(via The Dirtiest Word in UX: Complexity | UX Magazine)

How information is presented in the UI is an important consideration. There are two important concepts presented by Edward Tufte that relate to how we present the visual layer of interface:^[6]

Adjacent in space is taking elements of an application and positioning them all on the same screen. Depending on the information and number of features an application has, it can make the screen appear more, or less, complex. An airplane cockpit is an extreme example of this approach. It makes all of the controls readily available to pilots and keeps critical readouts and important data ready at hand to help pilots make quick decisions. The adjacent in space UI approach gives more immediate power and control. It also reduces the need for navigation between screens to reach additional functionality, speeding up interactions.

Stacked in time is splitting the functionality up into several screens or layers, like a story being spread across pages in a book rather than crammed into a single long page. This approach can reduce the chance of the users making a mistake by guiding them down clear path. It also offers a gradual engagement, showing and hiding controls so only the necessary UI/information is displayed, reducing the perceptive complexity of the UI. It can allow more screen space for feedback and guidance for the user, and can allow for a more aesthetically pleasing and/or branded experience. The stacked in time approach tends to make an application less intimidating and doesn’t overwhelm the user with choices.

The adjacent in space and stacked in time approaches each has its own trade-offs. In most cases placing too many elements on screen at the same time creates unnecessary complexity. Not all controls are needed at once, so they should only be presented when needed. However, a stacked in time approach also can become overwhelming to a user if not executed correctly. If the features aren’t mapped in logical paths or are split across too many layers, users might not be able to quickly find what they need. This is especially apparent on smaller screens for devices.

Feels Bad Man: How Mobile Is Stopping the Lulz | Underwire | Wired.com

This is what scares me so much about the tablet-computing era. 

And yes, it could be corrected, but: 

It feels like we’re on the verge of a breakthrough to unleash the creative potential of these devices, but mobile developers are limiting our options to mild tweaking, at best. Instagram’s filters made the simplest cosmetic changes, and you weren’t able to modify anybody else’s work.Draw Something let you draw, but only with a single person and no shared history. Where’s the Canvas, Polyvore, deviantArt, and YTMND of the app world?

There’s this. The aesthetic of creating for the iPad and other tablet devices is simplicity. I don’t see this changing anytime soon — we are too busy being enthralled by the magic of 2 year olds using Netflix. 

Simplicity is wonderful, except that it was deeply limiting. Perhaps that’s the magic of computers: the complexities that real artisans play and sculpt with aren’t completely inaccessible. Microsoft Paint is not that far from Photoshop, and that’s a blessing.

One more thing: 

Poole is concerned that the web is losing its emotional depth, a richness that comes from lurking, failing and learning before finding your place in a community. The difficulty gave it more meaning, and the resulting communities added far more value to the web than they extracted.

(via ninakix)

(via ninakix)

(via fightoffyourdemonss)

(via Book Spine Poetry vol. 3: New York | Brain Pickings)

(Source: mishamiga, via fuckyeahkarengillan)

thingsandschemes:

Java Jacket by Brock Davis.

(via sleepanddream)

(via How to hack a z-rack)

andrewharlow:

the “euthanasia coaster,” by julijonas urbonas

“Euthanasia Coaster” is a hypothetic euthanasia machine in the form of a roller coaster, engineered to humanely – with elegance and euphoria – take the life of a human being. Riding the coaster’s track, the rider is subjected to a series of intensive motion elements that induce various unique experiences: from euphoria to thrill, and from tunnel vision to loss of consciousness, and, eventually, death. Thanks to the marriage of the advanced cross-disciplinary research in space medicine, mechanical engineering, material technologies and, of course, gravity, the fatal journey is made pleasing, elegant and meaningful. Celebrating the limits of the human body but also the liberation from the horizontal life, this ‘kinetic sculpture’ is in fact the ultimate roller coaster: John Allen, former president of the famed Philadelphia Toboggan Company, once sad that “the ultimate roller coaster is built when you send out twenty-four people and they all come back dead. This could be done, you know.”

(via iwantmybearsuit)

canvaslee:

 Click and make some sweet sweet music. 

hitrecordjoe:

I love the idea of my mom sitting and playing with this :oD
(I also just love sitting and playing with this)

leftcoastjane:

sssoooo ffuunnnnnnnn…

hellolindsayyy:

mandaflewaway:

CLICK TO MAKE SOME MUSIC