WELCOME
On habits, $1/2 billion UX UI, accessible games, AI fails, ecommerce AR and more!
Being Designerly is about designer-like behaviors and habits. This issue's featured read is an HBR article about habits and steps to build habits.
Other articles include Citibank's $500 million court case because of a confusing UI, McDonald's global packaging redesign, Xbox's accessibility initiative for games, Valentine AI fails, AR in ecommerce stats, beautiful data visualization, LEGO, Fortnight and more!
FEATURE
What Does It Really Take to Build a New Habit?
Nir Eyal, author of Indistractable explains that a habit is a behavior done with little or no thought, while a routine involves a series of behaviors frequently, and intentionally, repeated. A behavior has to be a regularly performed routine before it can become a habit at all.
The article has a series of steps to help you attempt to turn a routine into a habit.
hbr.org
VISUAL
Here’s the Story Behind McDonald’s ‘Aesthetically Minimal’ Global Packaging Redesign
Being Designerly covered Burger King's rebrand a few issues ago. This past week, McDonald's revealed new packaging design. Pearlfisher partnered with McDonald’s on a multi-year effort to redesign their global packaging system. The renewed design aims to bring a sense of joy and ease to the brand through bold graphics.
Lovin' it, or not?
adweek.com
UX
Citibank just got a $500 million lesson in the importance of UI design
Partially responsible: the confusing (and non-intuitive) interface of financial software Flexcube. Three people in the approval chain also did not notice the problem when they sent out almost $900 million in debt repayment instead of $7.8 million.
While Citi tried to get the money back, creditors refused to give $500 million back, and the court sided with them.
I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of those three involved, nor that of the UX Design team that designed this interface. Or as someone else said: "What UX team?"
arstechnica.com
Microsoft starts new program to help make more accessible games - The Verge
From Microsoft's Xbox blog: “Developers now have the option to send Microsoft their Xbox or PC title and have it analyzed and validated against the recommendations provided in the XAGs.”
The Xbox Accessibility Guidelines include thorough explanations of inclusive design considerations for developers, and they are now updated to include clearer language, additional context, and implementation examples.
theverge.com
TOPICAL
These cursed candy hearts developed by Janelle Shane prove that AI doesn't have a soul
The image above is the result of my trying to get AI to write a Valentine's Day letter... big fail - I had to do it the good ol' fashioned way: get a Hallmark card :-)
In this other Valentine related AI experiment, Janelle Shane, a research scientist used machine learning to create candy hearts of her own. "The resulting images aren’t a treat you’d want to give anyone. Instead, most look like they’re created by someone who doesn’t know what the compound word “candy heart” is, but knows the confectionery “candy” and the human organ “heart” and combined them."
fastcompany.com
TOOLS
Data Dive: How is AR Boosting eCommerce?
What is AR’s efficacy as an advertising and commerce tool, including the ability to boost e-commerce conversions and reduce returns? This link has links to many statistics, including "Home Depot reports that its AR product visualization feature boosts conversions 2x-3x over eCommerce benchmarks"
arinsider.co
GEAR
Lego Vidiyo turns figurines into music video stars
Starting March 1, this new line brings LEGO figures to life in a smartphone, dancing and singing to the latest pop tunes. "Geared toward kids ages 7 to 10, it seamlessly blends physical and digital play and is Lego’s latest effort to appeal to a new generation of digitally native kids."
Ages 7 - 10? I vote for 7+, and count me in!
fastcompany.com
INSPIRATION
Best Data Visualization Projects of 2020
Most of these data visualizations in this list are related to the pandemic, but my favorite was Stoxart - born out of an artist's desire to share her love of Art & the Stock Market. Visit the website to learn how she captures a company's stock performance over a period of time, and turns that chart into art. This image above from the website shows Bitcoin's chart in 2020.
flowingdata.com
NEWS
Fortnite is hosting a film festival on the party royale island
Designing experiences outside of gaming: Fortnite developer Epic announced “Short Nite,” which will feature multiple animated shorts, all broadcast on the virtual island’s big screen. The event will start on Saturday, February 20th at 2PM ET, and Epic says the entire run will last around 30 minutes, though it will be rebroadcast for 24 hours, ending on February 21st at 2PM ET.
theverge.com
Vaccine Emoji Comes to Life
Apple releases a vaccine emoji by updating the syringe emoji to remove the blood, allowing this existing emoji serve as a vaccination emoji in 2021.
You can see the difference in the image above (from emojipedia), and follow the link for a pretty detailed account of the syringe emoji over the past two decades!
emojipedia.org
