YakShaving

Yak•Shaving (noun) Any apparently useless activity which, by allowing you to overcome intermediate difficulties, allows you to solve a larger problem

Tag: Design

The information obesity epidemic

Everyone knows that our country suffers from an obesity epidemic. We’re becoming increasingly aware, as Marco Ament of Instapaper fame points out, that we’re also suffering from information obesity. The money quote by Arment: People love information. Right now in our society, we have an obesity epidemic. Because for the first time in history, we [...]

Why “A bit more design” is clearly warranted if you don’t want to be toast

Dan Hill, noted author of City of Sound wrote about this Breville Toaster and applauded the design of the “a bit more” button. The post was commented on hacker news quite a bit and I’ve thought about its design in general a bit more. Breville Toaster, flickr: Dan Hill Dan says, regarding the “Bit More [...]

a reminder on the value of different perspectives

Yesterday, I was helping a friend and colleague at ID work on an exciting new platform for eBooks delivered on a backlit display and was shocked and pleased with how easily I was able to provide feedback, give and receive ideas and inspiration. Not only was this (hopefully) helpful to Dan, but also to myself [...]

don’t be addicted to braincrack. i’m talking to you, design planners

I loved the zefrank show (zefrank is where i got that black shirt i have with the small fuzzy black duck that people always think is a stain) I’ve now referenced this video in conversation at least 3 times so I thought I might as well post it. I saw this while I was in [...]

What I’d do if I were Pandora – [Part 2]

Okay, as promised, here’s my Pandora makeover. Don’t get scared off by the red text. Pretend this is an undergraduate design critique or something. Here are some things that Pandora might do to truly improve the experience for users and garner more revenue to boot. First, let’s take a look at the current state of [...]

Why can’t anyone make awesome green home appliances?

The NatureMill composter is terrible. The waste still smells so much worse than when I put it in… it’s incredibly loud, and the thing is designed so flimsily (Is flimsily a word?). What a sham (also, a shame). I’m returning it promptly and getting my money back. This is the thanks I get for being [...]