Posts Tagged blogs

Courtesy: Dan Saffer odannyboy

Here is a list of excellent interaction design blogs from 2005-2007 from Dan Saffer’s blog.

Danny Saffer is the author of the wonderful book Designing for Interaction, and the upcoming in Fall 2008 book called Designing Gestural Interfaces. He curates a collection of physical interfaces and parts on a site called No Ideas But In Things, and also oversees a wiki for collecting new interaction paradigms called Interactive Gestures. Dan Saffer lives and works in San Francisco where he is the Experience Design Director at Adaptive Path.

• Ok-Cancel. Relentless in their good advice and good humor, the weekly posts and comics here are always well-thought out and worth the time.
• Functioning Form. Luke Wroblewski’s blog is wealth of excellent design analysis and I really enjoyed his sessions with Jim Leftwich. I’d be lying if I said I read every entry in depth, but it’s nice to know they’re available as a resource if I need it. Slap on the wrist for no full-entry feeds.
• Basement.org. Rich Ziade’s blog constantly finds the news I missed. And then analyzes it well.
• Maeda’s Simplicity. MIT professor John Maeda’s blog occasionally reveals a great nugget of wisdom. Slap on the wrist for no full feed.
• Future Perfect. Nokia designer and researcher Jan Chipchase travels the world so you don’t have to. A constant stream of inspiration and a vivid reminder that culture changes behavior.
• Presentation Zen. Mostly about presentations, but also about elegant design.
• Del.icio.us Popular. Not really a blog, I know, but this is the equivalent of rummaging around in a random pile of stuff and occasionally finding something amazing.
• Pulse Laser has come on strong at the end of the end of the year with a set of really excellent essays.
• For the second year in a row, Functioning Form consistently delivers great discussions, conference notes, and stuff to chew on.
• History of The Button looks at what’s behind the interaction designer’s best friend, the button. Always an engaging and a surprisingly deep read at something we now take for granted.
• Small Surfaces gets the nod as my favorite mobile device blog of the year (Little Springs Design is a close second). Sure, it’s mostly just a collection of links about devices, but they are good links.
• Jensen Harris’ Office UI Blog for the past year should be required reading for all interaction designers. It’s really about how to make good design decisions.
• Design Observer continues to awe.
• Wisdump tells it like it is, deflating the web-hype machine.
• Josh Porter’s Bokardo has really come into its own this year, with provocative topics and good discussions.
• The frogblog has come out swinging with its debut recently. I have high hopes for it to sustain.
• I really don’t want to like Creating Passionate Users, but I do.
• And for sheer readability and laugh-out-loud comedy, Valleywag has to finish off this list. With Nick Douglas gone, it’s probably not going to be as mean or snarky anymore, which was, really, it’s sole appeal. It was fun(ny) while it lasted though.
• Jeff Howard’s Designing for Service always uncovers interesting links with good commentary on service design.
• Brian Oberkirch’s Like It Matters always has clear-eyed commentary on products and the web.
• Marc Andressen’s pmarca blog has become required reading, not only for its insights on technology and Silicon Valley, but for its hilarious commentary on pop culture too.
• Design A Day by Jack Moffett is probably the best pure design blog on this list. Daily goodness.
• Adam Greenfield’s Speedbird isn’t exactly interaction design-oriented (although let’s be honest: few of my picks this year are), but it does contain a host of critical thinking about topics interaction designers should care about, namely architecture, cities, and ubicomp.
• Putting People First constantly uncovers (and summarizes well) great UX posts.
• Making a return to the list is Basement.org. Not only good analysis of trends, but links to great practical tools too.
• Nicolas Nova at Pasta and Vinegar posts too much, but often finds things, especially from the academic world, that others miss.