browse downloads
Out of the goodness of my heart...
 

Just Jakob. All the Time.

It is Jakob. He is big. He watches everything I do.

Ed Devinney, professional marketing weasel, is responsible for the tagline.

You can have this image for your desktop, too. But, be warned: the eyes
seem to follow you, no matter where you go. There is no escape.

Downloads
bitmap, 1024x768 (2,332 KB) or jpeg, 1024x768 (144 KB)

Jakob-on-the-desktop seems to impact all of my coworkers who pass my cube; the poor souls who I lure into my lair find more fear than funny. Cleo, upgrading some .dlls for the prototype, had to avert her eyes while rebooting, and her lamentations filled the air, as she focused solidly the few non-Jakob elements of the screen. People stop in the hallway outside my cube, and shake their heads. "Doesn't that freak you out?" they ask, and I explain the impact of the magnetic gaze to amuse and annoy.

They just don't get it.

...

Folks over at Astounding Websites used to get it, and at least 150 people have pulled the .bmp so far. That just boggles my mind. I think my coworkers were taking up a collection to get me to put my desktop image back to Cezanne or El Greco or that glass thing. Too bad I switched backgrounds before I could rake in the cash .

When my coworkers complained about being subjected to my screen, I don't think they anticipated this:

Jakob. Making the Web Safe for<br />
Mediocrity.

The tagline says "Making the Web Safe for Mediocrity." I decided to compromise the snapshot's clarity for size. Return visitors will also notice that the text is now yellow, and slightly differently sized - the red text was a trifle too harsh - and it competed with the true focus of attention.

The version I have on my desktop actually says "I'm squishing up my baby bumblebee. Won't my momma be so proud of me?" but I think I'm the
only person in the world who thinks that's funny. I figured the topical headline would be more popular.

Downloads:
1024x768, Bitmap Format (2,389 KB) or
1024x768, Jpeg Format (97 KB)

...

It should be noted that although I disagree with some of the extents to which he's taken good ideas, and completely with some of his other ideas (and marketing methods), I do have a certain amount of respect for Mr. Neilsen's work. Anyone who rejects all of his ideas out of hand for a few of his bad ideas should reconsider that perspective.

That said, I prefer to look at usability on the web from a broader perspective than Jakob Neilsen, and I prefer to approach usability in the products I build and design from a more granular level. I find that he tends to be either too obvious or too obscure in his points, but I suspect that if I had the tens of thousands of dollars or the inclination to spend them thus, I would surely get more useful information than what I see on useit.com or in his press interviews.

* Wednesday 10:58 PM
©1994-2006, Julia Hayden. All Rights Reserved. Mine, All Mine. Mwahahahaha. [Details]