Sunday, November 30, 2008

Hope for now

With high-gear, "what recession?", season-sanctioned consumption officially with us for another year, I hope you are able to find experiences that you can cherish, that make you smile, that give you peace, and make you glad to be living here and now.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Numbers are hard to argue with

I like backing up design decisions, or in this case, customer strategy approaches, with numbers. Data can be hard to argue with. So, when I saw this, had to share: Apple's Customer Service Kick Dell's A$$, Empirical Evidence Shows

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

"the art of vui"

From a column to be published soon.

The view (we have) of the art of VUI does not parallel the applied education and craft found among the professional practitioners of the classic arts. In those fields, science is as much a tool as instrument, chisel, and brush. The expert composer deftly manipulates the mathematical intricacies of sound over time. The learned sculptor understands how to wield force against the limits of steel and stone. The master painter possesses the insight to blend and bend hue and light, oil and pigment. All three, though, along with the other arts, have a singular, common, and nearly unknowable component in the final product: the emotional result produced in those that experience their work. Yet that causes the artists to know and master their tools and domain even more.

did i tell you

about the wonderful name of this blog? i created designoutloud back in 2003 when i left intervoice and went solo as a voice interaction designer. well, we all called it vui then, but vixd really fits better. but other sites address topics like that. so, i had this name, a crude website, and a logo, and we were in love. but, through the years and a cruel twist of events, i have lost that url. makes me sick. and it i can conveniently blame it on the user experience provided by the hosting service at the time, hostway. i have since switched due to that problem. and getting through it was awful, too. techs basically accused me of causing the issue. live and move the hell on. now someone else has the url and wants $1500 for it. sentiment isn't that strong. we'll see...