Andrew Wirtanen is a usability specialist in Cary, NC More »

Redesigning an ineffective healthcare flowchart

Republican John Boehner recently presented a very ugly chart that outlined the Democrats’ health plan. From a graphic design standpoint, it is a disaster. Intentional or not, the chart clearly evokes negative feelings into the reader who most likely will be overwhelmed by words in ALL-CAPS, different and competing colors, shapes, and sizes.
Over on Flickr, [...]

Chroma-Hash makes confirming your password easier

One of the most frustrating things on the Internet is when you have to type in a password twice. Sometimes, a website will force you to hit the “submit” or “log in” button before it tells you that the passwords don’t match! Chroma-Hash is a jQuery plugin that securely generations a color bar for each [...]

Texting While Driving–the Flash game!

The New York Times has released a driving simulation Flash game that tests your ability to multitask. It’s far from scientific (and so was the NBC driving experiment) since the game requires a constant rate of lane switching and has a constant rate of incoming text messages, but it’s fun and educational nonetheless.

While I initially [...]

Why Usability?

Editor’s Note: This is my entry for Dr. Pete’s “Win A Usability Library” contest.
When I started college at RIT, I entered with the thought that I would exit as a web developer. I wasn’t completely happy with that thought because it seemed like a job where I was headed straight toward a cubicle with little [...]

The Research-Inspired Design blog

In addition to this site and CodBall, I am now actively writing for Research-Inspired Design, which was launched along with the new HumanCentric website.
Research-Inspired Design is the HumanCentric blog, where the whole company (usability specialists, industrial designers, graphic designers, software engineers, and interaction designers) share our thoughts on user experience. Check it out, and put [...]