Entries from Kelake tagged with 'Design'
Designing for the Web in the World - Tim Arnall
Digital interactions are moving beyond keypad and screens and into sensing, networked products that inhabit our everyday lives. This session will explore how designers can create engaging experiences between physical products and digital services....
Experiencing Abstract Information
How can you increase the immersion of data? The bachelor thesis "Experiencing Abstract Information" by Jochen Winker and Stefan Kuzaj introduces theoretical principles and shows them with some interactive examples. There are four essential parts in making abstract information...
Don Norman: The Design of Future Things
Sit back and grab lunch as this is a long one. February 9, 2007 lecture by Don Norman for the Stanford University Human Computer Interaction Seminar (CS 547). In this talk, Don discusses his latest book, The Design of...
Designing Products Your Customers' Customers Will Love
From Stanford's 2004 'Entrepreneurial Thought Leader Speaker Series'. The Hiptop founders designed the product in the way that was the most appealing to them. They had strong convictions about what the product should look like and the things it...
Go Cart
"Skelter: three speeds plus reverse, aluminum and leather and rubber construction". Go Cart by Piet Hein Eek. Via Daily Icon....
Augmented (hyper)Reality: Domestic Robocop
The latter half of the 20th century saw the built environment merged with media space, and architecture taking on new roles related to branding, image and consumerism. Augmented reality may recontextualise the functions of consumerism and architecture, and change...
Guten Touch
Designed for the Red Bull Music Academy 08, Guten Touch is an interactive installation that involves people into a natural relationship with technology. A two projected display system plus a 3m x 2m multitouch wall showcase applications designed to...
Innovation through observation
With an eye for brushing up on pertinent literature, I am trying to reread some key books from my small library. Some like George Lakoff's books are very valuable but so academic I wonder if I will ever get through...
Books and trust quote
Can no longer read books, even great ones, in cramped small paperback editions. Whitespace confers credibility; its lack inspires mistrust. - Zeldman...
Notes on Digital Storytelling
I'm not a real writer by any stretch but I have been thinking of stories lately as a means to explain information to both my kids and coworkers. As a designer I think it's important to develop some kind of...
A Review of Creative Thinking Models
There are many models proposed in the creativity literature for the process of creative thinking. Arieti (1976) cataloged eight such models that were proposed during the period 1908 to 1964. There have been several additional models proposed since. Analysis of...
A Chiang Mai massage as a narrative for experience design
I was in Chiang Mai on vacation and had planned on visiting my favourite spa in the evening after a day of walking. I called the spa at about 1pm and was greeted with a friendly voice who spoke great...
Order
Order tends to reduce complexity and requires elimination of details that do not fit the principles determining the order - Arnheim...
Principles of Successful Navigation
Navigation that works should: Be easily learnedRemain consistentProvide feedbackAppear in contextSupport users’ goals and behaviorsOffer alternativesRequire an economy of action and timeProvide clear visual messagesUse clear and understandable labelsBe appropriate to the site’s purpose Bullet points provided by Jennifer Fleming's...
6 laws of simplicity
From John Maeda's original 16 (-3) laws of simplicity come my 6 favourite: A complex system of many functions can be simplified by carefully grouping related functions. The positive emotional response derived from a simplicity experience has less to do...
Singapore MOE vs. Taiwan MOE
One can only be amazed (or perhaps disgusted) at the differences between Taiwan's Ministry of Education (MOE) website and Singapore's. While I could nitpick, Singapore's MOE site gave me the information I needed quickly and clearly. It looks like it...
Still in love with red
As I get older I seem to have less and less desire for anything but the simplest presentations of text and images. This economy of attention drives much of what I do though I often fail in executing on this...
Details quote
“The details are not the details. They make the design.” —Charles Eames...
A Tale of Three Communities
Magazines need to open their doors to their readers. Instead of thinking of writers and readers as two separate communities, magazines need to realize that they really only have one community: the people who give a shit about their magazine....
PRINT's regional design annual on DVD
I just found what I want for Christmas this year. Thank you Swissmiss. PRINT's Regional Design Annual is the only comprehensive profile of design in the United States. Now you can have immediate access to ten years' worth of...
Italian Pulp Science Fiction Magazine Covers
An incredible gallery of over 1500 Italian pulp science fiction magazine covers, spanning 1952 to the present day....
Seth Godin on Bad Design
An entertaining video featuring Seth Godin. He would have a field day in Taiwan where just about everything is broken. Not just in meat space but naturally online where delaying the transaction is a natural way of doing business....
How to live happily with a great designer
Thank you Mr. Godin. My favourites:2. if you want great work, you'll need to embrace some simple facts: It's going to offend someone. If it doesn't offend them, then it will make them nervous. 11. Don't get stressed about your...
Design Journal Archive
Design Online is electronic library containing a digitised record of Design journal for the years 1965 to 1974. The archive contains the full contents of all the magazines, including scanned images of each page, with full text and illustrations....
Magazine Cover Design
Although you can't judge a book by its cover, a magazine's cover tells you a lot. Its whole purpose is to communicate both explicit and subliminal messages about the riches within. Extraordinary amounts of time and effort go into the...
Andy Rutledge on Redesign Competitions
The results of redesign competitions support the idea that design is nothing more than decoration or eye-candy. How could it indicate otherwise? Design is a process that begins with research and discovery. Every aspect of the client’s needs, aims and...
Visual simplicity: Steve Jobs does it again
"... good examples of "simple yet effective" slides. Well, you can see some good examples - one man's examples - if you take some time to watch how Steve Jobs used slides to support his presentation in yesterday's special...
Steve Jobs on design
Steve Jobs on design: “Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But, of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works. To design something really well, you have to ‘get it.’ You...
Milton Glaser, 10 Things I Have Learned
From Milton Glaser: "All I ever wanted to do was to make images and create form. This instinct for form-making seems to be something that is very characteristic of our entire species. Its one of the things that almost defines...
How to do a Mind Map
Mind maps were within my organisation used a great deal to represent and work through information structures of new web site projects. I never liked them for that purpose but they are a great way to help you think through...
SOORIKIAN process of design
Well put and quite true. "All the elements of the Parthenon can be seen in its early prototype The Temple of Hera II at Paestum, Italy. It is thick and squat. All the ideas and ideals of a culture are...
The Vice A to Z of Design
Sometimes I like a heavy dose of cynicism with my morning coffee. Being a designer used to mean you drove a Benz and you could get good drugs. Now it means you own a computer. What the fuck? You start...
Make it simple (Economist)
"The next thing in technology, says Andreas Kluth, is not just big but truly huge: the conquest of complexity." "THE computer knows me as its enemy, says John Maeda. Everything I touch doesn't work. Take those plug-and-play devices, such as...
Client guide to web standards
Client guide to web standards: What they are and why they are important is a client-friendly explanation of the benefits of web standards. "Sites which use web standards are fast loading, can be used on many different devices and are...
These web sites are identical -- or are they? (phnk)
A recent survey that suggests some kind of best practices might be developing. "This survey compares 10 web sites through elements of their layout: styles, page construction and elements... The survey seeks similarities and differences between those well known web...
How to be creative (gapingvoid)
“So you want to be more creative, in art, in business, whatever. Here are some tips that have worked for me over the years.” Not really tips on being creative but good common sense ideas. A few notable's, 2. Creativity...
A Website about Corporate Identity
"This website is the English version of a Dutch site that contains three sections. The first section, a booklet about the general concept of corporate identity, is not translated. Suggested reading in English is the book Designing Brand Identity by...
IDEA Awards
The results from this years Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) are online and I spent my morning coffee time looking through a hundred and thirty winners. Here are some of my favourites: AudiopadJames Patten and Ben Recht, MIT Media Lab...
Designing Effective User Interfaces for Wireless Devices (Intel)
"In this paper we outline a technique for quantifying design and quality assurance for wireless development. While the specific example we use is a Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) application, you can use the same set of principles and mathematical models...
4 Creative professions
From Rich Gold courtesy of Antenna....
It all comes down to output
From the Design Observer comes a reprint of an article by Michael McDonough that was originally published in the Architects Newspaper. I certainly agree with all the statements but number 9 is what I have been having trouble with these...
Ideas! A closer look at creativity
"In communication design - we are not translators. Our role is to find the symbols that are part of the cultural psyche. Mind you, these symbols are (almost) universal and talks across (almost) all cultures. Symbols are inherently simple and...
Byrdhouse: Printing Basics for Web Developers
How to get a business card printed for Web design dummies ... "I'm writing this for the web designers out there; the ones who can immediately tell if a site is css, but stare blankly at the question, "Do you...
Technology to make you go 'wow'
"I want to make products like this fountain pen that creates such joy when you see it, and you say 'oh wow' and the first thing you want to do is try it." Beauty, pleasure and simplicity of use are...
Using Colors Found in Nature
Another good article from Boxes and Arrows: "Perhaps no other design element has as much influence on how we feel in a space (a website, a home, etc.) as color." "The World Wide Web is awash with sterile design solutions....
Article: Semiotics: A Primer for Designers
Semiotics is important for designers as it allows us to understand the relationships between signs, what they stand for, and the people who must interpret them the people we design for. Link:From Boxes and Arrows: Semiotics: A Primer for...
6 methods for analyzing any image
Images carry messages Personal A gut reaction to the work based on subjective opinions Historical A determination of the work based on the mediums timeline Technical The relationship between light, the recording medium used to capture the work and the...
Style Wars
"In Make in Bigger, Scher candidly reveals her thoughts on design practice, drawing on her own experiences as one of the leading designers in the United States, and possibly the most famous female graphic designer in the world. Pointed and...
Art and Design
From Chientai who quoted it from somewhere else: "Art is valued for its originality and expressiveness. Its focus is on individual artifacts crafted through the manual and aesthetic virtuosity of the artist. Design, in contrast, is valued for its fitness...
On Mens Hairpieces and Web Design
From Daring Fireball. "Less markup. Less scripting. Fewer navigation elements. Fewer colors. Fewer graphics. Omit needless words. This is how you make a good web site. I know this for a fact. Such design goals, however worthy, are notoriously difficult...
Cabinets of Curiosity
Having started but put on hold the design of my new soho workspace this seems like a timely article. I'm not sure whether I am a collector or a minimalist. I like my workspace to be sparten and clean but...
The Proof is in the Process
"Having a creative job has its ups and downs. When you're able to patiently nurture your creativity with mood lighting and inspirational trinkets, taking all the time you need to carefully refine your ideas before presenting them to your client,...
Design History in a Box
An interesting approach and personal interpretation to the history of design through a few repeated elements. Based partially on the book A History of Graphic Design. Shockwave plug-in required. Link: Design History in a Box...
Process of designing solutions
This website provides a generalised overview of the process of design (their 12 steps) -- "with a dynamic presentation plus a new archive of case studies." Link: AIGA DESIGNING | Home...
How to (and not to) work with a designer
"Imagine that youre Christopher Columbus. You arrive in the New World and are so disappointed there are none of the oriental silks and spices you came looking for that you turn around and go home, missing all the wonders of...
Art direction vs. design
"If you want to know what art direction is, pick up the 26 April–2 May 2003 issue of The Economist Magazine and regard its cover image. Two icons recognized around the world – one old, one new – have been...
Shadows
Don Juan pointed directly to a boulder in front of us. "Look at the shadow of that boulder," he said. "The shadow is the boulder, and yet it isn't. To observe the boulder in order to know what the boulder...
Roxane: A Study in Visual Factors Affecting Legibility
Roxane is an original typeface designed by the author in response to a design analysis of visual attributes that enhance the legibility of font characteristics. The author takes issue with scientific legibility studies which focus on isolating variables to obtain...
Design Research: Why you need it
"...design research is a necessary ingredient for creating, developing, and delivering a successful product. Marketers need solid market research to guide their decisions about product positioning, revenue potential, and target markets. Likewise, designers need solid design research to guide their...
Public Lettering site
If you are as interested in commercial signage and type as I am you might find the following site interesting. This site is based on a walk by Phil Baines for his graphic design students which was then written up...
Information Design: A Graphic Designers Salvation
"After all, graphic design is information design isnt it? Graphic design is nearly all information of some form or other that we convey graphically. But the difference between Graphic Design (with initial caps) and Information Design (ditto) is a whole...
San Francisco Examiner redesign
"The new look also is designed to reflect reading habits of the 21st century, partly shaped by web-surfing and competition from an increasing number of media, by emphasizing more clear labeling and navigation, direct headline writing, concise summaries, and a...
Kinetic Typography
A colleague is doing her Masters thesis on some aspect of Kinetic Typography. It was a rather new term to me but a quick Google search turned up some research done some time ago by Suguru Ishizaki at Carnegie Mellon....
Contingency Design Whitepaper
37 Signals has released a Contingency Design White Paper. "Contingency design is design for when things go wrong. Web sites that invest in contingency design will increase customer loyalty and significantly improve the rate at which site visitors purchase, subscribe...
Arial is everywhere
Great couple of articles. "How to Spot Arial" (in comparison to Helvetica) and "The Scourge of Arial" It has spread like a virus through the typographic landscape ... and it looks like it's the kind that eventually destroys the host....
Personal websites
I often comment to colleagues about how I love personal web sites. The freedom to design and create something for yourself coupled with the ease of publishing on the web is a powerful thing. Sometimes you find web sites that...
Miluku.com
Miluku.com is one of the best websites I have ever seen developed in Taiwan. Wonderful illustration done by local and European artists - highly entertaining. You don't need to understand Chinese to appreciate and enjoy this fine piece of work....
Don't expect much
If you have a fast computer, fast connection, speakers, and an appreciation of Chinese calligraphy you might appreciate this Flash piece....
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