“The idea for profiling some of comics’ most interesting black characters came about when Slush Publisher Brian Jacks attended a Black History Month lecture by an African-American two-star Marine general at the Army’s JAG School. The general brought up some very notable points about culture and famous blacks throughout history, in this case all American. But there exists another corner of the universe where another group of blacks is carving out their names in our mind…the universe of comic-dom.”

“Speaking of Powerpoint, I think the common format sucks, but not in the usual way people say it sucks… 1. During a presentation people are either listening to me speak or reading my slide, not both simultaneously, and 2. A deck doesn’t contain enough information to be meaningful on its own after the presentation. So, I’m going to try a format that uses one big image next to a paragraph of text. The text will be at a typeface impossible to read from the audience, wherever that is, so people will be forced to either listen to me or daydream.”

“This is my set of shapes for making wireframes in OmniGraffle (Mac OSX). For user flows and such I recommend Jesse James Garret’s IA Stencils (Visio and EPS formats) or the default Flow Chart palette available in OmniGraffle… My stencil exists of a very basic set of shapes including: browser chrome, title blck, form elements, a greeked text block, text headings, some boxes, and label and note blocks.”

“Speaking of Powerpoint, I think the common format sucks, but not in the usual way people say it sucks… 1. During a presentation people are either listening to me speak or reading my slide, not both simultaneously, and 2. A deck doesn’t contain enough information to be meaningful on its own after the presentation. So, I’m going to try a format that uses one big image next to a paragraph of text. The text will be at a typeface impossible to read from the audience, wherever that is, so people will be forced to either listen to me or daydream.”

“The Alphabet Synthesis Machine is an interactive online artwork which allows one to create and evolve the possible writing systems of one’s own imaginary civilizations. The abstract alphabets produced by the Machine can be downloaded as PC-format TrueType fonts, and are entered into a comprehensive archive of user creations. The products of the Machine probe the liminal territories between familiarity and chaos, language and gesture.”

“A valid and useful usability test takes time and expertise. Shortcuts and lack of rigorous controls invariably reduce the validity and usefulness of the data generated by the test. Here I offer a description of some of the key ingredients of a good usability test and some examples of poorly designed or run testing.”

“This is my set of shapes for making wireframes in OmniGraffle (Mac OSX). For user flows and such I recommend Jesse James Garret’s IA Stencils (Visio and EPS formats) or the default Flow Chart palette available in OmniGraffle… My stencil exists of a very basic set of shapes including: browser chrome, title blck, form elements, a greeked text block, text headings, some boxes, and label and note blocks.”