gaming

everydayUX morsels for April 3rd – April 8th

by Alex Rainert on April 8, 2011 · 1 comment

in Links

Meet the Founder of Upoc, A Group Messaging Service From Last Century
Great interview with the CEO of a company that was ahead of its time.
11 quotes about entrepreneurship from venture capitalist Mark Suster
Great great lessons to be had here.
A Colorful Weekend
Best description of the Color experience I've read yet.
Data Downfalls (10)
Interesting post on how they leverage data in the design process.
I just killed a social game mechanic | Gravity7: Social Interaction Design By Adrian Chan
A critical response to the SCVNGR playdeck.
jtnimoy – Tron Legacy (2010)
Really amazing work from a fellow ITP 2004 grad, Josh Nimoy.
Generation Z will revolutionize education | Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist
It certainly needs it.

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EverydayUX morsels (January 24th – January 29th)

by Alex Rainert on January 29, 2011 · 0 comments

in Links

How to Best Utilize the New Foursquare for Business
Top notch article on using foursquare for your business.
8 Ways FarmVille Designs for Engagement | Making sense of good and bad content
Good list here. Probably won't translate 1:1 if what you're doing isn't a pure game but you should be able to draw similarities.
How Sonos Got It Right: Up Close With A Survivor
Great story of how a small company got it right.
Subtraction.com: This Could Be Google’s Design Moment
Great post on the opportunity that lies ahead for Google.
Why I Don’t Use Facebook | John C. Dvorak | PCMag.com
Reliable curmudgeon, John Dvorak makes some decent points on the similarities between Facebook + AOL (a meme that's gathered more steam of late).
Little Big Details
Awesome little Tumblog that exemplifies "it's the little thing".

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EverydayUX morsels (January 4th – January 20th)

by Alex Rainert on January 20, 2011 · 0 comments

in Links

Everyone was junior once
Great great post.
An Intimate Look at Infographics
Hilarious.
The answer to this Quora? No. « BBH Labs
Counterpoint to the recent Quora frothiness.
Gamification Workshop 2010
Really excellent presentation providing a great overview of "gamification". Great foursquare case study starts on slide 132.
New ski goggles from Recon will run Android
The screenshots could be sexier but it's awesome to finally start to see stuff like this see the light of day.
Just add points? What UX can (and cannot) learn from games
GREAT presentation.

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EverydayUX morsels (December 7th – December 13th)

by Alex Rainert on December 11, 2010 · 0 comments

in Links

Google’s Foursquare Rival, Latitude, Is A Mess
Yes it's Scoble and he's got his very unique set of use cases but he brings up some great points to consider when designing products around passive location tracking.
Linkedin’s New Tool Lets You Create A Professional CV Offline
Only played with it for a few minutes but seemed to work pretty well. Surprised it took them this long to do this.
Kicker Studio: Essential Interaction Design Essays and Articles
.: sermad :. » Blog Archive » What is a creative technologist?
Great breakdown of a skillset that's been around for awhile but only recently been given a name.
Android vs iOS: A Developer’s Perspective « Whereoscope Blog
Groupon Voice
Totally awesome Groupon Voice docs.e
Frog Design: The Four Secrets of Playtime That Foster Creative Kids | Co.Design
The Best Mac Software of 2010 | Mac.AppStorm
Great list of apps.
Mashable says McKinney’s use of Foursquare is unique — McKinney
Interesting way to leverage the platform to raise awareness.
The Need to Complete | Hugo Liu’s Taste Blog
Great post unpacking the Profile Completion Bar UX pattern through the lens of game dynamics and motivation.

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EverydayUX morsels (October 18th – October 25th)

by Alex Rainert on October 25, 2010 · 0 comments

in Links

Your Life, Your Map – Interactive Feature – NYTimes.com
The NYC Subway map envisioned by various notable New Yorkers. (ps: I love this stuff)
LukeW | Android User Experience: When Open & Closed Collide
What is Gamification and Real World Examples of It « Ada Chen Rekhi’s Blog (@adachen)
Great real-world examples of game mechanics.
Social Gaming for Health | Blog | design mind
Social gaming with a real impact.
Improving life through online apps | MediaStyle
Great interview with Buster on the mechanics that drive his product development.
YouTube – Reality gaming the MINI way.
One of the cleverest mobile campaigns I've seen in a long time. The promo video is top notch too.

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EverydayUX morsels (October 15th – October 15th)

by Alex Rainert on October 15, 2010 · 0 comments

in Links

Buster Benson & His Journey to Enjoymentland
Buster does great work and this interview is a great window into how he got to where he is.
How Shazam Works To Identify (Nearly) Every Song You Throw At It
Shazam is about as close as I get to seeing real magic.
Playing Hard to Get: Using scarcity to influence behavior | UX Magazine
Fraser Speirs – Blog – The iPad Project: How It’s Going
Inspiring story of what happened when iPads were brought into the classroom.
Foursquare courts the rest of us | The Social – CNET News
Nice job capturing what drove a lot of our thinking behind the foursquare 2.0 launch – make 4sq a compelling single player experience that gets enhanced as a multiplayer one.
Could Location-Based Services Increase Civic Engagement in Millennials?
Derek Powazek – Thoughts on Designing for iPad
Great read if you're digging into an iPad app for the first time.
Shortboredsurfer – 11 Principles of Interaction Design explained
Memory Inception: Three Keys To Creating A Great User Experience For Your Product
Nice focus on the importance of: transitions, Wow moments and endings.
The Future of Screen Technology
courtesy of The Astonishing Tribe

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EverydayUX morsels (September 21st – October 1st)

by Alex Rainert on October 1, 2010 · 0 comments

in Links

The Future of Advertising: Fewer, Different is More | Punchcut
Interesting thesis on the "framing" effect commercials have on content, making it seem more valuable.
Video Games Win a Beachhead in the Classroom – NYTimes.com
Having grown up close to gaming myself, it's great to see gaming mechanics weave their way into other parts of our lives.
P2 WordPress Theme, like Twitter in a box
Clever little WordPress theme that turns your WP blog into a twitter-like stream. Neat.
Rethinking the Mobile Web by Yiibu
Beautiful and exceptionally thorough presentation about designing for mobile. Must bookmark.
10 Things I Have Learned by Milton Glaser
Great list. Must read.
Real Time Check-ins Map by Zauber
Nice visualization. So cool seeing the ones popping up in the middle of nowhere.
“iBGStar” Plug-In Glucose Meter for the iPhone!
Love seeing more ppl taking adv of the 30 pin connector.

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EverydayUX morsels (September 9th – September 19th)

by Alex Rainert on September 19, 2010 · 0 comments

in Links

Rebranding Carrots as Junk Food – TheDieline.com – Package Design Blog
Love this.
Gamers Better at Fast Decision-Making | Wired Science | Wired.com
No surprise here. Just nice to see some research behind it. Makes me feel a smidge better about all those hours I put in as a kid.
Are you loyalty royalty? How to use the…
Another great use of the foursquare platform from the folks at AJ Bombers. Love seeing this kind of creative thinking showcasing the flexibility of the platform.
The Facebook Reckoning – Anil Dash
Very well written, thoughtful, response to the profile on Mark Zuckerberg from the New Yorker. If you're into the whole Facebook + Privacy conversation, this is a must read.
The REAL ‘Stuff White People Like’ « OkTrends
One of the best blogs in the business comes really strong with another post carving up their data interesting ways.
Marco.org – The Grandparents Camera
Excellent post detailing the process of shopping for a purchasing a digital camera for grandparents.
Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines: ‘we don’t need any more fart apps’ — Engadget
Love the tone of the new published guidelines.

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EverydayUX morsels (July 30th – August 1st)

by Alex Rainert on August 1, 2010 · 0 comments

in Links

A VC: Being Present
Excellent Father's Day post on the importance of being present from Fred Wilson.
Add Some XBOX To Your UX :: SXSW 2010 Talk :: Josh Knowles
Great, thorough, presentation on the intricacies of game mechanics and how to weave them into your experience. (i.e. don't "just add badges!")
Inside Gatorade’s Social Media Command Center
Love the visualizations.
College Humor CEO Shares His 10 Web Content Urban Legends
Great, concise presentation about online content. Read it.
Brand&Digital – Brand&Digital – The problem with UX and Design in the digital world
Nice account of the transition from Designer > IA > UX and how it's affected the creative process.
Leah Buley » Things to do at the beginning of each project
Great list. You might not be able to use all the steps but I'm certain there's something in there for you.
jQuery for Designers – Tutorials and screencasts
Looks like a neat resource.
The easiest way to write your life story | OhLife
Really like the way they've executed this simple, personal diary app.
Town Plans Foursquare ‘Foxhunt’
Really love to see people leveraging the platform + API to do these kinds of things.