Who could say no to a man singing about code on the piano? I really enjoyed this TED talk from David Pogue. He talks about some of the worst offenders of interface design but also points out the positives of some their designs.
It’s interesting as web designers we’re facing an old problem which has somehow become new.
Since the announcement of the apple ipad there has been a huge argument over what is better HTML5 or Flash. While the ipad has had it’s fair share of bashing it’s not the real issue. Products improve with time and user testing. The ipad is meant for the average user or designer, not a technology nut. Which is where apple have been very successful, in time the ipad will succeed whether it will be through e books or by some other means.
Apple have announced that they will chose not to support flash and since then numerous blogs have popped up arguing for either side of the debate. Examples of these examples can be seen below.
While I believe that it’s fantastic people are showing this type of passion, is this really the right argument or discussion? This argument is coming from a coder’s point of view, rather then the consumers point of view. Which is why I believe this argument is invalid.
As a designer the argument over which is better is irrelevant to me. As a coder the argument is relevant, however I am a designer first, coder second. Design should be all about the end user, not what we prefer to use as coders. I believe the real discussion should not be about HTML5 vs Flash but should be about “Rich Media Content”.
As designers we aim to make interaction easier for the end user. Questions we should be asking ourselves should be:
What does the end user want to interact with?
What does the end user want from their media content?
Design and coding should not be we as developers / designers want. It should always be about the end audience, perhaps if we discussed Rich Media Content instead of arguing about HTML5 vs Flash we could grow as better developers / designers.
While at tafe I never really had a good look at youtube videos, something I regret doing now. I have found some videos to be a great resource in understanding and remembering the fundementals of design.
Below is a video of interaction design which has been broken down into 3 parts. I found this easy to understand and will build on this knowledge.
There are a million ways to interact with products. The company mobile art lab have combined an old technology that users are familiar with, with a new technology the iphone. This allows for a interaction with books on a whole new level. A book no longer becomes static, the book allows interactive explanations for methods and theorys.
Currently the technology is being developed for children’s books but could have multiple uses in the near future. I’m excited by this type of technology and hope to see more of it in the future.
I was once told “the best interface is no interface” which put me in a dilemma. If there is no interface then how can I design or develop an interface for users to interact with? As a designer we strive to make an interface more simple and easy to use, which is not always an easy feat.
Enter Pranav Mistry who may have come up with a solution to human interaction. Most of his ideas come right out of science fiction novel, think “Minorty Report”. His ideas, I believe could be the next evolution of the interface.
The word interface means to interact with a face and Mistry’s ideas allow the user to become the interface as well as receiving the information they want. It’s allow the user to gain real world data though simple actions.
This project goes to open resource fairly soon so I’ll be interested in having a look.
A link to the TED site (it’s worth looking at the comments too to see what other people think):
Make 10 is a mathematical game for the nintendo DS. The game is aimed at primary school students who are beginning to learn maths. The game was a big hit in Japan and follows the trends of “Brain Training”. The game is entertaining, colourful and teaches children mathematical equations in the multiples of 10.
The game play uses a cognitive walkthrough technique. The game simply will not advance if the user has not completed the level. This allows the game to follow a pattern that the user will understand.
The game ranks the user a score at the end of the game. Which does not follow constructivist method of education. However the game does lay out all the information before you through the storyline. From observation about the game follows more of the behavourist method of education. As do most of the touch and play games. The game has you repeat the same puzzles many times over till you know what the right answer is. This is perhaps not the best way to learn about maths.
Although this game teaches basic maths to children who are just beginning to learn maths. I wonder how games like these could be applied to more advance mathematical methods? One important aspect of constructivist method is not let the user know they are learning from this game. In essence the game just screams “FUN”
Although I have not started the Gamelearn project yet I felt that this was important research for my project.
For a link to the games website:
Design in Crisis from We Love Inc on Vimeo.
One of the reasons I decided to get into multimedia is the potential it has for future developments. Interactive design is still in an infant stage and any new development is exciting. Above is an example of interactive display involving the user. I personally find it quite exciting to where it could go next.
Another example of interactive display is VW’s campaign “fun theory”:
Piano Stairs from Ibrahim Nergiz on Vimeo.
Here they are using everyday objects to create interactivity. I think it’s a creative ad and hope to see more of it in the future. Marketing is now having to look for new ways to gain an audience’s interest. Hopefully we will see more of these fun inviting ways rather then the invasive type ads we have seen in the past.
10/GUI is the latest interface making the rounds on the internet
A fairly interesting and daring concept from this student, it will be interesting to see if it gets made. Probably not the best solution for everyday users of computers but for full on internet and programmers it’s a dream (from what I’ve heard from programming friends).
My criticisms is the learning time for such a new interface and the linear desktop. However new users introduced to the mouse for the first time had a fair bit of learning time themselves. The linear desktop would not scale well on a traditional interface due to the sizes of different applications.
Take a look at what you think, personally I’m excited by the idea of this interface. So you could say I like it.
10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.
For the offical 10/Gui website click here: