elegant interaction

When it comes to verbose work emails that force me to comb through each tedious paragraph for the main points, I find that my patience wears thin. It's perhaps for this very reason that I strive to be succint in my own email communication. I know that the inboxes of my recipients are flooded on a daily basis, so I don't want to add to the noise and clutter. A well-crafted, succinct message has a far greater chance to cut through the noise and get a response. The advantage is two-fold: not only does my recipient benefit, but I likewise benefit when I'm forced to boil my message down to its essence.

I'm a big fan of short paragraphs and bulleted lists. As a best practice, this is validated by Web content strategists. Brain Traffic, one such firm, offers this advice in their post on Web Writing for Email:

• Don’t use ambiguous language.

• Eliminate unnecessary words.

• Keep your sentences and paragraphs short.

• When making lists, use bullets.

• When giving instruction or steps, use numbered lists.

• Your last sentence should include a clear call to action.

I've followed the buzz generated by UPA Boston's Mini UPA Conference, twittered via #miniupa. Came across Aye Moah's presentation, "What User Interface Designers Can Learn from Architecture." Slide 28 contains a great quote by Matthew Frederick: "Beauty is due more to harmonious relationships among the elements of a composition rather than to the elements themselves."

I couldn't help but think of LukeW's article, "Common Visual Design Misconceptions," where he dispels the myth that it's possible to evaluate visual design in pieces. It's critical that design decisions are made by looking at things holistically, rather than in isolation. As LukeW says, "When a designer adjusts one element, she needs to refactor the overall composition to restore balance. Design decisions made in isolation tend not to add up to a coherent whole."

Ok, so this totally made my day. Whitney Hess included me as one of the 'Women of UX' on Twitter. Listened to her IA Summit 09 "Evangelizing Yourself" podcast a couple weeks ago, and as a fellow introvert, have been inspired to reach out more into the UX community ever since. It doesn't always come easy to put myself 'out there', but it's nice to receive a nudge of validation and encouragement! Honorary #followfriday mention on Twitter