Design

A well-considered presentation is vital in so many ways...

Annoying video ads

14 Jan. 2010

I find ads inside Internet videos really annoying. As consumers of the media we are subject to the whim of the media presenter, since they package the software to play the media along with the media itself. So if they want an ad in our way, they just put it there.

I typically find this very annoying, but I have found a compromise today. Make the video widescreen. That's a simple fix because it creates unused regions in a standard player screen where ads can go. If the ad isn't standing between me and my video, well... I really don't mind it being there at all.

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Fandango URLs suck

07 Dec. 2009

This URL sucks. It should be this, which I could easily remember:

http://fandango.com/11215/

and then page two could be added by putting a /2 in the back, like:

http://fandango.com/11215/2

Problem solved and now I can type the URL from memory and get where I'm going instantly.

But this brings up an interesting question, which I only first considered when reading this story about the rise and fall of Myspace. With URL's that are difficult to guess, I am forced to click more times in their site. They know I want the information and as long as no other sites are easier, we must choose the best of the too-many-clicks crew of movie time listers.

I don't mean to say that's why they do it. But it's possible. So here's another example of why I think they would do this.

Try typing in your zip code to find the nearest movie theater. Did fandango actually tell you nearest one? When I try this, my closest theater is on page 2, thus my complaining earlier. Why do they do this? Almost certainly because the placement of the theaters are bought and paid for.

Ads and more ads. I just want tickets. Ads create so much overhead for products because the companies force people to pay so much just to be heard. The smaller guys must rely on word of mouth and, though it can work, it's much harder.

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Ad attached to fly generates buzz

30 Oct. 2009

A company at a trade show in Germany had the ingenious idea of attaching tiny little banner ads to flies at the show. Wired's UK branch covered it here

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Can designers make stairs more fun?

29 Oct. 2009

Some designers were asked if they had any ideas for making the stairs more fun to take than an escalator. They focused their efforts on a subway station in Stockholm, Sweden where they transformed the stairs into piano keys.

Did it work? Yes! 66% more people chose the stairs than normal. The designers, commissioned by Volkswagon, refer to what they found as The Fun Theory, which simply states that making things fun can change behavior.

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Geocities has gone offline today

26 Oct. 2009

Geocities, home to the budding web developer, has gone offline today.

I must admit, I haven't even seen a geocities site in a long, long time. What I recall of geocities was a myspace-style chaos to the web design that demonstrated the designers ability to use certain HTML tags more than design a website. The blink tag was a common and horrible offender. As was overuse of frames. Yet so many people whom are probably quite sensible today cut their teeth on geocities so with a tip of my hat I bid the ol' network adieu.

XKCD is also tipping their hat to geocities with this little homage.