“At first glance, the similarities between the Audi TT and Apple’s new iTunes media player may not appear to run any deeper both relying on metallic aesthetics to accentuate design features. However, what struck me about both offerings is that these two recent products strike a dynamic balance between the use of line and curves in funtional, evocative products.”

“This website describes Edward Tufte’s books, one-day course, and artwork. Edward Tufte has written seven books, including Visual Explanations, Envisioning Information, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, and Data Analysis for Politics and Policy. He writes, designs, and self-publishes his books on information design, which have received more than 40 awards for content and design. He is Professor Emeritus at Yale University, where he taught courses in statistical evidence, information design, and interface design. His current work includes digital video, sculpture, printmaking, and a new book called Cognitive Art.”

“Dr [Stuart] Card, a cognitive psychologist, reckons that a user ‘forages’ through a website in search of a piece of information in a manner similar to that employed by an animal foraging through a forest in search of food. Watch the user’s foraging behaviour (his ‘clickpath’) closely enough, and you can work out what ’scent’ he is chasing, and thus what kind of information he is after.”

“It should be admitted that Nielsen gets a great deal right… Unfortunately, though, he gets one little detail utterly wrong, and his wrongness on that detail is enough to force a rethinking of his entire argument. Part of Nielsen’s stance is the assertion that graphics usually compromise the rapid delivery of information, that linked text is sufficient to the needs of the vast majority of the Web audience, that loadtime should be the primary consideration in web design: in short, that there is One Best Answer to your design issue, whatever it should happen to be, and that answer is Jakob Nielsen’s.”

“This website describes Edward Tufte’s books, one-day course, and artwork. Edward Tufte has written seven books, including Visual Explanations, Envisioning Information, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, and Data Analysis for Politics and Policy. He writes, designs, and self-publishes his books on information design, which have received more than 40 awards for content and design. He is Professor Emeritus at Yale University, where he taught courses in statistical evidence, information design, and interface design. His current work includes digital video, sculpture, printmaking, and a new book called Cognitive Art.”

“At first glance, the similarities between the Audi TT and Apple’s new iTunes media player may not appear to run any deeper both relying on metallic aesthetics to accentuate design features. However, what struck me about both offerings is that these two recent products strike a dynamic balance between the use of line and curves in funtional, evocative products.”

“Directed creativity is the purposeful production of creative ideas in a topic area, followed up by deliberate effort to implement some of those ideas. Many people incorrectly assume that creative thinking is a special gift, bestowed on only a few. While it is true that we rarely see the extraordinary creativity of an Edison or Einstein, modern research from the fields of the cognitive sciences indicates that the ability to generate innovative ideas for change in our work is a common “gift” that we all possess.”

“These days, many corporations articulate a belief that innovative thinking is imperative to their success. Virtually any corporate employee can site reasons for this: change is accelerating; solutions have a shorter shelf life; competition is increasing; organizations are expected to do more with less; employee-commitment only comes with passion and self-expression. However, individuals and organizations still express discouragement — a sense of confusion, wariness, and inability — when asked if they feel successfully creative.”

“Visual thinking refers to a group of generative skills that, when practiced with rigorous discipline, results in the production of novel and original graphic ideas. By seeking to discover visual forms that fit his/her underlying human experience, the student of visual thinking comes to know the world. This practice of thinking with images alone is stressed in NAB in order to balance the over-emphasis on verbal reasoning in other areas of education. Visual thinking is high order critical thinking conducted by imaginistic means alone.”

“There are two key problems to overcome when creating a useful information visualization. The first task is to define the visualization; which relies heavily upon brainstorming and innovation. However, the innovative display of the information, by itself, is not enough to ensure the success of the information visualization.”

“When you’ve recorded a four-disc set requiring the simultaneous playback of all four and composed a symphony expressly for a forty-piece boombox orchestra, the logical next move would be to write, direct, produce, score and star in a futuristic epic where stranded space colonists celebrate the first Martian Noel with an alien replacing Santa (who killed himself). Logical that is, if you’re the avant-garde, neo-psychedelic, sonic visionaries known as the Flaming Lips.”

“When you’ve recorded a four-disc set requiring the simultaneous playback of all four and composed a symphony expressly for a forty-piece boombox orchestra, the logical next move would be to write, direct, produce, score and star in a futuristic epic where stranded space colonists celebrate the first Martian Noel with an alien replacing Santa (who killed himself). Logical that is, if you’re the avant-garde, neo-psychedelic, sonic visionaries known as the Flaming Lips.”

“Still can’t decide whether to use PHP scripts, Perl CGIs, or Java servlets for your next Web development project? This article will help you decide by providing a side-by-side comparison of the functioning source code of all three languages. The three simple example programs provided take you from the most basic server-side scripts through object orientation to a simple Web storefront presenting product information to a user. Reading this article will give you a good idea of the difference between these three languages, and a better idea of which one is right for you.”

“Marketers fail when they segment Web users on demographics alone. Our study of click-stream data reveals seven usage-based segments that correlate to users’ online moods and goals. They can be a powerful tool in crafting effective Web strategies.”

“A note to marketers: Go back to basics. A new study has found that packaged goods manufacturers are overspending on Web sites by providing features that people don’t want.”