Introducing the next iteration of GOV.UK As Tom explained back in January, the GOV.UK beta is a work in progress. We’ve been hard at work behind the scenes since then, and today we’re releasing a new batch of content, as well as the next iteration of GOV.UK’s design. I’m here to explain a bit more about what’s new, and to ask for your feedback, so we can keep making GOV.UK even better. A simpler, clearer design for GOV.UK Ben Terrett and the design and front end team have been focussing on making GOV.UK even clearer and simpler to use. We’ve reduced the amount of type styles and are now only using one typeface. We’ve also released the next versions of the home page, search results pages, and section pages. New content and tools We’re also starting to add content and tools to GOV.UK to meet the needs of UK businesses of all shapes and sizes, including the millions of self employed people around the country. Tell us what you think Author: Sarah Prag, Product Manager, GOV.UK Mainstream
Inside DuckDuckGo, Google's Tiniest, Fiercest Competitor ⚙ Co.Labs ⚙ Code When Gabriel Weinberg launched a search engine in 2008, plenty of people thought he was insane. How could DuckDuckGo, a tiny, Philadelphia-based startup, go up against Google? One way, he wagered, was by respecting user privacy. Six years later, we're living in the post-Snowden era, and the idea doesn't seem so crazy. In fact, DuckDuckGo is exploding. Looking at a chart of DuckDuckGo's daily search queries, the milestones are obvious. "Every year, we've grown 200-500%," Weinberg says. Surprisingly, the sudden success didn't send the site crashing down. Three Ideas In One: Where DuckDuckGo Came From Weinberg didn't originally set out to build a search engine. "I started all of these projects independently and none of them really took off," Weinberg says. The result was DuckDuckGo, a search engine offering direct answers to people's queries, rather than merely delivering a list of links. Related: Can We All Just Admit Google Is An Evil Empire? Weinberg and his small team seem undeterred.
To Connect With Consumers, Ditch The Focus Groups. Try Acting Instead Some months ago, I wrote an article here where I claimed that market research data is overrated, especially when it comes to innovative products and services. An innovation is new and original, so by definition, it departs from users’ experiences and behavior. Consequently, it is hard to establish quantitatively how to market it. Unfortunately, I didn’t offer up any viable alternative methods to surveys and focus groups. I believe one of the most powerful methods for synching up your brand with the zeitgeist, or people’s unrealized wants and needs, is by tapping into good old-fashioned empathy. So what is empathy, and why does it matter? Well, according to the dictionary in my Mac, it is “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” So if we can feel what they feel, then logically we can react to new information and stimuli, i.e., branded products and services, in their emotional shoes as well. How do you do it? Courage First Empathy, then go Alpha
Mobile Application Design, iPhone App Design and Development by Pacific App Design We work a little differently than most iPhone and iPad development companies and we are sure it shows in the high quality of our work. We are not an app factory like many of the development companies around today. We pride ourselves on producing exceptional work for our clients and ensuring that every app development experience is an extraordinary one. We work with iPhones, Android and iPads, day in and day out, not because we have to, but because we want to. We want you to have an extraordinary app, even if that means we help you hone your ideas. Founded in 1990 as a software development company, we grew from those roots into a web development company in 1996 and since then have grown into a leading mobile application firm. These days touch devices are everywhere and they now come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, but while they are becoming common, understanding of how best to utilize these devices certainly is not.
Symbol Signs The complete set of 50 passenger/pedestrian symbols developed by AIGA is available for all to use, free of charge. Signs are available here in EPS and GIF formats. Additional symbol signs are available free of charge at The Noun Project. Download the complete set of Symbol Signs (ZIP archive, 377 KB) About the symbol signs This system of 50 symbol signs was designed for use at the crossroads of modern life: in airports and other transportation hubs and at large international events. Prior to this effort, numerous international, national and local organizations had devised symbols to guide passengers and pedestrians through transportation facilities and other sites of international exchange. To develop such a system, AIGA and DOT. compiled an inventory of symbol systems that had been used in various locations worldwide, from airports and train stations to the Olympic Games. AIGA Signs and Symbols Committee members: Thomas Geismar Seymour Chwast Rudolph de Harak John Lees Massimo Vignelli
Pacific App Report | Leading Edge Design and Development Ideas Unicorn: a visual designer with UX chops Unicorn: a visual designer with UX skills I was speaking to an entrepreneur the other day when he mentioned he was looking for a “creative director with UX skills.” He added,”…someone whose aesthetic I really like.” I responded ,”Good luck.” Having recently completed a year-long search for just such a person I’d resigned to believe this person was a in fact a unicorn. (Update: I was quickly reminded that I forgot to mention that my search bore fruit. Why is it so hard to find strong visual designers who have interaction and product design experience? First, design schools have traditionally not taught interaction design or user experience design skills. Second, graphic designers get gobbled up quickly by the agency world. The experience designers collect through school and agency doesn’t prepare them to solve the challenges of workflow, transactional systems and information organization. Why do you think there are relatively few of these unicorns? [Jeff]
iPhone Application Development | iPhone Apps Development – Pacific App Design From iPhone app design, development and right through submission to the Apple App Store, Pacific App Design provides a complete suite of iPhone application development services. We were an early innovator as an iPhone application development company and the iPhone application development platform has remained at the core of our services since 2008. We are very proud of both the design and functionality of our many iPhone apps and strive to maintain cutting-edge skills for both our UI/UX design team and our iPhone app development team. A large part of the success of the iPhone was its seamless integration of hardware, mobile apps and operating system. While all the various parts existed prior to the iPhone, it was the iOS operating system and iPhone that really propelled the possibilities for usability to the forefront of the mainstream for personal mobile devices. Expand Your Business Potential What makes us different?
5 Reasons Why Metaphors Can Improve the User Experience There are many ways to experience the world around us. Especially offline, we can make use of our different senses to collect information, interpret our environment and make judgments. On the Web, however, our senses are more limited. As designers, we need to present information carefully to make sure our users think, feel and do the right thing. A great way to help your users understand abstract content, create a sense of familiarity, trigger emotions, draw attention and motivate action are metaphors. "The way we think, what we experience, and what we do every day is very much a matter of metaphor." - Lakoff and Johnson In their frequently cited book, Metaphors We Live By, Lakoff and Johnson demonstrate the important role of metaphors in our language and in our everyday lives. Let’s look at how you can use metaphors to add to the user experience on your website. 1. Metaphors are a great tool to help your users understand abstract or unfamiliar content. Source Source Source 2. Source Source 3.
Android Application Development | Android Apps Development - Pacific App Design Pacific App Design is a web and mobile application development company that stands out from other iPhone, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and Android application development companies. Our dedicated team of highly skilled Android app developers is innovative and possesses exceptional skills for Android Development. No matter whether you want to develop business apps, location based apps, social apps, or shopping apps, you will find our Android App Development team will serve you well and more than meet your expectations. Android applications development has been our most rapidly growing mobile technology sector the past couple years and as the Android platform took off a couple years ago, Pacific App Design stayed ahead of the market and built a first-class in-house Android applications development team. We are actively involved in Android application development that includes projects that range from the highly technical to the elegantly functional.
A Collection of Printable Sketch Templates and Sketch Books for Wireframing | geekchix.org At the beginning of a web (or application) development project I always create the sketches first. While sketching can be done on a blank paper, it’s much better to use a sketch template. For me that is the best and most productive way to work on and improve my ideas before application development begins (and things get more complicated :-)). This way I won’t pay too much attention to some details that should be taken care of later, but stay focused on general layout and functionality. Below you will find more than 20 resources that you can use in sketching phase of application development. And, of course, don’t forget to share your wireframes on I ♥ wireframes :-) Printable sketch templates for websites These are some pretty good, printable sketch templates for website design. Browser Sketch Pad (PDF) Browser Sketch Pad by Design Commission — see original source 960 grid template 960 grid template by Nathan Smith — see original source 960 Sketch PDF template Graph paper Paper browser Notepod
iPad Application Development | iPad Apps Development - Pacific app design Pacific App Design is an iPad app developer that has been creating exceptional iPad apps since the iPad was first released in April 2010. We have a dedicated team of iPad app developers for iPad Development and iPad Software Development that focus on the requirements from both users’ and clients’ prospective. This dedication has made us one of the most respected iPad app development companies. iPad application development requires a different approach to the design and software coding when compared to iPhone app design and development. Poor performing iPad apps are usually just an iPhone app made larger with a couple tweaks by the developers but great iPad apps are designed from the ground up. Starting with careful planning and design, they take advantage of many of the unique features and extra screen space offered by the iPad. Crucial to effective iPad app development is a look at the demographics of iPad users and your target market. We’ll improve the Performance of Your Business
iTravel: Apple's Future Travel Centric App for the iPhone Patent Background Transportation ticketing has traditionally involved a pre-printed ticket which is scanned at a departure station. For example, transportation tickets may be printed at home with a barcode or a QR code (i.e., a 3-dimensional barcode) encoded with information about the traveler and/or the travel (e.g., name, destination, departure time, schedule number, etc.). In addition, this information may be included in plain language on the printed ticket. A traveler may be required to present this pre-printed ticket to gain admission to the transportation depot (e.g., airport, train station, but station, etc.), to pass through a security check-point, and/or to board the vehicle for transportation. For example, in order to board an airplane at an airport, a traveler may be asked to present his pre-printed ticket in order to check in to his flight, to pass through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint, and to enter the gangway to board the airplane.
Mobile Application Development in Los Angeles - Pacific App Design Pacific App Design has designed and developed mobile apps for a wide variety of platforms including iPhone, iPad, Android, Android Tablets, Windows Mobile, Kindle, Symbian and Blackberry. We have applied our in-depth knowledge to both mobile web apps and native mobile apps and are considered a leader in the mobile apps development market. Just a few of the industries for which we have developed mobile apps include: education, healthcare, business productivity, media, retail, eCommerce, sports & recreation and ticketing. Some specific mobile app areas of experience we have for iPhone, iPad, Android and other Platforms Include: Location-Based Apps Augmented Reality Mobile Ad Servers Mobile Commerce Mobile Database Integration Mobile Reader Apps Business Productivity Retail and Point of Sale Apps Social Media Integration Streaming Media Apps Pacific App Design is a leader in developing iPhone, Android and other mobile apps that take advantage of power of social and local applications.