User interface scraps

Over the past 6 months, I’ve accumulated a hefty reserve of web UI design screenshots, and it’s time I share them.

Unique goal

The goal of UI Scraps is to gather UI design inspiration and discuss good, bad, & noteworthy snippets of UI design. I haven’t seen anyone else specifically doing UI design commentary in the way I’d like to see it. But there are two people who have inspired me to aggregate screenshots and discuss interface designs.

Inspiration elsewhere

A fellow Bostonian, Patrick Haney, has a nice collection of web site screenshots on Flickr and points out their triumphs and shortcomings. Check out his Web Design Inspiration set. The dissection and discussion of specific design elements is the key to his approach. He has a set for Uninspiring Web Design, too. It’s sparse, but it gets the point across, some web sites are a wreck. I’d like to capture bad UI designs more frequently at UI Scraps.

Then there’s Tom Fadail, a friendly chap who runs the site Design Snips. He’s assimilated a collection of web site snippets, then rates and categorizes them. One qualm I have with the ratings is, there aren’t any sites that get rated lower than 2 (I’m only guessing, though I haven’t seen any). It’s appropriate for his site, since it’s an aggregate of good design snips. This site is great because of its brevity.

Lessons learned

I applaud both of these gents, as they’ve inspired me and many others over the years. I plan to take the things I like about each of their projects and add my own spin to the subject.

I like the small scope of Tom’s Design Snips, giving just a taste to whet your appetite. And I like the discussion and elaboration that Pat provides in his photo set. But where they both fall short is the lack of examples of bad UI design. Learning from the failures and shortcomings of ineffective UI’s is extremely valuable, and should be captured.

How to share the screenshots?

I’ve tried to use Flickr to collect UI design inspiration (my photo set), but I like to keep my Flickr photostream for photographs, so that wasn’t the best solution for me. Sharing the screenshots on Skitch.com isn’t as accessible as I’d like it to be. Plus it’s not easy to make screen captures public by default.

Tumblr: for the share?

Due to my limited free time, I’ve decided to use Tumblr. It took a couple hours to get the site set up and running with all the trimmings. Comments via Disqus. I styled one of Tumblr’s prepacked minimal themes to my liking, mimicking this site. And designed another visual identity, which is always a treat for me.

I’m welcoming any questions, comments, or suggestions to make the project better. Feel free to comment here, there, or email me: Jason at this domain.