Search, this one had come up a few times recently. Products for 2ft or desktop web then you do have to option for either advanced search or filters, but for the lean back experience with 1ft mobile or console (e.g. XBOX One or PS4) then more actionable items take up screen space or is limited via the input device.

My previous few projects I needed to address how would any user get to where they need to if you remove full-functioned searching or are there better options overall than the usual search functionality for digital products? Read More...

What a year, designing across 5 platforms during the last year have been both challenging and rewarding from what I have learned and produced working within a great team.

If I have learnt anything during the last year for experience and interaction design after working with some great people, there are really seven main points of how to design well that have really stood out to me. Read More...

After a long and tough year, it was great to get the nod for LexisNexis Red via the Mobile Awards.

The most exciting part is being recognised externally for something I had put time and effort into with trying to produce a great experience for the end client. It’s also great to see the team gain the recognition for something they really pushed to hard to release.

Overall not only being a good piece for the folio, it’s also good to know that the creative and UX direction was both on track for the clients and on track for industry recognition.

A big thanks to all the people who help get us there.

With the release of iOS7 I’ve found it to be a very mixed bag, from the one respect we have a new launch via Apple but from the other it doesn’t feel like an Apple products.

I have felt Apple has lost it has way in many regards for design. Where the new iOS7 gave me everything I could ever want out of a mobile operating system, Android Functionality + Windows 8 design. I am more underwhelmed by the new release and the following is why.
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Speaking with a good friend the other day raised a few good points after they have decided on a completely new career path.

1. Really understand where you want to achieve. Become the maven of your subject.
2. Be a visionary, make it compelling. You will need to learn hard lessons.
3. Define and refine the goals. It’s not a linear adventure.
4. Failure is part of success, so persistence is key.
5. Connect and network. For what is a city without the people?

A very good group who I have worked with in the past has just offered me an awesome opportunity to design some graphics for them as a part of some much needed collateral.

After 12 months being out of broadcast weather graphics then jumping back into with a few really cool ideas for apply information and how it’s better displayed rather than raw numbers. It also raised some insights into how on a culture level information can be interpreted and how colour and iconography can overcome the language barrier.

Workible has been a side project since January of this year, a great idea for a digital startup that is really gaining traction within the industry for flexible work.

I fit into this venture as the Interactive Art Director and have managed to set the tone for the business’ branding and UX for their digital and mobile strategy. We have a delivered app on the appstore with a massive roll out of the Beta trials, with some great feedback and interest from some rather BIG players out there.

It’s very exciting for something of this nature to come together so quickly and really take off in such a big way, plus it’s an awesome thing to work with a few very nice and passionate people applying what I love doing to their business gaining support for it.

There is more to come on this one though, I feel it’s just taking off.

To use Dieter Rams as a muse design is wonderful, done correctly it’s invisible and an intangible factor that can make something delight.

However there is more to creative than making it look pretty or making it work, it is about the entire holistic brand and UX experience. It should be well considered with the right customer discoveries focused on, validated for the qualitative factor then built across the appropriate channels.

Simple isn’t simple rather the result of highly visceral process. Read More...

With the release of some really great tablet devices during the last few months like the Nexus7, Surface and iPad mini it started me to think of with so many of them targeted heavily to the different platforms where would this lead the end consumer?

Each tablet hardware and OS is suitable for different specialised tasks though there is some cross over. During the next few years I can see there is going to be 3 devices within a connected user’s workflow. Read More...

Over ten years of creative experience has given me 5 key rules that in my opinion kill innovation and creativity in its tracks. Via some CSI and Dexter techniques, I am going to explore these killers of innovation. Read More...

Buzzwords (Argumentum verbosium)… I keep hearing, they are ideals senior management tend to jump on and embrace. Diversity Alignment Empowerment Strategy sure does sounds awesome in a keynote but how does it translate to business operations, specifically tactic and strategy?

After starting my new job as a Senior UX Designer it is interesting seeing the crossover of brand design and how it is applied to UX. On a semantical level good UX really does shape the perception a user or client has towards both brand and product. Read More...

Marketing vs development is an interesting beast, the marketer in me always would like to see new features that I probably would never use while the developer would rather see refinements in the overall experience. Which is better?

Good marketing will get you through the door (or to quote Edwin Land, Marketing succeeds where products fail) however good development will allow you to keep the client thus a balanced approach is needed.

For a larger company this really isn’t an issue because you have enough resources to assign them to the right places to ensure the is a balance but for a smaller business that isn’t really the case. Read More...

Weather Graphics Demo from Shamus Hart on Vimeo.

I know I’m the weather guy, but here’s something I’ve been extremely happy with creating as a demo concept it’s enable me to embrace FCP and Motion 5 to create something a little more engaging than the usual stills.

If I had learnt two things from this process, Motion is seriously resource hungry and Photoshop layers can’t be opened very well (or at all) in Motion 5.

Enjoy

I haven’t had much opportunity to matte paint or composite video for a while now, so when I got the request to mock something up for a demo I welcomed the opportunity to “brush up” on Photoshop and Motion to create something sweet.

So far it’s a single frame and still needs a little polish but I think it’s getting there, once completed I’ll post a high resolution image and video. Stay tuned.

With Weatherzone mostly rebranded it interesting to look back upon the project as a whole, the big learning curve I had found was nothing to do with how the branding design was done rather I was amazed how much “ownership” people have with a brand.

Many stakeholders were dead against for improving the how the brand functioned, the main belief and attitudes being “if it ain’t broke why fix it?”. Read More...

A very good friend rang me a few weeks ago and asked me if I wanted to do a guest lecture in design for broadcast, I was more than happy to help him out of course lecturing two groups that are completing a BComm.

The lectures were an interesting thing, more than anything it did teach me rather than the lecture for the students. Odd idea I guess, but the students’ feedback was specifically it did give them some good ideas and insight into the industry as a whole while for myself it did give me the realisation of how far I’ve come (and how old I feel). Read More...

Finally got the go ahead for NHK, which has brought a very interesting project along with some new challenge to Weatherzone.

Interestingly enough there are not only the cultural concerns with producing the graphics for them but using the “Japanese” whispers approach with translations for what the client wants which makes overall communication interesting.

I will add more once the graphics are completed.

This is something I’ve worked long and hard to get the business unit to address and finally we’ve got a new B2B brand and logo for the organisation.

In nutshell the idea was to modernise the design of the brand and position the B2B and B2C sides of the business to a place where it’s easier to sell from a B2B perspective by positioning from a very iconic brand being Weatherzone. Read More...

After 6 months of some very hard work ABC Weather Graphics have finally gone live. This is by far the largest project I’ve been involved in while this was the most complex install Weatherzone had completed.

Overall the graphics had been received very well by both ABC management and the viewers, the complete install included the set up of 9 WeatherOne Viking systems, 348 Graphical Sequences, creation of all graphical and the in-servicing of staff in each capital city. All processes were met with success which was a great feat considering the whole project was developed by 3 people.