Hotels Invitation Cards 1960s

March 16th, 2011 by Souppie - Design

A few invitation cards and picture holders from various hotels/clubs in Lebanon (one from Egypt) during the 60s I love every single one of them! a small souvenirs from an era of Lebanon that I couldn’t experience and most probably never will (I wasn’t even born duh!)

Mizalla.com

March 15th, 2011 by Souppie - Web

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It’s about time!

This spring, Mizalla.com invites you to discover the best way to shop that is faster, simpler, and smarter than anything you know.

Dozens of local stores with hundreds of your favorite brands will soon be available anytime, anywhere.

This will be the second serious attempt after Antoine Online (which needs some tweaking, I might just analyze/review the site in the future) A debate is going over at Beirut Spring if the time is right for E-commerce (I personally think it needs a bit more time to mature) That’s not the topic, but more like a wish list for Mizalla or anyone who wants to venture in the e-commerce in Lebanon.

So here it goes:

Trust, trust and more trust! It’s something that you will need and can’t survive without it! Authority! Give us research, market studies, anything to put you up ahead of anyone else.
Listen, listen, listen. For the users and by the users will make it even more appealing (too cliche but works)
Pricing. I buy online because it is convenient, fast and less expensive (yes with the shipping and custom/duty costs it still is cheaper to buy online then directly in Lebanon)
Reviews. Please give us the ability to review products. Here is why: You go to a store, see something, check it, play around with it, go back home and Google it to read the reviews! Most people like to “touch/feel” the product before buying it and ask for opinions. This will be tough to tackle online, so give us the ability to review online on your store the product, good or bad, you will give yourself more authority and authenticity because we know that you are making money out of it but doing it in an honest transparent way without the “Amana Care and Morico TV shopping”
Comparison tools: we would like to compare features/sellers/products. It adds more trust and transparency (and you don’t need the seller who refuses transparency, cannot backup his product with tangible features and cannot take negative comments positively. Trust me on this one, if you do, it will backfire fast)
Lazy checkout! Yes, do not force us to fill long boring forms just to check out! Lazy registration and check outs will generate more revenue and less abandoning of the cart. Macy’s made $300 million dollars MORE the first year by changing their checkout process. Check out the picture!

$300 Million Button original article

Apples Vs Oranges. Yes they can be compared!

March 15th, 2011 by Souppie - Random

Yes they can be compared!

Infographic by Smarter.org

Workaholics aren’t heroes. They don’t save the day, they just use it up. The real hero is already home because she figured out a faster way to get things done.

— http://37signals.com/rework/

Carrotmob, activism done right!

March 9th, 2011 by Souppie - Random

I am all for activism, but SMART activism. Here’s what Carrotmob is (taken from their site)

Our mission is to empower people to use their influence in commerce to advance sustainability.

They don’t boycott, they don’t scream, they don’t shout, they “don’t wave a stick” at businesses and threaten to boycott them; they actually offer solutions and in a VERY smart way. Activists and boycotters: learn!

Augmented Reality? Meet Diminished Reality!

March 3rd, 2011 by Souppie - Random

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Guerilla UX: Nieves. Pure Beauty

March 3rd, 2011 by Souppie - Design

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We all smile sometimes when we see/hear/read something really smart. I couldn’t help it but smile really wide when I played around with Nieves.

Nieves is an independent publishing house in Zurich :) that publishes artists books and “zines”.

I never ordered online but recently downloaded their iPhone application, and all I can say is that I smiled after I ordered the first book. Aesthetics I love the way it is, UX/IxD wise, it’s simply amazing.

Explanation:

Magazines are usually wrapped in nylon before you buy them, most of them are anyways. Here we have a few “zines” of this month, all shiny as if it is wrapped. Cool?

When you choose a “zine”, you will get some information about it and it’s still wrapped in nylon. Cool so far. You hit buy and voila:

The “zine” is unwrapped now. It is yours, a perfect “real life/normal” behavior that you do when you buy a wrapped magazine, remove the nylon.

When you check all the “zines”, whatever you bought is unwrapped (second row, 1st and 3rd zine are bought)

Plain, simple, natural behavior, reflected beautifully in a mobile app. Simple UX/IxD that makes the geek in me smile! If you are artsy you will love Nieves for iPhone!