Cities as Applications

On my brief hop through London and Paris, I started thinking about the idea of touristic usability. Isn’t that an awesome term? It’s got eight syllables and I just made it up.

Aside from being a mildly absurd extension of our professional design vernacular, there’s actually a real idea behind this phrase: given any new city, there are certain things that should be easy for tourists to comprehend without assistance.

These things might include: how and when to use the subway or bus, how and where to buy fares for public transportation, how to make a call at a public telephone, how and where to flag a taxi, what to expect upon entering and leaving the airport, how and where to find postal services, how and where to find a police station, et cetera.

Of course, these are things you can find in any decent tourist’s guide, and any sensible traveler will pack such a book. But it struck me, while muddling through my first trip to London in seven years (and even, to an extent, on my third visit to Paris in less than twenty-four months), that these are things that should be inherently usable, as well.

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Back from the Future (of Web Apps, and from Paris)

I start out with the best of intentions when I travel, but as you can see, I haven’t blogged nearly as much as I’d have liked to while on this trip — which, ideally, would have been more than zero posts. Tomorrow, it’s back to the States, winding up this London/Paris tour after just over a week, so I’m squeezing in this update.

London was lots of fun, but a little stressful; spreading a panel appearance, a solo talk and a half-day workshop across three days turns out to be one of the less relaxing ways to see a city, as it turns out. Still, I had a great time there, thanks in part to the warm hospitality of the folks at Carson Systems, who really know how to put on a terrific conference. It’s pretty amazing what their small team manages to pull off, and if you’re thinking of heading to their upcoming Future of Web Design or Future of Online Advertising conferences, you’ll be just as impressed, I’m sure of it.

I did a lot more kicking back here in Paris, where the food, wine and décor is a world apart. Amazing, is the word. No offense meant to London town, but this city gets further under my skin with each visit; it’s thoroughly — at times unconscionably — beautiful. I like it here a lot. If only I’d paid attention in eighth grade French class, I might actually be able to carry on a conversation here, as well. At the very least, I was able to be here for my father’s sixty-ninth birthday, which makes me very glad. All around, a worthy leg of the journey.

Okay, that’s it for now. I’m off to get one more ridiculously, ridiculously good meal. I’ll be back in the blogging seat within a day or two, and before too long, publishing some more substantive posts in which I’ll share some of what I presented in London.

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Whereabouts, Thereabouts

At the moment I’m getting all my things together to head out to London for Carson Systems’ Future of Web Apps conference. I’m speaking there on Wednesday on the subject of “Managing User Interfaces,” and then giving a workshop on Thursday morning about designing with grids. It’s going to be great fun, but unfortunately, it’s sold out if you’re looking for tickets.

Also, while in London, I’ll be appearing on a panel assembled by Nico Macdonald called “Who Wants Tomorrow’s Papers?,” in which we discuss the state of online news design. That event will take place on Tuesday night, and it’s free, so come on out.

I’ll be turning this trip across the pond into a little getaway, too. On Thursday afternoon, I’ll fly to Paris for a few days to see my father and hang out with some friends. I’ll be back in New York a week from this Monday.

As always, my schedule on these trips is going to be pretty tight, so I apologize in advance if I can’t catch up with folks in London or Paris, though I will try. Posts here at Subtraction.com will be somewhat erratic too, if they happen at all… though that will also be due, in part, to the fact that just thirty minutes ago, with only an hour left to leave for the airport, the hard drive in my laptop died. Crashed. Kaput. I’ll be trying to resuscitate it in London, but the prognosis is grim. Ain’t that always the way?

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