Facebook tweaked their design again on Thursday. This time I could not resist but to say one word: FAIL. I personally do not mind having some “UI enhancements (Tech Crunch)” if the changes are subtle and minor. I will calm down and sip a cup of English tea even if my profile menu moved from top to left with weird icons or if 1/4 of the page was occupied by ridiculous ads. But I want to ask Mr. Zuckerberg about the log out button.
I came to the newly-designed Facebook page today (see above picture). I was surprised by the change, but didn’t freak out until I decided to log out.
How do I get out from here?
I found no log out button. Apparently, Mr. Zuckerberg wants me to stay on FB forever.

It was hidden. You have to click on "Account" to get out.
After some effort, I found a hidden log out button (see above picture). Seriously, isn’t a log out button one of the most basic and critical navigation features for Websites? With this hidden log out button, I declare the new FB design the major failure. I want my old FB back.
I’m in the process of re-designing my portfolio site at www.juridesign.com. I’ve released the first version today. I will be tweaking and retouching the pages from now. I wanted to release it before things start getting crazy with a thesis project, classes and an internship.
Now it’s time to debug…
Comments are welcome.
I was reading one of blog articles by Mark Hurst at Good Experience, and found that the Whitney Museum has recently launched a new website. I love the fact that they put the “Visit” section prominently on the landing page. They made this section AJAX-based (like Google’s Gmail) that allows dynamic interaction, so visitors can get information without reloading a page or jumping to another page. It’s great.
One issue, which I think is so critical, is the choice of white text on black background. Is Whitney a funeral company? The landing page looks acceptable, because there are more images than text. But when I go to “Get Involved” page, for example, the black and white contrast kills my eyes and takes over my attention that I cannot focus on anything else. I hope the website’s color palette is a temporary experiment or something specific to one of exhibitions. I will come back to the site in a month or so to see if they changed the color.
I’ve been designing a mock up UI(user interface) for a browser-based app for iPhone for the past few days as part of my final projects at ITP. I’ve pretty much ruined my sketchbook for drawing a bunch of layout and wireframes. I found several interesting resources for designing iPhone specific UIs. Whether I use them or not, I decided to post here for future reference.
For those who are too lazy to draw buttons and lines…there’s an “iPhone Stencil Kit” for $17.95!
iPhone Stencil Kit sample picture
Of course, there’s a sweet Photoshop GUI, which I’m using right now.

iPhone GUI, Photoshop file
If you need a conceptual stuff, there’s an essay by John Gruber about how to make your UI “iPhone-like”.
And lastly, if you’re talking about information design there’s no way you can ignore Edward Tufte. Here’s his video talking about the user experience on iPhone.
I was reading an article on boingboing about an incredible illustration by Chris Ware for The New Yorker magazine, and I had to post this to my blog.
It’s beautiful. Here’s a link to the article: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/10/27/chris-wares-new-york.html

Chris Ware's New Yorker cover




