77 posts tagged design

Why Microsoft's Vision Of The Future Is Dead On Arrival | Co. Design

Futuristic interfaces are supposed to solve problems and make life easier. What good are they—besides being eye candy—if the future around them is picture-perfect already? The Microsoft video takes that conceit of perfection and carries it so far that the concepts begin to look ridiculous: You can pick out all kinds of clever touches, such as the way the images on a computer screen can be dragged off screen to become holograms—and then can be controlled with gestures. But by that point, we’re way off in future land, where none of these clever touches feel rooted in life. They don’t address problems we understand.

Dead on.

Related article on Daring Fireball: The Type of Companies That Publish Future Concept Videos

Up and Down the Ladder of Abstraction - Bret Victor

This interactive essay presents the ladder of abstraction, a technique for thinking explicitly about these levels, so a designer can move among them consciously and confidently.

I believe that an essential skill of the modern system designer will be using the interactive medium to move fluidly around the ladder of abstraction.

restringing: Chinese search engine Baidu has created illustrated map overlays of several major cities in China.  You can find the tool in all its pixelated beauty, here.

restringing:

Chinese search engine Baidu has created illustrated map overlays of several major cities in China.  You can find the tool in all its pixelated beauty, here.

Why rounded corners are easier on the eyes

Some experts say that rectangles with rounded corners are easier on the eyes than a rectangle with sharp edges because they take less cognitive effort to visually process. The fovea is fastest at processing circles. Processing edges involve more “neuronal image tools” in the brain [1]. Thus, rectangles with rounded corners are easier process because they look closer to a circle than a regular rectangle.

Magic Ink - Information software and the graphical user interface by Bret Victor

The ubiquity of frustrating, unhelpful software interfaces has motivated decades of research into “Human-Computer Interaction.” In this paper, I suggest that the long-standing focus on “interaction” may be misguided. For a majority subset of software, called “information software,” I argue that interactivity is actually a curse for users and a crutch for designers, and users’ goals can be better satisfied through other means.

Quirky - social product development

We bring two brand new consumer products to market each week, by enabling a fluid conversation between a global community and Quirky’s expert product design staff.

The world influences our business in real-time, and we share our revenue directly with the people who helped us make successful decisions.

Dupli.Casa Originally built in 1984, modern architect Jurgen Mayer H revised and renewed the “twisted” footprint for this gorgeous futuristic villa. Unique about this contemporary architecture is its unlikely, yet completely logical source of inspiration. According to the architect, “The new building echoes the ‘family archeology’ by duplication and rotation.”

Dupli.Casa

Originally built in 1984, modern architect Jurgen Mayer H revised and renewed the “twisted” footprint for this gorgeous futuristic villa. Unique about this contemporary architecture is its unlikely, yet completely logical source of inspiration. According to the architect, “The new building echoes the ‘family archeology’ by duplication and rotation.”

“Edelweiss” PC Case Mod by Pius Giger

“Edelweiss” PC Case Mod by Pius Giger

PTTRNS

Grid gallery of common trends in mobile app UIs.

The Information Sage - Washington Monthly

Tufte is a philosopher king who reigns over his field largely because he invented it. For years, graphic designers were regarded as decorators, whose primary job was to dress up facts with pretty pictures. Tufte introduced a reverence for math and science to the discipline and, in turn, codified the rules that would create a new one, which has come to be called, alternatively, information design or analytical design. His is often the authoritative word on what makes a good chart or graph, and over the years his influence has changed the way places like the Wall Street Journal and NASA display data.