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About
Sans Comic Sans is written by Matt Raw in Brooklyn, NY.
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“The investigator is staggered by the findings and conclusions of thousands of other workers”
Two perspectives
Via bkerr, two links about the plight of Shaman Drum, a small but long-lived bookstore in Ann Arbor:
Open letter from a Distressed Bookseller
Jim Carty, Destroyer of Local Businesses?
I find the debate fascinating. I only have two things to add to the discussion: 1) my textbook buying experience at Shaman Drum was miserable, but not exceptionally so; 2) I wonder whether this is less a case of capitalism’s “creative destruction” than it is a case of a small business that relied too heavily on a single revenue stream.
Scott McCloud on comics and new media
McCloud’s Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
Happy holidays from Sans Comic Sans
May your holidays be optimized for conversions!
Good service design: Hello Health
I’m devouring any information I can find about Hello Health, which is the first consumer-centered health care service I’ve seen.
One of the doctors behind Hello Health has a really illuminating blog post announcing the service and explaining why something like this hasn’t happened before now.
Who they’re targeting:
Our market is the 47 million people in America without health insurance; the other millions of Americans who are underinsured; and the 40 million Americans over the next four years who will have high deductible health insurance plans.
…If you cannot afford the ridiculously expensive insurance premiums in your local area, we provide the next best thing — your own personal accessible doctor who you can communicate with however you’d like who treats your medical conditions at a reasonable price, and who helps you spend your money wisely. We are not a replacement for insurance. We, at hello health, are simply your best healthcare resource for the vast majority of people who do not get hit by a bus in a given year. We save you money.
It costs $35 per month. Office visits are $100 to $200, short emails with doctors are free. Available only in north Brooklyn right now.
“Why pay thousands for web design?”
Find out: http://www.designz23.com/
I’ve seen dozens of sites like this over the years and my reaction is always the same: after the initial luls die down, I can’t help but wonder if the joke’s on me, the Professional Web Designer. These sites satisfy a need.
“What happened to my old milk?”
The Times discusses a new milk jug design adopted by Wal-Mart and other big box grocers which cuts distribution costs dramatically. One problem, though. Did anyone try to use it?
But if the milk jug is any indication, some of the changes will take getting used to on the part of consumers. Many spill milk when first using the new jugs.
“When we brought in the new milk, we were asking for feedback,” said Heather Mayo, vice president for merchandising at Sam’s Club, a division of Wal-Mart. “And they’re saying, ‘Why’s it in a square jug? Why’s it different? I want the same milk. What happened to my old milk?’ ”
Mary Tilton tried to educate the public a few days ago as she stood at a Sam’s Club in North Canton, about 50 miles south of Cleveland, luring shoppers with chocolate chip cookies and milk as she showed them how to pour from the new jugs.
“Just tilt it slowly and pour slowly,” Ms. Tilton said to passing customers as she talked about the jugs’ environmental benefits and cost savings. Instead of picking up the jug, as most people tend to do, she kept it on a table and gently tipped it toward a cup.
Will consumers learn how to pour “correctly” with the new milk jugs or will popular demand force Wal-Mart to go return to traditional milk containers? My guess is that the new jugs are here to stay, spills and all. Unwieldy product design typically doesn’t deter people from purchasing basic commodities (well… salad dressing, at least).
That said, what a strange mix of brilliant business-centered design and poor consumer-centered design! Someone obviously did their homework on the milk supply chain and discovered keys to making the whole process cheaper and more efficient for everyone involved. However, the lack of consumer research into something as basic as “is the jug easy to pour?” is hard to forgive.
View images of the new milk jug here and here.
Postscript: if you know who designed the new jug, post it in the comments!
Is user centered design broken?
“The past” is filled with far more examples of products, innovative thinking, and success stories based on activity-centered research, magic, genius design, and just plain luck than UCD can claim even on its best day.
What’s cheap and easy is the idea that we can dissect a chef’s work and call it a recipe. That we can simply analyze genius and come out with a one-size-fits-all plan for success.
Ouch. Definitely a hit to the old UCD ego, but I couldn’t agree more.
Brand Tags reminds me that I am not a typical internet user
Brand Tags asks people to describe a brand with a single word. The results are aggregated, painting a picture of how various brands are perceived.
I was struck by how unaware most people are of some of the most popular internet sites and services. Look for the giant ? symbol:
It’s a great reminder to any web designer that you are not the user, meaning the patterns, conventions, and brands we’re most familiar with online are still foreign to many people, your users included.
(Thanks to Scott for the tip.)
Microsoft and the new economy; Alaska Airlines check-in process
Two quick—and only tangentially related—reads for Wednesday morning:
On imagining Steve Ballmer embracing Firefox 3:
But it’s also a nice little “thought exercise.” It is impossible to imagine Ballmer acting with this kind of initiative, imaginative or vision. (I’m not suggesting that what Briggs proposes is a good idea. Only that it is hard to imagine Ballmer ever acting with this scale and dynamism.) It is impossible to imagine Ballmer advocating a position that would make consumers “the big winners.”
That Microsoft bull in the china shop (This Blog Sits at the)
I remember reading about Apple engaging in a similar process before they opened their first brick and mortar Apple store. I like competitive analyses that go outside the domain for inspiration:
The airline studied theme parks, hospitals, and retailers to see how they handled similar situations. Then, the team built mock-ups in a warehouse using cardboard boxes for podiums, kiosks, and belts in order to find ways to increase efficiency.
Alaska Airlines saves millions by rethinking check-in flow (37signals, makers of Packcamp)