Design is becoming a competitive advantage for startups
We’ve worked on two start-up projects this year and on both of these projects it’s fair to say that: “Design is no longer considered tactical; instead, it is recognised as a strategic component of the startup process…”

The Anatomy of an Experience Map
I love using experience maps to help understand and design different components of a project. Adaptive path do this very well, they say: “Experience maps have become more prominent over the past few years, largely because companies are realizing the interconnectedness of the cross-channel experience. It’s becoming increasingly useful to gain insight in order to orchestrate service touchpoints over time and space.”

Interaction models for faceted search
2011 was the year when faceted results became a standard for e-commerce. Faceted search simply means we enable users to refine the results displayed on a page by selecting and de-selecting different facets. Asos do this very well.

12 Museum Apps from around the World
Last year we ran a piece of research for San Jose Museum of Technology to help them design an application where museum exhibit designers can collaborate… For 2012, how-about some open-source museum apps which can be populated with content by exhibition curators?

Usability testing with children
We’ve run various usability tests with children for Aardman and BBC, this article summarises some of the challenges.

Mobile and responsive design
2011 was the year when mobile design seems to have finally taken hold with organisations understanding and investing in mobile… For any projects with a web element in 2012, we’re going to work with responsive designs where the layout and possibly some of the content changes depending on the device you view a site on.

Multi-device web design
Designing for multiple devices not limited to iPhone and iPad…

Showcase of responsive layouts
Re-size your browser to preview how these designs work in different devices.

Ecommerce mobile strategy
There are so many options that it’s important to step back, look the business and marketing strategy, and to determine how mobile fits in at the strategic level.

Mobile app design trends
Mobile design is moving at such a pace it can be hard to keep up…

Improve iPad usability in one simple step
If you can combine this stuff with a responsive layout you’re winning the battle!

P.S. Here’s some nice music from Beck

For the past couple of years there’s been lots of buzz around 360 / multi-platform programming, with programme makers and digital producers thinking about how to create productions that can exist on a variety of platforms and make best use of those platforms.

WOI took that bull by the horns by creating a digital experience that was integral the the production. The site hosts a huge amount of extra content designed to encourage people to get hands-on inventing, plus an addictive physics-based flash game.

Pixel Thread worked closely with the team at Aardman on the project – designing user journeys in relation to the multiplatform experience, prototyping site architecture using the BBC’s global experience language GVL3 and running usability tests on the game – so it’s great to see the project being recognised by the industry!

Here’s Aardman’s press release and here’s the finished World of Invention website.

$44 billion?!? The numbers might be questionable, but no doubt the figure would be hugely reduced if user research and usability testing were integrated into design projects as standard. After all, simply testing a site with five users will find 80% of usability issues.

Full article detail and infographic on Fast Company.

Some recent accolades for Pixel Thread’s work…

1. This site has been awarded site of the day by the hugely respected and followed CSS Awards – “the most prestigious websites in the world selected by an international jury of the top designers, agencies, and bloggers”. Though Pixel Thread’s already been featured in gallery sites across the web, this award means a lot because it’s voted for by a large jury of established industry figures. Thanks guys!

Credit for the award is equally due to Ben Newman, who created the robot illustration and Robeam who crafted the elegant code.

2. Other respected design sites have also featured this site including:
Web Design Ledger – Inspiring agency websites, The Best Designs, CSS Line, CSS Drive, Make Better Websites, Design Fridge, Specky Boy Design Magazine. If you’re one of the editors who featured Pixel Thread – thank you!

3. A large project by Enable earlier this year was a finalist in ‘Best Customer Experience’ category at the Billing & OSS World Excellence Awards in Washington. Pixel Thread supplied the UX research and interaction design. It’s not quite an Oscar, but it’s great when good work is recognised. Congratulations to the team at Enable.

Last night I listened to an old friend’s record collection. I haven’t seen him for over 15 years, but we’re connected on Facebook and we both use Spotify. Spotify has just added the facility to connect with your Facebook connections and share music. My friend publishes his ‘collection’ and anyone connected can peruse the list.

Recently I’ve been interviewing teachers about the way their students (11-16) use technology. Almost all the students have mobile phones and the vast majority use Facebook in some format on those phones. In fact 50% of mobile internet traffic in the UK is on Facebook.

In this video, Erik Qualman – author of Socialnomics – asks: Is social media a fad or the biggest shift since the industrial revolution?

Smart.fm iPhone App from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

1. Prototyping improves your designs. Apple are renown for innovative design. They made 100 prototypes of the MacBook prior to production.
2. Prototyping facilitates communication. Project teams have something to focus on and discuss rather than a 200 page document. Designers can explain ideas by doing rather than talking.
3. Prototypes can be tested with users and refined before the project goes into production – saving time and money.
4. Prototypes help assess technical feasibility and reduce development time. Development teams can see what they need to build, enabling more accurate quotes and planning.

Get the prototype right and the rest will follow…

Well this is just a little post to stand up for thinking small! Attention to detail is a crucial part of defining an experience. Get the visuals pixel perfect, craft concise and useful micro-copy, structure your crumb trails perfectly and ensure javascript interactions are optimised and efficient and so on etc.

And the inspiration for writing this post? Mission critical stuff: I added a new favicon to this site : )