General

Design Asshole Of The Month: Apple

January 7, 2012

I am introducing a new feature here at devinhenkel.com, the Design Asshole Of The Month. Each month, I will point out a design flaw that really gets my hackles up. The inaugural award goes to Apple Computer, Inc. Those of you who know me may find it a surprise that I would choose to hand this [...]

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Subjective Objectivity

May 16, 2011
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My wife recently underwent a surgical procedure. During recovery, the nurses would periodically enter the room to offer her pain medication. Each time, before they would give her the medication, they asked her to rate her pain and would refer her to a chart on the wall as a reference. You may have seen these [...]

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Quick Guide to Successful Paper Prototyping

March 18, 2011

I’ve written a quick guide to help conduct a successful paper prototyping session.  You can read it here.
While no guide can ensure success, I’ve tried to address some of the common points of failure we’ve experienced. The most important thing to do is get the right people in the room, but the rest of the [...]

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Sprout Social: First Impressions

March 4, 2011
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I first hear about Sprout Social when my friend, @jdkunesh (of Fuzzy Math) tweeted about it. I replied to him with questions about it and was quickly contacted by the company itself, saying that the best way to learn about it was to use it. So, I signed up for the 30-day trial, and have [...]

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An Anthropology of Our Own

February 1, 2011
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I just went back and read the Playboy Interview with Marshall McLuhan from 1969.  It’s always fun to go back and re-read some of the ideas that played a role in shaping my thinking.  As a nice surprise, two ideas seemed to jump out at me as particularly relevant today.
The Phonetic Alphabet Was Our Ticket [...]

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What could possibly go wrong?

January 16, 2011

Slashdot reported today that Microsoft is filing a patent to cover using “altered parasitic organisms” as a delivery mechanism for disease-fighting substances.  It seems like a good idea…  And there’s no real potential for things to go horribly wrong, right?  And Microsoft products always work so well…

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Innovation is Fast and Furious

October 13, 2010
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Let’s face it – slow and steady only won the race because the guy in the lead was such a dips#&t that he got caught snoozing.  Innovation doesn’t happen at a tortoise’s pace; it happens because someone, somewhere takes an operatic leap of faith.  Someone, somewhere finds a new application for an old tool or [...]

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Objects Could Help Design Themselves

July 1, 2010
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Expanding on the previous posts, it’s clear that the objects and gadgets (and spimes) we interact with understand a great deal about their current context and record a great deal about the way we use them. These facts present specific design challenges.
Designing for Context
First: As objects become increasingly aware of the context in which [...]

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Shaping Things: Helping objects help us

June 29, 2010

I’m currently reading Shaping Things, by Bruce Sterling.  It’s a brilliant essay examining the relationships humans have with objects.  Specifically, it looks at the way designers interact with objects and how what it means to be an object and a designer are changing.  The reason I’m writing about it here is that there is a [...]

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Brand Spankin’ New WordPress

June 17, 2010
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WordPress released version 3.0 of the popular publishing platform today. I’ve already upgraded this blog to that version. You probably can’t tell by looking at it, but it just feels better… Doesn’t it?
I’ve already benefitted from the bulk update option. That will be a real time-saver in the long-run. For [...]

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