What is the User Interface?

The user interface should be invisible - if it's done right first. Which is it to mean that it works so well you don't notice it. Do you ever stop to thank the doorknob for being round instead of square? Of course not. To the degree that users are comfortable with your interface, it will pose no questions for them, because it will seem completely natural. At least that's the goal.

I actually break this rule, in varying degrees, like I feel many other web designers do too, because we are interface designers. I make certain that my designs incorporate some sense of distinction to the treatment of the user interface, because it is my craft, but not so much so that it hinders usability.

Motorola Mobile Website

I thought it would be so nice to check out the new Droid phone from
Motorola by visiting their website on my iPhone. I am quite surprised
that a leading contender in the phone market does not have a mobile
version of their website. Yet, neither does Apple! I wonder why this is?

The Web 2.0 Dream

There are a number of new and emerging technologies, ways of using them and adapting them, together which make the web such a more rich and interesting experience today. Dare I say rewarding? I've been designing and building websites for awhile, and these new web-tech-memes that are starting to sprout up everywhere like little, digital, pluggable smurfs and Lego web-widgets, spell the end of what we will one day probably refer to as the "Dark Ages" of the web.

• AJAX - That we can begin to create web pages with little cool and functional widgets is just the beginning. So much having to do with asynchronous http requests is making our web experiences flow in a far more seamless manner. But too much of a little thing can be bad too. I like to use these treats sparingly, when and where necessary, not everywhere. And definitely not "just because I can."
  
  
• HTML 5 - This is where I think we will all see the greatest improvements. If all major web browser support it, it will be great for both users and developers. Simple embedding of AUDIO and VIDEO in an html page? I could cry. Or the ability to drag and drop objects within a page? Or between pages? I must be dreaming. HTML 5 holds more promise than anything else, I think, to dramatically change the way we experience websites over the next few years.
  
  
• Chrome & Wave - This will be very big for both the web in general and Google specifically, if they can pull off the browser, the OS, and the new applications based on them. Much if this will rely heavily on HTML 5, which of course Chrome supports. I simply cannot wait for the Mac version of the browser to come out!
  
  
• Better Browsers - I know we haven't seen an incredible amount if this, especially from one certain, ahem, browser. But I have faith that this will all change, and soon. I notice already that recent version of both Safari and Firefox perform faster than their predecessors. That browsers are getting faster is almost unimaginable. I predict much better consistency in support of standards across all the major browsers.
  
  
• Cloud Computing - Software-as-a-Service, Amazon's AS3, the Google cloud, and the web as the OS. This one is a little hard for me to see clearly how it will all pan out, but it is certain that with web-applications and the browser as the OS, the experience of interacting with the web (not just "using it"), will begin to resemble more and more what we are accustomed to from desktop applications, except that the data will spend more time online than off line. This could mean less need for large hard drives on desktops and laptops. It could also mean we all hold all of our precious information in someone elses hand, and reap both the benefits and consequences of that.

The Art & Science of Logo Design

Logo design is both simple and complicated.

Successful brand image creation involves both simplicity and complexity. The complexity has more to do with the mechanics, creation and translation of the mark, and the simplicity has to do with the perception of the image itself. There are a variety of technical and mechanical concerns, as well as issues regarding psychology and culture.

Regardless of these limitations, there are also qualities that many of the greatest brand images possess. These qualities can be ascertained. It is not simply a subjective process, there are measurable properties which both define and describe successful logos, and therein lies the science.

A logo should be designed with such great care and attention to detail that it is only necessary to do it once - there is no "logo redesign" later when drop shadows go out of style.

Measure twice, cut once.

So what are these apparent qualities? Some of this I was taught, and some of it comes from experience. You are more than welcome to contest anything. It is interesting to note that often what is good about a logo is what it isn't, not just what it is.

1. Memorable – It should go without saying that the most important function of the logo device is to cause us to remember it. Basically, everything else that goes into its production is to this end. A memorable logo also serves to support the brand of a company. If the brand is well known, the name may not even be necessary. Brand equity is enough to remind us.
   
   
2. Simplicity – Simple things are easier to remember. Good brand images are simple in form, containing few parts, and very little fine detail. Too many elements, too many colors, gradations, shadows, effects, all contribute to a complicated image. Effects are often used, but to an initially simple image to begin with. Complexity is also not visible at a small size.
   
   
   
3. Size – The best images are designed to work well equally at the same size small as they do large. Often there is a minimum size for the logo, good for representation on computer screens, and a maximum size which is only dependent upon the printer, material, and budget.
   
   
4. Shape – To the degree that a logo fits into a equilateral square or circle, it will be easier to see and remember. Long, narrow or other odd shapes, can work, but are slightly disadvantaged. One cannot blame the name if it happens to be long - but a good mark can still be made of a long name, if necessary.
   
   
5. Culture – Well designed logos are internationally and culturally neutral. Being aware of symbols and their different meaning in different places of the world can avoid potential pitfalls (The Chevy "Nova" being sold in Mexico is a classic - nova is translated as "no go" in Spanish :(
   
   
6. Color – Great brand images look good in both black and white, and inverse, first. Color is always secondary. A good logo will fair well on a patterned or colored background, but most do not. Many are instructed to be used only on a white field.
   
   
7. Versatility – If all of the above have been taken into consideration, the resultant mark will be very versatile, capable of supporting a brand in a variety of circumstances. It could be large, small, an invoice, a billboard. Whatever it is, the image will survive.
   

Artistic Influences

This is one of things I truly love about the web. I remember when I was a student at art school, and the web was just getting into public view, and I thought how great it will be one day when there are websites for all the great artists of our times, both living and dead.

I remember mostly painters first, as that was one area of focus for me as a student, but there are performance artists, videographers, multimedia installation artists, photographers and many other contemporary artists in a variety of creative fields whom will eventually be noted here as well.

Francis Bacon - British expressionist painter


Salvador Dali - Spanish surrealist painter/charlatan!


Paul Laffoley - I don't know how to explain this - check it out for yourself


Austin Osman Spare - occult artist, painter & magician. Brilliant automatic drawings
Zdzislaw Beksinski - incredible Polish visionary painter
Yves Tanguy - another great surrealist painter, French
Victor Vasarely - the father of OP Art
Max Ernst - German artist, pioneer of Dada & Surrealism
Alberto Giacometti - Swiss surrealist sculptor
Cy Twombly - American painter, blending drawing & painting

Web Design Resources

Sundrum Arts hosts a page of web design-related resources we've come across during the years. Some are useful for simple productivity, and others are great resources for creative inspiration.

I couldn't have done it without many of these, and I still use or visit most of them regularly. I hope to keep this page updated regularly with more as it happens.

The Case for Larger Type on the Web

There appears to be a trend toward slightly larger type on websites these days. I'm sure people with poor eyesight won't mind.

I've been noticing this a lot, especially with "web 2.0" style navigation, usually consisting of fewer and larger buttons (or links). Here's an interesting article about this case for larger type from the Information Architects. It's a great read for anyone interested in reading on the web.

The 100% Easy-2-Read Standard

Looks like now might be a good time to up the default font sizes for my websites....

User Centered Design

I am a big fan of the "User Centered Design" process, proposed by Jesse James in his seminal work, "The Elements of User Experience." This is the kind of truly enlightening information about web design that appears sorely missed on so many websites out there today.

The philosophies and practices outlined in his work have made me more effective in my own work - I consider this to be a "must read" for ANY web designer, web project manager, or user interface specialist. Basically everyone involved in web site production would benefit.

Here's the book on Amazon.

Analog/Digital Conversion

A recent experiment with a new analog-to-digital art-making process I've been working on has turned out rather well. It is a multi-layered process using drawing, computers, and water.

The image shown at right (click for larger version) is a composite image produced by exploring the following process:

To start there are two images, one foreground and one background.



I then trace the image of the chair as a vector shape. This shape is then pasted onto the background image as a flat, white shape.


The image is then printed in large-format on heavy-weight Stonehenge drawing paper. I use an HP Deskjet 9800 which prints large-format at 13" x 19", and can handle very thick media.

It is on top of this image that I then draw, shading in the features and textures of the chair. Water was dripped on the image in certain places during this last phase. Here is a detail.

It was fun to explore a new process that intergrates traditional fine art with the digital image making processes of today. I plan to experiment with this vein quite a bit.

High resolution drawings

The portfolio of drawings at Sundrum Arts has been updated with higher resolution digital photographs. An attempt to portray the greater level of detail that goes into our fine art works.

Mobile Arts II

Developing a web-app for the iPhone/Android, etc, can be a tricky task. I have spent some time researching the best practices and appropriate features for Sundrumarts.com. The major problem revolves around getting the iPhone Safari menu bars to disappear, both completley and consistently. After much scouting around and playing around, I have found that there currently maybe no way to currently do this in a ultimately transparent manner.

There are various approaches to this problem, many of them javascript or javascript frameworks. The best example I have found is by developing the web app via Apple's own X Code tool, Dashcode. Although I have yet to retrofit this to my own site, the second-best I've found is created by using a javascript that appears to work close to acceptable when initially viewed, and damn near flawlessly when bookmarked to the homepage. It is an odd condition, one I am still trying to work around.

There is the possibility that Apple will update this with next roll-out of the iPhone software this summer. I was able to view the site on a non-Apple device, Android (not sure manufacturer), and it faired well. Good javascript and CSS support (it appeared). I hope to post a variety of links related to this, what I came across, what I used, and what worked and what didn't.

Sundrum Arts is going Mobile

I spent the weekend creating a mobile version of our website. If you visit "www.sundrumarts.com" on an iPhone or iPod Touch, you will be dished a customized and optimized version of the website.

I hope to make it available to users on a variety of mobile platforms soon, beginning with Android. So although this currently works as an iPhone-only application, it is just the beginning.

Features include:

• Landscape and portrait viewing
• Mobile showcase of our work
• Graphics and Layout optimized for the iPhone aspect ratio (no zooming and little scrolling)
• Live links to call me or email me which take advantage of the iPhones built-in dialing and email applications.
• Great PR, a good taste of what the non-mobile site is like.
• Great way to keep networked with customers, includes links to Linked-In Twitter, and the Sundrum Arts Blog

Although on first glance this may appear to be just a novelty marketing gimmick, I'm sure there are better ways to take advantage of the mobile web environment. But you have to start somewhere.

Usability and Invisibility

As a web designer, I have a passion for usability and the "user interfaces" for so many things other than just websites. Some things are so easy to use, yet others are so hard. Why is this?

I'm sure I don't have all the answers, or even the right one, but I have an idea. Making things easy to use, or to make them even easier to use, requires a certain amount of effort. It's not easy to make things easy (is that from a song?). So I formulated this preliminary axiom:

The easier something is to use, the more difficult it was to design; the harder something is to use, the easier it was to design.

Of course this is no ground-shaking discovery of great truth. However, I find it interesting in the context of web design and so many other user-centric designs. Successful designs often work best when they are invisible to the user, or transparent to a large degree. Making a good user interface may easily involve putting in a lot of time and energy into something, only to sacrifice it to the user's needs, and mostly disappear in order to succeed. I find it ironic that usability requires so much invisibility.