UK design studio rAndom International was commissioned by Philips’ Lumiblade division to create this installation. Quite beautiful in it’s stripped-downess.
Code/design wiz Chris O’Shea created the software for it.
Permalink to this project.
(via Jan Chipchase @FuturePerfect)
For those interested in the ingenious ways in which people from the ‘Developing Countries’ (formerly known as the ‘Third World’) that experience a digital divide – here is a great ethnographic observation made in Kabul, by Jan Chipchase on his blog.
Excerpt –
Expect to see three disruptions in this space: the prevalence of cheap net books will lower the cost of entry and enabled vendors without constant access to mains power and/or a backup generator to set up shop – currently most content sits on desktop PC’s, the mobility offered by net books make it feasible to perch a unit to the side of a shop counter and gives the vendor something to do (playing games) whilst waiting for the next customer; the global move towards Micro-USB for charging mobile phones will also lower the barriers to transfer data – currently there are numerous methods to move data from PC to mobile phone and the consumer experience is highly variable – a standardised service makes it more of a viable proposition, and the net book is also able to function as a charging hub, and whilst not ideal it enables drop-off/ transfer/pick-up type behaviours; a shorter distance to the nearest internet connected hub to download/obtain recent content for resale.
Sounds exciting! Degree project ideas anyone? :)
Just a quick word to remind the interactiondesign.se readers that the Fall Summit 2009, hosted at Umeå Institute of Design, starts next Friday, November 6.
I believe that the Fritzing workshop that is going to take place over the week-end is fully booked, but that there is still room for the conference day.
Maybe it was already posted, I just found out about half an hour ago through one of my teammates in the lightcraft project. I am not sure about the gestures and carrying all this stuff with you, but it is definitely more comfortable than using futuristic OLED goggles…
It seems that the current students aren’t in to blogging stuff they find as much as we were. Â Or is it that they don’t know where to find this stuff? Anyway, I’m starting my own blog and Rahul’s got one and a few other former students. So, we won’t be posting here so much I guess. Share your knowledge, it’s really the only way we learn! If you don’t know where to find new stuff, get a RSS reader (Firefox users can get Sage, it’s really good) or sign up to Bloglines, which is really good as well. And start adding newsfeeds.
My (very long) list after the break.
Welcome to the KOBAKANT DIY Wearable Technology Documentation
This website aims to be a comprehensible, accessible and maintainable reference resource, as well as a basis for further exploration and contribution.
(via Maia Garau)
By Henk Wijnholds Monday October 26, 2009
Often people ask me how we know which ideas to choose from all the hundreds of ideas we’ve generated during brainstorm sessions. Apart from our gut feelings and experience there’s a method that could help us decide, define design principles.
In the past we used to call these principles ‘design criteria’ until I came across this great article about ‘Ubiquitous Computing Workshop: Mobile User Experience Design Principles‘ by Rachel Hinman back in 2007.
What are design principles
Design principles describe the experience core values of a product or a service. They should be written in a short and memorable way. As a designer you should know them by heart while doing a project. Good design principles are cross-feature but specific. Therefore we should always try harder than ‘Easy-to-use’. Design principles are non-conflicting.
Google’s design principles that contribute to a Googley user experience
- Focus on people – their lives, their work, their dreams.
- Every millisecond counts.
- Simplicity is powerful.
- Engage beginners and attract experts.
- Dare to innovate.
- Design for the world.
- Plan for today’s and tomorrow’s business.
- Delight the eye without distracting the mind.
- Be worthy of people’s trust.
- Add a human touch.
Read more here.
(via Future-Tense)
Some of you might recall a rumor about Phillippe Starck giving British aspirants a lesson in Design.
A ‘Design Reality Show’ – for want of a better word (shudders).
Here comes episode one – with all the drama, tears and The French Accent.
Personally, I quite like the critique he gives. Pretty fair and honest.
Also found his Editorial section in last month’s GQ magazine to be quite insightful.
(via Robert Meredith, a participant on the Show)
(via Caroline Lindberg)
A team of scientists from Italy and Sweden has developed what is believed to be the first artificial hand that has feeling.
It has been attached to the arm of a 22-year-old man who lost his own hand through cancer.
Researchers say it works by connecting human nerve endings with tiny electronic sensors.
Pretty cool to see high end prototypes like these, huh?
Am intrigued by what might happen when the technical threshold for such hi-end prototypes dropped enough to enable masses to tweak their own data and parameters from brain-mapping and learning. What would they change? Could Iron Man truly become a reality? (Just a rant)
A fun project/concept that will become a reality and will make being trapped in London traffic on a double decker more bearable.
There’s a call for artists to contribute to this project at their site.
Via ca.net. Fun.
More Fun Stuff available here  –  http://thefuntheory.com/
This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better.
Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better
A little graphic inspiration for the first years students.Have trouble keeping track of the nearly 200 past and current missions to explore our solar system and beyond? National Geographic’s elegant infographic displays 50 years of space exploration in a colorful map of our planetary neighbors. The “Fifty Years of Exploration” map, created by Sean McNaughton and Samuel Velasco for National Geographic, outlines humanity’s journeys into space, starting from the early failed mission to Mars and Venus to the current flight of New Horizons. A complete, but scaled-down version of the map is shown below, but you can see the giant, full-sized map here.
(Reposted from io9.com)
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/paperprototyping
an article about paper prototyping by Shawn Medero, an interface designer for the Linguistic Data Consortium at the University of Pennsylvania.