Slightly OT but quite interesting: http://petesmart.co.uk/rethink-the-airline-boarding-pass/
Redesigning the United flight search interface in Photoshop
21–30 of 34 posts
Re: Redesigning the United flight search interface in Photoshop
#22You must understand why this is not possible to do. D.O.T. rules apply to any agency that collects money for air travel. Everything on that page is subject to rules that change continuously and you can get fined massive amounts if you guess wrong. My employer's lawyers are incredibly paranoid about any UI change as we in the past had to pay a huge penalty because a few words were incorrect. So we wind up being stuck…
Then why do all the different airlines have different UI's? While what you say is correct, you can easily redesign UI and follow the rules.
It depends on whether their lawyers are willing to take a chance. The rules actually change all the time so you have to keep up to date. Some people are more willing to take a chance than others.
Re: Redesigning the United flight search interface in Photoshop
#23You must understand why this is not possible to do. D.O.T. rules apply to any agency that collects money for air travel. Everything on that page is subject to rules that change continuously and you can get fined massive amounts if you guess wrong. My employer's lawyers are incredibly paranoid about any UI change as we in the past had to pay a huge penalty because a few words were incorrect. So we wind up being stuck…
Then why do all the different airlines have different UI's? While what you say is correct, you can easily redesign UI and follow the rules.
I think his point is more along the lines that regulatory burden and concern for the possible cost of error disincentive for change that effectively borders on paralysis rather than it being a physical reason preventing changes. The same sort of obstacles you see with large companies, but with an extra layer of possible fines on top.
A few years back, a designer blogged about a similar redesign for American Airlines. He was contacted by one of AA's in-house designers, who wrote about the internal politics and hurdles that get in the way of changing things. AA later sacked the designer for violating his NDA and the articles were deleted from the blog, but the entire episode was pretty interesting. If you're interested:
Copies of the Dustin Curtis & Mr. X posts http://www.flipthefunnelnow.com/dustin-curtis-%E2%80%93-dear...
Aftermath http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20091106/0337536829.shtml
Even if a redesign doesn't touch any of the regulatory verbage and requirements, it still has to go through largely the same pipeline of internal approval as if it did. So even minor changes are viewed the same as significant ones.
Take the boarding pass. Given the limited amount of information present, redesigning them for a better experience should be a fucking no-brainer. No matter how long you search, I doubt you'll find anyone genuinely satisfied with their boarding pass. They're big, ugly, and reasonably unclear at a glance. You see tons of redesign experiments online, but no airline ever seems to take the hint or be inspired by them. Here's a semi-recent one that I love:
http://petesmart.co.uk/rethink-the-airline-boarding-pass/
Beautiful typography, perfectly sized for your passport, and easy to read at a glance. Throw in the time difference and predicted weather for your destination, and the redesign is utterly perfect. What's not to love? And yet, nothing.
I see two big problems with the status quo in that regard: first, you the almost reactionary mindsets that seem to become not only more common, but also even more reactionary, as a company grows. Self-deceptive thoughts like "change is scary/costly/will scare away all the customers" are pretty damned powerful. Along with a lack of genuine demand for the change in the first place: bad UI hurts customers and drives away sales, but quantifying it directly in a way that makes it a priority in itself is difficult. They're all the more powerful by the fact that they originally stem from genuine concerns. And these attitudes are practically everywhere. Hell, even apple.com took the better part of a decade to see a significant shift in its UI + design:
http://mac.appstorm.net/roundups/graphics-roundups/the-evolu...
It's really no wonder nothing changes. Until we start to see shifts in those attitudes, we're going to be largely stuck with the same bad UX in far too many places. :(
Re: Redesigning the United flight search interface in Photoshop
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then why do all the different airlines have different UI's? While what you say is correct, you can easily redesign UI and follow the rules.
I think his point is more along the lines that regulatory burden and concern for the possible cost of error disincentive for change that effectively borders on paralysis rather than it being a physical reason preventing changes. The same sort of obstacles you see with large companies, but with an extra layer of possible fines on top. A few years back, a designer blogged about a similar redesign for American Airlines.…
Can confirm, redesigns are scary on the money machine. The more cash your engine cranks out, the less likely you will be to experiment. Experiments will fall on low-risk categories, not something as significant as ticket purchase.
Re: Redesigning the United flight search interface in Photoshop
#251. Guys, you are missing the point. This is not about redesigning the United website, it is about how to use Photoshop to design a web interface.
2. Nathan, why would you design something in Photoshop instead of directly prototyping it in html/css? I think designing straight in html/css is already pretty fast.
You also run into the danger of adding some nice looking effects that are easy to add in Photoshop but not so easy to implement in CSS.
Re: Redesigning the United flight search interface in Photoshop
#26lol hello! Let me 'redesign' your site without a brief, knowledge of the business, or any idea about the demographics/market/technology involved. I'm a designer with photoshop woohooo! /end snarky attitude All that aside, a photoshop comp 'redesign' (re-skin may be more accurate) without a brief or objectives besides 'make it easier to use/prettier' is not design. At best it's speculation, at a glance it's just a dif…
You are totally missing the point of his videos.
Re: Redesigning the United flight search interface in Photoshop
#271. Guys, you are missing the point. This is not about redesigning the United website, it is about how to use Photoshop to design a web interface. 2. Nathan, why would you design something in Photoshop instead of directly prototyping it in html/css? I think designing straight in html/css is already pretty fast. You also run into the danger of adding some nice looking effects that are easy to add in Photoshop but not s…
1. Yes, you are right. This is more of a tutorial than an redesign for the sake of doing a redesign.
2. Because Photoshop is far faster and I create much more visually interesting designs when I use it.
Everything in the design is very easy to recreate with CSS. But I agree, sometimes it is better to design in the browser.
Re: Redesigning the United flight search interface in Photoshop
#28lol hello! Let me 'redesign' your site without a brief, knowledge of the business, or any idea about the demographics/market/technology involved. I'm a designer with photoshop woohooo! /end snarky attitude All that aside, a photoshop comp 'redesign' (re-skin may be more accurate) without a brief or objectives besides 'make it easier to use/prettier' is not design. At best it's speculation, at a glance it's just a dif…
You are totally missing the point of his videos.
I realize the main purpose is to teach someone how to use photoshop. Guess what else it's doing? Teaching them that designing without spec is a part of the job. ;)
Re: Redesigning the United flight search interface in Photoshop
#29It's a redesign, but not really a re-think. Check out Bret Victor's "Magic Ink" for a completely new interface for the task: http://worrydream.com/MagicInk/#p227
(and if you like it, read the whole article; it's fantastic).
Re: Redesigning the United flight search interface in Photoshop
#30lol hello! Let me 'redesign' your site without a brief, knowledge of the business, or any idea about the demographics/market/technology involved. I'm a designer with photoshop woohooo! /end snarky attitude All that aside, a photoshop comp 'redesign' (re-skin may be more accurate) without a brief or objectives besides 'make it easier to use/prettier' is not design. At best it's speculation, at a glance it's just a dif…
Your comment is a perfect example of non-constructive negative verbal diarrhea on HN.
This course has a clear purpose: How can I photoshop to design UI?
There's no need to belittle people who actually create content to share.