You’d Be Surprised By What Really Motivates Users Editor’s note: This article is adapted from Hooked: A Guide to Building Habit-Forming Products, a new book by Nir Eyal and Ryan Hoover. Earlier this month, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone unveiled his mysterious startup Jelly. The question-and-answer app was met with a mix of criticism and head scratching. Tech-watchers asked if the world really needed another Q&A service. Skeptics questioned how it would compete with existing solutions and pointed to the rocky history of previous products like Mahalo Answers, Formspring, and Aardvark. In an interview, Biz articulated his goal to, “make the world a more empathetic place.” We hope a few insights gleaned from user psychology may help the Jelly makers improve their jam and provide some tips for anyone building an online community. Lesson 1 – The Right Reward In May 2007, entrepreneur and Internet celebrity Jason Calacanis launched a site called Mahalo. At first, Mahalo garnered significant attention and traffic. Lesson 2 – Frequency Matters
Learn More | Vizify Here's how Vizify helps you: It's easy for people to get to know you. Why make people trying to get to know you work so hard for it by forcing them to visit and sift your links, Twitter chatter, LinkedIn profile and other digital content? Vizify's unified bio not only pulls it all together, but actually synthesizes and summarizes your stuff so that it's easy to digest. Drafts off your preexisting data. We've all been there; not knowing exactly how to talk about ourselves to others. Show – don't tell – with stunning, interactive graphics. A picture is worth 1000 words. Make it your own through effortless customization. You're unique.
The Aesthetics of Game Art and Game Design The Aesthetics of Game Art and Game Design By Chris Solarski What can we learn from the techniques of the Old Masters to help us create more varied and emotionally meaningful gaming experiences? And how must we go about adapting these classical art techniques when we add video gaming's unique element of interactivity? To explore these questions, this article examines the psychology of shapes and dynamic composition, which are the focus of a series of talks I recently completed around North America (kindly supported by Gbanga, Swissnex, and the Swiss Arts Council, Pro Helvetia). I firmly believe that dynamic composition should be the topmost consideration for developers wishing to shape the emotional experience of their video games. Character shape Character animations Environment shapes Pathways We'll explore how these elements work together aesthetically, and finish by applying the techniques learned to game design. Click for larger version. Black and Violet (1923), Wassily Kandinsky
Etnies Founder Builds A Dream House Whose Interior Is A Skate Park Pierre Andre Senizergues is the owner of Sole Technology, a skateboard footwear and apparel company that produces brands such as Etnies. He's also a former world champion boarder. And now the 48-year-old entrepreneur has commissioned Francois Perrin, of the L.A.-based architecture firm Air Architecture, to build him a California home that doubles as a skate park. Did we mention that he's really, really into skateboarding? Slated for completion next year, the mid-lifer's Malibu dream house is shaped like a flattened tube, with walls that curve into the ceiling, making every surface fully skateable or grindable. A full-scale mockup of the living area debuted last month at an exhibition on skateboarding culture at Paris's Gaite Lyrique and will remain on display until August 7.
Neuroesthetics Neuroesthetics (or neuroaesthetics) is a relatively recent sub-discipline of empirical aesthetics. Empirical aesthetics takes a scientific approach to the study of aesthetic perceptions of art and music. Neuroesthetics received its formal definition in 2002 as the scientific study of the neural bases for the contemplation and creation of a work of art.[1] Neuroesthetics uses neuroscience to explain and understand the aesthetic experiences at the neurological level. Researchers are looking to neuroscience for answers behind why the human brain finds artistic works like DaVinci's Mona Lisa so alluring.[2] Overview[edit] Neuroesthetics is an attempt to combine neurological research with aesthetics by investigating the experience of beauty and appreciation of art on the level of brain functions and mental states. Approaches of study[edit] The aesthetic enjoyment of individuals can be investigated using brain imaging experiments. Theories of Pioneers[edit] Constancy[edit] Abstraction[edit] [edit]
DIY Doily Light: Simple Suspended-Sphere Lace Lamp Shade So simple a child could make it – and have fun in the process, too. And the result? A shining example of how light and shadow can work together to brighten up a room. Swedish craftswoman Isabelle Dos started with a simple party-shop balloon, blown up big and wrapped in white lace place settings painted with wallpaper glue. The soaked material sticks readily to the sides of the inflated sphere, overlapping to form a contiguous shell, suspended and left to dry overnight like a plaster cast. Pop the balloon and presto: a little cut in the top lets you drop in a bare bulb and create your own chandelier, potentially using whatever pattern you want (if lace feels a little too old-fashioned) to frame the outside and filter the light. Bubble Chart The difficulty with bubble graphs is in their interpretation. While they can give a quick comparison of values of your data, they are not as well suited for accurate or precise determination. Some software graphs bubbles by volume, not diameter, further complicating comparisons. Other variables become difficult to graph by bubbles if the range is too large and some too small. In such cases, bubble charts can become a challenge to interpret. Example There are many more examples of poor usage of the bubble chart so be careful in looking at examples. This bubble chart from the NY Times shows the frequency of words used at the National Conventions. Gapminder, (2012) The Gapminder World Map291 shows the relationship between health (represented by expected years of life at birth) and wealth (represented by GDP per person) in each country in the world. This option requires some understanding of statistics to draw manually. Advice Advice for CHOOSING this option (tips and traps) Resources Guides
G2 estudio: swamp house sep 16, 2012 G2 estudio: swamp house ‘swamp house’ by G2 estudio, patagonia, argentina image © G2 estudio all images courtesy of G2 estudio situated on a very particular site at the midst of a forest at the foot of a mire, surrounded by at least 6 different types of native tree species, argentinian practice G2 estudio‘s ‘swamp house’ in patagonia preserves the biodiversity by building within and throughout the local vegetation to leave as much as possible intact. the gently sloping topography allows the house to open up below grade, maintaining the unobstructed views from the entry street and creating several levels to house all the programmatic elements. the twisting fluid forms are a result of the surrounding environment, playing a reactive role to the cues set up by its location. a poured-in-place concrete structure is wrapped in wood planks and topped with a series of green roofs, extending view out to the ñires forest. bird’s eye perspective image © G2 estudio image © G2 estudio
Cognitive Seduction and the "peekaboo" law « Our book made it to Amazon's "Best of 2006" list | Main | How to Build a User Community, Part 1 » Cognitive Seduction and the "peekaboo" law Brains are turned on by puzzles. Brains are turned on by figuring things out. At least, that's what the neuroscientists say in the latest issue of Scientific American Mind. From the article: "An unclothed person who has only arms or part of a shoulder jutting out from behind a shower curtain or who is behind a diaphanous veil is much more alluring than a completely uncovered nude. Evolution has seen to it that the very act of searching for the hidden object is enjoyable, not just the final "aha" of recognition--lest you give up the chase. Otherwise, we would not pursue a potential prey or mate glimpsed partially behind bushes or dense fog." If something dangerous is hiding in the bushes, it's damn useful for the brain to reconstruct a complete tiger from just a few bits of orange and black peeking out between the leaves. It goes on: TrackBack Comments
25 Beautiful & Modern Poster Designs Like we said before, if you want to become a better designer, the only way to do it is to learn by doing. But if you’re in search for inspiration on your next project, or if you’re simply itching to admire something with true aesthetic value, a curated collection of beautiful designs is the way to go. With this in mind, we at TNW’s Design & Dev channel present to you a list of 25 Beautifully designed modern posters. Check them out and let us know your favorites in the comments below the post: Enter The 36 Chambers: Vintage Audi: Save Trees Save Earth: Universal Branding System: Chemtrail: Things I Like: Run for your life: Poster by Daniel Gray: Design by Metric72: A Neue Hope: Neue Hong Kong: Italic Poster: avantgarde: Chemtrail: Dirty Harry: Action Time: A Lack Of: Trumans Beers: Ship: Built to Spill: Design Festival: Supermodified: Circus: These designs were discovered through Designspiration, an absolutely incredible and well-named resource for design inspiration.
Photographer Angela Kelly captures intricate patterns of ice in bubbles in their first moments after they start freezing Stunning images capture beauty of liquid droplets after starting to freezeCreated by photographer Angela Kelly using homemade bubble solutionSpectacles can be seen resting atop ground, flowers and blades of grass By Sophie Jane Evans Published: 12:19 GMT, 23 December 2013 | Updated: 14:48 GMT, 23 December 2013 With their intricate patterns and perfectly circular shape, it is hard to believe these magical creations are actually made of ice. These stunning images capture the beauty of liquid droplets in their first moments after they start freezing. The spectacles - caught on camera by photographer Angela Kelly - were created using homemade bubble solution. Beautiful: These amazing photos capture the beauty of liquid droplets in their first moments after freezing Stunning: This ice sculpture features intricate detail, a frosted surface and is a perfectly circular shape Homemade: The spectacles - captured by photographer Angela Kelly - were created using bubble solution
Pólo das Industrias Criativas | UPTEC O UPTEC PINC é o espaço de atração e encontro entre pessoas que procuram experimentar, desenvolver e explorar a sua criatividade a nível empresarial. Procurando responder aos novos desafios da economia criativa, em 2010, o UPTEC abriu o seu Polo das Indústrias Criativas (UPTEC PINC) para acolher e apoiar empresas que atuem fundamentalmente em áreas como o design, audiovisual, comunicação, arquitetura, artes visuais, artes performativas e edição. Situado no centro do Porto, junto das principais estruturas e equipamentos artísticos e culturais da cidade, o UPTEC PINC acolhe atualmente mais de 30 projetos empresariais. Apoiando-se no conhecimento e competências da Universidade do Porto e restantes clusters do UPTEC, este polo contribui realmente para o desenvolvimento de um verdadeiro ecossistema criativo, em permanente articulação com as mais diversas áreas de conhecimento e de negócio. Polo das Indústrias Criativas do UPTEC Praça Coronel Pacheco, 2
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