Better car brake lights
Monday 30 August 2010A recent incident whilst driving on the motorway got me thinking about the current design of car brake lights. Most cars work in the same way i.e. you push the brake pedal and the brake lights come on. It doesn’t matter what speed your doing or how much pressure you put on the brake pedal it’s still the same illuminated warning.
If you are driving at speed and the car in front brakes heavily the only indicator (apart from the brake lights) is that car getting closer to you much quicker. When the car in front brakes lightly there is less of a problem but as mentioned earlier there is only one type of illuminated warning. Obviously keeping a safe distance should allow you enough time to brake safely but the reality is that people don’t drive within the safe stopping zone. I think a slight tweak to current brake lights could help warn people of heavy braking:
- Light brake pressure when mobile would show solid illuminated brake lights
- Light or heavy brake pressure when stationary would show solid illuminated brake lights
- Heavy braking when mobile would show strobe brake lights
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Visualizing what I do
Thursday 26 August 2010I watched David McCandless sparring with Neville Brody on Newsnight a couple of weeks ago and followed it up by watching a good talk on The beauty of data visualization by David McCandless:
I was so inspired by the TED talk that I put together my own visual interpretation of my technical and design skills. I’ll let you tell me if I’ve been successful or not.
Click for a bigger graphic.
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A day of User Interface Design
Monday 16 August 2010I’m surrounded by user interface design. From the moment I wake up I’m faced with some simple and some more complex interface designs that somehow I manage to work out. Someone, somewhere has thought about these designs and it’s been their sole purpose to make the experience easy to understand, easy to do and easy to remember.
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Sketching
Sunday 15 August 2010I’ve been sketching more and more recently. Making sure that I have a pad and pen nearby all the time has helped me to make a habit of using sketches as part of my work-flow.
It has certainly helped me to work through my ideas quickly before moving onto the PC. I think it helps a lot with elimination so that I don’t spend too long on ideas that won’t work on the PC.
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Using a Spot UV on a business card
Tuesday 10 August 2010I recently designed a logo and business card for London based Personal Trainer Rachel Russell. The business card used a Spot UV finish which is can be quite eye catching and create a lot of impact.
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