Category: design

  • All Employees Deserve GREAT Software

    I’m not here to help build mediocre software. Quite the opposite, actually. No one should be subjected to sub-par tools, whether they’re using their software at home, school, work, or somewhere in-between. One of my UCD-minded colleagues pointed out to me last week that often business users are considered a “special” set of users because…

  • The Basis of Web Design = Typography

    First I read this. Then I read the follow up. And finally I found myself at this page, remembering, yet again, that the key to usability is readability. Now, if what you do every day has little to do with usability, design, or typography, you might think this stuff doesn’t really matter to you. If…

  • Pruning Photos

    Football man! Originally uploaded by josh.ev9. Last week I read in an ask.metafilter forum that was discussing photography, and how to improve one’s skills. I’ve always wanted to be a better photographer, so I took a lot of the advice to heart. The most striking piece of advice for me seems to be the hardest…

  • Little Side Projects

    So I read this design document today and I find it quite inspiring. The designer and author, Khoi Vinh, noticed an action writers around him were taking to be more productive. Understanding a bit about technology, he went about designing a software application that would fulfill these writers’ needs, without forcing them to go out…

  • ThoughtWorks Chicago Entrance Sign Mockup & Photoshop & Human Performance

    ThoughtWorks Chicago Entrance Sign Mockup Originally uploaded by josh.ev9. This afternoon I threw together a mockup of what the new sign in the entrance of the new ThoughtWorks Chicago office will look like. I worked with Michael, who did the actual design of the sign. Photoshop is, in fact, quite powerful. I’m becoming really in…

  • Celebrate World Usability Day 2006

    Wishing you and yours a delightful World Usability Day, from josh.ev9.org. More details, and perhaps an editorial, are forthcoming.

  • Do you see it?

    There’s something different about my blog compared to the last time you saw it. First right guess gets a prize. Maybe it’ll be you. (Maybe a better prize will go to the third guess…) Josh

  • Election 2006 InfoGraphic Design

    Tonight is a big night here in the US. It’s election night, one of my favorite nights of the year. Well, it doesn’t really happen every year, but still. I like it. Ok? Alright. This evening I was hanging out at NPR.org checking out the stats. One of the reasons I enjoy election nights is…

  • Is Chicago the next hotbed of Digital Design?

    Now, I have no hard evidence to prove or disprove my hypothesis, but I get the feeling that there’s a Design tradition brewing in the Chicagoland area. Heck, it may precede my days here. Still, before I came to Chicago, if you were to ask me (and most of my design-minded friends, I’m sure) where…

  • Refocusing the Blog

    So it seems I’ve turned on my most prized readership. When I started this blog, there was one group of people in particular to whom I regularly directed my writing: my family and friends. My posts of late have featured more than a normal amount of Techno-speak, which is not all that fun to read…