Currently viewing the tag: "User Interface"
NASA’s virtual Mars rover experience was developed with Unity. It will debut online via the Unity Web Player in conjunction with the landing of the most advanced rover ever sent to Mars.
Martian fans can help NASA test drive a new 3D interactive experience that will allow the public to follow along with Curiosity’s discoveries on Mars. Using Unity, NASA is pushing new limits by rendering high-resolution terrain maps of Gale Crater, Curiosity’s landing site, collected from Mars orbiters. A 3D “virtual rover” version of Curiosity will follow the path of the real rover as it makes discoveries.
Read the full press release here
“Fight the Famine” Action Emblem is part of the 50/50 Project to raise £1 million for Africa’s worst famine in 60 years
EffectiveUI, an award-winning user experience agency, has joined forces with 15 Million Elephants, a social enterprise focused on using technology to support the missions of non-profit organizations, to develop a digital awareness and fundraising application: the “Fight the Famine” Action Emblem. The application is part of the 50/50 Project, which called for digital agencies to create 50 projects in 50 days that would raise £1 million for famine relief in East Africa.
Check out the story in AdAge here
Soundcloud , the extremely popular social web platform for musicians and DJ’s to share their music with the masses, got hit with a hacker attack which put the website down for an entire day. As Facebook and other social mediums blew up with different theories from users on why the site was down, when Soundcloud regained its functionality the company used their own platform to answer the cries of users with their own voice.
In addition to an email communication that was sent their user base the Soundcloud executive team posted this audio file to provide a very sincere message to their users: http://soundcloud.com/alex/thanks-and-were-sorry-at/s-4SBID
While I often use Soundcloud to listen to sets from my favorite DJ’s, I never thought about using it for recorded communications on company news and announcements. Because the platform has a built in comments features, users can provide their thoughts throughout the timeline of the recording providing organizations with valuable insights and feedback.
It got me thinking this is an interesting way to add some additional color to press releases and/or outbound communications when video isn’t an option and engage customers and users in conversations. (Note: with any recording, video or audio, to improve SEO the file should also be transcribed and posted somewhere on the company’s site.)
Turning this potential PR nightmare into on opportunity for showing how their platform works, the Soundcloud team has inspired me to consider their platform as an option for my clients to tell their story in their own words. It also reminded me how important it is for tech companies to user their own tools, whenever possible for communicating with the public and media.
I’ve been really into the Fast Co.Design blog, lately. It’s got some amazing topics and visually stunning examples of design. Some posts in particular that are very exciting have been coming from John Pavlus.
He has raised some really interesting points, especially in regard to experience and user input. Specifically I’m thinking about his Skype post and the bike lock handle bars post.
In his posts he discuss the power of incorporating user (normals) feedback into the design process. While it makes perfect sense, but so many brands aren’t doing it.
If you ask any CEO if they are focused on their customer, they will say yes. But we know it’s not true—especially in regard to their digital presence.
Wake up C-Levels, users are smart. Leverage what they know to succeed. It is the future.
