Visual Communications in Digital Design

Usability, Usability, Usability.

We've all heard it, "A Fool with a Tool... is still a Fool." I've even heard a GS-15 Rocket Scientist (works for National Science Foundation) stand up during a usability forum with 200 people in an auditorium and say the following:

"We are all intelligent people here. Heck, I have 4 degrees and two doctorates. But you need to treat us like we're idiots."

His response generated unanimous applause from the crowd. For the record, I agree. He was an idiot.

I found a blog entry on a text book called "Visual Communication in Digital Design." I'd like to check it out and see what it has. The art of software development has a lot of capable developers who can create function. But there are very few Frank Lloyd Wrights of web design who can couple both Form and Function into a valuable business system.

http://books.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/04/1310210&from=rss

Apple's Industrial Design Echoes Value of Usability and Web 2.0

http://gizmodo.com/392020/apples-top-designer-explains-design

This is a short article that interviews the Senior Vice President of Industrial Design from Apple. Not to much content but it has a great quote from Jonathan Ive. His team is responsible for the IMac, IPod, and IPhone. Pretty good resume if you ask me.

"I'm not driven by making a cultural impact. That's just a consequence of taking a remarkably powerful technology and making it relevant. My goal is simply to try to make products that really are meaningful to people."

This really isn't all that different then what IT has failed to do in many cases. Take the internet, software, and computers and apply it in a "relevant" way to solve problems. Some of the most powerful applications are the most simple. It certainly goes without saying that User Interface design and usability should not be the afterthought that it normally is. Web 2.0 is just a piece of that. Industrial design, human cognitive response, and visual accuity have only been applied in a few instances to develop a truly interactive software application. I think the industry should focus on this more. God knows I've used SAP enough times to curse the low priority that the user interface gets. SAP can order me a new spaceship, build a detailed WBS, track my EVM towards completion, route all invoices and payments at the same time. But only if your smart enough to know that Shift + F8 is "execute".