February 2012
1 post
5 tags
Pinterested?
Pinterest (http://pinterest.com) is a new social-networking platform that has appeared very recently and exploded on to the scene; gaining nearly 13 million users in a very short time. Being a new phenomenon, it makes sense to have a closer look at this new interactive space and understand what it is meant for, what factors contribute to it’s popularity and whether you & I should be a...
November 2011
1 post
2 tags
Lifting the Ambiguity
Lifts or Elevators are ubiquitous. And though they might seem to be the simplest of devices to operate and use; its not funny to see the kind of lack of understanding that is prevalent with respect to the two basic buttons - Arrow up (to go up), Arrow Down (to go down) - associated with its usage. I have seen the most high-profile of people getting their basics wrong over these; some being...
2 tags
Dig your Wallet?
Well I haven’t designed a Wallet ever, but I do always use one, and hence have bought quite a few of them in the past. And every time I’m at the stores having a look around, I’m kind of surprised upon seeing certain widely-prevalent elements in their designs which make very little sense. They appear to be predominantly designed for people with a certain kind of a lifestyle only,...
September 2011
1 post
5 Reasons why Google+ is a disappointment
I have been exploring Google+ since a few months now. And inspite of some of its much talked-about features like the advanced security settings and ‘Hangout’, somehow I haven’t really felt a real inclination to go back to it. So I made an attempt to understand why would that be the case. Here are a few thoughts:
1. What’s new here?
To me, the biggest issue or...
July 2011
1 post
2 tags
What does your movie ticket say?
Movie Tickets are one of those items that no one really pays a lot of attention to. They have a fairly short life span if you think about it. But that doesn’t take away their need, especially the relevance of the various details over them. They have a variety of information to present to different people under varying circumstances. These people primarily comprise of two groups only: the...
June 2011
2 posts
2 tags
One Home, too many Home Screens
Multiple Homescreens are nowadays commonly found in high-end portable digital devices like the smartphones and tablets. They are considered amongst the attractive features of a device with new gadgets increasingly having more no. of screens. The new iPhone/iPad is supposed to have 11 home screens.
The rational for having multiple homepages is pretty straightforward: with increasingly...
2 tags
Shaving off the Past
The activity of shaving forms an integral part of the daily grooming rigor for the majority of men, and it is interesting to ponder on what could be the factors that might have led to the evolution of such a commonly-used device to the current state. Considering the act of shaving and requirements, some of the factors that come to mind are:
# Effectiveness - Closeness of Shave
# Ergonomics -...
May 2011
2 posts
3 tags
Swype or simply Type?
Swype is a software for touch-screen based mobile devices that claims to offer a faster and easier way to input text. Rather than tapping your finger over the different alphabets to write a word, it allows the same by drawing one continuous line over the different alphabets forming the word. You can check out more about the product here.
I have the particular software on my Nokia C7 as well,...
3 tags
Neat and Lean
I recently came across Nokia’s new charger that they’ve been giving along with their phones, the AC-15N, and was pleasantly surprised to notice the design change that has been incorporated into the relatively mundane product.
The charger has a 3-pin plug, of which the top pin slides in and out of the housing. Though seemingly a cosmetic change, after some amount of comparison with...
April 2011
3 posts
2 tags
Divide and Rule
I find the process of grocery bagging at supermarkets quite interesting. Essentially, once the items have been punched for payment, a guy at the counter packs up the stuff for you to carry along, using separate poly bags for packing vegetables, toiletries, non-veg food etc. Now based on what I have observed in the supermarket, people pick up all kinds of items and dump them into the cart/basket...
1 tag
Clear rip
I recently came across the website of www.expedia.co.in and was pretty surprised to realize that their interface for flight selection is exactly the same as www.cleartrip.com, a site I’ve used a lot in the past and consider in good regard because of the design sensibilities exhibited. Shown below is the flow from the homepage to the flight selection page for Expedia and Cleartrip.
As you...
2 tags
Popping in your face(book)
Recently Facebook started displaying photographs in a unique manner on their site, here’s a look at the particular style of interaction and display.
Earlier, upon clicking on a thumbnail for a photograph, the facebook interface used to navigate away from the original page and showed the photograph opened up. Now, the snap opens in a kind-of-pop-up over the original page. Any facebook user...