Blog

RIP Steve Jobs

Perhaps one of the most inspirational speeches I’ve heard was the one by Steve Jobs for June 2005, Stanford Graduates. It really cut through to the core of what’s important in life and impressed upon those listening that we need to be true to ourselves and live our life without fear.

Every time hesitation sets in or I consider taking a certain path because it’s well known, I remind myself of his quote:

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

If you haven’t already heard it or would like to be inspired once again, here is his speech again: Steve Jobs June 2005 Stanford Graduation Speech.

By Gülay Birand
Published: October 10, 2011
One Comment

Interaction Design in Furniture

I love furniture that is not only beautiful but also multi-functional. The Double Side chair embodies these qualities – I would certainly love to own one myself.

Designer, Matali Craset has a very interesting perspective on our furniture and how we interact with them: “At home today the structures are fixed, like a paused video with a paused picture, life is changing and it’s in movement and it reactivates the video so to speak. My projects work in the interstices of the activities, in passages between one paused picture to another in order to reattach them to one another and to renew the movement and the action in between the spaces.”

By Gülay Birand
Published: April 13, 2011
No Comments

Netflix for iPhone/iPod Touch is finally here

I’ve been waiting for Netflix to release it’s mobile app for quite a while and now that it’s here, I am addicted as I’m sure many others are. I do wonder what this means for AT&T’s network load and how much longer the service will be a free part of my subscription.

If you already have a Netflix account, it’s a matter of installing the app and entering your credentials before you’re on your way to your first movie. If you don’t, free trials are available on their site or through iTunes and then it’s just $8.99/month for a subscription thereafter. Not having cable or a TV Screen at home, Netflix, Hulu Plus and YouTube are my main source for videos and let me tell you that with this addition, I am very well covered. If you do have a TV screen that is not connected to a video source, some AV cables from your iPhone to the screen can make watching movies at home a pleasure.

The app is very simple and does not offer any functionality other than watching and finding movies which I am fine with as there are quite a few other apps that let me reorder/add movies to my queue. One neat feature is the ability to resume the very last video played from your Netlfix account. I hope this can be expanded to the three most recent videos watched, like the website version, as it can get inconvenient when there are multiple users on the same account.

It’s possible to stream the videos on Wifi and 3G. I found the video quality to be extremely high on my iPhone 4 with either connection. However, I have found that the assets for the app itself have not been optimized for the iPhone 4 which takes away from the experience a little. Also, purely from a design stand-point, I’m not sure I would have placed the play button in the center of the video cover. It’s very often that the visuals draws me into a movie and in some cases, the play button covers the face of the lead actor, which I find distracting.

Aside from the nitpicky design issues, the app delivers. Now, in all fairness, the Android version needs to be released.

Take a look at the preview video:

Netflix iPhone App Video from Netflix on Vimeo.

By Gülay Birand
Published: August 29, 2010
No Comments

Visual Diary of Trans-Atlantic Flight

I sympathized with so many of the sketches and they each capture a painful aspect of long-distance air travel so well. I also love the concept of a visual diary. I think I’ll try to explore this a bit more on my travels. It aptly demonstrates so many things words can’t. Enjoy!

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/03/red-eye/

By Gülay Birand
Published: August 20, 2010
No Comments

How to uninstall a pesky, unresponsive APK

Now that you’ve followed the steps in my previous post on installing an APK on your Android phone, you should be able to uninstall it too. Sometimes, working with non-market, alpha or beta apps can provide unreliable results and lock up and require more unorthodox methods for removal.

I ran into this last week and it took me quite a while to figure out how to get this resolved. After some trial and error and with the help of a co-worker, I finally figured out the best way to do this.

Before doing anything else, try to use the “White Killer” app in order to stop the application. White Killer, albeit unfortunately named, can be found in the Market Place and once installed conveniently, lists all of the apps on your device. You can kill all or just one. How convenient!

Unfortunately, White Killer did not do the trick for me this time around, so I had to resort to drastic measures by mounting the device to my computer as a “drive.” I then uninstalled the app from the device. As usual, my instructions are based on Mac OS but if you need help with Win, just let me know. And please, proceed with caution, once you enter shell.

Here are the steps (I’m assuming you have a device with debugging enabled tethered to your Mac):

  1. Open Terminal
  2. Enter the following lines of code: $ cd AndroidSDK $ cd tools $ ./adb remount remount succeeded $ ./adb shell # cd /system/app # rm [AppName].apk
  3. Now enter  # ls and Voila! The stubborn app should no longer be in the list of apps on your device.

TIP: If you don’t know the file name of the app you’re trying to uninstall, simple enter  # ls after  # cd /system/app and look for it there.

By Gülay Birand
Published: August 15, 2010
No Comments

David Sedaris Makes Me Laugh

If you have a subscription to the New Yorker, I highly recommend you don’t miss out on David Sedaris’s  “Standing By,” in the August 9 issue of the New Yorker.

His account of our behavior during, and general frustration surrounding, air travel is a comical revelation only in the way that David Sedaris can describe. I was howling with laughter when I read his commentary regarding American travel attire (washing shoe polish off of a pig, indeed) and how we form awkward alliances with fellow passengers during the sometimes, lengthy waits.

His article also reminds me of Steven Slater’s recent and very dramatic exit from a landed aircraft and his Stewarding career, with beer in hand.

While I love traveling, I don’t include being in transit as part of that – unless somehow my mojo kicks in and I’m assigned a business class seat. Now, that’s tolerable.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/09/100809fa_fact_sedaris

By Gülay Birand
Published: August 14, 2010
No Comments

Installing an APK on your phone using the Android SDK

Primarily, I work on the interaction design for our various Android devices at T-Mobile but there are many times I have to do QA, documentation, visual design and sometimes developery things like installing new builds and APKs (Android Package Files).

I noticed that most of the instructions I Googled are geared towards developers. They are highly-technical and are typically missing a step or two, with the assumption that the person reading them must already know those few steps. Well, most designers I know don’t know or have learned how to do this by painfully cobbling together instructions and I thought I’d share ALL of the steps involved to take the guess work out of it.

Before doing any of this though, let’s make sure you are setup correctly. I work on a Mac, so the instructions I provide will be based on this OS but if there is a request for Windows OS, I can provide that too.

  1. Let’s make sure you have the latest Android SDK installed. Once you’ve done this, be sure to change the folder name to “AndroidSDK.”
  2. Now go to Finder and find the folder.
  3. Move the folder into the root of your user profile and place a shortcut in the sidebar under “Places.” This will make things much easier when working with the SDK.
  4. Find the .apk file you are looking to install onto your phone and move it to the following path AndroidSDK > Tools

Equipment you will need:

  1. Android phone.
  2. Micro or mini usb cable connecting your phone to your computer.
  3. SD card in your phone.

Now let’s get your phone ready:

  1. Go to Settings on  your phone and under Application Settings allow Unknown Sources. If an app is not in the Market Place, you need to enable this for the install to work.
  2. Also go to SD Card and Phone Storage under Settings and Disable Use for USB Storage.

Now you are all ready to take on APKs!

Installing an APK manually:

  1. Go to Applications > Utilities > Terminal
  2. Now enter the following code:

    3. $ cd AndroidSDK $ cd Tools $ ./adb remount

  3. This will start adb and mount the device as a drive. Finally, you’ll want to install the app:

    4. $./adb push [Name].apk system/app $./adb reboot

  4. These two commands will install the apk and restart your device.

You can now enjoy using the app!

Next post, I’m going to tackle how to uninstall a pesky, unresponsive APK.

By Gülay Birand
Published: July 28, 2010
2 Comments

Why are teenage girls texting more than teenage boys?

Girls texting

I was thinking about the story on Alexa Longueria, the 15 year old girl who fell into a manhole last year because she was too wrapped up in texting to notice, and it reminded me of my husband’s teenage cousin texting non-stop the last time we saw her. It was very interesting to see how she spent hours typing up responses when all I could think was: Why not just pick up the phone? Wouldn’t it be easier and faster simply talking? Which then brought me to my final question: What is it that makes texting so appealing to teenage girls?

It’s no secret that tweens and teenagers communicate via text messages much more frequently than adults but what I find fascinating, is that among this group, girls text an order of magnitude more than boys. According to study results from Mashable, girls send on average, 100 texts per day compared to the 30 texts boys send.

Among the various articles I read, there were a few patterns that emerged:

Teenage girls are more social than teenage boys - which leads them to have entire conversations texting. Their texts are more elaborate and they prolong conversations more so than their male counterparts. Texting is more comfortable than over the phone conversations - reducing the amount of social finesse required compared to a voice conversation. Girls feel the need to “pass notes” to each other more frequently – whether it be during a double date or in another uncomfortable social situation. Girls use texting as a way to communicate about the various interactions and provide support or exit strategies for each other. Texting is an asynchronous form of communication - which reduces the need to fill  social gaps, those awkward silences are eradicated and there is more time to form a response without pressure.

Read more on the Mashable study:

http://mashable.com/2010/08/17/text-messaging-infographic/

By Gülay Birand
Published: July 17, 2010
No Comments

I waited in line this time… and it was suprisingly fun!

My last iPhone order was somewhat unsettling. I didn’t receive much feedback from AT&T with regard to my order and I wasn’t sure when I would receive my 3GS. I decided that this time, I would brave the crowds and take matters into my own hands.

I’m not much of an early riser, so getting to the Apple store at the crack of dawn (while the smart thing to do) was not a realistic option for me. I got to UVillage with coffee in hand around 9ish and started waiting in the already lengthy line with my fellow die heard iPhone comrades.

Now I’m no fan of waiting in lines for anything but dare I say, this was one, fun experience! Our little “team,” pep talked it’s way to the front of the line rejoicing with every distance marker passed, “We just crossed the parking lot! Hurray!!”

The Apple employees periodically came by with line updates, water, SPF (!!) and snacks. At one point, a group of them came running by, clapping and cheering us on. As we neared the end of the line, they came around with cups of Molly Moon’s ice cream delivering a much needed dose of calories to see us through to the end.

Far left. Oh, so happy.

When finally, it was my turn, I was applauded and courteously escorted into the cool, pristine Apple store. My Personal Shopper greeted me with a handshake and “Congratulations.” Sound cheesy? I know but most importantly, this entire experience was designed to make me feel “special.”And maybe in some small way, I did.

There’s no doubt that Apple has it figured out. It’s not just that their products are amazing functionally, beautiful to look at and revolutionary, it’s that they don’t limit the experience to their products alone. It’s all encompassing. From the moment you engage with Apple, through payment and product care, it’s a fantastic experience.

Apple managed to make what could have been a very boring two hours, enjoyable. Kudos to them.

By Gülay Birand
Published: June 24, 2010
No Comments

5 Mobile UX Design Bites

  1. Design within the interaction paradigm provided by the platform or device itself. Deviations can be costly for development and create room for user confusion.
  2. Make things easier for users by keeping most important options easily accessible and the focus on the highest priority elements.
  3. Deliver simpler and more effective experiences. Being in a resource constrained environment, more complexity can mean, more difficulty for the user.
  4. Provide immediate feedback. It is a necessity on touch devices. Most users who are used to an iPhone will not choose to switch to an Android phone simply due to the latency in scrolling.
  5. Keep in mind that mobile devices are more than a piece of technology. They are enablers with a high emotion factor.
By Gülay Birand
Published: May 8, 2010
No Comments

Page 1 / 3