Monthly Archives: January 2009

One question that often gets asked, both at my talks and on projects, is how many gestures can a user reasonably be asked to remember in order to control a system?

Filed in Gestural Interfaces, Interaction Design | Comments (0)

I’m starting a revision of my book Designing for Interaction. It’s about three years old now, and lots of things, including my own perspective on interaction design, have changed in the four years since I started writing it. (Just as one example, touchscreens and interactive gestures weren’t really mentioned in the earlier at all.) One [...]

Filed in Interaction Design | Comments (0)

“Laptops, not mobile phones, are the means to liberate the developing world”: http://icanhaz.com/laptopsnotmobiles What about netbooks? # CrunchPad prototype needs some better industrial design. That white plastic rim is going to get filthy. http://icanhaz.com/crunchpad # Is the “Experience Economy” contracting towards irrelevance? http://tinyurl.com/7b7yp5 # Sweet Mac keyboard made of Scrabble tiles! http://www.datamancer.net/keyboards/scrabble/scrabble.htm # Palm Pre: [...]

Filed in Kicker | Comments (0)

“Keep It Simple, Stupid” (pdf) in Barclays 360 #4: “We’re wired for direct manipulation of objects,” says Dan Saffer, an interaction designer based in San Francisco and the author of Designing for Interaction (£28.99, Peachpit Press). “Interactive gestures return physicality to computational tasks. While they aren’t necessarily less complex, they certainly feel more natural.”

Filed in Press | Comments (0)

Many things can be taught via distance learning: accounting, literature, programming, some of the sciences. But design isn’t one of them.

Filed in Interaction Design | Comments (14)

Ergonomics for Interaction Designers: http://tinyurl.com/72s5n7 # http://www.designpolicy.org/ Ten design policy proposals for the U.S.’s economic competitiveness and democratic governance # http://tinyurl.com/8jekay # Teaser: http://tinyurl.com/8pelbp # “Think twice, cut once.” Tom Armitage on Second Order Effects: http://tinyurl.com/86utq5 # Microscopic, remote-controlled gripping hand for surgeons: http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/22492/ #

Filed in Kicker | Comments (0)

I just saw the announcement for Samsung’s new ST10, a 9 mega pixel camera with haptic feedback and the ability to do facial recognition.

Filed in Interaction Design, Products We Like | Comments (0)

Industrial designers are taught to stay on top of design trends. When the first charcoal PC came out it didn’t take long for most computer makers to go from beige to black. But the practice of borrowing design cues seems to be increasing to the point where a careful observer could probably tell the year a product was introduced just by its design. This year especially it seems that companies have taken that idea to a whole new level. Not only are companies mimicking design cues, but some are stealing design language and even an entire brand.

Filed in Industrial Design, Product Strategy | Comments (1)

Let’s say this right off the bat: If Michael Bierut isn’t the best writer about graphic design, he’s certainly the most entertaining. 79 Short Essays on Design is a collection of Bierut’s writing, and it is highly recommended reading for any designer of any stripe.

Filed in Book Reviews | Comments (2)

If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to get a laptop from a concept to your hands, The Race for Perfect: Inside the Quest to Design the Ultimate Portable Computer by BusinessWeek writer Steve Hamm is the book for you.

Filed in Book Reviews | Comments (0)