I joined tumblr a few months back. To be upfront and crystal clear, I love tumblr. I love tumblr the way I crave coffee in the morning. I am, simply put, addicted. But that being said, there are a lot of things I loathe about tumblr. Most of these things are usability issues. For a service that I cannot stop using, there are a lot of things that just puzzle me to no end (or just drive me crazy).

Let’s start with the stuff that rocks though (mostly so I don’t come across looking like a whiny, no-good complainer).

Easy, Easy, Easy

Tumblr is by far, the easiest way to blog. Period. I know this is their tagline and all, and it’s actually true. The effort I have to put in to push something live to my blog is practically non-existent. A few clicks, a couple words, tag it, done.

Integration

I can check it on my phone. I can update it from my phone. I can broadcast posts to twitter. Tumblr has done an excellent job of keeping their service “easy, easy, easy” as I like to put it, by ensuring it is accessible on the go and can feed into other aspects of your life. While I don’t utilize it myself, you can also use the tumblr API to build your blog, to your own liking, with your own html/css. How nice.

Email Language

This is a small thing, but it is wonderful. The language in Tumblr emails is fantastic. I get a new follower and my emails are always sassy: Whatever! OMG! Swoon! Here’s some visual proof for those of you who have no clue what I’m talking about:

The fabulous Rick Webb is following me. FINALLY! I love this language. It’s great, it feels real – like a friend talking to you. The rest of the email, however, I do not love, and this is where my rant on poor functionality begins…

Email Functionality

Why is there not a link within this email that allows me to go and see Rick’s tumblog? WHY Tumblr? Can you explain this? To see Rick’s blog, I have to pull up my dashboard and either check my followers or find the “new follower” item in my feed. Only then can I click Rick’s name and check out his blog. This makes no sense.

Facebook lets you approve friends directly from an email. So does Linkedin. Twitter lets you link to a new followers page. If they can all do this, you can to Tumblr. Please fix this. I will continue to love you if you do.

Directory

I love seeing popular blogs as much as the next person, but why can’t I browse all blogs in a more straightforward and usable way? Why am I limited to this odd three-column scroll-fest that I must keep clicking to expand? And it was bad enough before the introduction of stickers. Now, if I’m actually trying to find something, I have to deal with this crazy mess:

tumblr directory, complete with impossible to scan 3-col grid and stickers galore

How could anyone find anything amongst that?

So what could be done? Here’s what I’d love to see:

• A grid or list view so that scanning (and reading through) results is far easier on the eye
• Filter by category (this, at least, already exists)
• Ability to narrow results by search term (be it a tag, content copy, blog descriptions, a username – anything)
• Ability sort the order of results (the default is popular, which upfront makes a lot of sense, but if I can narrow results, I would then love to then be able to sort by best match, or even alphabetically)

Personally, I just feel that it is so hard to discover NEW blogs on tumblr that aren’t already in the top 25 of their category. And I know there are awesome tumblogs that are just not making it to the higher-ups of the directory and therefore getting lost in that overwhelming three-column mess.

If users could search/filter/explore the directory in a more organic fashion, they may be able to discover some really unique blogs that are relevant to them and their interests. This is not to say that they won’t be interested in or will not follow some of the top blogs that everyone seems to love. They will. But users want personal experiences. They want content that matters to them.

I know I want to discover the blogs that are just-my-style, and I want to do it without having to click “show more” fifty times and then blindly selecting a blog based to view. I’m fairly sure I’m not the only user who feels this way.

Dashboard Functionality

There are a few things here, all tiny, but they start to add up. I’ll be brief.

Scrolling
Endless scrolling: awesome. The “back to top link” being at the top of the page: not awesome. If I’m scrolling down and down and down, can’t we put that back to top down where my cursor would be?

Notice how the ‘back to top’ button is as far away from the bottom of the page as possible? My mouse is already near the bottom. I just want to click the button there, not navigate back to the top near Joe’s post about Artichoke Pizza (which looks delicious by the way).

In-Dashboard Navigation
I’m not sure about this whole sidebar pseudo-nav thing. Some of it is my settings, some of it my blog pages (queue, posts, drafts). Another section represents my ability to navigate between different blogs. It took me awhile, as a new user to understand how the thing actually worked. Here’s the layout, for those of you who don’t know what I’m referencing:

The entire UX here needs to be rethought. Rather than rant about it here, I’m going to sit with it, and come back with some well thought out suggestions (and maybe even mockups). Stay tuned (for part 2).

Recommendation Engine

It exists, but not really. Tumblr knows which things you “heart”, which posts you reblog. It gathers them up and tells you who your tumblr “crushes” are each week. For the most part, 99% of the time, my “crushes” are people I am already following. It would be awesome if tumblr took my activity and actually recommended blogs to me. “Based on your interest in x, y and z, we recommend The Awesomest Blog Ever”. That type of thing. Who doesn’t want a more personalize experience?

So in the end…

I still love tumblr. I still think it has done some amazing things for the casual blogger looking to post photos and videos and content in the quickest, easiest way possible.

I plan to follow up this post with some more helpful solutions for the directory and dashboard view (parts 2 and 3, perhaps), because as we all know: If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. I will choose solution.

Also, a side note to all you tumblrs out there: If you post something that is not your work, please credit it. Pretty please? I am all for sharing and inspiring others, but when someone wants to learn more about the artist or writer who’s work you’ve blogged, don’t leave them stranded because you didn’t credit the post. Also, the author just deserves the credit. Always credit posts. Always.

I’ve practically stopped blogging here because I’ve started tumbling like crazy. I’ve found tumblr to be far more practical (and speedy) when it comes to collecting and posting visual inspiration. So head over there and follow Polished Objects for frequent art/design/web/inspiration posts. I’ll still post here from time to time, but only for the more long-winded ux debate or indepth rambling. From now on, it’s going to be mostly tumblr all the way…

I recently discovered Doublenaut, a design and illustration shop by Andrew and Matt McCraken. Their portfolio is full of some excellent pieces, but I must say I am loving their poster designs; the colors, the transparencies, the rough vintage-feel. They also offer prints of a lot of their works. So great!

Stumbled across “The Great Showdowns” a week or two ago. Illustrator Scott C. can do no wrong. His site is packed with lovely interpretations of the greatest film showdowns of all time. You are missing out if you don’t follow this blog…

I came across these adorable paper cups on The Dieline the other day and fell in love. These beauties were created by the folks over at Imagine and Make. The cups feature 30 unique design varieties, including letters A-Z and then a few other styles. Who knew paper cups could be so fun?

To help users fully imagine all the ways these cups can be put to good use, Imagine and Make has a little gallery sampling on their site. It almost makes me wish the cups weren’t paper. I would never want to throw these things away:

It’s been a long time since a music video made my jaw drop. I had to watch this thing multiple times. The visuals are gorgeous, the animation superb. Motion graphics at its finest:

Song: “I Say Fever”, Ramona Falls
Animated/directed by Stefan Nadelman

On a side note, I must confess I know nothing about this band or the artist credited for the music video… I merely stumbled across it a few weeks ago, thanks to Rachel over at Black Eiffel, and wanted to pass it along. Totally worth a watch.

I discovered photographer Anna Inghardt a few weeks ago thanks to a wintery post over on This is Galmorous. The lighting in these photos is so gorgeous and the colors subtle, but marvelous – soft whites, blues, pinks, and shades of gray. Lovely indeed.

I’ve always been inspired by beautiful patterns and colors. Recently, I noticed that my ffffound pages where filling up with inspirational examples of these two things, but in the delightful form of wallpaper. Of all the ones I’ve collected so far, these my all-time favorites. It’s amazing how different visuals can change the overall mood of a space…

1 Topo Azul via Alan The Gallant // 2 Marielle, of the Mirabel family, via Romo // 3 Foxglove by Suzy Hoodless via Osborne & Little // 4 Daydream by Julia Rothman via Hygge & West // 5 Saplings via Miss Print // 6 Woods via Cole & Son