Interactions

Enlightenment by lesson, rather than by lecture

Posted: Mon, March 18, 2013 - 10:02:06

Today is Friday, but I am suffering from Monday sickness. It is the illness that many professors face at the beginning of a new semester. Korean universities commence the spring curriculum in March. As the winter break ends, I become increasingly aware of the pressure to prepare a good course for my soon-to-be new students. This Monday sickness, which so…

Magical or creepy? Designing for super-smart devices

Posted: Thu, March 07, 2013 - 9:51:11

We're now living in an era of "super-smart" devices that learn what we prefer (Nest), correlate data to anticipate our needs (Google Now), and quantify our habits for behavior change (Nike FuelBand). What's the role of designers in such situations of designing for anticipation to support human expectations across shifting contexts and devices? Are designers necessarily going to become "anticipation…

Intellectualized instinct for a dazzling dance of design

Posted: Thu, February 21, 2013 - 5:09:45

Great design practitioners seem like masters of intuition. They design by habit and instinct. They often produce brilliant concepts instantly. Seeing them work, I ask many questions: Do their thinking skills and their creation of great concepts stem from instinct or education? How can we train young designers to develop such skills? Is it possible to systemize or develop a…

Out with the old, in with the new

Posted: Mon, February 18, 2013 - 11:43:50

I've interviewed a lot of people on stage, sometimes individually, sometimes in pairs. Transcripts of three of my interviews of pairs were published as interactions cover stories. Two were published together—of Cliff Nass and Bill Buxton, and of Clement Mok and Jakob Nielsen; one was published by itself—of Don Norman and Janice Rohn. I like the dynamics of an interview…

Chef of user experience

Posted: Tue, January 29, 2013 - 12:41:15

Preparing a meal is an analogy that I use to explain the roles and expertise involved when designing and collaborating in a user experience (UX)-oriented product or system development team. I think the relationship between foods and eating experience is similar to that between products and associated user experience. Preparing a delicious meal requires several steps. The first is to…

On what holds UX back or propels UX forward in the workplace

Posted: Mon, January 28, 2013 - 2:43:34

Among the teaching that I've done: UX management courses and workshops via the University of California Extension, during conferences, and in companies. And a topic I have always addressed therein: What holds UX back and propels UX forward in the workplace—or to put it another way, what increases and what decreases the influence of UX on businesses. Last month, Dan…

Embodied games from NYU ITP

Posted: Fri, January 18, 2013 - 2:53:17

At NYU ITP in fall of 2012, I created and taught a class focused on embodied play. We explored this question: “How can interactive design create powerful experiences by tapping into our emotions?" First off, it is worthwhile to put ITP into context. The NYU ITP site states, “ITP is a two-year graduate program located in the Tisch School of…

UX for the rest of us

Posted: Tue, January 15, 2013 - 4:12:13

To say that I'm humbled to have the opportunity to blog for interactions would be a gross understatement, for it's a magazine instrumental in my move from technical communications to fully focused user experience activities. From the moment I picked up that issue in the Barnes & Noble on Sherman Avenue in Evanston in 1995, I've been hooked. My career…

Building technology

Posted: Tue, January 15, 2013 - 11:15:54

Photo by Robert S. Donovan Lately, I've been in the trenches: hip-deep in a home renovation project. As I've been swinging a hammer on evenings and weekends, I've been struck by the discord between the kinds of technologies we use at home and the kinds of technologies we use to make home. Today I spent most of the day perched…

Design predictions for 2013

Posted: Tue, January 08, 2013 - 12:03:36

Well, folks, it's that time of the year again, when we peruse the Interwebs and come across list, after list, after list (sigh!), of predictions for what's ahead in the new year: trends, technologies, and buzzwords. So, I thought I'd play this game, too. (I mean, folks are still returning from the holidays, so the office is a running a…