chris mayfield archives
“Strangeness is a consequence of innovative thinking.”
Ross Lovegrove

posted by chris_mayfield on Tuesday, Aug 07, 2007

I thought you wouldn’t mind if I removed that green haze from the photo. I am sure you know more about CS3 than you are leading us to think. Nice photo.

posted by chris_mayfield on Tuesday, Aug 07, 2007

“Without aesthetic, design is either the humdrum repetition of familiar cliches or a wild scramble for novelty. Without the aesthetic, the computer is but a mindless speed machine, producing effects without substance. Form without relevant content, or content without meaningful form.”
Paul Rand

posted by chris_mayfield on Monday, Aug 06, 2007

Who Cares About Customer Service? To me there’s more to it than just showing your customers that you care. It’s actually caring! When we put ourselves in our clients shoes and feel the way they would feel, all of the small little things that we can do to make their experience more enjoyable will be felt even more.

For example, I ordered some beautiful prints from illustrator, Kevin Cornell. When they arrived the post man went “postal” on them. Even though they were packaged correctly and labeled, “do not bend” all over, they were smashed badly. Kevin kindly offered to send more prints free of charge and seemed eager to do so. When I received the prints he also included a check for the amount I had paid for shipping to return the prints to him along with this simple note. This was unexpected and not really needed. But I could tell he really cared about me as a client and treated me as he would have wanted to be treated. He could have easily blamed this on the postman. He could have easily acted frustrated at the stupid postman but he just kindly replaced them with a great attitude. As designers it’s so important to not only pay attention to the details of design but also the experience others have in dealing with us. THANKS KEVIN for the example!

posted by chris_mayfield on Friday, Jun 29, 2007

“It is difficult to design something compelling without picturing a face or feeling empathy for a person’s wants, needs, and behaviors.”
Ryan Jacoby of IDEO on Innovation

posted by chris_mayfield on Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Notice anything weird with this picture? This morning at the gym I was resting in between some grueling sets of dumbbell squats and glanced up at the tv in the mirror and saw this apple ad and it just looked wrong! Then I noticed another layer of brilliance of those ads. I noticed that every ad they had intentionally placed the apple guy on the right hand side. I’m sure this is old information to all of you but to me the fact that if felt so wrong in a split second was a great test of the consistency of these ads.

posted by chris_mayfield on Friday, Apr 13, 2007

Boss Hogs’ Saab. Driving to work today I saw this in my rear view and about drove off the road (which admittedly isn’t difficult in my Barbie car). Yes, Jason and John I know this really isn’t helping discuss user experience or anything but, honestly! look at that car! That’s just “rad.”

posted by chris_mayfield on Tuesday, Apr 10, 2007

“Intelligence and capability are not enough. There must be the joy of doing something beautiful.”
Dr. G. Venkataswamy

posted by chris_mayfield on Wednesday, Apr 04, 2007

A Miata Functional? Lately I have been receiving much criticism for driving such a “Barby car”. But even though it doesn’t look like a Manly car it’s very fun to drive, the seat and drivers position fits like a glove, and the car feels like an extension of my body. Yesterday, I realized it’s utility as well! Just look at me going to the local Nursery to pick up 2 healthy trees! Try that in your Accord, or Jetta!! It’s all about the user experience. It might look silly and tiny but I am very endeared to it. For me its value is proven to me each time I use it, much like good design. So, my car might be keeping me from being, “Cool” but I have a huge smile on my face every time I drive home. BTW inside the car are 2 trees, 4 small plants, 1 bag of potting soil, and 2 large gym bags.

posted by chris_mayfield on Wednesday, Apr 04, 2007

“Whenever I think about designing something to have a better chance of being contagious, the issue of authenticity invariably comes up. All things being equal, we’re more likely to tell people about the authentic things in our lives. When was the last time you joined a cause because it was hollow, shallow, and fake? Authenticity matters.”
Diego Rodriguez on “What’s Authentic?”

posted by chris_mayfield on Wednesday, Apr 04, 2007

Bald Eagle Day 2-12-07 Each year water is released into farmington bay bringing tons of carp into the bay. Bald Eagles and many other birds have figured this out and come to feast. Over a fourth of all the Bald Eagles in the Western U.S. spend their winter in Utah. I think most of them showed up for dinner. I counted over 50 of them without even trying. This photo ws taken at the event by Josh Sudweeks, a BYU student.

posted by chris_mayfield on Monday, Feb 12, 2007

Ever thought to yourself, “what do 4 tootsie pops and 74 grams of french fries have in common?” If you’re like me you have stayed awake at night trying to visualize how much of any given food you can eat and stay under 200 calories. Here is a beautiful little chart to help. 200 calories in photos

posted by chris_mayfield on Friday, Jan 19, 2007