What makes some designs good and others bad? Why do some designs work while others don’t? Posts in this category offer thoughtful design critiques of modern digital interfaces, with commentary inspired by Don Norman’s “The Design of Everyday Things.”
Are.na is a social media platform that allows the user to save and organize different digital content like images, videos, and links. It serves as a toolkit to manage and sort information about different topics. The main feature of the product is to create channels and add pieces of information (Blocks) in them. Users can […]
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Co-Star is an astrology app that uses data from NASA, interpreted by humans and applied by AI, to generate customized readings based on the user’s natal chart. This hyper personalized app “provides an experience centered on the self” by offering daily horoscopes and astrology charts, compatibility reports with other users and friends, and other tailored
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Hopscotch is a mobile coding app designed to teach children aged 10-16 to code by creating games, stories, and art. The primary users are kids, parents, and teachers, though the app is more directly designed for children and adults rather than educators. The browser-based version, ideally used by teachers, offers a variety of tutorials and
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Pokémon Go is a location-based Augmented Reality (AR) game that involves players catching, training, and battling Pokémon; it was developed by Niantic and launched in 2016. It utilizes your smartphone’s GPS and camera to overlay Pokémon into the real world, encouraging you to walk, and to explore your surroundings. Introduction I have not watched the
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Beli is a restaurant ranking and recommendation app for rating and discovering the best dining spots. Users can create a network of food critics by following their friends to see where they are eating. The app also allows users to create their own list of dining spots that they have already been to or want
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Guidebook is an platform that lets you create guides for events and places. It is commonly used by conferences, forums and universities to share schedules and maps that attendees can follow to get to their events on time. For this critique, I will be taking the example of a new student at Pratt Institute who
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Instacart is a grocery delivery and pick-up app that connects users with local stores and restaurants. Instacart connects users with personal shoppers to pick up items and deliver them straight to the user’s home, giving constant feedback and updates of the shopping process. Selecting a store: Upon opening the app, the user is greeted by
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In a world filled with capitalists commercializing anything and everything, LiChess offers a refreshing free, ad-free and open source platform that allows players to play chess online. It’s without a doubt loved by every chess user.
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Introduction Goodreads is a household name among avid readers, boasting over 150 million members and a database of more than 3.5 billion books. Launched in 2006, Goodreads is a social cataloging platform where users can track their reading progress, discover new books, and interact with a community through reviews and ratings. The platform was acquired
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Introduction Mathison Insights is a consultancy that focuses on software engineering and data science contracts. The website’s main focus is to showcase what services are offered, the details of the LLC to do business, and an easy way for companies to contact the team for contract inquiries. Some additional information available is an “about us”
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