Disliking the Look of iTunes 10

One problem with changing the style of your products with every iteration, eventually you’ll run out of great ideas and have to settle with something mediocre just to have your new product look different. I’m no expert on modern software design aesthetics but what did they do to iTunes?

First of all, the new logo just doesn’t look like an Apple icon. I’ll have to do a little digging, but I swear I’ve seen a very similar icon on a third party Windows music app. Its not that it’s bad, it just doesn’t look like Apple.

But the interface is what disappoints the most. Monotone can be very stylish, but the new iTunes is so flat and faded that its hard to see on a dim screen, neither edgy or hip. Also, the spacing in the Album Art view is odd. By default it hides album art if you only have a couple of songs, but it still floats the album title left, leaving space to the right, making columns wider and the whole interface harder to navigate. Actually, everything about the interface feels harder to navigate.

Finally, I just don’t know what to make of Ping and will reserve judgement, except to ask “just who is this for?”  I would love to hide it (same with Genius), simplify my sidebar, but its obviously meant to be a marketing tool and will live permanently with the store.

I’ve been using iTunes since the very beginning and have never been as bothered by its design until now. Too much is being shoe-horned into it. Having lots of options is a good thing, but I’d appreciate it if they let the user decide which options were visible.

Shallow? Yes. But a Great Lesson in Photographing People!

Don’t Be Ugly By Accident! (from “OkTrends”)

I don’t particularly like the concept of “attractiveness”, especially when paired or equated to other, less shallow, concepts like beauty. I guess it’s partly because the idea of “attractiveness” is terribly relative, and, more honestly, because I missed out on the “attractiveness” gene (scientists discovered it years ago in a 1986 Valentine’s Day-themed issue of Cosmopolitan).

But this article examining a survey of a half million photos of people, their “attractiveness” and the EXIF data attached to said photos turns out to be a wonderful lesson on how to photograph people.  Some of the info will not surprise anyone who has spent anytime with a camera. But did you know that the Panasonic Micro is far and away the best camera to make people look attractive with? Me neither.

NCDD 2006 Peace Tiles on Flickr

I’m revisiting some photos from our past conferences while I build the new NCDD website and I’ve been encouraged to use these photos to add color to the pages about our upcoming events. They are of Peace Tiles, created during the the 2006 National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation in San Francisco, and some of the most interesting images/objects to come out of the event. The Global Peace Tiles Project is an amazing art initiative and worth checking out.

National Conference on Dialogue and Deliberation - a set on Flickr