Just this morning while driving to work, I received a new dose of inspiration. I’ve blogged about him before, but I am elated to hear that he is working here in West Virginia. The local newscaster on the radio announced that one of my personal Heros, Jamie Oliver, is working in Huntington, a city which is recently named one of the unhealthiest cities in America.

According to this New York Times article, “The community center here will be called Jamie’s Kitchen and will teach both adults and children the basic skills for cooking healthful, economical meals at home. Oliver will also work with local schools on eliminating junk food in vending machines and in cafeterias, replacing reheated processed foods with meals cooked from scratch with fresh ingredients.”

The article goes on to tell about some of Oliver’s other initiatives including 15 foundation, where he has empowered nearly 150 struggling individuals with skills they need to work in the restaurant industry (and to get the project off the ground he put his house up for collateral).

I have followed Jamie’s career on and off ever since his show first appeared on the Food Network. I loved watching him cook but he has gained hero status with his projects like Feed Me Better and Fifteen. I think a hero is very generous with their time and talents. He is taking something he can do that is second nature and help save the world at the same time… The fact that Jamie is coming over seas to work here with in our community is even more outstanding. I know it’s part of a reality TV show, but if he can change just one families life, and then that will have made the biggest difference for years to come.

I want to say thank you and good luck Mr. Oliver!

I saw this story in the paper today from the AP and thought it was interesting, http://tr.im/xI0e

When thinking about the service provided by hospitals, I think this is an interesting approach to education. It’s not only interesting for the family, but truly a way to help those who may be considering the procedure understand it’s complexities.

I have waited for hours while a loved one has a procedure. I know from recent experience, depending on the severity of f the procedure hospitals have special waiting rooms, where you receive a number and you can learn the status of the procedure (Much like watching flight schedules at the airport)… Or for lighter procedures, you may even receive a light up/buzzer device (like waiting at a restaurant) to notify you when the procedure is done (not so personal).

For the major procedures, the waiting room is a low lit room filled with TV’s lots of nooks and crannies for families to wait in private, and soothing snacks light snacks (plus snack machines for those who need more). So while this is a more detailed version of a flight schedule, the waiting experience has been in some places well thought of (though I don’t think perfected).

I admire this “open door” approach to the procedure in terms of educating the public. And found the tweets to be fascinating, http://twitter.com/StLukesCR

This morning, I panicked on my drive to work, and could not convince myself that I turned off my tea kettle. I recently moved, and have a small but 35 minute commute to work… I spent my time driving back to my house 20 minutes, and 35 minutes back into town, dreaming about a stove that you could call, and check on, and maybe even turn it off…

At my current job, I design websites. I work with a variety of clients in an academic setting. Currently, I am working on a project that is a student website that goes along with a campus wide initiative to improve awareness about student health.

I’m not far from being a student, although I noticed from teaching that some of my tastes are starting to distance from that audience, however, I still pride myself on keeping an eye on the trends.

My client came to me wanting two things
1) Main navigation that worked like itunes coverflow
2) Secondary navigation that would be “icons only”

I compromised my ideas, and thought that perhaps a splashy fun interlace on the frontpage that worked like an itunes coverflow would perhaps entice the user to enter and explore the content. The audience is familiar with how that works, so I don’t think it would be an issue. I am however, tying in the coverflow navigation, by visually attaching text links to the right for those areas.

The icons however, bother me the most. I’ve spent my morning carefully preparing my argument as to why not using navigation icons only. Here are some of the “icons” I would have to develop: appointment info, hours, allergies, immunizations, insurance, patient rights, forms, faqs, staff, contacts.

Here’s three quick reasons why I’m not really interested in giving it to them:
1- I can only think of one thing on that list, possibly 2, that the icon would be associated with the functionality (contacts, and hours).
2- Icons… though very pretty, plus text (which would be necessary), would only clutter the navigation
3- The use of text would defeat the purpose of developing a true icon, which would… be a waste of company time.

A member of IXDA, I quickly found this resource, http://tr.im/vhve, and from there read this blogpost on smiley cat, http://tr.im/vhw9 , both which back me up on the importance of this issue.

If I were designing an app for a mobile device, I would be very interested in putting together focus groups and developing the right set of icons, but this site is not meant for that. In fact, in my design, I kept in mind that the only reason I went to this site (or to the equivalent of what this site is going to replace) is to find the number for student health… which I put above the fold, front and center on the website.

Dear Blog,

I think of you every day when I encounter a poor or superb user experience, see a beautiful design, or listen to a fascinating podcast. I wish I could write to you more often.

In other news, I am almost done with my first big project here at Web Services. I may have bitten off more than I could chew, learning our in-house content management system, and how to do a cool j query feature on the frontpage, but I believe to never limit your designs because of your knowledge. I will post it to share when the site goes live.

Sincerely Yours,

Emily