Here’s an interesting (albeit brief) dissection of how rich autocomplete is used in some high profile online retail websites.

Trendspotting: Rich Autocomplete in Site Search | Get Elastic

Here is a short, sharp article that explains the difference between user research, usability testing and how they both fit into the design process - The difference between User Research and Usability Testing?

I recently came across a couple of lists of design principles. Whether we realise it or not, all designers work to their own set of values. They are an essential part of the design process. Therefore it’s important to remind yourself of these once in a while and check your work against them.

The first example is the “Ten principles for good design”. I like these because they are universally applicable. You can apply them to almost any type of design in any market. I think this is a great set of values for the individual designer:
Good design: Dieter Rams’ ten commandments

The second example is Facebook’s Internal Design Manifesto. This resonates a lot of the values from the first list but repackages and refocuses them so they are specific to Facebook:
Facebook’s Internal Design Manifesto – Thomas Crampton

Does anyone know of design principles for other organisations?

UPDATE: Here’s a fantastic round-up of principles by fellow designer James Mansfield

UPDATE: The Principles of Good Web Design (with real world examples): Part 1: Layout, Part 2: Navigation, Part 3: Colour.

UPDATE: Carsonified » 10 User Interface Design Fundamentals

I’m currently working on a redesign of my portfolio, so I’ve been doing a bit of research into current trends, techniques and basically looking for some great inspiration. The following is a collection of great resources and some stunning examples from both studios and individuals. While I believe the star of the show should be the work itself, the portfolio needs to tie it all together and take the user on a journey.

To be honest I’m a little daunted as the benchmark is pretty high. The old version of my portfolio is here. Hopefully it’s not long before the new one is ready.

Resources
12 Tips for Creating a Great Portfolio Site
Portfolio Design Study – Another great deconstruction by Smashing Magazine.
10 Cool Photo Portfolio and Gallery Wordpress Themes
60+ Helpful Resources for Portfolio Design
Design a Textured Portfolio Site Layout Using Photoshop
Five Popular Design Portfolio Website Styles
Top 10 Portfolio Faux Pas
How to Design a One-Page Portfolio in Photoshop
Stacey, Simplified portfolios

Examples
6 Absolutely Stunning Design Portfolios
50 Beautiful and Creative Portfolios
50 Fresh Portfolio Websites for Your Inspiration
Elliot Jay Stocks – I’ve always been a fan of Elliot’s work. His new website is awesome.
Purple Rock Scissors
Five Popular Design Portfolio Website Styles
Marius Roosendaal – I love the way the theme changes depending upon the time of day.
STUDIO7DESIGNS
Travis Isaacs | My Life In Pixels
45royale Inc.

UPDATE: Elliot Jay Stocks also has a 2 part screencast on how to design a portfolio site.
UPDATE: Smashing Magazine’s  Showcase of Case Studies in Design Portfolios
UPDATE: Ready-made portfolios Hosted Portfolio Roundup on Heavy Backpack

CAPTCHAS invoke a number of reactions amongst both designers and users. They are a common source of frustration, consuming screen real estate and more importantly the user’s time spent deciphering and completing them. Studies have shown that they are generally bad for business.

However they are still widely used as they are considered a necessary evil in protecting websites against bots by generating tests that humans can pass but current computer programs cannot.

As you may have heard Google recently purchased ReCAPTCHA to accelerate its massive efforts to scan tens of millions of books and periodicals.

What you may not know is just how Google is utilising this technology to actually use the (re)CATPCHAS you’re filling out. By completing a reCAPTCHA you are directly helping Google in their quest to digitise the world’s books.

Here is a surprisingly interesting presentation on what is a generally dull topic: Why Nerds Rule: Luis Von Ahn and reCAPTCHA

UPDATE: CAPTCHA’s: Tough on Sales & Common Way to Test User Tolerance | UX Booth

I’ll admit it, I’ve become a real WordPress convert. I particularly love the ease with which you can install plugins, not to mention the great value some of them offer. My latest find is WPtouch which basically repackages your WordPress blog for optimised viewing on iPhone, iPod & Android.

From the smart boffins who put it together – “More than just a plugin, WPtouch is an entire theme package for your WordPress website. Modeled after Apple’s app store design specs, WPtouch makes your WordPress website load lightning fast on touch mobile devices, show your content beautifully, all while not interfering with your regular theme.”

I particularly like the way it still allows your visitors to switch between optimised and large screen formats.

Installation may be a snap but customising it will see the time fly out the window. A lot of plugins offer a some level of customisation, however WPtouch has a full-featured and beautifully laid out set of options that allow you to tweak every last detail. I haven’t started with the options yet but I’m sure I won’t stop until I’m satisfied.

UPDATE: Apparently Stephen Fry loves WPtouch so much he had had it “inserted“.

About a week ago it seemed as though the Interweb was going into meltdown. I think I first noticed something was amiss when my iPhone denied my my morning serve of email, tweets and analytics on the way to work. The disconnectedness continued at work when it became apparent that a major Telstra connection was down. This was soon followed by Gmail going offline and Twitter went into another tailspin (probably due to everyone tweeting complaints about Gmail being down). Finally there were the reported attacks on WordPress blogs. Luckily my blog is akin to a Mac – it’s small and insignificant so who would want to waste their time with malicious intentions?

While the folio and resume are for public consumption, the blog is really for myself anyway. If someone else finds it useful or interesting then it’s just a bonus. But really it’s just a scrap book of random thoughts and links about design that I want to save for later. It wasn’t always like that though. Back when I started my blog in 2004 there were only a handful of design blogs. I on the other hand was too busy writing about my travels around Europe. Then there was a long period of neglect before I imported my old Blogger database into WordPress. At first I was sceptical of the cookie cutter approach to applying pre-made themes, but now I am continually surprised by the ease with which you can make endless changes and additions. There really is no excuse for tardiness anymore.

It’s still early days in this new format and I’m still finding my feet, or more to the point my voice. Anyway, below is a collection of articles that will hopefully help me to get where I’m going. Where ever that may be.

100 Ways To Improve Your Blog
16 Excellent Wordpress Security Plugins To Secure Your Blog
Must See SEO Guide for All WordPress Bloggers
Key Elements to Blog Visibility
The Anatomy of a Blog
Top 7 Crimes Best Bloggers Commit!
9 Things to Do To Make Sure Your Next Blog Post is Read by More than Your Mom
Writing Blog Post Titles That Grab Attention
Designers Discuss the Benefits of Running a Blog
The Benefits of Running a Blog as a Freelancer (Tips Included)

Retouching
Create Retro Pop Art
Actions to Enhance your Photos
Navigation and Typography
Techniques for creating buttons, navigation typography etc
Navigation Menu Tutorials
Text Effect Tutorials
Layouts
Business Layout Tutorial
Web Layout Tutorials
Paths and Icons
Mastering Paths in Photoshop
Creating High Quality Design Icons
General
Large collection of Photoshop tutorial
Website Design Tutorials
Web Layout Tutorials
Tutorials on PSD to XHTML Conversion
Shortcuts
Adobe Shortcut App for Creative Suite

Apple surprised us last week with an early release for the next major version of the Mac OS.

While this was generally a refinement of the previous operating system with few new features, there is one change that should make the production of digital content for multiple platforms a little easier. The default gamma has been changed from 1.8 to 2.2.

What does this mean?

Basically the Mac is now on a level playing field with the PC in terms of the way it handles colours.

This is actually pretty big news for Mac users who ever wondered why their Internet browser color looks light and washed out, or why their web photos look great in Photoshop and in Safari, but display bad color on the web and on Windows PC computers like XP and Vista. Likewise as digital content producers, colour shifting should become less of an issue as Mac users gradually upgrade.

Designer Insights
14 Invaluable Tools To Check The Real Worth of Your Design Work
10 Tips on how to think like a designer
Rejected Designs and What We Should Do With Them
The 7 vices of highly creative people
Subscribe to 75+ Awesome Design Blogs in 2 minutes with this file via your RSS Reader
User Experience Issues and Techniques
30+ principles to a better landing page design
Managing UI Complexity
Designing for a Demanding, Distractible User
Typography and the Aging Eye: Typeface Legibility for Older Viewers with Vision Problems
Which Search Engine Do You Choose In The Blind Test?
ZURB – It’s Official: Captchas Are Bad for Business