The modern era, but biology is still catching up.

The standard for search suggestion & results

People still used Internet Explorer—for real.

Barely one year into Obama’s first term. People were listening to Rihanna sing about finding love in a hopeless place. The iPhone 3GS was the hottest thing.

Web 2.0 is still pretty new, but animation, interactivity, and more data are coming to even the previously static Google Search UI.

Google Chrome hadn’t yet come out, Web 2.0 was still a thing. Android was brand new.

Google plays a huge role in public emergencies, like pandemics. We worked with HHS to provide public health guidance and to direct people to resources like flu vaccine clinics

As if the financial crisis wasn’t enough, here was a potentially serious pandemic.

The era of ”Big Data,” and just getting a handle on how to structure it.

Empowering people to find what works, faster

People were listening on their iPhone 6 to Hotline Bling.

Portable tech was coming of age—it was the year of the Apple Watch.

Folks might have been dancing to Happy by Pharrell Williams.

A new standard for open public health data

Governments were just starting to adopt modern technologies, and yes, we still had to support Internet Explorer.

The authoritative source on Mac user interface design.

Apple just released the iPod. Google just got out of beta. If you had a cell phone at all, it was a flip phone.

A lot of software still came in boxes—on a CD.

**Mac OS X played an instrumental role in Apple’s renaissance.** Developers had to commit to a new platform with a new user experience.

**A writer and I updated the HIG for two Mac OS X releases.** My work included reorganization, writing and designing new content, and working closely with the technical writer and human interface teams to ensure its relevance.

## **The standard for Mac interface design:** Helping build the ecosystem of great apps.

![Alt](/content/projects/apple-human-interface-guidelines/p_hig.png)

I was custodian of this well-known and respected guide to user interface design principles and practice during two major Mac OS X updates. Working closely with a technical writer, I restructured, wrote, and edited, evolving this living document—it’s existing since 1978—with UX guidance and techniques reflecting evolving technology.

Mac OS X played an instrumental role in Apple’s return from near-death, to become the dominant technology company. Apple’s renaissance firmly established design’s central role in technology innovation and adoption. It required developers to commit to a new platform.

Applications—from freeware to Adobe Photoshop—drive the utility of any tech platform. Apple builds the core technology, including human interface frameworks. And they work hard to ensure that they reflect the needs of and empower developers, so that they can deploy them in service of killer apps with great UX.

The HIG is part of that effort. It helps developers adopt and design their software so that it fits in on the Mac, and takes advantage of the best available user experience technologies. The HIG is a living, breathing document that evolves with the technology it supports.

When I had the privilege of working on it, we reorganized its structure to emphasize the whole product experience from store-shelf to screen, to help what would soon become an avalanche of developers new to the platform learn the Mac ropes, and to establish standards for download-and-install software.

Human Interface Guidelines

Custodian and co-writer