Stanford University Human-Computer Interaction Seminars

Thursday, 11th February 2010 in Design, UX by Simon | No comments

Human-Computer Interaction Seminar (Seminar on People, Computers, and Design) is a Stanford University course that features weekly speakers on topics related to human-computer interaction design. The seminar is organized by the Stanford HCI Group, which works across disciplines to understand the intersection between humans and computers.

Details of the current seminar series can be found on Stanford HCI website, whilst the 2009 seminar series can be found on iTunes U. The topics of which are listed below:

Winter 2009

  1. Pario: The Next Step Beyond Audio and Video
  2. Sculpting Behaviour: Developing a Tangible Lnguage for Hands-on Play and Learning
  3. Tap is the New Click
  4. Social Annotation, Contextual Collaboration and Online Transparency
  5. Enlightened Trial and Error – Gaining design Insight Through Prototyping Tools
  6. Computer Graphics as a Telecommunication Medium
  7. Not Invented Here: Online Mapping Revealed

Spring 2009

  1. Firefox, Mozilla & Open Source: Software Design at Scale
  2. Social Enterprise Software Design
  3. The Interaction Design of APIs
  4. Far Away Up Close
  5. What Still Matters About Distance?
  6. How We Use Data to Win the Presidential Election
  7. Social Immersive Media
  8. Launching Creative Communities: Lessons From the Spore Community
  9. Designing Online Communities from Theory

Autumn/Fall 2009

  1. Crowdsourcing Work
  2. Backtracking Events as Indicators of Software Usability Problems
  3. Programming by Sketching
  4. Aesthetic Science of Colour: WAVEs of Colour, Culture, Music and Emotion

Previous talks are also available on iTunes U — with the notable speakers Bill Moggridge, Bill Buxton and Donald Norman featuring — or on YouTube: 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09

It’s Always Six O’Clock

Friday, 5th December 2008 in Design by Simon | No comments

Two Italians, Eva and Franco Mattes internationally known as 0100101110101101.org and self-styled net art pranksters and hacktivists have been besieging the art world with their clever hacks and elusive digital role-plays for more than ten years.

The two European con-artists use non-conventional communication tactics to obtain the largest visibility with minimal effort. Past works have included staging a hoax involving a completely made up artist, to ripping off the Holy See and spreading a computer virus!

In It’s Always Six O’Clock, the avatar portraits in their series Annoying Japanese Child Dinosaur are attacked by an army of toys, not the digital representations but the real deal this time. From Nintendo and Disney characters to G.I. Joe and Manga, and from medieval knights to Winnie the Pooh, they’re all performing in the theatre of pop culture. Somehow cute yet ruthlessly aggressive at times — Winnie the Pooh appears to be having his head split open — they dominate the exhibition space. In the process, fantasy and collective imagination are fusing into a dramatically charged form of ready-made sculpture.

(Click on the images to see a larger view)

You can see more of their work on their website, 0100101110101101.org.

Final Wooden House, Japan by Sou Fujimoto

Monday, 17th November 2008 in Design by Simon | No comments

The Final Wooden House by Sou Fujimoto must be the epitome of good environmental design, but at the same time it is amazingly impractical unless you’re a Hobbit and live in The Shire!

Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto designed the wooden bungalow to be small and primitive. The design is meant to highlight the versatility of lumber.

In an ordinary wooden architecture, lumber is effectively differentiated according to functions in various localities precisely because it is so versatile. Columns, beams, foundations, exterior walls, interior walls, ceilings, floorings, insulations, furnishings, stairs, window frames, meaning all, says Fujimoto. However, I thought if lumber is indeed so versatile then why not create architecture by one rule that fulfills all of these functions. I envisioned the creation of new spatiality that preserves primitive conditions of a harmonious entity before various functions and roles differentiated.

Using large beams of 350 mm square profile cedar and piled on top of one another, Fujimoto created the walls, ceiling, floors and built in nooks. This leaves no definitive lines between each of the structure’s components, thus blending the entire interior of the space together. The function of the small home is defined by how the user adapts to the wood structure. The house is meant to bring a kind of harmony between the built environment and the way the human body behaves within the space.

I thought of making an ultimate wooden architecture. It was conceived by just mindlessly stacking 350mm square.

(Click on the images to see a larger view)

Fujimoto continues, There are no separations of floor, wall, and ceiling here. A place that one thought was a floor becomes a chair, a ceiling, a wall from various positions. The floor levels are relative and spatiality is perceived differently according to one’s position. Here, people are distributed three-dimensionally in the space. This is a place like an amorphous landscape with a new experience of various senses of distances. Inhabitants discover, rather than being prescribed, various functionalities in these convolutions.

 

Architects: Sou Fujimoto Architects
Location: Kumamoto, Japan
Photographer: Iwan Baan

Writing a Good Web Accessibility Statement

Thursday, 13th November 2008 in Design, UX by Simon | No comments

An accessibility statement makes a good addition to all web sites. It is not only a place to demonstrate that you are taking accessibility seriously, but more importantly, it should provide extra information for visitors to your site — particularly for those people with disabilities who need to know about the accessibility of the information and services you provide — and a mechanism to receive feedback on accessibility.

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA), a disability is defined as:

A physical or mental impairment that has a long-term or substantial effect on a person’s ability to carry out day to day tasks.

This ranges from people with physical and sensory impairments to people with diabetes, disfigurements, heart disease and epilepsy.

Accessibility, therefore, can be viewed as the “ability to access” the functionality of a system or entity. Furthermore, accessibility is a somewhat general term used to describe the degree to which a product (e.g. device, service and environment) is accessible to as many people as possible. Accessibility is often used to focus on people with disabilities and their right of access to entities, often through use of assistive technology.

A dimension of accessibility is web accessibility. Web accessibility refers to the practice of making websites usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. When sites are correctly designed, developed and edited, all users can have equal access to information and functionality. In many countries this has led to initiatives, laws and regulations that aim toward providing universal access to the internet.

Digital Web Magazine has a great article on whether accessibility statements are useful, which is well worth a read.

The main points of consideration that can be garnered from the article are as follows:

  1. Make the accessibility link prominent and provide it in a consistent location so that website visitors can find it easily.
  2. Provide rich content that explains how to use the accessibility features provided, rather than just listing the features themselves.
  3. Separate the content into sections and provide headings for each section.
  4. Provide contact information in various formats so that website visitors can directly contact the team responsible for accessibility queries.
  5. Actively promote feedback from website visitors. Use comments to continually improve the website.
  6. Provide a known barriers section which details inaccessible areas of the website along with alternative ways of obtaining the information or services.
  7. List technical and conformance information at the end of the accessibility statement. This will allow the information to be readily available, whilst not being placed in a prominent position.

Your accessibility statement will be organic — you may only start with a few lines but as your site develops in terms of accessibility, and your understanding of the accessibility of the site develops, so will your statement. As it can often be created and then forgotten about, it is worthwhile taking time every so often to check through the statement to ensure that it is up-to-date and reflects the work done to enhance the site’s accessibility.

The BMW GINA Light Visionary Model

Friday, 7th November 2008 in Design by Simon | No comments

What do we need the skin of a car for? What’s its purpose? Does it need to be made of metal? In reality we don’t. Wouldn’t it be great if we could have a car with a human like skin that covered all the essential mechanical and structural components of the vehicle. These questions were addressed by the BMW Group design team behind the GINA project.

The key to affecting the development of tomorrow’s mobility lies in our readiness to challenge what is established and in the ability to present new options.

The design team was not just interested in answering the question of how the car of the future will look but primarily wished to explore the creative freedom that it has to offer. Both of these aspects are affected by the requirements that future cars are expected to meet. All ideas that the GINA presents were therefore derived from the needs and demands of customers concerning the aesthetic and functional characteristics of their car and their desire to express individuality and lifestyle. The GINA has an almost seamless outer skin, a flexible textile cover that stretches across a moveable substructure. Individual functions are only revealed if and when they are needed.

(Click on the images to see a larger view)

GINA produces dramatically different solutions that affect the design and functionality of future cars. The GINA Light Visionary Model is an optical expression of selective, future-oriented concepts which provide an example of the manner and extent of this transformation.

You can see more of the GINA on BMW’s web-tv website.

The Aptera Typ-1: Part Car, Part Motorcycle

Tuesday, 4th November 2008 in Design by Simon | 1 comment

If you’re looking for a stunningly-designed, futuristic-looking, eco-friendly motor vehicle, you need not look any further than the Aptera Typ-1. Forget the pioneering, yet disastrous, General Motors EV1 or the ‘celebrities favourite’, the Toyota Prius, this car has all the looks and innovative technology to match.

The Aptera Typ-1 is a 2-seat, three wheeled passenger vehicle. It is available in both all-electric and series hybrid configurations, at around £20,000/$30,000. Aerodynamic optimisation using computer-based simulations and light-weight composite construction yields a vehicle which consumes only 80 Wh/mi at 55 mph, about half the energy needed to propel the General Motors EV1. On the battery electric model, this means a 120 mile range on 10 kWh of electricity, or around 340 mpg price equivalent. On the hybrid vehicle, it leads to projections of 130 mpg on gasoline alone, or 300 mpg if plugged in every 120 miles.

Aptera Motors emphasizes that safety was not traded off for efficiency, citing crash test simulations and more recently component crush testing as indicating excellent survivability–on par with more conventional vehicles. However, real-world crash test results are forthcoming.

The Aptera Typ-1 features roof-mounted solar panels, always-on climate control, and keyless ignition and entry. High-drag side mirrors are replaced with rear-view cameras, and an in-car touch screen PC serves as entertainment, navigation, and communication system.

(Click on the images to see a larger view)

Take a look at the Aptera Typ-1 Promo Video.

The official website can be found at http://www.aptera.com.

Big City, Little People

Wednesday, 8th October 2008 in Design by Simon | No comments

They’re Not Pets, Susan, says a stern father who has just shot a bumblebee, its wings sparkling in the evening sunlight; a lone office worker, less than an inch high, looks out over the river in his lunch break, Dreaming of Packing it all In; and a tiny couple share a Last Kiss against the soft neon lights of the city at midnight. Mixing sharp humour with a delicious edge of melancholy, Little People in the City brings together the collected photographs of Slinkachu, a street-artist who for several years has been leaving little hand-painted people in the bustling city to fend for themselves, waiting to be discovered.

Oddly enough, even when you know they are just hand-painted figurines, you can’t help but feel that their plights convey something of our own fears about being lost and vulnerable in a big, bad city.

The Times.

(Click on the images to see a larger view)

 

Slinkachu has a website and a blog.

The book titled Little People in the City: The Street Art of Slinkachu with many more great miniture scenes can be bought from Amazon.

Single Seat Helicopter Concept

Friday, 3rd October 2008 in Design by Simon | 2 comments

In the early 20th Century, Henry Ford realised a dream and brought the motor vehicle to the masses with the Model-T Ford. Skip forward a hundred years and personalised flight is the new arena. Igarashi Design has introduced a single seat helicopter with war-like looks. In a break away from Moller’s Skycar, the helicopter is more reminiscent of a BMW C1 motorcycle than a flying machine. You’ll need to take pilot training before flying one as only one person can sit and operate this helicopter.

(Click on the images to see a larger view)

 

You can see more of Igarashi Design’s work on the ID Performance website.

Nulla Bicycle: A New Take On Bike Design

Tuesday, 30th September 2008 in Design by Simon | 2 comments

Designer Bradford Waugh has certainly thought out of the box with his new bicycle called Nulla. Nulla, the Italian word for nothing, is a minimalist bicycle concept. Waugh named it that way for lack of central hubs or chain-drive, giving it a very minimal visual weight. Ditch that fancy car and buy a stylish bicycle, is what you will say once you have this one with you. With such a clean, simple and sleek look, this bicycle is surely going to change your mind whether to buy a car, or bike or bicycle. This futuristic bicycle provides deep coverage, good appearance and comfort perfect for riding and skating. However, it is not sure whether you will technically be able to ride this bike since the load experienced between the wheels and the frame may be too great.

What is clear, however, is that it has a futuristic appeal that would look great in conjunction with the hugely successful British Olympic Cycling Team.

(Click on the images to see a larger view)

Reinventing the Clock

Friday, 26th September 2008 in Design by Simon | 2 comments

The Rim clock by Australian designer Jansen Lye is a unique timepiece. Nothing irritates more than tampering with something that fundamentally works. But there’s something about Lye’s reinterpretation of the humble clock that, frankly, works. The hour and minute hands have been positioned on the outer edge of the clock face rather than the normal clock look – the hour and minutes hands in center. The unusual features make it a distinctive looking product that imbues style on any space. Its minimalist design that sits well in any environment. From your home, office space to living rooms or kitchen walls. Clearly it will make us all feel like we’re four again as it will take some time before you can read the clock hour and minutes, but it’s visually superb!

(Click on the images to see a larger view)

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