Thinking Outside the “Box”

I came across a video on Core77 that features a very cool demonstration of a folding trunk organizer. This product folds, reconfigures and assembles in a variety of ways so each user’s individual needs are met.

For me, the trunk organizer serves as a metaphor for user… read more

User Experience as a Competitive Advantage

At Normal Modes, we believe strongly that a good user experience can be a competitive advantage. The growth in popularity of products coming out of Apple is a common example. But this week Marc Hedlund’s post-mortem of online personal finance offering, Wesabe, provides an… read more

Why We Wireframe

As a usability and user experience evangelist, I’ve often been asked about the benefits of wireframes, especially in the early days of the web. Here are my top (very high level) reasons for including the wireframe stage in the design process.

Cost Savings
Testing with prototypes helps ensure that a… read more

What Came First? A Chicken and Egg Conundrum

Me, How I Got Here, and iPhone UI Design

Normal Modes is growing, and I’m yet another new employee. I’m Libby, the new user experience designer, and I’m old-school.

I’ve been working in web design since I graduated in December ’95. Back then, my university offered only HTML and CGI classes, which I shunned. I was an English major!… read more

Consider the User Experience & Usability of Your Website – from the Mom 2.0 Summit

Last week I had the honor to be a speaker at the Mom 2.0 Summit. The conference was fabulous – great ladies who were kind and supportive of each other, nice panels where everyone shared experiences, and the hotel – Wow! Four Seasons all the way!

Here’s the slideshow… read more