Pushing ten weeks and 14 pounds... 
More photos here.
]]>I must say, it's been fun to assemble an entirely new workshop (I just started teaching this one in the spring). When you teach the same class for many years, like my old enterprise IA seminar, it tends to get overloaded and difficult to squeeze into one day. I centered the new one from the start around hands-on exercises and discussion. Of course, it's still hard to squeeze into one day. But so far the evaluations have been good. Many say it's one of those topics that they didn't realize they needed to know about, and are now glad that they do. Not that I'm biased...
Anyway, I hope to see you there this fall.
]]>Pushing ten weeks and 14 pounds...
More photos here.
]]>I hate to sound like a fascist, but I think "build community" ought to be the next one we throw on the pyre. Dunno, maybe I've read too many RFPs of late, but what the hell is it supposed to mean? Is it truly achievable? Is it even a good idea? How many organizations really want a community on their hands to repeatedly feed, burp, and diaper? I think what we mean is that we want to "better engage with more people". But until we find a replacement term, can we just bite our tongues instead of using this ridiculous, meaningless phrase?
]]>Saul Carliner was kind enough to interview me for the latest issue of the Information Design Journal. If only it was online...]]>OK, here's the announcement:
Four years ago, Peter Morville rolled out the user experience honeycomb, with its seven facets of UX. Since then, there's been something of a cottage industry of suggesting new facets (all of which, unfortunately, throw off the geometry of Peter's elegant hexagon).
Perhaps it's time to consider adding yet another facet: sustainability. What and how we design has implications, especially when our designs are ultimately fabricated, transported, and physically consumed. In this time of post-peak oil and environmental worries, designers have an even greater responsibility to consider how our work impacts our planet.
That's why Rosenfeld Media will be publishing Nathan Shedroff's newest book, "Design is the Problem: The Future of Design Must be Sustainable". It's a bit of a departure for us—this is not a practical UX "method" book—but if it helps all of us to bake sustainability into our design processes, it might be the most practical topic we could ever cover.
It's also an opportunity to work with Nathan, who continues to make amazing contributions to the field. His energy is boundless, and his passion for sustainability is humbling. We can't wait for his book to arrive!
Want to find out when the book is available (and receive a discount to boot)? Sign up for a publication notification. You can engage with Nathan and learn more about the topic at his book-in-progress site, and keep up with the book's progress by subscribing to the site's RSS feed.
On the other hand, it's been a great boon to my personal productivity so far.
The story from Mashable.
]]>Many in the user experience world are become quite familiar with Kevin Cheng's wit and perspective through OK/Cancel, the brilliant comic strip he co-creates with Tom Chi (more about Kevin here.) Now we'll get to delve further into Kevin's creative mind: he's agreed to write See What I Mean: How to Use Comics to Communicate Ideas for Rosenfeld Media. Kevin and I have been bouncing around this book idea for years, and I'm thrilled that we'll have an opportunity to work together.
Many recognize that comics are a powerful design tool, but assume they need to be artists to create comics. Through his workshops Kevin has been disproving that assumption for years, and now his book will do the same for a wider audience. See What I Mean will teach anyone, regardless of drawing ability, how to use comics to communicate design concepts effectively.
Like all Rosenfeld Media books, Kevin's begins with a book-in-progress site where he'll share his ideas as they develop, and where we hope you'll do the same. We invite you to engage in Kevin's writing process; this is your opportunity to shape what we believe will be a mainstay on every designer's bookshelf for years to come. You can also keep up with the book's progress by subscribing to its RSS feed.
Nate's now over three weeks old and entering that state of fat and (mostly) happy. MJ and I are tired but doing well, and Iris is doing a bang-up job as big sister-in-chief.
If you've been around a newborn for any amount of time, you quickly realize that wearing shirts other than white or off-white is a pointless pursuit: most of what goes down inevitably comes up. It's also summer in NYC, so my wardrobe consists exclusively of shorts, white T-shirts, and cheap sandals. That'd be fine, if I hadn't realized—at a way-too-early hour this morning, while feeding Nate—that that's essentially my normal wardrobe.
And then it dawned on me: I'm 43 years old. And I still dress like I'm 23.
That really ought to change. Once the weather cools down a bit, at which point Nate's digestive tract should have matured, I've got to upgrade my wardrobe. So, my question: where do you shop for clothes online? Even though I live five miles from the mecca of US shopping, it's truly a hassle to get to Manhattan for a half day to try stuff on. And I really don't enjoy shopping. I'm hoping you can suggest a few online retailers that would be ideal for the mid-40s manchild without a sense of style, or much time or desire to work hard to look good...
]]>Mary Jean, who's always been the best writer in the family, writes:
Nathaniel Oscar Rosenfeld was born Wednesday, June 18, at the extremely hospitable hour of 2:54 p.m. He was a strapping 8 pounds 6 ounces, and within minutes of emerging had figured out where the snack bar was, so we expect that number to stay impressive. After the world's longest pregnancy (27 years), everything went about perfectly with the labor and birth. That kid was so overripe he fell right off the tree.
Iris is crazy about having a little bother brother. When Lou called her after the birth, I could hear her scream with excitement, through his phone, from six feet away. She suggested we use her middle name, Rachel, as his too, but we decided that a little individuality would be a good thing for both of them.
Check them both out here.
We're trying to remember how to do this infant thing again, but have already been reminded how impossibly cute newborns are, and how much fun.
Because I'm such a swell guy, I've decided to share a general set of interview questions below. Hopefully some Bloug readers might find these helpful to consider when hiring a vendor. Chime in with others you think should be added...
]]>Speaking of books, I think we'll have sold 1,000 copies of Luke Wroblewski's Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks by tomorrow. That's not bad, considering it launched Monday! I wish I could take credit as some sort of guru of book promo, but it ultimately comes down to an excellent author and excellent content. Unfortunately, we're also experiencing all sorts of glitches with our shopping cart that are keeping me up way too late, but when your systems are suddenly hit by 20 times the normal activity, I guess stuff is bound to happen.
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We're excited to announce that Luke Wroblewski's long-awaited book, "Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks," is now available! And with hundreds of sales since our soft launch earlier today, apparently we're not the only ones!
When you buy directly from Rosenfeld Media, you'll pay US$36 for the paperback and digital editions, US$19 for digital only. (Compare with US$36 for paperback only at Amazon.)
The paperback is 244 pages with high quality paper stock, a sewn binding, and a full color interior. At 6"x9", it'll be easy to stuff in your carry-on bag for reading during the flight to your next client meeting. And of course, the digital edition (373 pages) is pretty easy to take along too; in fact, it's been designed, tested, and optimized for on-screen use. Both editions are graced with 216 illustrations, which we've made available for you via Flickr to peruse, download, and use in your own presentations.
We're quite thrilled with Luke's work—from his original research to the volume of practical advice he's managed to cram into this book. We hope you'll enjoy it as much as we have.
But enough of that; here are the slides. Much better with animation, but I had to upload a PDF, as the PPT was too large for SlideShare. Email me if you want the full 59Mb PPT. And thanks to everyone who made suggestions; it was a fun keynote to give (and hopefully to sit through):
