Vimeo / Dan Ritz's uploaded videos

Are You Fixing or Solving?

Dan Ritz — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:28:54 -0500

Making the distinction between fixing and solving something.

Cast: Dan Ritz

Using Mental Models

Dan Ritz — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:36:04 -0500

Thoughts about the differences between a user's mental model and a designer or a developer's mental model.

Cast: Dan Ritz

Using Agile and/or Waterfall?

Dan Ritz — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:37:57 -0400

I feel agile and waterfall are almost the same, only they're used in inappropriate contexts. It's a human problem, not a process problem.

Cast: Dan Ritz

Design Over-optimization

Dan Ritz — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:08:12 -0400

Trying to pinpoint when designers typically move into over-optimization land... Unsuccessfully.

Cast: Dan Ritz

Intelligence vs. Caring

Dan Ritz — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:00:41 -0400

Trying to differentiate the intelligence required to do something from the care required to do something.

Cast: Dan Ritz

The Customer is Never Wrong

Dan Ritz — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:26:04 -0400

Exploring some of the differences between: "The Customer is Always Right" and "The Customer is Never Wrong"

Cast: Dan Ritz

How to Keep Things Simple

Dan Ritz — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:15:35 -0400

An interesting mental trick that helps me keep things simple without all the work of keeping things simple... Hope you enjoy it!

Cast: Dan Ritz

Are People Visual?

Dan Ritz — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 10:14:10 -0400

Exploring some thinking behind the phrase "because people are visual" because I get the heebee-jeebees most of the time I hear it.

Cast: Dan Ritz

When to Invest in SEO

Dan Ritz — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:46:12 -0400

Two points in web projects that really should get some SEO expert's attention.

Cast: Dan Ritz

User Experience Design?

Dan Ritz — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:53:52 -0400

Some exploration on the differences between Web Design, Interface Design, User Experience Design, and Graphic Design.

I left out the term Interaction Design on purpose. It's lame. :)

Cast: Dan Ritz

Get More From Your Books

Dan Ritz — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:26:08 -0400

Some quick thoughts about creating projects that force you to experience what's being said in the book. Understanding something from experience is much different than understanding it academically.

Cast: Dan Ritz

Rich Internet App or Website

Dan Ritz — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:21:06 -0400

Thinking through the differences between a rich internet application (or web application) and a website.

Cast: Dan Ritz

Useful, Usable and Desirable

Dan Ritz — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:08:28 -0400

A little bit of exploration on how to be more useful, usable and desirable.

Cast: Dan Ritz

Business of Design

Dan Ritz — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:11:26 -0400

A good business and a good website have a lot in common.

One of the similarities is that most of what makes them successful isn't noticed by the outside world. Although it's a very important part, the visuals are only a small portion of the process. A good interaction and experience requires a lot more.

Cast: Dan Ritz

The Ideal Process

Dan Ritz — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:53:50 -0400

A description of the big picture, or high level view, of the ideal process.

+++++

Excessive and purposeful communication!

- What have we accomplished
- What is the current reality
- What should we do next

And repeat--daily if necessary. This helps raise project awareness, create reasonable expectations for everyone involved, and gives people the ability to make choices based on the most recent and relevant information possible.

Simply doing this will increase the odds of success considerably. The rest of the process is important but adaptable.

Cast: Dan Ritz

More Visual Impact

Dan Ritz — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 19:59:21 -0400

A few quick thoughts on what I think it means to make a good visual impact and it's importance on a design project.

+++++

Over time people can become extremely reliant on the visual aspects to communicate meaning and purpose. A great, and embarrassing, example is what happened to me while buying the book Made to Stick in New Zealand.

I must have been looking for it for several minutes, glanced at it, and even read the cover without realizing I was staring right at it. Why? Because I was looking for the colors and shapes that were from a different version of the book cover. The person that came to help me pointed it out in five seconds... I felt like such an idiot!

When the visuals support the content, everything just "feels" right. When they don't it's awkward and people tend to have problems trusting the content.

So don't forget--the visual aspects of design aren't just to make things pretty--they communicate something. And is what they're communicating what they should be presented to the audience?

Cast: Dan Ritz

Cost of Certainty

Dan Ritz — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 05:18:31 -0400

One of largest costs in any web design project, and often the most overlooked is what I've been calling the "cost of certainty".

Some companies work out user-testing and place a lot weight on investigating the effectiveness of a design and other don't. Wherever it should lie depends a lot on the project, but most design companies seem to forget to work out with the client how much time and resources are put into that sort of work.

That's scary for clients because when they get back five different proposals from five different companies that have drastically different costs they can feel skeptical that any of the companies actually know what's going on.

It's easy to group with "quality" but I don't think it's the same. Sometimes it's worth proving or demonstrating the effectiveness of something.

If design companies discussed this more deeply with clients, I bet budgets would be a lot more clear. The differences between costs would make a lot more sense. Plus it would make the decision less about a cost and more about an investment.

Cast: Dan Ritz

Trust and Consulting

Dan Ritz — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:12:25 -0400

Thoughts on some hazards and pitfalls of consulting.

+++++

Designers tend to get easily frustrated with clients that don't let them have as much control as they think they deserve. But I think there are two big things going on that can really change some perspective:

1) Designers have a huge impact on the company already. Even if it's more of a mental thing, changing how a company presents itself to the world is a very big deal.

2) Clients have little "real" proof of your skills. Even with a long track record of success, it's hard to translate that specifically to the client. You need to do things together to really prove your skill.

So... If you, as a designer, really believe you have a huge impact already, and that the client has little reason to trust you, you're frame of mind will considerably change.

And in my opinion it's a change for that better! It will be more about teamwork and progress.

Cast: Dan Ritz

Beef with Usability

Dan Ritz — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 22:56:53 -0400

Exploring how to make usability and accessibility a larger part of the everyday design strategy.

+++++

It's too easy when talking in a business context that usability and accessibility is only valuable to a very small portion of an audience.

Boooooooooo!!!

It forces you to rethink and clean up your code, your content, and look at your page organization on a deeper lever. Which makes your website more clear, more friendly, more responsive, more eloquent... All of which dramatically improve the website for everyone! And as a sweet bonus, the people with motor-skills issues, hearing and vision impairments, etc. can all join the party.

+++++

Too many people are talking as if accessibility and usability are only fringe benefits or low-priority problems... That's a load of crap!

Cast: Dan Ritz

Niches and mastery?

Dan Ritz — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:39:50 -0400

Is advising towards a niche good advice when someone is new to an industry or trade?

I don't want to say, "No." But I don't think it's as easy as it seems to do well in a niche without serious skill in the industry of that niche.

I only see people really doing well in "niches" when they have demonstrated skill and just chose to keep things where they enjoy it the most...

Cast: Dan Ritz

Jackson Pollack and Creativity

Dan Ritz — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:40:37 -0400

Jackson Pollack, who made splatter painting famous, planned a lot of his paintings with a great deal of effort.

Splatter tests, diagrams, books of sketches, etc.

So does that make him more or less creative? And did that help him become more successful?

I think he understood how shapes and colors can create movement. And even if people didn't realize it, they got excited by paintings with hidden shapes and meanings. He knew how to do that, and executed on it well. Which, in my opinion, makes him much more creative!

The success question coat-tails off that answer since the audience would get excited by his paintings and not by others doing the same thing. Other artist paintings would just look dumb and pointless, while Pollack's would be engaging and cool.

So I think planning made him more creative AND more successful. Even though it looked completely random!

Cast: Dan Ritz

Branding Made Simple

Dan Ritz — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:18:49 -0500

Branding is a very simple concept, but extremely difficult to execute and manage.

Cast: Dan Ritz

More Meaning in Design

Dan Ritz — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 18:35:38 -0500

A breakdown of an interesting discussion about a movie that, I think, does an excellent job of showing how focusing on meaning will have more of an impact on good design.

Cast: Dan Ritz

Harry Potter and Simplicity

Dan Ritz — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:19:06 -0500

Thoughts on design using a writing analogy based on Harry Potter.

Linkage: andyrutledge.com/gestalt-principles-2-similarity.php

Cast: Dan Ritz

First Post of the new Wurkit Video Blog

Dan Ritz — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:45:50 -0500

Cast: Dan Ritz

Skydiving!

Dan Ritz — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 14:12:25 -0500

This is me skydiving... Check out the nasty skin flapping!

Cast: Dan Ritz