http://www.loveyourusers.com a look at design, usability, and simplicity Thu, 05 Jun 2008 04:19:56 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I love to shop.  Show me a quaint shopping district, and I'll show you an afternoon filled with passionate ooohs and soulful ahhhhhs.   There is something about a store filled with pretty things that makes my heart beat fast and wallet open wide.   The less I need something, the more I ... http://www.loveyourusers.com/2008/02/23/the-thrill-of-grocery-shopping/ The year was 1980.  I decided that college wasn't for me, so I dropped out to pursue a career in retail management at JC Penneys.  A steady paycheck and a frugal lifestyle allowed me to make 2 large purchases that year.  The first was a brand new silver Honda Civic.  ... http://www.loveyourusers.com/2008/02/14/the-car-and-the-microwave/ You might be wondering if I have the necessary credentials to write about design, simplicity, and usability. This is a reasonable question to ask someone whose words you will read and ponder. I regret to say that the answer is no. I have no design course credit hours, no thesis ... http://www.loveyourusers.com/2008/02/07/im-a-user-with-an-opinion/ I have spent most of my career thinking about Betty and attempting to avoid being her.  Picture a graying, but energetic 5 foot 1 inch woman who wears elastic-back jeans, white tennis shoes and a flowered cotton shirt that smells of her latest cigarette. Picture a talker.  Her raspy voice ... http://www.loveyourusers.com/2007/02/21/becoming-betty/ Recall the fable of the tortoise and the hare. The story's hero, the tortoise, challenged the confidant hare to a race. The favored hare started the race off quickly, but decided to take a nap along the way. He awoke to see the tortoise cross the finish line. What lesson ... http://www.loveyourusers.com/2007/01/22/the-tortoise-the-hare-and-the-committee/ I was recently asked to put together some screen prints from the Nielsen Norman Group's Intranet Design Annual 2006 report of the ten best intranets.  The screen prints were to be used by the team brainstorming features for our intranet homepage redesign.  Normally, this activity would result in an increase ... http://www.loveyourusers.com/2007/01/08/this-aint-your-fathers-intranet-part-2/ This will never happen again.  Today I am writing about the same subject as thousands of other bloggers.  Today we are all writing about Time Magazine's pick as the Person of the Year.  If you haven't heard, this year's person of the year is you.  The POTY is the collective ... http://www.loveyourusers.com/2006/12/19/this-aint-your-fathers-intranet/ What do you get when you cross an Intranet with political correctness and an outraged employee community? a. Delight b. Disgust c. Disappointment d. All of the above (the answer) So, what am I talking about?  Read on. Monday Evening HR posted a news story on the homepage of our Intranet. The headline read, "$5,000 employee referral ... http://www.loveyourusers.com/2006/12/14/social-software-is-perfect-for-an-intranet-or-is-it/ Fellow blogger, co-worker, and usability enthusiast Andy Gee has a blog category labeled "Personal" on his GeeWhiz blog (http://geewhiz.wordpress.com).  GeeWhiz is a blog devoted to the pursuit of quality communications. In recent days, my ambitious, friend has used his Personal category to describe what he calls a "brain attack".   To ... http://www.loveyourusers.com/2006/12/13/quality-communications-in-sickness-and-in-health/ A month ago, my company released a new Intranet feature titled Talk with Rob. It is a discussion board where employees can submit questions or comments to our CEO.   I find the concept interesting.  I am impressed with the attempt to give employees an opportunity to communicate with The Main Man.  ... http://www.loveyourusers.com/2006/12/01/an-intranet-ceo-discussion-board/