The NESTREST designed by Paris’ Daniel Pouzet and Fred Frety. I want one!
Mistakes That Matter
It feels like quite a while since I’ve posted! I attribute that mostly due to the holiday rush and a whole lot of traveling on my part. But, speaking of traveling, I wanted to talk about something I read on my plane ride back to Denver yesterday from the book Why We Make Mistakes by Joe Hallinan.
This book explores a lot of reasons why people miss important information or make wrong choices, etc., and one particularly interesting example was of the “error rate” of screeners in airports– as reported by the Transportation Security Administration.
A test back in 2002 indicated 1 in 4 guns were missed by airport screeners. That was confirmed in a study 2 years later at Newark’s airport at which the failure rate was also 25%. And in 2006, 60% of bomb materials and explosives hidden in carry-ons were missed at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The bomb test reported even worse in Los Angeles International Airport at a 75% failure rate!
Hallinan says that this looking-but-not-seeing issue is deeply human, to say that we typically don’t see things we are not expecting to see. And with about a one-in-a-million chance of seeing a gun go through security, it’s entirely predictable (though slightly unintuitive) that screeners would miss that one they just weren’t expecting to come across.
I once heard that teachers grading standardized tests are subjected to bogus essays every now and again to make sure they stay consistent. And I think that the TSA should do the same– slip in bogus dangers every now and again, maybe even a couple times a day, to keep them consistent. And possibly for some entertainment value!
I imagine that is how they came up with these figures in the first place, so I do hope that they already have a system like this in place. But I just wanted to share my thoughts and possibly stir up some ideas in your head as well!
“To err is human,” dangerous as it may be. Here’s to innovation to protect us from ourselves!
One Page Wonder
I came across this gorgeous site while perusing a designer showcase. It is the portfolio of Ryan Scherf.
I think this layout is beautiful. The background illustration is the focal point, and it’s just simple but gritty and texture-ey enough to function both as a main image and a backdrop.
The real reason I’m taking note of this site, though, is because of its navigation style. It’s interesting because the whole site takes place on one page. (If you haven’t already, click on the image to see what I’m talking about.)
The navigation links which are on the upper left side simply take the user scrolling down to the appropriate anchor point, while the arrow at the bottom leads him/her back up again. The site is so condensed already that it wouldn’t be a bother to scroll up and down manually, but it has a nice feel to it.
I guess this type of design has been coming into vogue lately because this is the 3rd or 4th time I’ve seen it, and each one had a similar-but-different quirky design flair. The simplicity of the layout lends itself to some graphic experimentation, perhaps.
I think it’s really effective because of the simple interactive fun you feel bouncing up and down the page and (huge bonus:) the fact that the images need only load one time during your visit. As a downside, you do need to keep content at an absolute minimum to pull this off, and the page does have to actually fully load– even if it’s just that one time. Overall, though, I have to say I like it!
Lost in Translation
I was enjoying some time at Borders last week when I hit the “graphic design” section. It’s always an information overload for me at book stores. I get my hands on one book, and I have to sample and compare it to 5 similar. There’s no such thing as a “quick stop.”
But one thing that intrigued me while looking through all of these design books was how many of them (that looked so interesting and valuable on the outside) were kind of useless on the inside.
It’s like, you’re there examining the cover art and tagline, reading the back for a summary of topics covered, and even catching a glance of a recommendation from some college professor. But then you open it up, and… nothing. You’ve skimmed over 7 pages in a bore-coma, not really understanding anything you’ve read. Sure, there were some pretty pictures along the way, but why haven’t I learned anything?
I like to think that transferring the message is a part of the art. Because every project has its goals and restraints, and those are what push you to be creative. When writing a book with the goal of giving advice, how can a completely fluffy design with wild typography be “good work”? Just my two cents, I guess.
Template Design: Necessary/Evil?
Over the last month or so I’ve been thinking it might be fun to start designing premium WordPress themes.
For those of you who haven’t heard of WordPress before, it’s a content management system with built-in functionality that makes it super easy for a layman to update or edit their own websites. Some people may have only heard of WordPress as a blogging software (which is how it became so popular), but these days there are millions of websites of all kinds who use the platform.
A “theme” is basically a turn-key template design that someone can use on their WordPress site. With a default theme, your content is laid out quite plainly. But, with a press of a button, your content can be rearranged with images and a brand new color scheme. That’s how simply themes work.
As a designer/developer, I am coding WordPress themes for clients all the time. In fact, you’re looking at one right now! But for those emerging businesses or individuals that just can’t scrape together the funds for a designer, there are premium themes sold all over the internet at modest costs that can do the job before a brand takes off.
As a web designer– especially one who’s done it for so, so long– I have a natural resistance to this one-size-fits-all mentality of website templates. I’m all about customization, capturing what it is that makes a product or service what it is. But, as much as it has made me cringe in the past, I have to admit that there just might be a time when grabbing “something pretty” is the best option.
So there, I said it! Stephanie might just start designing WordPress themes. I will let you know if and when it comes together.
Sour Sally Website
This website represents a frozen yogurt company in Indonesia called “Sour Sally”. I was browsing a design inspiration site in the website section and, from its thumbnail, this one looked to have a lot of personality. Once I visited it, though, I understood why it was featured.
When you first arrive, you’re given instruction on how to navigate. I actually glossed right over these, being the ad-blind person that I am, assuming it was just some lame copy about the product. This common reaction, along with the fact that it’s done completely in Flash, are its weak points and more than likely why we don’t see this type of thing more often.
Once I figured out how to fly up to the menu in the clouds, though, I was in awe. The interactive design, very video game-like, definitely left an impression on me. And as web development grows and matures, it’s exciting to think that we’ll have better solutions for creating this type of site– possibly even in HTML 5. Anyway, you should check it out for yourself!
Last-Minute Halloween
Googled “last-minute halloween costumes” and came across this cute little page at halloween.com. I have to say a good amount of the ideas were stretching a bit too far or maybe sounded better on a page than they probably would do in real-life– especially as a joke you’re carrying on for an entire evening– but a few of them were pretty darn clever.
My favorites:
- Wear all black and put a postage stamp (enlarged if possible) on your chest. What are you? Black mail.
- Wrap yourself in wrapping paper with a tag: “From: God, To: Women”. What are you? God’s gift to women.
- Wear all white. Attach old cups, milk cartons etc to you. What are you? White trash.
Online Personalities
Like a majority of people in my profession, I love to read articles at smashingmagazine.com.
One thing I haven’t paid much attention to before, though, is their use of vector characters. The cartoon people actually represent the employees themselves! How cute is that?
I know I always like to see photos of “the people behind the product” when I’m reading blogs or admiring other designers’ work. I’m not quite sure what makes the cartoon-version even more satisfying for me, but the bottom line is I think it’s brilliant.
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To put this very simply, this thing I call Speciality is a collection of creative ideas-- anything clever or unique I come across and want to share. Note-worthy people, places, products... even just good advice I pick up related to website creation or other artistic endeavors.
This is about me sharing these thoughts with you as a real-life person (maybe a fellow creative?)
I really hope you enjoy these posts as much as I do posting them! And as always, would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by.
--Stephanie