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Remote smarts

Understanding how to use a remote is made easier by a friend. I love this, it makes me smile thinking how I’ve written clear schematics for family and friends in the past.

Ever written out detailed schematics so visiting friends or family members could operate your home theater setup? It’s annoying, right? Web site Designing Interactions highlights an incredibly simple but surprisingly workable solution.

It’s a bit silly and, you know, ugly, but the simplicity and effectiveness is undoubtedly a win. Just grab a piece of paper, cut a few holes where necessary, label, and you’re done. No, this isn’t necessary for the remote wizards in the audience, but it’s a great idea for quickly dumbing down your remote for anyone to pick up and use.

Via Lifehacker

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Things application


Here’s a good example of ‘simple is smart’ thinking in the form of a task management solution for the Mac. I particularly like it’s iTunes like simplicity. You easily understand that ‘adding and sorting your things to do’ lives in a section called focus (where you divide and conquer) and you naturally ‘collect’ these each day (that’s your in-box for today’s work load). Familiar mental models can help a user grasp the concept quickly and have a lasting impression on what your doing and why.

During this short trial I found myself liking how ‘projects’ are those bigger goals that allow nested activities. That makes perfect sense. Added to that, you’ve got obvious things like calenders and logbook features. Apparently a global shortcut allows you to accept a variety of document references. ‘Tags’ means things can be searched under particular names. Cultured Code from Germany have come up with a smart experience.