UI / UX
User interfaces and “user experience” ideas.
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Background: The financial model of the video game industry now makes heavy use of in-game purchases (“microtransactions” / “DLC” (downloadable content) / “loot boxes”). These supplementary purchases frequently bring in more revenue than traditional sales. Most transactions fall into these categories: Pay for additional content: the “expansion pack” model. This is old-fashioned, but still exists.…
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The issue: Imagine that you are driving a car down a narrow road and you see a person unloading groceries from a car trunk. There are two common options: Continue driving: hope the person unloading the car doesn’t walk out into the street Honk the horn, to inform the person unloading the car that you…
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Background: There are many phone apps that provide neighborhood-focused local news updates in real time (e.g. “Nextdoor” and “Citizen”). This can make a person aware of every single burglary, car accident, “suspicious dog,” and other strange happening that may occur in their general vicinity. The issue: While this information can be useful, it often leads…
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Background: When on a meeting with video chat, people generally like to look at least vaguely professional / presentable, even if they just rolled out of bed 5 minutes before the meeting. The issue: There are two main problems in video chat for people who want to project a corporate-approved professional image: The background should…
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Background: One popular method of organizing items that need to be done is the “Kanban board” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban_board) (e.g. the web site Trello). Conceptually, this resembles a to-do list with categories as columns. Each item to be done a single sticky note (Figure 1). The issue: Unfortunately, it’s often hard to get motivated to do items…
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Background: Part 1: Some credit cards provide special bonus features, such as a discount on certain purchases, “airline miles” that can be redeemed for plane tickets, or extended warranties on certain purchases. Part 2: When attempting to eat healthy foods, the battle is often lost at the supermarket: it’s easy to buy a gallon of…
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Never get on the wrong train again (assuming your city has a functional public transit system), thanks to these new musical cues—enjoy country music and/or smooth jazz on your entire commute! Also, it’s the same songs every single day.
country western, green line, japanese subway jingle, jingle, metro, metro stations, Music, music for subways, rail line, red line, sgt. pepper, stations, subway, subway line music, subway music, subway stations, subways, train jingle, train music, train theme, trains, transit line leitmotifs, transit theme
The issue: In cities with extensive public transit systems, it can be easy to get on the wrong bus/train/subway or miss your stop. Obviously, an astute transit-taker could realize their mistake by noticing the following: Stop names being verbally announced Stop names being indicated on a screen, even on buses. In some places, different metro…
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Background: Most laptops include a built-in camera, typically located just above the top edge of the screen. This type of camera is generally marketed as a “video chat” or “conference call” camera. The issue: When a person is on a video call, they tend to look at the image on the screen instead of directly…
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Background: When an action is routine and uninteresting (e.g. locking a door, turning off a light, etc.), it’s sometimes hard to remember if you did it at all. The issue: Occasionally, people find themselves wondering “did I close the garage when I left the house?” or “did I remember to lock the car when I…
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Background: During the times of the COVID-plague, it has been recommended that people maintain “social distancing”—keeping apart by approximately six feet. The issue: Unfortunately, this advice is difficult to follow in many situations, for example, on public transit, in an elevator, etc. Proposal: This snake-based “sssssssssocial distancing” plan involves training a territorial species of snake…
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