Before I dive into this review, you should probably have some background information. First of all, as the title suggests, I am a graphic designer for a web design company. I spend 90% of my time on Adobe Creative Suite programs (most of that time is dedicated to Photoshop). Second of all, I am a female. This piece of information applies to this review because as a woman, I am genetically predisposed to have smaller hands than (most) men. Lastly, I have run through the gambit of Apple mouses since 2004. That being said, lets get started, shall we?

The good:

1. The size. I love the way this thing conforms to my hand. So much so, I feel like all other mouses feel too large and clumsy. I have read reviews where people have claimed this mouse is too small and light. I have not had this problem – however as stated previously, I have normal sized hands for a 5′8″ female which means they’re relatively small.

2. The scrolling. The predecessor to my Magic Mouse was of course the Mighty Mouse. One of the main problems I would have with the 360 scroll ball on the Mighty Mouse was it would become gritty and would stop being functional. This could always be cured by holding it upside-down and puffing can o’ air into the recesses of the 360 ball. Obviously this problem is cured by Magic Mouse. Please note – being a control freak while using Photoshop, I turned off the momentum scroll. I have been told this is a nice feature, but I can’t say that from personal experience.

3. The right-click. Although the right click is functional with the Mighty Mouse (as long as that is specified in the system preferences), I feel like the Magic Mouse’s right-click is more responsive and intuitive.

The bad:

1. The sensitivity. This is a double-edged sword. Sure, it’s nice when you WANT to scroll, but when you don’t it’s a pain. This rears it’s ugly head often when I am using Photoshop. An example of this is when I have the color picker window open. Notice on the screen shot the field next to the “R” (meaning red) is highlighted; this happens by default when one opens this color picker window. What happens when this field is highlighted is the scroll functionality on your mouse can easily add and subtract the color red. Many times I have barely brushed the top of the mouse and it will change my selected color without my consent. There is no clear area on your mouse where the scroll sensitivity begins, so just laying your hand on the top of the mouse can create a scroll with any slight movement.

2. The two finger swipe. This also goes back to the sensitivity problem. I had to turn this option off after I was working on code in our CMS and my fingers brushed the top of the mouse. The mouse somehow gleaned from this that I wanted to go back to the previous page in my browser, and thus losing all of the work I had just completed.

The conclusion:

After turning off the two finger swipe functionality, life has been easier along with learning how to deal with the problems in Photoshop. I haven’t yet ditched this mouse for the older Mighty Mouse (which is still in my possession), but that’s only after adapting to its downfalls. Basically my conclusion to this review is I would NOT recommend this product to a Graphic Designer, but I would recommend it to people who don’t use Adobe Creative Suite.

Ok, I certainly have my favorite places to eat, and of course like some more than others, but when it comes to lunch time around here I usually just go wherever anybody wants to go. I just don’t care that much, and am not a picky eater, so I’ll always find something to eat. However, I have a new obsession and this will always go on my list of can we? Can we please go here again??? Please?!

Yes, I’m talking about a fabulous new place called Modmarket. It’s located in the 29th Street Mall, next to Noodles, over by the Staples. I’ll admit I was a little hesitant to try it, since I didn’t actually realize it was a restaurant from the outside. I thought maybe it was an actual market for shopping or even a furniture store. Don’t ask why. I’m not really sure.

Anyway, every Friday, the Imulus owners take us out to lunch. Yay! And someone suggested we try this new place. We’re all hooked. I highly suggest you go check it out for yourself, but let me tell you a few of my favorite aspects.

LOVE the menu. It’s mostly salad, soup, and pizza. But, it’s unique. I have been getting a side salad called the Wintergreen (although I’ve tried the tomato basil soup, the cashew butternut squash soup, and the goat cheese pizza, and all are amazing!) Anyway, the Wintergreen salad is a hefty proportion for even a side salad (and I like my food), and it has mixed greens, walnuts, apples, roasted potato, goat cheese, fat-free honey herb dressing. See? Different? But, melts in your mouth. Amazing.

Let’s also take a moment to praise the $2 glass of wine. Not a little sippy cup full. A GLASS of wine. Good stuff too. To [sort of] quote the cashier, “Other places charge as much for a glass of wine that they spent on the bottle itself. We think that’s crap.”

After I received my receipt, right there on the print out is all of the nutrient information. I love it. An honest place, trying to do the right thing, and help everyone out.

Anyway, my wintergreen salad:

• Cost: $4.75
• Calories: 230
• Fat (g): 16
• Carbs (g): 17
• Protein (g): 9

The restaurant’s decor is also great. Very clean, modern, a little funky. It’s kind of narrow, and it’s not huge, but there are still plenty of places to sit and people are in and out pretty quickly. It’s also a great place to grab and go, since they are super fast. (The pizza takes a bit longer since it has to be made, but a salad from start to payment takes all of 3 minutes.)

Other fabulous items: the menu changes often (so you know the ingredients are fresh), they offer free wifi, even the silverware and plastic-ware were clearly chosen with an eye for detail.

Ok, enough gushing. Try it out for yourself. Just try to prove me wrong.

Card sorting is a user-centered design method for defining the information architecture of a Web site. It is a method used by IA professionals and Web designers everywhere. The basics involve bringing in a small group of target users of the site and giving them index cards with the names of content pages written on them. The participants are then asked to divide the cards into appropriate groups of related content that make sense to them. In an open card sort there are no predefined headings for the groups and the participants are asked to name the groups. In a closed sort, the participants are given group names and asked to place the content under those predefined headings. That is the basic structure of a card sort. If you want more information this site has a very extensive description. After you have collected the data from all the users then comes the process of compiling and analyzing the data to arrive at a IA that agrees with what most users would expect, based on the results of the card sorts.

There are a number of advantages to card sorts:

• They are simple and easy to do
• Cheap
• Provide a lot of data

There are also some disadvantages:

• Results can vary widely
• It can be difficult to make the data useful in complex sites
• They don’t take user tasks into account
• They put users in an unnatural scenario

While card sorts are an industry standard and very well accepted I question their usefulness for the same reason that all focus group testing should be questioned. It puts users in an unnatural situation. You aren’t learning what a real user would do, or if a real user would find what they are looking for, you are learning how a person who is given a pile of cards would organize them. These are two very different things and certainly calls into question the usefulness of the data.

I remember a talk I once attended where a former Sapient team member that had worked on the United Airlines Web site back during the dot-com boom had spent a ton of time and a ton of United’s money doing lots of focus group tests to assure that users could find and book flights as easily as possible. The result was a design that lasted only a few months before they had to redesign it based on real user data.

While I believe in some circumstances cards sorts and focus groups can be useful, they are not a silver bullet to perfect usability. There is much more to be gained from careful analysis of real world user data and making adjustments in IA based on this data. While card sorts can provide a starting point, it has to be seen as just that, not the final.

Keep in mind, I am NOT reviewing any of Simply Audiobooks’s MP3 services. I prefer my CDs because I am archaic like that.

Simply Audiobooks is a service designed for people who enjoy books differently than your typical bookworm. They send books-on-CD to your mailbox, and once you’re done listening to your selected tale, you send it back in the same package free of shipping charges. This was particularly appealing to me because I have a long commute to work (45 minutes one way on a GOOD day, yuck) and I love me a good story. I’ve been using the Simply Audiobooks “Rental Program” for over a year now, and I don’t plan on stopping.

Overall grade: B

Price: A
I didn’t research a ton before selecting Simply Audiobooks, but for their services, I believe Simply Audiobooks is the best price.

Usability: B
Pros: Overall, Simply Audiobooks is pretty usable. It’s set up similar to Netflix you search for an audiobook and you add it to your “queue” which will be sent out when it’s available (see Cons). Their queue functions similarly to Netflix where you can either drag and drop order or type in a number. Furthermore, the design is very clean and extremely well laid out.

Cons: A few nitpicky things I find from time to time is the reason usability receives a “B”. The first issue I have is unlike Netflix, you’re not guaranteed to receive the book at the top of your queue. This, however, I can let slide. Audiobooks aren’t as popular as movies by FAR and are much more expensive.

My second nit is there is an extremely short log-in period. I understand the need for security, but it’s slightly ridiculous how short it is. On top of that, when you don’t realize you’re logged off and you’re prompted for your log-in info, you’re kicked off page you were on (forcing you to search for the book all over again).

Lastly, this is for us nerdy readers who like series. It’s very unclear which book out of the series it is in or if it is in a series at all. I feel this could be remedied easily with more consistent titles for these instances. Sometimes books DO have an indication it is in a series (i.e. The The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (Book 1)), but not always.

Customer Service: A+
I have nothing bad to say about their customer service. I would give them an A++ if I didn’t think that was tacky. Questions are answered promptly on either the site or their twitter account (@SimplyAudiobook). Not only that but they will bend backwards to make you happy. They’re always wonderfully nice, and I don’t hesitate to say they’ve given me the best customer service I’ve ever had.

Shipping: C-
My only real problem with this service. If not for this, I would give them an “A” for an overall grade. I don’t know if it’s because I am in Denver and it has to ship all the way down to Vegas, but from the day I send out my book till I receive a new one is 10-11 days. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled by Netflix, and like I said, audiobooks are way less in demand than movies. However, for my first 15 days (which was free). I didn’t receive any audiobooks. So much for my free trial.

I hate to end this review on a bad note, so I’ll reiterate what I said before: I have used this service for a year and I don’t intend on stopping. Despite their pitfalls, Simply Audiobooks makes my horrible commute much more bearable.

Work on Spec has long been a very dirty word in the design industry. The AIGA’s stance on this issue is very established. But recently a number of big agencies such as Crispin, Porter + Bogusky and a new agency created by two former CP+B executives, Victors & Spoils, have embraced the concept under it’s new politically correct name of crowdsourcing.

Under this new model the company works with the client to define the project and then posts the project on sites such as crowdSPRING. Designers, or anyone for that matter, can then read the project requirements and submit a design. The agency and the client then choose the design they like best and pay that person the specified fee. So potentially thousands of designers spend their time on the project and one gets paid for their work. In the case of a CP+B project that was $1000.

Sounds like a great model for the agency and the client. Get thousands of hours of work for $1000. In the case of Victors & Spoils they come right out and say that the new model will lower their overhead and lower costs for clients. Heck it’s a win for everyone right? The clients pay a lot less for creative, the agency lowers it’s costs by hiring less full-time employees and not having to pay benefits, and creatives all over the world get a shot at doing work for big name clients.

A perfect model for the death of an industry. For the industry to survive it requires a continual infusion of new talent from a strong system of schools that educate the next generation. If the future career path for a design school graduate involves spending hour upon hour working away on projects that I have little to no chance of getting paid for, how long can a designer sustain this? If I am choosing a major and a career path I would find this a very scary choice. What career counselor would advise anyone to pursue this career?

Let’s do the math. Say I’m a hotshot designer and I can knock out a great logo or homepage design in 20 hours. I can work on two of these spec projects a week, 8 in a month. Say the prize is $1000 and I manage to actually win 25% of the projects I do. I just cleared a cool $2000 for the month. I’m guessing most people could probably work less hours and make more money waiting tables. And this assumes I get paid for 25% of the projects I do. WIth thousands of people competing for these projects the reality for even the best designers is probably much worse. And does this really even reward the best solutions? Every designer knows that the client doesn’t always pick the most innovative design you show them, so even being the best designer competing for a fee doesn’t guarantee you will get paid.

There will always be those who think only of themselves and how they can make the most money with little regard for the future. What legacy will they leave? Will there be any creatives left to care? Maybe they should go read the Lorax.