Colophon

The animal on the cover of User-Centered Design is a Spotted Nothura (Nothura maculosa), a species of bird called a tinamou, which is native to grassy habitats in eastern and southern Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and northern Argentina. The Spotted Nothura is about 9 to 10 inches in length and patterned with brown and black mottling on a pale brownish base color. This provides good camouflage in its terrestrial grassland environment.

This species reproduces rapidly, as the female is mature within 2 months and can have five to six broods per year. The male will incubate the eggs and raise the chicks. Like most tinamous, the eggs have a spectacular glossy porcelain-like shell, which are colored a rich maroon or chocolate brown. The eggs are also considered of high nutritional value. While these birds eat seeds, including crops such as rice and soy, they also feed on insects and can be found near cattle where they eat both insects disturbed by the cattle and ticks feeding on the larger animals.

The cover image is from Riverside Natural History. The cover font is Adobe ITC Garamond. The text font is Adobe Minion Pro; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is Dalton Maag’s Ubuntu Mono.