 2010

Ron Norman — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:55:02 +0000

As Jeff mentioned on Friday, most of us are here at the SXSW Interactive Conference. If you’ve never been, it’s definitely worth a look. The fact that it is held in our hometown of Austin, Texas every year makes it a no-brainer for us, but I personally find a lot of great takeaways… and I’m not talking about free swag.

One of my favorite sessions so far was “The Right Way to Wireframe”, a 2 part series featuring Tod Zaki Warfel, Russ Unger, Fred Beecher, and Will Evans. This group of designers and design agencies challenged the big names in UX and UI Design to “show your work”, and subsequently put together a design challenge for themselves. I won’t go too far into detail, because these AWESOME time-lapsed videos will tell the story better than I can:
The Right Way to Wireframe video series

Also, in the spirit of posting trends, Jeff, Kate, and I have been documenting all of the trends we see popping up here at SXSW. I started compiling these yesterday and thought they might make an interesting post.
Disclaimer: We don’t necessarily think all of these are good trends, but these are our observations. Enjoy…

UI Trends:

UI Standards – out
Design Patterns – in
Pattern Libraries – in
The Wireframe vs Prototype debate – IN!!
User research and Personas - in
UX – IN!!
UCD - OUT!! (I haven’t heard a single person use the term all conference)

Technology:

iPhone apps for EVERYTHING - in
Netbooks - out (SOOOO 2009!!)
Blackberry - WAY OUT!!
Laptop battery life - out
Wifi - in (way better than last year, good job SXSW)
Recharging stations - IN!!
CMS’s – out
WordPress - in
Location - BIG IN!!
Hashtags – in
Microsoft – out
Google – in
The economic downturn - OUT
The future - IN
Telling everyone you pre-orderred your iPad - BIG IN!!
AT&T coverage - so far so good, IN!!

Conference-y Type Stuff:

Good free conference and trade show swag - out
Free drinks - in
Small sessions - out
Standing room only - in
Attendance - in
Personal space – out
Too many slides – out
Actual presentation content - in
Standing up and asking the speaker a relevant question - out
Standing up and wasting everyone’s time by telling the room about your company and/or blog - IN!!
Panels using online resources and mobile apps to moderate questions - IN!!

Food:

Coffee - out (controversial, I know)
Beer - in
BBQ - controversially, OUT!!
Bacon - in
Vegan - OUT (surprisingly… if you disagree, you’re in denial)
Breakfast tacos - BIG IN (proof)
Fried chicken and waffle - in
Buying food at the convention center – out
Using location based apps to find good food - IN!!

Austin Trends:

Westside - out
Eastside – in
Peddy cab – out
Bring your own bike – in
Little dogs - out
Big dogs – in
Road construction – in
Confusing building layouts – IN!!

And last, but not least… Fashion and Style:

Aviator sunglasses - out
“Buddy Holly” glasses – in
Vests – out (soooo, 2009)
Sweater vests – in
Blazers – in
Plaid – no brainer, IN
Tight shorts – in
Jorts - IN
Layered clothes - in
Neon – in
Colored Jeans – in
Full beards – on the way out (beards were big last year, Jeff and I feel out-dated)
Mustaches – in
Bedhead - OUT
The fade - IN!!
Little and/or Skinny ties – in
For girls, high water pants – IN!!
Plunging necklines, V-neck shirts, and cleavage (both male and female) - BIG IN!!
Belts – in
Sandals – out
Extremely uncomfortable shoes – in
Military shirts and jackets – in
Track jackets - out
Scarves and bandanas – in
Tight rolled jeans – in
Jeans tucked into your boots – in

Debit or… Debit?

Ron Norman — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 06:45:20 +0000

Trend: Self Checkout Interfaces – the “Cancel” Menu

Here at UI Trends, we normally cover trends in Web UI’s and occasionally we’ll bring up desktop applications. But we wouldn’t be doing our jobs if we didn’t step outside of the box every once in a while.

With that in mind, I couldn’t help but write about something that has been bugging me for years. I know you’ve seen it too and been annoyed. You’re at the grocery store, and you’re trying to “self checkout”. You swipe your bank card, then low and behold, you’re asked for your PIN. You don’t want to enter a PIN!! You’re trying to earn points on your card. You’ve been saving and saving and saving up these elusive points for YEARS now; only 50,000 more to go and you can finally get that awesome “foot spa”. So why in the world would you want to use your card as a debit card and forgo these precious points?

But there is a way! You may not know it, but there’s an entire world of opportunities, hidden just one click away. It’s a a whole new menu, that leads to a magical land of free magazine subscriptions, $25 gift cards, and George Foreman grills. All you have to do is hit CANCEL… what, you didn’t know that??

It’s sad to say, but no one really expects much ease of use from these Self Checkout Systems. The real problem is that these UI’s are effectively hiding functionality that the merchant would rather not pay for (credit card transactions are usually more expensive to process than a debit card transaction). And even worse, they’re doing it very inconsistently. Some have started actually including a ”Credit” button, but it’s either small and indistinguishable from the number keys on the PIN screen, or you still have to press one more buttons to even see it. Why not just making it more interesting and have the button randomly jump around the screen?

UI’s Gone Mobile

Ron Norman — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:00:12 +0000

Trend: Mobile Versions of Sites and Web Applications

You can’t deny it. All the cool kids with their smartphones and their pricey data plans are browsing up a storm on their mobile web browsers. The demand for sites to provide a mobile optimized UI for their site, either through CSS or a seperate mobile application, has never been higher*.

While the goal is to provide a UI that is streamlined for devices with smaller screens and “non-mouse” user interaction, many sites/applications fall short… seemingly gearing their UI’s to only fit the same amount of information on a smaller screen, and not much else. There are, however, some standards and best practices that are starting to emerge.

References:
A List Apart – Return of the Mobile Stylesheet

*Note: Yes, I know we don’t have our mobile version up yet… it’s under construction :)