Originally posted on memeburn.com
What is design? Most people will answer that question by pointing to a designed object – the iPhone, for example. Now that’s good design! The Mini Cooper. London’s famous map of the Tube. Anything ever built by Norman Foster. That’s design, right?
Wrong. Design is not the object, but the process that created [...]
4
2010
Design thinking: Make your business amazing
3
2008
Sideloading free content from the sneakernet
Mobile devices are the primary experience of personal computing for most people in emerging markets. Accessing content at prices these users can afford is all but impossible. But using sideloading and sneakernet, content can spread for free.
I was lucky enough to watch a great talk by Gary Marsden at the recent SA UX meeting [...]
5
2008
Designing future happiness
Humans are not very good at predicting what will make us happy in the future. Designers need user centred design techniques to help them to overcome that limitation.
We don’t know what’s good for us
In Stumbling on Happiness, Harvard psychology professor Daniel Gilbert, describes recent research on “prospection” – the act of considering the future. [...]
1
2008
Our technologies shape us
As the world around us changes, we need new technology and improved interaction to help us. But what causes the world to change? The very technology that we introduce.
I saw this quote stuck up on the wall of a furniture shop the other day.
It set me thinking: if you replace “homes” with [...]
10
2008
What makes us productive and what makes us stupid
Your working environment has a big impact on your productivity, creativity and happiness. And good user experiences follow the same rules.
The interruptions caused by email and other digital communications reduce your IQ by up to 10 points, and cost large corporations UD$1m in revenue per annum. They also make people unhappy. [...]
16
2008
Collaboration and creativity use up the social surplus
Organised, industrial society creates left-over time for its citizens — and that time has to be used up somehow. At first it was with gin. Then TV. Now it’s just beginning to be with mass creation and collaboration.
Thanks to Anne Sophie Leens for the pointer. And “wow” to Clay Shirky for such a great post. [...]