Tarek Fahmy: Cultural Critic

The following semi-doctored and color corrected screenshots are of the World Cup finals that took place yesterday in South Africa (07.11.2010) between the Netherlands & España.

The selected images were carefully chosen to tell my narrative of the match; the side that believes that the Dutch played borderline aggressive/dirty the entire match and were lucky they weren’t given more red cards (disqualifications) throughout play.

This continues my blog series entitled ‘Postmodern: I Take Pictures of Pictures‘. This time i chose the world cup finals match using ESPN’s highlight video footage.

The Red Card (The Ejection)

THE GOAL

This time it’s Fiona Apple’s old school video for the song Limp. I find her so captivating because of her physical beauty combined with her musical and lyrical talents. It’s too bad that she dropped out of the music world for whatever reason(s). Maybe her ‘James Dean syndrome’* got in the way.

* James Dean syndrome is how I personally describe this state of mind that generally afflicts adolescent folks that is characterized by a brooding, pseudo depressing, and an anti authoritarian sensibility.

Some grow out of it after they go to college while others seem to be stuck in it for life. Maybe Fiona fits the latter but I really did not research her story and why she dropped out of the music world.

The following doctored, color corrected, and manipulated screen-shots are from her video for the song Limp. Afterwards I will also provide the link for this pretty decent and off-course pseudo angry tune.

Chemistry.

UX design means user experience design. These designers literally design the experience that the end-user (person using the web-site or application) will have online or on the desktop.

When websites and desktop applications are being designed, the end-user should always come first. This is called user centered design. Since different applications/websites have a different archetypal end-user(s), a user experience designer has to determine what type of design appeals and is more efficient to that particular archetype of an end-user(s).

The experience designer also delves into information architecture, user interface design, art direction (over-all aesthetic feel & vibe of site/application), branding, usability studies, story boarding and wire-framing, research, client interaction and client presentation,

As of late there are many different terms being used to describe these designers. Some of the terms being used are:
• Visual Designer
• UX Designer
• UI designer
• Information Architect

In my opinion, the best UI/UX designers are the post modern equivalent of renaissance artists; versed in many seemingly disparate but truly interrelated disciplines. These UI/UX designers combine logic, creativity, and communication on a day to day basis. They are versed in psychology, usability, graphic design, fine arts, as well as wireframe rendering and story boarding. These designers also have the ability to put themselves in the end-user’s shoes.

UX design is a growing field that is extremely integral in today’s business. The ceiling is high and the future is bright.

Facebook’s interface heavily utilizes icons. These icons are graphical shortcuts for navigational purposes. Instead of only using text links, Facebook depends on navigational pictographs to make the end-user’s experience easier and more user-friendly.

Facebook utilizes literal icons, the images literally describe the intended behavior. For example, the ‘Gifts’ icon is literally a gift and the ‘mobile phone’ icon is literally a mobile phone. The most important thing here is consistency across the board. All of these navigational icons have to be consistent site wide concerning their color, location, size, and font (where applicable). Aesthetically, the icons are a bit cartoony and the colors are pastel like. They are consistent, coherent, and well rendered.

Facebook also uses a family of similar icons. Since it’s a social networking site, the ‘Friends’ icon has many different variations and functions. There is ‘add a friend,’ ‘Suggest friends for him,’ and the regular ‘friend’ icon/link. They are all structurally similar with a little graphical spin off that suggest their differing function.

The end-user does not consciously think of these icons. They become second hand and in order for them to seep into the end-users psyche they must be consistent, communicative, and easy to understand.