O Danny Boy

Henry Petroski’s The Evolution of Useful Things is ostensibly about how things like paperclips and zippers came into being. And, sure, that stuff is in the book. But what is most interesting (for me and probably for other designers as well) is his debunking of the design dictum “Form Follows Function,” replacing it instead with “Form Follows Failure.”

Anita Wilhem, Caterpillar Mobile When we normally think of mobile design, we typically think of phones. And the market is huge! But there are other devices. Most of those devices do single things: tell time, listen to music, etc. Mobile phones, however, are now doing many things. We have these devices everywhere this us. They [...]

Steve Portigal Don’t get bogged down in jargon-laden discussions about names for user research! What Steve means: Examining user in their own context. What are they doing and what does it mean? Infer something. Go from data to insights. Inferential, interpretive, and synthesize. Finding connections and the researcher is the “apparatus” for creating inference. It’s [...]

Ryan Freitas, Adaptive Path Isn’t it enough to set up basecamp? Nope, coordination isn’t collaboration. Collaboration is about fostering ideas, intentions, and interests. What we actually use to collaborate: email, secret IM name, mobile number, del.icio.us tags, blog, bloglines OPML, IM status, flicker, twttr. All of these are about attenuation, status, and communication. All are [...]

The ideas behind Web 2.0 are very powerful. It’s unfortunate that it’s getting mixed up with hype and raising VC money. How boom and bust cycles happen: In the 17th century in the Netherlands, an innovation happened: shipping runs brought tulips from Turkey. Soon, a run happened on tulips and eventually, a bust as well. [...]

Leo Mullen, Natalie Buda, Cindy Blue of NavigationArts Social and economic value of getting UX right is getting more profound every day. It’s priceless. Optimization through centers of excellence: strategy, research, IA, UXD, technical implementation. Companies thinking about the web has changed radically over the last 10 years. Now there is the recognition that the [...]

Chris Conley, Gravity Tank, IIT Professor We’ve lost the art of how to work together. We’ve lost this in a profound sense, especially to organizations. We need a new way of working: creative production. Peter Drucker: “Profit is only a measure of marketing and innovation.” Marketing is about identifying opportunity. Innovation is designing and launching [...]

What Steven got right Metafilters: bloggers. New form of filter that allows for different sensibilities, critical views, editorial views. “Meta-journalism” What Steven missed Interface ecosystems. It’s now easy to think of the world in terms as modules. Don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time. You deal with this problem, I’ll deal with that one. [...]

As a field, we are starting to understand the scope that designed experiences have on individuals, organizations, and the world. Designed experiences have become part of our daily lives. Designed experiences are the lens through with we experience our relationship with the world. Are we moving closer to our best selves or away? In the [...]

This month marks four years I’ve been blogging. Here’s what I’ve learned about doing it.