Design Dialogues » Design ecology

What else might the eBook be?

Designdialogues — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 15:32:55 +0000

Since our University of Toronto eBooks User Experience study has been completed, its time to share what we found. But first, I’d like to compare some current progress between different eBook and future book research initiatives. I’m tracking projects such as OCAD’s SmartBook, the Institute for the Future of the Book, Dave Gray’s “unbook” collaborative, and . . . → Read More: What else might the eBook be?

Who really killed the American Car?

Designdialogues — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 17:12:29 +0000

Perhaps it isn’t all about the product. Adam Hanft makes the point that clumsy marketing and mediocre corporate culture with no sense of its own creative force led to “a marketing failure, probably the biggest one in history. It takes years of monumental incompetence to squander the biggest, deepest love affair the American consumer has . . . → Read More: Who really killed the American Car?

All Design is Redesign

Designdialogues — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:32:32 +0000

So now also says Bruno Latour, in a keynote lecture given at History of Design Society, Falmouth, September 2008 “A Cautious Prometheus? A Few Steps Toward a Philosophy of Design.”

The fourth advantage I see in the word “design” (in addition to its modesty, its attention to detail and the semiotic skills it always carries with it), . . . → Read More: All Design is Redesign

OFF + ON

Designdialogues — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:18:55 +0000

UK’s Trendwatching gives us OFF=ON. Everything offline takes on characteristics of the online (esp Web 2.0) world. Indeed this is a trend many of us have pushed with clients overly investing their brands in one medium/world or the other, but not both effectively. The primary vector in their article is mapping online features, design, and interaction . . . → Read More: OFF + ON

Opportunity Overload

Designdialogues — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:25:04 +0000

Information overload has been with us since the dawn of electronic media. According to McLuhan’s theories (and Robert Logan’s recent enhancements to media theory), when we humans overextend a communications channel, we create a new one. We create one commensurate with the increased volume and complexity of content that our culture generates. When we overwhelmed the . . . → Read More: Opportunity Overload