Education

Noah Goldstein’s, Steve Martin’s (no, not that Steve Martin’s) and Robert Cialdini’s Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive is a pop psych book, where a bunch of research in psychology is distilled into one readable volume.

50 scientifically proven ways constitute 50 chapters of the book, longest of which take 7 pages. The authors take the position that persuasion is a science, not art, hence with the right approach anybody can become the master in the skill of persuasion. So, what are the 50 ways?

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The people over at UX Booth have put together a 3 part series on color and user experience that you must go and read now! Don’t know where to begin? Here are some excerpts to help you along your way.

Color is one of the most important parts of your website. However, far too often color enters the equation as an afterthought, or worse, not all all. This isn’t adequate. Color helps define how users perceive information. To add to the complexity of this issue, most of the judgements people make about your site’s color schemes are subconscious. They may not provide any feedback about your site’s color, but they’re always thinking about it.

Perhaps you can remember a site based upon color. If I ask you to name a website that uses the color purple well, what comes to mind? Perhaps Yahoo!. Their brand is defined by a number of things: one of these is the color purple. You might ask: what does color theory have to say about purple?

In this series of articles, we will give a (more or less) comprehensive view of colors and their treatments in web design. In this first article, we explain color basics: How does color work? How does an artist use color? How does color affect our mood? In our second article, we’ll cover how the web renders color, the ways you can code color into your stylesheets, and what’s new with color in CSS3. In our third and final article, we’ll cover how you can pick and implement colors in your layout, and what “gotchas” exist in the world of color.

Creating Consistently Colorful User Experiences: Part 2, The Medium

Coloring the online user experience has never been an easy task; but it’s getting easier. Looking back at older web pages, we can see an obvious evolution of the medium. Today’s designs follow are much more closely aligned with the tenets of good graphic design: employing well-chosen typefaces, color schemes, and baseline-grids. We have a wealth of good design motifs present. As user-experience designers we should possess a working knowledge of the limitations of a web-browser.

In this article (the second in our series), we’ll discuss how the web renders color, ways you can code color into your stylesheets, and what you can look forward to (insofar as color) in CSS3.

If you’re just joining us in this series of articles, we hope to provide a comprehensive insight into colors and their treatments in web design. In our first article, we explained color basics: how does color work? how does an artist use color? how does color affect our mood? You’re reading the second article; and in our third and final installment, we’ll cover how you can pick and implement colors in your layout, and what “gotchas” exist in coloring a site’s user experience.

Creating Consistently Colorful User Experiences, Part 3: The Craft

Okay, so: you’ve read the theory, you know the medium and now it’s time to work your color magic. There may be millions of colors out there, but it’s your job to pick from the masses and venture forth. After all, you are the designer. It’s not about thinking at this point, it’s about feeling and intuition. Don’t see the color, be the color.

Note: this sounds too good to be true because it is.

Introducing color into your website isn’t easy. I should know, it prompted me to write this series! Some clients appreciate the dynamism color can add to a page, while others are put off by it. It’s as if you were doing something as absurd as adding a sound track to their site.

Never fear, though, because in this article—the last in a three-part series on color— we will take on the issue in gusto.

If you’re just joining us in this series, I’m endeavoring to provide a comprehensive insight into colors and their treatments in web design. In our first article, we explained color basics: how does color work? how does an artist use color? how does color affect our mood? Our second article covered how colors are applied in our medium, the internet. Much ground has been covered in the way of standardizing, but much work is left to be done; In our third and final installment (which you’re reading, in case you wondered), we’ll cover how you can pick a color scheme that speaks to you or your client’s business and then implement it. Finally, I’d like to highlight some “gotchas” that exist in coloring a site’s user experience, and what you can do to make color a winning asset for your experience.

1. Do What You Do Best
2. Don’t Offer What You Don’t Know
3. Be Transparent
4. Value Hard Work over Talent
5. Develop and Retain
6. Scale in an Appropriate Manner
7. Get Everything in Writing
8. Be Willing to Turn Down Work
9. Be Willing to Fire a Client
10. Education Yourself
11. Get a Bookkeeper
12. Don’t Sell Services, Educate Leads
13. Customer Service is Key

Read the entire post at SearchEnginePeople

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Where do new ideas come from? This film is about design strategists and how they identify the right ideas. It was produced by the global innovation consultancy Continuum.

Via: http://www.schneiderism.com

PSDTUT‘s has put up an interesting post I think you should check out and then come back here and discuss:

“Fortunately, it isn’t required to go to design school in order to be a graphic designer. A good foundation in graphic design history, theory, and practical application will help you hit the ground running. There are plenty of resources available in which you can learn graphic design on your own. Don’t set your expectations to high at first, as it will take enthusiastic study for years to become great. You can do it though!

If you would like to learn graphic design from the ground up, through self directed study, then this article lists some great resources that will get you started with your design education. Also, even if you do go to design school, at least three-fifths of your education will be through self directed study anyway. Let’s get to it!”

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Using a poetry slam format, each panelist will present a five-minute poem or story about how their organization has successfully implemented a social media strategy experiment and how they considered the ROI. The audience will have ample opportunity to ask questions and respond.

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Just as early filmmakers struggled to break free from the conventions of live theater, after 10+ years Web designers are still trapped in the structures of the past. Forget pages, linear text and other archaic vestiges of design’s print ancestry; the separation of content from presentation has already changed everything.

This is one of the better presentations on the subject I have seen. I plan on including this in my classes this quarter. Enjoy!

Scott Monty is the head of social media at Ford Motor Company (formally of crayon) and spends his time helping you with your questions about Ford (ala ComcastCares) but has recently been throwing out some wisdom on social networking/media.

After seeing the sheer amount of re-tweeting that’s been surrounding him today I thought I would share some of his quotes with you. Here are some I’ve complied.

“ROI is a campaign metric; Social Media is a commitment…. What’s the ROI of putting your pants on in the morning?” 

“LinkedIn is the business meeting; Facebook is the hallway conversation; Twitter is the cocktail party.”

“Coming down from the ivory tower every once in a while and interacting with your customers is an important aspect of any business. It’s so important not to lose touch with the people that actually touch and use your products, to hear what they have to tell you and to be open about receiving feedback.”

“Social media is a karmic business, and you have to give in order to receive. Share you knowledge and information freely. Create an ebook with valuable tips and give it away on your blog or site. Go out of your way to connect people and to show you’re willing to give something before you get something.”

“So when it’s time to make your own announcement, launch a campaign, or build awareness, you should ask yourself: what’s the most effective way of telling your story?”

You can check out his blog.

Or Follow on Twitter: @scottmonty