Hidden ingredients and their influence on experience design
An attempt at glass blowing left me thinking about how design properties can remain hidden during manufacture yet go on to define the experience of the finished product.
Encouraged by the visit of a cousin with an interest in craft, I found…
Living with the BlackBerry KEYone: a long-term, ongoing review
Updated 29th November 2018: added section on ‘Battery confidence’
Introduction
What does a year of living with a device reveal that initial reviews missed upon its release? This is partly a journal of my notes since adopting the KEYone in 2017 a…
Creative limitations from eccentric corners of the internet
I should preface this by saying it gets weird before it gets, well, inspirational. Or so I hope.
A conversation with an avid Harry Potter fan alerted me to the existence of a podcast called Harry Potter’s Sacred Text. Its tagline reads:
RE…
More to see as smartphone cameras slowdown
Slowing down can help one see the previously unseen. This is as much a philosophical as a practical observation. In many ways, the two seem dependent: by allowing oneself the time to observe in leisurely detail, one is making a choice to think at …
A more natural interface for weather
The Weather Cube, designed by Yu Zhuang and featured in this post by Yanko Design, is an alternative interface for meteorological information. Using ultrasonic actuators, it changes the nature of the water contained within a sealed cube to reflect…
The grand scheme of things: digital spending as part of the overall mix
In tech, it is always tempting to focus on the micro, but we forget the influence of the macro at our peril. For instance, while countless words continue to be written on reassuringly easy subjects like iOS versus Android, less time is dedicated t…
Design Talk 50. Onika Simon talks troublemaking, user reality checks & delivering innovation under pressure
How does a journey which begins with a degree in philosophy – and a chance conversation with a librarian – lead to a surprise move from Manchester to New York, one of the advertising industry’s foremost fellowship programmes and a career-long inte…
Self-serving machines and the human antidote
It was seven o’clock in the morning. We were four self-service screens and four user experience failures into our journey.
It didn’t help that there hadn’t been enough time for coffee before my partner and I left the house, but even fully caffe…