November 29th, 2011 | Advice, Links
Analysis paralysis. Wikipedia describes it well: “a situation where the opportunity cost of decision analysis exceeds the benefits that could be gained by enacting some decision, or an informal or non-deterministic situation where the sheer quantity of analysis overwhelms the decision-making process itself, thus preventing a decision.” Another name for this is paralysis of choice.
To prevent analysis paralysis then is simple (or so it seems)—reduce the number of choices. However, some companies instead provide a plethora of options to consumers, believing that amongst those options a user will find at least one of them to be perfect for them. They believe that users want choice, and some users do, but for the majority it’s not the case. For example, although one of those options may be perfect for me, the process of narrowing down all of the options can be daunting and cause… you guessed it… paralysis.
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Tags: design
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May 8th, 2011 | Links
“Content is king,” they say. Yet, it’s often the last thing to come from a client when designing a website. Ideally the design of a site should highlight and adapt to the content, it being king and all. But when you don’t have the content in advance it makes that tasks much harder.
There are some of us who give content the respect it deserves and implement content strategies. It is for you I post this link I recently found on Firehead.net titled 1001 Content Strategy Links.
And don’t worry about it being an unwieldy list of 1001 links—it’s broken down into useful sections for easy navigation such as introduction, writing, design, and UX. And the list actually stops at 101, but you’ll see why.
Tags: content, design
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January 9th, 2011 | Links
One of the first things I do when tasked with developing a web site is pull out a sheet of paper and create a simple site diagram to make sure I account for all the content that I needs to be included.
Since I usually both design and code sites myself, the site diagram is very elementary and doesn’t get seen by anyone other than me. But recently when working with two other developers I found it useful to create something a little more detailed.
After a little searching, I found this Box and Arrows posting titled Site Diagrams: Mapping an Information Space useful. The author, Jason Withrow, provides some great guidelines for creating diagrams and well worth a read.
Tags: code, design
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December 20th, 2009 | Links
Since I started my new job at Electronic Arts (EA), I haven’t been blogging too much. Instead, I’ve been using my spare time working on other web sites and playing video games like Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Uncharted 2, and Assassins Creed 2. All sequels, but all good.
But through all the gaming, writing was always in the back of my mind, so I decided to start a column at EA.com. I call it Breaking into the Gaming Industry. In each post, I’ll be interviewing people at EA about what they do with an aim of helping readers get job in the gaming world. Check it out and let me know what you think.
Tags: ea, games
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August 17th, 2009 | Advice, Links
Smashing Apps recently published a post titled How Popular Website Designs Looked Like In Late 90’s. They went in the wayback machine and grabbed screenshots for current commonly praised sites such as Apple.com and Google.com, and like one would expect, the sites from the 90′s were horrible.
Note though that both Apple and Google’s site, which have both always been fairly simple in design, have barely changed. Take Apple…
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Tags: apple, design, google, wayback machine
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August 16th, 2009 | Advice, College
Anyone who visits LucianTucker.com immediately learns three things about me—I’m a designer, a writer, and an avid gamer. I’m very passionate about all three, and I believe everyone should follow their passions, no matter what. Following your passion is one of the secrets to happiness people often deprive themselves of.
I once knew someone who washed windows for a living, and was passionate about it. He told me that if you can find something you’d do for free, you should do it for a living. For him, it was washing windows. Makes you think, doesn’t it?
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Tags: ea, electronic arts, games, jobs
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August 13th, 2009 | Advice, Inspiration
Just about everyday, I tweet a quote (@luciantucker). The quotes are usually not directly related to design, but they help to exercise the mind, and the mind is an important tool in design.
The mind is an important tool—I know it’s so obvious it sounds weird to say, but really, it’s important to note. Designers need to read, travel, sketch in their spare time, and things of that nature, if they want to stay sharp.
One tool I use to keep sharp is reading and analyzing quotes, and I’ve decided that I will make a habit out of sharing these quotes with you, thus the title “Twittered Quotes: 2nd Edition.”
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Tags: design, quotes, twitter
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August 6th, 2009 | Inspiration
I was walking home from work the other day and stumbled upon a mother with her 3-4 year old son. While walking, the boy suddenly plopped down to the grown—legs crossed—and starting drawing on the pavement with chalk his mother had provided. His mom stood patiently as he scribbled.
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Tags: artwork, kids, power wheels, repetition
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July 31st, 2009 | Inspiration, Philosophy, Technology
London Garden. Imagine it—a city consisting only of buses, taxis, and bikes, where energy is constantly being collected and recycled between all pieces involved. Aside from public transportation, this would make London a car-free zone.
See, as described in one of the images in this post, traffic is so bad in London that the average speed is 10mph, “which is nearly the same speed as when we used to travel with horse and carriage.” So more and more, bikes are becoming the preferred mean of travel.
Envisioned by Sweden student Mårten Wållgren and three others, London Garden won a Seymour Powell award for best concept in the “Future City Mobility” design competition.
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Tags: bicycles, design, energy, london garden, traffic
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July 20th, 2009 | Advice, Philosophy
Whenever I think of how a person designs I think of the term “design style,” but I’ve been thinking recently maybe it’s not the right word to use. “Style” seems to imply that a person visually designs a certain way all the time.
I think a better term is design “philosophy.” What I’ve always been interested in is why someone designs the way they do, not how. A person can potentially design different ways visually, but there will seem to be a connection between their designs if they have a certain philosophy.
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Tags: design, design philosophy, design style
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