Please consider people who don't have perfect vision.
Grey text on a grey background is just not high contrast enough to be accessible.
Ableton Live Redesign
81–90 of 94 posts
Re: Ableton Live Redesign
#82I like that he followed a process of gathering suggestions from real users and then testing his solutions with them. It's a big step above the typical "I redesigned X!" posts that look really pretty but probably aren't very usable. I wonder what kind of job one would expect to get from this. These tasks (gathering user feedback, doing visual designs) are probably divided between several people at Ableton already. Doe…
These tasks (gathering user feedback, doing visual designs) are probably divided between several people at Ableton already
I hope the tasks are not divided between people. Feedback loops work best if they're quick and direct. Designers should be able to observe users try out their own designs.
The rest of the team would work on other aspects of the product, e.g. other design aspects or implementation.
Does he want to replace the whole team?
I think that in order to get the best results it should be part of the company culture to question everything, and sometimes that means questioning the work of other people. In the same way, everybody should be thankful for helpful feedback and suggestions.
Re: Ableton Live Redesign
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
yeah... are their any success stories with regards to these kind of post? all the ways i play it out in my head don't seems great... 1. someone at exec/board/mgmt-level somewhat detached from product development process sees it and comes in with the "see! this is what it should look like, this looks way better, this guy gets it and he doesn't even work here! you should hire him / do this." which doesn't tend to be re…
Phillip Sackl landed a design-job at Mozilla by doing something similar. It wasn't as complex as a full redesign, though. The application: http://readyformozilla.com/ The design-work: http://readyformozilla.com/panorama/
Panorama was one of the most promising features Firefox had, but they killed it. There was a guy who maintained a plugin version and even did some cool improvements to it [1], but he abandoned it because of Mozilla killing their older, but more featureful APIs - even those that are e10s compatible. I still use this thing sometimes and I'm quite sad to see it go.
Re: Ableton Live Redesign
#84I don't really have a problem with the UI; I want Ableton to fix the other annoyances first: * Saving the project resets the undo history. A someone who frequently saves, this is super frustrating. * No normal zoom controls. You have to use the "minimap" at the top. * Only a single project can be open at once, which makes copying from old projects tedious unless you shuffle files around into your current project. * T…
I also vote for having note chasing, which is activating midi notes even when starting playback in the middle of the note.
In logic it's just a checkbox. Surely it can't be too hard?
Re: Ableton Live Redesign
#85Unrelated to the quality of the redesign. I would advise other designers to not follow this method exactly. Talking to users is great, it's what separates a designer from someone who just pushes pixels, but it's not a good idea to ask users what they like or what they want. "Does ____ look like a helpful feature to you?" "Does ____ work for you?" "Is this better than before?" What's the response going to be? "Sure, s…
I would have liked the post better if it didn't include any user feedback. I understand the idea behind it, but as you said, "Does this look good?" gives little insight into "Is this useful to you?"
Re: Ableton Live Redesign
#86Unrelated to the quality of the redesign. I would advise other designers to not follow this method exactly. Talking to users is great, it's what separates a designer from someone who just pushes pixels, but it's not a good idea to ask users what they like or what they want. "Does ____ look like a helpful feature to you?" "Does ____ work for you?" "Is this better than before?" What's the response going to be? "Sure, s…
OT. Can I contact you to review my portfolio?
Sure, my email is in my profile
Re: Ableton Live Redesign
#87I like that he followed a process of gathering suggestions from real users and then testing his solutions with them. It's a big step above the typical "I redesigned X!" posts that look really pretty but probably aren't very usable. I wonder what kind of job one would expect to get from this. These tasks (gathering user feedback, doing visual designs) are probably divided between several people at Ableton already. Doe…
yeah... are their any success stories with regards to these kind of post? all the ways i play it out in my head don't seems great... 1. someone at exec/board/mgmt-level somewhat detached from product development process sees it and comes in with the "see! this is what it should look like, this looks way better, this guy gets it and he doesn't even work here! you should hire him / do this." which doesn't tend to be re…
Andrew Kim did a famous [1] rebrand of Microsoft [2], and then landed a job there because of it [3].
1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4195208
2: http://www.minimallyminimal.com/blog/2012/7/3/the-next-micro...
3: https://www.theverge.com/2013/1/19/3895444/andrew-kim-the-ne...
Re: Ableton Live Redesign
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not the person you asked, but I believe he is referring to the lack of arbitrary modulation mapping in Ableton, where modulation is typically one parameter on a synthesizer, effect or other device being changed over time by an external source such as a Low Frequency Oscillator (LFO). Many Ableton devices have features such as this on specific parameters like filter frequency but, without Max for Live, you can't map c…
Thanks for explaining - that makes sense. Also did some research online before I saw your answer and found an answer after watching a video about Bitwig Studio's unified modulations system [0]. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_mQUV2iwiI
Yes, exactly. If you're creating electronic music then the key aspect is how you modify the sound over time, so a flexible modulation system is crucial.
Re: Ableton Live Redesign
#89I'm really not interested in a flat UI from Ableton, this looks cluttered to me. What I want is proper modulation system, rather than the hacks you currently have to go through with Max for Live to achieve a result.
I only dabbled in Ableton Live a little bit many years ago, so I'm not familiar with some of the terms you mentioned. Can you describe what a modulation system is - what's your understanding? Also any examples out there that illustrate this, other apps that do it well? It's not like a node based shader system like in Houdini or like Fusion's compositing system?
I'm also a Houdini user and a realtime DAW with the flexibility of Houdini for creating tools and creating relationships between parameters would be a dream come true!
Re: Ableton Live Redesign
#90I am surprised with what the author could infer from questionnaires.
I feel questionnaires are stupid. I do have ideas on how stuff I use often could be made better and I share it with the creators if there is a way to reach out to them.
I don't mind sharing a video of my typical usage and maybe some annotations with it but that's it. I don't think I can answer questions like "Do you like this" or "Do you think this screen is useful" objectively or accurately in any manner that could be useful to the designer or implementor.