A few weeks ago, I got an email from a young undergrad interested in SVA’s Interaction Design MFA program (where I teach a class in the fundamentals of interaction design). The student, a talented web designer, was curious about the relationship between “web design” and “interaction design” and “user experience”, and what the future holds … Continue reading Letter to a Young Interaction Designer
A few months ago I heard a fascinating woman interviewed on the radio, Noreen Grice. Ms. Grice is a blind astronomer — something that, while initially surprising to me, actually makes perfect sense when you consider that most of today’s astronomy research is based on radio signals, mathematics, physics, and chemistry — and not at … Continue reading Touch the Universe
As you might already know, The School of Visual Arts, one of New York’s leading art and design institutions, is gearing up for a brand new MFA in Interaction Design program beginning this September. SVA has for many years been highly regarded, especially for its vibrant and cutting edge MFA programs (for example in Design … Continue reading Mastering Interaction Design: Deadline January 15th!
Bruce Nussbaum, BusinessWeek’s editor and blogger on the design and innovation beat, has declared that “‘Innovation’ is Dead” and that “Transformation” is the new “key concept” of 2009. He correctly observes that the word “innovation” is overused in the business world. This, of course, has been obvious for a long time to a great many … Continue reading Innovation, Transformation, Therapy, Practice
I have two pieces of advice for user experience design professionals visiting their families over the traditional end-of-year holiday season. First, take this opportunity to do some intimate, informal usability testing with your family and loved ones. I’ve written about this before, but I am encouraging it again: There’s a good chance that many of … Continue reading Shoot Your Family
I am a 37-year-old user experience designer, and I don’t have a driver’s license. I don’t even know how to drive a car. I moved to New York City when I was 18 and I just never really needed to learn. Moreover, I don’t even find automobiles all that interesting or seductive, at least not … Continue reading Designed in Detroit by General Motors
If you’re in NYC this Thursday, you should come to see From Sketching to Experience, the first of Liz Danzico‘s Dot Dot Dot series of small, informal (and free) lectures. These lectures are the ramp-up to SVA’s new MFA in Interaction Design program. I’ll be one of the speakers this Thursday, and am also going … Continue reading Talking about Sketching about Interacting
When I was just 20 years old, I went on a student exchange program to Amsterdam to study sculpture at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. Those six months I spent in Europe, impoverished and starry-eyed, shaped a lot of who I am, both personally and creatively. I’m delighted to say that I will be back in … Continue reading Going to Amsterdam
Last week I delivered a brand new presentation at the O’Reilly Web 2.0 Expo, right here in New York City, entitled The Seduction of the Innocent: Merchandising in Interactive Product Design. (I’m presenting it again this Friday at the Euro IA Summit in Amsterdam, hopefully with a few enhancements.) The topic itself went through an … Continue reading Seducing Web 2.0
At the Speak Up graphic design blog, Armin Vit laments the lack of “landmark” or canonical web designs. After giving several examples of iconic designs that are truly landmarks in the history of graphic design, from Paul Rand’s IBM logo in the 1950s to Paula Scher’s Public Theater posters in the 1990s, he writes: Myself, … Continue reading In Defense of Graphic Design on the Web