Inspiration Overload

When you ignore some of the UI elements, the sometimes prolonged waiting time, and the occasional crashes, Bing Destination Maps [bing.com] seems quite interesting as a new way of rendering geographical maps in a more visually simplified, understandable and accessible way. In other words, imagine one can now create a sort of information-optimized summary maps, similar to those you would quickly draw yourself on the back of napkin.

Users are able to specify a specific location, set the area of interest by dragging the sides of the on-map square, and provide the map with a title. The 'cool' feature allows the selection of a visual map style such as 'Sketchy', 'European', 'American' or 'Treasure' (think about the favorite activity of pirates).

If you have no time to wait for rendering process, have a look at some example maps below.

a good interface is meant to help users achieve their goals as easily as possible. But an "evil" interface is meant to trick users into doing things they don't want to. Conti's examples include aggressive pop-up ads, malware that masquerades as anti-virus software, and pre-checked checkboxes for unwanted "special offers".

The new Facebook is full of similarly deceptive interfaces.

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