A really interesting and thorough look at the new Wells Fargo ATM interface (designed by Pentagram). Lots of good UI tidbits to be found here.
Posted by Kyle
Information Design Patterns - a nice collection of common information design approaches; includes detailed descriptions, usage and examples.
QR codes are paving a way to share and hide media - I don’t think QR codes have really caught on in the States, but I think they offer a lot of potential for unobtrusive mobile/real-world advertising.
Best ATM Interface Yet - a nice write-up of the new Wells Fargo ATM interface — with pictures!
Brightkite - I’ve been using brightkite for a few weeks now; I’m still trying to get a handle on the possibilities it offers — I’d like to see location-enabled integration with Yelp, Upcoming and other local-centric services and advertising. I think it could really take off with GPS-enabled phones and/or automated updates. If you’re looking for an invite, hit me up on twitter or e-mail.
Speaking of twitter, Is JetBlue using twitter to spy on its customers…or blow their minds? is a good read — describing one guy’s personalized big brother-type experience with a notable brand. I can envision a day when this approach becomes unmanageable for big companies (like when the lawyers get involved). For now, it’s really exciting to see this kind of interaction with customers.
Posted by Kyle
I am happy to announce the recent launch of a new website for Animal Haven, a fantastic Kansas City-area animal shelter. Animal Haven’s mission is to provide a higher quality of life for homeless pets through adoption, education and collaboration with the animal welfare community. They’ve been around since 1968, working hard to place homeless pets in good homes.
A friend of mine connected me with the staff at Animal Haven a few months ago. At the time, they had a website that was hard to maintain, difficult to navigate and not focused on their goal: adoptions. After talking with the staff and learning where they wanted to take the organization and the website, I was able to design a site that better addressed their audience and their mission.
The homepage was revamped to prominently feature adoptions; random photos of their adoptable pets (courtesy of PetFinder.com) are immediately visible, and visitors can view all of Animal Haven’s adoptable pets without leaving the site. I integrated tools they were already using, like Google Calendar for events and Google Checkout for donations. Thanks to the new content management system, they can easily manage the site and incorporate content from YouTube and PhotoBucket. Last but not least, I added a blog to help them share their success stories, shelter news, event information and more.
I’m really happy with the results; special thanks to the staff at Animal Haven for all of their input and effort. If you’re in the Kansas City area and you’d like to adopt a pet, AnimalHavenKC.org is the place to go.
Results:
Since launching the site two weeks ago, overall visits have increased 38.5%. Pageviews have increased 180%. The bounce rate has dropped over 72% — from 66% to 18%, the average time spent on the site has increased 144%, and blog subscriptions have been increasing every day.
Posted by Kyle
TripAdvisor, the travel site that has never let me down, has cracked the lid on their new site — see it here. Overall, it’s a huge improvement — the effort and planning involved are evident in the information design and user experience. It’s much easier on the eyes thanks to the wider layout, increased whitespace, rounded corners and more. Congrats to the design team, whoever you are.
Posted by Kyle
Refill7 is a very cool project from Refill Magazine (I’m not afraid to admit I’ve never heard of it.) — they’ve asked 50 artists to design their own decks by lasering through 7 layers of plywood.
There’s a ginormous gallery of the decks at Flickr that highlights the really cool and highly detailed designs with Laser cutting by Precision 20|20.
Posted by Kyle
I finally made it to the new Puma store at my local mall to grab a fresh pair of kicks and when I got them home I was pleasantly surprised to find this clever message on the bottom of my shopping bag:
It reads:
“CAUTION: THIS IS NOT A TOY. Obviously, it’s just a bag. OK, we didn’t really think you would mistake it for a games consol. [sic] All we mean is don’t fool around and put it on your head, you’ll just look silly.”
It’s always fun to find little bits of unexpected humor in seemingly mundane places… kudos to the copywriter! Shame on the proofreader though… unless there’s an alternate spelling for “console” that I’m not aware of.
Posted by Kyle
There’s a new soon-to-be-overused web design technique making its way across the internets. I don’t know if it has a name yet, so I’ll dub it… subtle suede. (Sandpaper would have worked too, but it doesn’t sound as sexy.) I first used it on a work project, then this blog, but I think the technique received its widest acclaim thanks to Blue Flavor’s tasty Leaflets site.
It super easy to create… all you need is Photoshop and a few minutes to kill. Here’s the how-to: Read More
Posted by Kyle
