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CES 2010 begins with Microsoft.

admin — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 11:47:41 +0000

After waiting in line for 2 hours and dealing with some power problems (they blew a couple of projection tubes), the Microsoft keynote was underway. While the room was filling up, I felt like I was in a night club. Mos Def, Franz Ferdinand, Black Eyed Peas, and some other electro-pop-new-wave music blasted through the speakers (with surprising bass, too). There was a brief introduction by the CES president and CEO, Gary Shapiro, who was very optimistic about 2010. He cited numerous innovative companies and technologies as proof that 2010 will be a great year for the consumer electronics industry. Once the introduction was completed, Steve Ballmer took the stage and began his presentation touting Microsoft’s most recent accomplishments. In the attached gallery, you can see most of the slides from his presentation. One of the topics that he covered in great depth was, of course, Windows 7. There were some interesting tid-bits of information, but there were also several new products that were demonstrated.

One of the new products is actually the implementation of Windows 7 into a “slate” style computer. Similar to the oft-rumored iSlate from Apple, these are portable and capable computers centered around touch capability. There were three devices on display during the keynote, one of which was from HP.

Another set of new products centered around the XBox 360. Project Natal, for one, is now officially becoming available during the 2010 holiday shopping season. No price was mentioned, but it looks like it will be a “game changer” (that was his quote, not mine). There was some background information about the development of the technology which was pretty interesting (the use of 3-D camera’s, etc.). There was also plenty of bragging about the integration of social experiences into the XBox 360 via Twitter, Facebook, and Netflix.

The other key area that was discussed revolved around home entertainment. Windows Media Center and Mediaroom 2.0 were discussed for quite some time. There are some new implementations of the Mediaroom software to enable TV viewers to pull on-demand content over the web. Most of this technology requires the use of a Windows PC driving your TV viewing experience (utilizing Cablecard and specific cable providers). It was a pretty impressive and seamless experience.

All in all, I walked away feeling pretty excited about 2010′s offerings from Microsoft (more specifically XBox 360, though).

The Meaning of (ID) Life.

admin — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:34:16 +0000

Probably one of the most understated speakers at the conference, Paul Hatch, gave one of the most thoughtful presentations Saturday afternoon. The meaning of (ID) life. Paul presented a new idea that really captured the audience. With a soundtrack of several Radiohead tracks, a unique presentation on the value of Industrial Designers and their makeup took form. The concept of the Industrial Designer is sometimes vague, as to their purpose, for non designers. Do we design factories (we would be rich if we had a dollar for every time we’ve heard this)? Not so much.

Paul’s presentation illustrated a clear understanding of our purpose, and of the people who practice it. He explained the purpose of an Industrial Designer as the key to balance between Marketing and Engineering. While a team of only Marketing and Engineering could create a successful product, an Industrial Designer is the glue to the team. Having experience and fluency in both worlds, the designer can bridge concepts and translate needs between both sides. Between the realms of Marketing and Engineering, designers allow both sides to continue their own work without having to be concerned with the other. We create a cohesive bond between the two realms that would otherwise be conflicted.

“Every designer is different, every project is different.”

Within this concept, Paul presented the idea of ID-DNA. Essentially, ID-DNA is the makeup of each designer regarding a set of key traits.

Verbal
Logic
Mechanical
Spatial
Visual
Dexterity
Gut Feel
Empathy
Innovative

Paul showed off a great chart that illustrated these traits for individuals, relative to others. In theory, by clearly defining the ID-DNA of team members, or employees, the manager would be able to craft a complementary team. This method would allow team members to perform exceptionally well in their strengths, where others would be able to do the same for functions that one would otherwise be weak. It is definitely a thought provoking concept that has the potential to shape the productivity and bond between a team.

David Bentley

admin — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:45:33 +0000

An ex-GM, ex-Chrysler, ex-Ford, and ex-Autodesk designer presented an inspiring display of sketching and digital painting Saturday. David Bentley has had a fantastic history within the industry, and has gone far beyond it. His presentation included up and coming trends in 3D sketching and digital sculpting for design, which provided plenty of eye-candy for the students who attended. He gave a lot of information to the audience, though it was overwhelming to some of the students in the audience at times. David had a chance to show us some highlights from Alias Studio, Sketchbook Pro, Photoshop, and Mudbox.

From his presentation, we were able to get a picture of his design workflow. The techniques that were used to translate a concept sketch over to a digitally painted rendering were so simple, yet fantastic. However, a lot of the techniques relied on the software package. One technique that he showed was using the tool set within Alias Studio. There are tools that let you define curves to change a sketch’s proportion (stretch and pull) without destroying the image. Unfortunately, this is not available outside of Alias Studio at this time. Some of the other techniques were universal, like the use of brush presets. David showed how to create a brush preset to easily place commonly used items within a rendering. A simple example was that of a screw head and stitching. It is a simple concept that is very easily implemented, but it can save a significant amount of time. One of the other software pieces that he showed off was Mudbox. It is basically a tool that is heavily used in the video game industry to sculpt characters. David, however, showed how one could use it to digitally sculpt a product design. With tools that are similar to physical clay sculpting, it is an intuitive way to digitally sculpt an object in 3D, while having a truly organic sense about the design. It was extremely impressive to say the least.

Friday Night Keynote

admin — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 06:28:33 +0000

The keynote presentation on Friday night was fantastic and full of information. Steve Diler, one of the authors of Making Meaning, presented a brief overview of the application of meaningful thinking as it relates to consumer products and experiences. It was an extremely fascinating exploration into the use of a designed, meaningful experience. Some of his presentation tied back into the panel discussion held earlier, mainly the concepts relating to the application of meaning to the business industry.

From the slide photographed above, one might ask what exactly an experience is and what kind of methods can be used to have one. Steve explained that there are several different types of experiences when it comes to meaning. Some of those are: Economic, Functional, Emotional, Status, and a Meaningful Experience. To the point of the slide above, competing solely on the basis of a functional experience would be extremely difficult, as everyone has it. In order to truly separate an offering, or product, one must have a meaningful experience. This kind of experience does have an inherent lack of control, where the end user can interpret to their desires, but it can be designed. The potential is within the design of a meaningful experience, and where you derive the basis for the experience. Applying the results of comprehensive design research to the design of the experience could yield a very thorough competitive framework. Overall, Steve Diler’s presentation was just a tease. I, personally, felt like there was so much more that I wanted to learn about this process. Maybe I’ll have to buy his book.

Making Meaning Panel Discussion

admin — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 06:09:49 +0000

The panel members, tonight, spent a majority of the time mulling over high level concepts and semantic differences. However, towards the end of the discussion, Steve Diler began a rather interesting conversation. His point was best illustrated by the question, “Can meaning provide companies with a more successful offering to consumers?” The application of this idea to business practices is extremely intriguing. There is significant potential when applying this concept to user research and developing meaning for the end user. It would be interesting to see how the use of meaning would affect the success of a product in the current economic state. Would there be more success, with a departure from a disposable culture?

I was expecting so much more from Scott Robertson.

admin — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:27:44 +0000

Scott Robertson, an Art Center graduate (circa 1990), gave a lackluster presentation to open the conference. Having heard his name on countless websites and seen his DVD’s on the Gnomon Workshop site, I had expected his presentation to be full of information and process specific to ID. Instead, I was rather disappointed. The majority of his time was spent giving a portfolio overview in an informal manner. There was plenty of eye candy, but not a significant amount of valuable information. There were several books that were covered during his talk, some of them not released yet, that he was promoting. The art work was based on concept art, primarily figures and vehicles. I did not see any ID related work other than a bicycle he produced during an internship 19 years ago. One of the best descriptions that was attributed to him during the presentation, was that he was a “Digital Bob Ross” (Thanks to James Dangora from TEAMS).

Towards the end of the presentation, he did reveal one bit of relevant information. He started to discuss some of his design philosophy that he is currently developing. The concept was called “Proximity Based Design” and was relatively thought through. He provided a basic list of the components:

What you see first
- Silhouette
- Proportions
- Stance
Value Graphics
- A nice comparison on the significance detail.
- i.e. Black windows on a black limo vs. black windows on a white limo.
Surfacing
Line Graphics
Materials
Info Graphics
Color
Texture

IDSA Midwest Conference 2009 is go.

admin — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 06:17:28 +0000

I arrived in Minneapolis a little past midnight. Tomorrow morning I’ll get registration underway and, provided there is wireless in the conference area, I will get to live blogging sessions.

IDSA Conference 2009

admin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:28:52 +0000

The announcement was made Saturday evening for the location of the 2009 IDSA national conference. Miami, Flordia at the Loews Hotel on South Beach will be the event location. There are no other details as of yet.

Derby Update: Finals

admin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:23:17 +0000

On Saturday the final round of the IBM Ultimate Derby took place. In the double elimination event, the HON #15 car placed…dead last! However, this is not as bad as it sounds. When you look at the times, out of 4 racers in this class, the HON car was a total of .03 seconds from matching the second place, Plexus #6, finisher. Aside from the one entry that utilzed a mechanism, the races were incredibly close. There was a lot learned during this process, and I hope to be able to compete again next year.

The Cutting Edge & Holy Grail (of design.)

admin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 02:14:58 +0000

Two very young designers, one of Priority Designs and the other of Facebook, gave an enlightening presentation on two different topics. Going along with the Polar Opposites theme, one presented on the core of the design process, while the other presented on the forefront of design visualization. The holy grail, or core, of design is that of proper knowledge of the end user. More explicitly, the accurate gathering of ethnographic, statistical, and scientific research. Opposite of this is the cutting edge, which was presented by an interaction designer from Facebook. He presented the concept of Darwinian design, which is explained as follows. In the past there was Newtonian design, in which one designed for data. At the cutting edge, and even presently, Darwinian design is where the data creates the design. Essentially this is based around high technology and user experience. The utilzation of data to group and visualize information by designers, is an excellent tool to communicate concepts.