Dan Rubin's SuperfluousBanter

Year: 2004

  • Apples and Oranges

    My second column, entitled “Apples
    and Oranges    ,” was published over at Digital
    Web Magazine    , while being asleep. This time around I take a shot at understanding
    the relation between the fields of usability and design and why, more often than
    not, they collide. Yup, that topic — again. Both fields are mandatory and
    I think the web at large, as well as high technology in general, will benefit
    greatly from a (better) mutual understanding. Digital Web Magazine now features
    the possibility to comment on articles, so consequently comments on this entry
    are closed, but
    speak out    !

    This column would not have been half as good if it wasn’t for the valuable
    feedback of Donna
    Driscoll    . Who? Yup, Donna! Remember her name because there’s a lot
    this lady has to let know — mark my words (the pressure is on!) Additionally
    you can read Donna’s
    bio     for more background information on her professional experience. Coincidentally
    Donna is married to the Michael Moore of design, none other than my friend Andrei
    Herasimchuk. Both are currently enjoying their honeymoon on the wonderful Greek
    island of Santorini. I just came back from Greece (Crete) and I already want
    to return. Enjoy your time in Greece, both of you, you deserve it, and keep
    those superb
    photographs
    coming.

  • First Publication

    We are pleased to announce the availability of our first eBook, in PDF format, entitled “Budget Design: Increase Profit by Improving Process.” We postponed launch several times due to our busy schedules — but Dan e-mailed me last night to announce that the web site was live and that downloading can start as of now. Many thanks to Dave Shea for adding his stamp of approval by way of contributing the foreword.

    The best part? We offer it free for 7 days! Yup. Free. So get it for free while you can. After 7 days we will charge $9. That’s still a bargain. The payment phase will be an experiment of sorts, to see what kind of interest there is in this sort of publication. Please let us know what you think. Leave a comment here or send us a message.

    As for me, I’m somewhere in Europe waiting to catch a flight to Greece. Vacation indeed. Dan e-mailed me that he was catching a flight too (nice timing, eh?) so I decided to find a moment to write up this entry. See you all again in 10 days.

  • Contrasting Vision

    In one of my previous posts I encouraged people to abandon #000 as copy text colour in favour of lighter shades such as #333 or even #666, for example. In retrospect there are two things wrong with that post. First, I should not tell people what, or what not to do, even if my words were meant as a somewhat ironic, very much tongue-in-cheek statement. It is never my intention to communicate with such an attitude. Second, I wasn’t joking — even if ironic, I was somewhat serious. But was I right to make such a statement?

    (more…)

  • Weekend Reading (21)

  • Design Eye for the Usability Guy

    If you have to name one usability guru out there that is in desperate need of
    a design makeover, who would you name? But of course, none other than Jakob
    Nielsen    . Therefor, in the spirit of sharing, Andrei Herasimchuk decided to
    gather up some knowledgeable designers and help Nielsen with a little bit of design
    advice. The Design Fab Five.

    What a team we make: Andrei Herasimchuk,
    D. Keith Robinson, Cameron
    Moll    , Greg Storey and myself. My role?
    Illustration and graphics. Time to spice up that content a little. But that’s
    not all — we’ve done the impossible: combine Nielsen and Flash (it
    even feels odd putting those two in the same sentence.) But what am I waffling?
    Take a look yourself and read
    this most entertaining and useful piece    .