Nick Finck

Among the top 20 most influential people in web design? Jul 3rd, 2009

So it seems Web Design Dev has put my name on the list of 30 Most Influential People In Web Design which is totally insane but cool.  I am honored to be on the list with the likes of Jakob Nielsen, Jeffrey Zeldman, Veerle Pieters, Jason Santa Maria, Dave Shea, Dan Cederholm, Daniel Mall, Jeff Croft, Andy freaking Clarke, and even David Leggett (yes, you read that right, I think the guy rocks).  I am honored and humbled, really.  But looking at that list brought up some questions for me…

Whitney Hess on UX Resources Jun 30th, 2009

The best way to learn a new language is to go to a country where it’s spoken and immerse yourself in the confusion. Soon the unfamiliar will become familiar, and before you know it you’ll be fluent. If you’re interested in getting to know more about user experience, I recommend doing the same. You may choose to simply understand the terminology, or become conversant. You might later decide to tackle some of the more complex concepts.

— Whitney Hess, So you wanna be a user experience designer—Step 1: Resources

Whitney Hess has put together a nice extensive list of top UX resources from books to schooling, blogs to webinars, and more!  I am not sure if this will be a series of blog posts for her but highly recommend you check out her resources post: So you wanna be a user experience designer?.  Feel free to leave additional suggestions in the comments, I already listed a few.

Designing Humanity into Your Products Jun 24th, 2009

Despite nearly losing his voice before his talk Bill DeRouchey, from Ziba Design, gives one of the most compelling talks about where user experience and humanity intersect.  He focuses largely on content (text copy) examples but the same principals can be applied to everything on a web page.  For example, when selecting a photograph to display on the web page…  Do you show the product by itself?  Do you show it with people using it?  Do you show it with people using it in silly ways?  Its not about just selling products or services to customers, its about connecting with people on a emotional level.  This is a must-watch presentation for anyone dealing with online marketing or user experience design. As user experience designers we dont simply design things to just be efficient and effective, we design things to make people’s lives easier.  This emotional connection is critical to the long term success of what we design more so than we may first thought.  [via Jonny Holland]