Archive for November 2007

Kindle complaints, sight unseen    (2007.11.23)

“Kindle” is a great name for a gay dog and a half-arsed name for a consumer product

The ghost of Jumbo Video    (2007.11.21)

‘79’    (2007.11.21)

Contrary to expectation, 79 Short Essays on Design is not just an exercise in Michael Bierut fame intensification

Cherished lies of the blind    (2007.11.19)

PDFs aren’t accessible. Neither is “Apple”

352½    (2007.11.19)

The least legible, but clearly the best, ½ fraction of the decade.

Information architecture    (2007.11.16)

Four phases of the side destination sign on an Orion VII.

The bus tells you where it’s going only a quarter of the time. The front sign breaks the same information into three phases, telling you where the bus is going only a third of the time (updated example below).

I’ve seen this before (with signs alternating destination with I’M A NEW BUS or, inexplicably, THE FUTURE IS HERE), but the cost in information content is too high. Tell me where the bus is going, please. (Did you know there is actual research on how to use these “variable-message” signs properly?)

What exactly is a “SEN/STU,” and isn’t there a ¢ symbol?

Hot firemens action, 2007    (2007.11.16)

Toronto Fire Academy Open House 2007. Only the black guy was worth looking at. And he was the only one there

Clark’s Law    (2007.11.16)

The more expensive an online system is, the worse its output is