Bloghttp://www.thelittlethings.ca/blog/en-US2012-02-16T05:07:56ZSquarespace Site Server v5.11.81 (http://www.squarespace.com/)Giant Bomb brings André the Giant back to lifehttp://www.thelittlethings.ca/blog/2011/6/27/giant-bomb-brings-andre-the-giant-back-to-life.htmlDan Gaede2011-06-27T16:00:00ZAndré The Giant Design Giant Bomb GiantBomb.com Little Extras The Simpsons User InterfaceGiantBomb.com has recently done a makeover on the video section of their website. 

Giving the sometimes irreverent nature of their coverage it shouldn't surprise me when they so nail a piece of their interface. In order to enlarge the video they take a cue from two pop-culture icons: The Simpsons and André The Giant. I could just mouse over that little guy all day.

I'm sure I'm not the first person to use "embiggen" to prompt the user to click for a larger image, but it's nice to know that the Giant Bomb crew and I are on the same page.

]]>Reeder classes up its iconhttp://www.thelittlethings.ca/blog/2011/6/26/reeder-classes-up-its-icon.htmlDan Gaede2011-06-26T15:36:05ZApp Store Design Little Extras RSS Reeder User Interface iPadI've been hooked on Reeder for viewing my RSS feeds since the first time I laid hands on it with my iPad. I'd been searching for an elegant solution to RSS for a while and Reeder blew me out of the water with it's UI design, speed and features. So naturally I immediately bought it when it came out in the App Store.

The desktop version of the software brings everything over with it from iOS and even adds a few thing. My favourite is the way in which it displays the number of unread articles in the dock icon itself. The slightly recessed nature of the numbers, the perfect angle and perspective just show much care and effort went into making this product the best that it is.

]]>Microsoft offers up hope for developershttp://www.thelittlethings.ca/blog/2011/3/10/microsoft-offers-up-hope-for-developers.htmlDan Gaede2011-03-10T16:00:20ZAdvertising IE6 MicrosoftIt's always nice when a company shows that it can poke fun at itself as evidenced by this ad at a web developers conference. Who knew that Microsoft had a sense of humour? (via @russellsmith21 via @johntobin)

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]]>Teefury's buttons really clickhttp://www.thelittlethings.ca/blog/2011/2/9/teefurys-buttons-really-click.htmlDan Gaede2011-02-09T21:18:24ZButtons Dr. Who Teefury Usability User Interface tshirts

I've recently gotten hooked on buying tshirts from the internet. Especially ones that have to do with Dr. Who and other geeky subjects. TeeFury, a website that offers up a new tshirt design every day, has quickly become one of my favourites.

What I love about TeeFury is that they've streamlined the buying process so well that before you know it, it's being shipped to your door.

And I think that the most significant key to this is a simple button placement and some cheeky commentary that goes along with it.

click to embiggenThe "unnecessarily large button" is a user's dream. A lot of sites clutter the checkout experience to the point that you never know exactly what you need to do to complete your transaction. Not so here, and it's appreciated.

]]>A quarter goes a long way at Metrohttp://www.thelittlethings.ca/blog/2011/2/6/a-quarter-goes-a-long-way-at-metro.htmlDan Gaede2011-02-06T18:32:42ZCustomer Service Groceries Little Extras Metro ServiceI was shopping at the Metro down the street the other day and I ran in a problem: I had no change to unlock a grocery cart.

You know the pesky little things I'm talking about. Whenever I see that little slot with the key in it my stomach drops a little. Not because I have a problem with using them as an incentive to return the carts to their proper place but because I almost never have change for them. And if I do, it never seems to be the amount those carts want, nay demand from me.

So I withdrew twenty bucks from the ATM, stood in line for the customer service person and asked her for change for the lock. Without blinking she opened up her till, handed me a quarter and told me to "Just bring it back when you're done shopping, honey".

That might not seem like much, but it sure made my day.

]]>This CRT is AOKhttp://www.thelittlethings.ca/blog/2011/2/5/this-crt-is-aok.htmlDan Gaede2011-02-05T15:13:02ZCathode Fun Software Terminal User Interface Cathode, a vintage CRT teminal display application for the Mac, has one of the most ingenious and well executed licensing schemes I've ever seen.

The app is free to download and use, but the display will degrade over time if you don't pay for the application. Soon the screen is filled with static, the horizontal hold starts going haywire and everything becomes pretty hard to make out.

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Where most trials simply time out, they've built a system for a paid upgrade that is actually feels like a natural limitation of the technology they are graphically mimicking. It makes for a beautifully integrated incentive for upgrading.

]]>Cultured Code keep their customers in the loophttp://www.thelittlethings.ca/blog/2010/12/15/cultured-code-keep-their-customers-in-the-loop.htmlDan Gaede2010-12-15T12:00:41ZCultured Code Design Mac Service Things iPad iPhoneCultured Code, the guys behind the great task management software Things, have a great way of keeping their customers up-to-date on future features.

Using an airport terminal board as a visual metaphor, the Arrivals page on their website is a great representation of their progress.

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It's a great way to see what features you can look forward to in the future, and in the case of cloud syncing (their most requested feature) knowing that it's arrival is imminent could keep a customer from jumping ship to a competing product.

I even like that they post "secret project" statuses, but then again I've always liked a tease.

]]>Wordpress doesn't want to get to know youhttp://www.thelittlethings.ca/blog/2010/12/14/wordpress-doesnt-want-to-get-to-know-you.htmlDan Gaede2010-12-14T17:00:05ZCopywriting Facebook Hover-state Privacy User Interface WordpressWhat does Wordpress do with your personal information? In an age when Facebook privacy seems to be a weekly topic of conversation it's nice to see someone being candid about their use of your information.

The hover-state for the Privacy link in the footer for Wordpress is both cheeky and refreshing:

click to embiggenAbout Us and Terms of Service also follow suit. Go check it out for yourself.

]]>Apple lets loose for the holidayshttp://www.thelittlethings.ca/blog/2010/12/13/apple-lets-loose-for-the-holidays.htmlDan Gaede2010-12-13T12:00:58ZApple Branding Christmas Email MarketingNobody does email marketing quite as well as Apple, in my opinion. On more than one occasion, my clients have held them up for reference for their own campaigns. Apple's less-is-more design philosophy always makes for a clear, concise and often beautifully designed piece of email.

So it's nice to see them loosen their brand a little around the holidays and transform their normally black headlines into shiny, Christmassy red versions. They even replacing their buttons with the colourful variant.

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This is a win-win situation for Apple. It makes the email stand out from their normal line of communications as well as reinforces their holiday gift buying message. And it's pretty.

The wintery images used throughout are also a nice, seasonal touch.

]]>Call of Duty gets age verification righthttp://www.thelittlethings.ca/blog/2010/12/10/call-of-duty-gets-age-verification-right.htmlDan Gaede2010-12-10T12:00:28ZBlack Ops Call of Duty Microsoft Usability User InterfaceIf there's one that that annoys the heck out of my online, it's selecting my age from a drop down menu to watch some piece of age-barricaded content. First of all, I'm getting older which means that 1975 is never near the top of the list. Plus I always feel compelled (since I'm in marketing) to give some semblance of the truth for tracking purposes.

So I'm calling on all advertisers to adopt what Microsoft did when launching the latest Call of Duty game: Call of Duty Black Ops. In order to view the rather graphic trailer, they simply asked me how old I was. 

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