Design Critiques

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.”

Design Critique: Spotify Connect (Iphone/OS X Yosemite)

(source www.clubic.com)   Introduction to Spotify Connect Spotify Connect is a feature that is described by Spotify that allows the user to “Play Spotify through your speakers, laptop or TV, using the Spotify app as a remote.” Specifically, I am examining the ability to use the Spotify Iphone app as a remote to control the Spotify

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Design Critic: The Roundabout Theatre Company Website

  The Roundabout Theatre Group produces several Broadway and Off-Broadway shows every year. Though Roundabout also present events like education programs and workshops, rent their venues and accept donations, purchasing ticket and looking up show information are patrons’ most urgent need, and yet their website is not user-friendly in terms of these services. Problem 1:

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Design Critique: RealClearPolitics.com (Accessed by Google Chrome)

Introducing the Real Clear Politics Website Real Clear Politics (realclearpolitics.com) is a website that aggregates links to news articles from a variety of other credible, online periodicals.  The links on Real Clear Politics are updated at least twice daily, with a Morning Update section and an Afternoon Update section.  The site is organized by days

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Design Critique: Peapod.com Website

Peapod.com bills itself as “America’s leading internet grocer,” allowing its users to do their weekly shopping without having to step foot outside their door. Designed to mimic the store shopping experience, users “browse” the online aisles for typical grocery store goods and add purchases to their digital cart before scheduling either a home delivery or

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Design Critique: Crestron TSW-1053 (with custom software)

Perhaps designed to do too much, this wall-mounted interface was customized to control all the audio/visual components, telephony, and lighting for a large conference room.  Attempting all-in-one simplicity, the device instead presents its users hodge-podge complexity. Two of its issues – and some solutions – are explored below. ISSUE: NAVIGATION Because the hardware provides a

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Design Critique: David Stark Design and Production Website

  David Stark Designs is a design and production company for corporate and private events. Through their website they are trying to show potential clients how fun and creative their work is. However multiple design elements on the site lead to user error which in turn creates annoyed potential clients. With a few changes to

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