I have a few ideas, ranging from more traditional product design to interface design. Areas such as tangible media, communities, user interfaces and more. Before giving my thoughts away, what if you were given the chance to do a 1 year research project? What would you do? What interests you? What topics are relevant in interaction design? Note: obviously, avoid giving away your 1 million dollar design idea, think more in terms of inspiration and broader topics.

Wallpaper* Magazine

If you get a chance, why not buy the latest Wallpaper* magazine (October 2005 issue), yours truly is featured. Funny thing is, I have not even seen it myself. Yay hooray for international delays.

Uhm, dude, where have you been?

First things first, it has been rather quiet here at the nundroo headquarters. I keep saying it: blogging takes time! Why do you think so many people are going full time with this? Money? Yeah, right. No. Ego? Perhaps. Anyway, I am no Jason Kottke and there is no way yet I will dedicate myself full time to blogging. No, this year I have been incredibly busy doing all sorts of things related to design, from interface design to product design. For a quick overview, take a look at my recently launched portfolio site, it is far from complete, but will give you an idea (note: it has not been tested in internet explorer on windows, so do not complain, or get a decent browser, or just buy an Apple).

Evil

Okay, now that that is out of the way, let us get back to the essence here. Why do I hate iChat? Instant messaging kills existing social networks, it makes people lazy, it is addictive, it creates a fake sense of community, it absolutely, positively kills productivity and worst of all, it becomes the new standard for communication. Why is it that people living in the same building would rather want to use iChat to communicate (Rendez-vous, Bonjour, or whatever daft french name it has been given these days) than physical contact. You know, that thing called face-to-face conversation. What is wrong with a glass of wine and a good debate? Are we scared of looking each other in the eyes? Have we lost the sense of physical communication? Do we need to hide behind a laptop screen and a keyboard?

From Google to Southpark

This morning I opened another application I hate (but of course use daily), my RSS feed reader. Great. I am ranting about instant messaging and what happens? Big mighty Google decides to throw its weight around and released Google Talk (great job on the name guys, I am impressed, not. Jesus... Same goes for the logo, or the whole interface for that matter. And where's the Mac OS version?). To make sure no one is left out in the instant messaging business everyone and their grandmother is offering chat applications. So what next? If I want to date a girl I will have to chat with her first (some of course will argue that that is the only way nowadays, well, as Cartman from Southpark would say: "Screw you guys, I'm going home!").

See, I love technology, do not get me wrong. I use it daily, and my professional life mainly revolves around technology. But to be honest the whole social software crap is getting to a point where I believe we are creating something horrible. Honestly, before a baby can talk it will instant message his or her mom asking for milk (not from the breast of course, that may be dangerous...). Are we insane? And I have not even started talking about social networks like Orkut, Friendster or the newly hyped BuddyTown. A few weeks ago I got an email asking me if I would be interested in joining a network of people with the first name "Didier" in The Netherlands. I kid you not. Seriously people, what is up with you? Is your life so daft that you need to create a group that shares the same first name in a specific country. One word: pathetic. Besides, I live in Italy now (do not event think about sending me another request!).

People hide behind their computer. Nothing new, really. Back in the days when I was using IRC (yes, I know...) it was no different, but at least a majority was just geeky. Nowadays even Joe from across the street is chatting; probably to underaged girls. My point being that iChat is like cigarettes. Bored? Light one up, or rather, ping somebody to start a completely useless conversation. Only difference being, iChat allegedly does not harm your health, although I would like to make a case for the contrary. Another thing I hate iChat for is misunderstandings. I think I have insulted half the world through instant messaging without even wanting to (some may say that is not such a bad thing after all). Furthermore, there are no facial expressions in iChat, and do not tell me smilies are, that is lame.

iChat, iGood?

"Hey dude, if you think iChat is lame, stop using it!". Good point. I think iChat is great when it reinforces existing physical social networks. Sometimes it's just easier to ping someone. But it should never serve as a replacement. You can not hug someone over iChat (trust me, I tried, and an iBook is not really great for hugging...). Another thing iChat is great for is keeping in touch with those that live across the planet. Keeping contact with people state-side in my case, for example. So, no, iChat is not all evil, but I think there is a challenge in leveraging the always-on aspect of instant messaging. We all know away messages are useless, ping here, ping there and before you know it you killed 4 hours talking about the latest Apple mouse or why having clients sucks (great article by the way, and congratulations to the team on a great ALA relaunch. Jason, good design job, as usual!).

The Future

As many of you know I have a graduate degree in economics, but even at the age of 18 — freshly out of high school — I was wondering if design would be my thing... Yet, only 5 years later it became blatantly apparent: design is my life. Now, I am extremely grateful for having a degree in economics, but sometimes, secretly, i would have wished falling in love with design a few years earlier. However, in retrospective, I can now combine business knowledge with a solid understanding of design — I strongly believe design is the differentiator in this millennium!

Interaction Design

Interaction design is still very much in its infancy as an industry and academic field and many of us come from different backgrounds, creating a rich mixture of expertise. Multidisciplinarity is what makes interaction design so fascinating. This is also your chance to become part of this evolution and be an agent for change — define the industry!

Different academic institutions around the globe are offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in interaction design, such as Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, but also Carnegie Mellon University, Institute of Design Illinois Institute of Technology, ITP New York University and the recently announced Stanford Institute of Design. Things are moving forward at an incredible pace, creating new exciting opportunities. Businessweek is writing about it, FastCompany is writing about it, The New York Times is writing about it. And it gets better, because we ain't seen nothing yet — this is just the beginning.

Interaction Design Summer Camp 2005

So why a Summer Camp in Italy? Do I really need to ask that question? Seriously though, I think this is a great opportunity and if you are curious, have a desire to explore the world of technology and future scenarios and have a good dose of creativity, this is probably for you. The official website has more information and a great picture of James in the electronics lab, a fellow student here at IDII. Besides, if you think a motion sensor in an Apple PowerBook (or accelerometer, to be more precise) is wicked, well, we have better...

What Do You Think?

Going back to interaction design as a field in general, I see things moving. I am not quite sure what direction (except it is going forward), but I can feel (and experience firsthand) that interaction design is at a crucial stage — an evolution from "new kid on the block" to a recognized field. Yes, there is more work to do and as I mentioned I think we are still in an early phase, but I, for sure, am delighted to be part of it. What are your thoughts on interaction design? Where are we going as an industry? What does interaction design mean to you? Have you considered it as a career?

Introduction

I teamed up with the talented Nicholas Zambetti, who is both an amazing programmer and designer. So, taking cue from either a telephone, radio, answering machine or alarm clock, students created a series of electronic interactive prototypes that amplify the lost qualities of the physical and tangible world. From a radio which can only be tuned by moving it across a flat surface, to an audio channel system which is always switched on just like a physical chat room, to an alarm clock that turns itself off by squeezing a teddy bear, the variations upon the theme are several. Each project was conceived, developed and prototyped as a fully functioning device.

The Challenge

At the very beginning of the course Nicholas and myself were given a radio/alarm clock (note: an EUR 22,- digital radio/alarm clock, needless to mention we could not wait to use it, or to be more exact: take it apart.) We started thinking about its functionality, design and interaction. We decided to adopt a minimalistic approach, getting rid of superfluous or insignificant functionality, and decided to name it "Quattro".

Quattro is housed in a translucent enclosure without physical buttons nor markings. Its functions depend on its position: orientating it on the side it's a radio, upright (in either direction) it becomes an alarm timer and placed horizontally it's a clock. There are four ways to position the prototype, hence it's name Quattro, meaning four in Italian. As you come nearer to Quattro, it detects your presence and reveals illuminated touch-sensitive controls relevant to its current function. In contrast with the minimalistic styling, a cuddly plush bear is intended for remote operation. Yup, you can use a teddy bear from the comfort of your bed. Functionality includes a snooze function and seeking for radio stations.

Electronics

One of the cool things is that we had an electrical engineer helping us out designing the schematics for our prototype. After a couple of days we received our very own personalized PCB! It is amazing how things get easier when everything is printed on such a board, a big yay hooray for miniaturization and engineering! The building process required a lot of energy and dedication and towards the end we spent a few sleepless nights making sure the object was in working condition for the exhibition.

The best thing is to see an object produced from A to Z in an environment where users can interact with it. Nothing beats real world testing, no amount of tinkering, thinking, programming, sketching or designing can match that. And, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive!

I think I have never been challenged as much as I have during the last 6 weeks. Coming to IDII I had little to no knowledge about industrial design, electronics, soldering and model making. Yes, it was hard work and long nights, but it was more than worth it. But more important than tools are the people dedicated to their work such as Massimo Banzi, Heather Martin, Yaniv Steiner, Reto Wettach, Dario Buzzini (professors — physical computing), Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino (student — thanks for the 3D models and sewing the bears ass up...) and last but certainly not least Edoardo Brambilla from Milano (workshop — model maker extraordinaire).

More, more, more...

Naturally I could go into much more detail, from concept to execution, but that will have to wait. There is, of course, much more to discuss about soldering (and techniques), electronics (datasheets, schematics and breadboards), programming for microcontrollers (in this case ATmega8535 and ATmega128 chips), prototype building (materials, techniques) and industrial design (3D rendering, exploded views). However, a few things: 1. Do not reverse a 7805 power regulator and feed it 12 volts, things will burn... fast! 2. Always, always, use a multimeter first to verify the connections (solderings) and circuit. 3. Hot glue is your best friend. 4. Do not try to bend the legs of a chip just because you mirrored the socket by accident...

In the News

• Orientation-sensitive clock radio and cuddly bear for snoozing
  Near Near Future
• Quattro radio alarm clock
  Core77
• Quattro Multi-Function Clock
  Gizmodo
• Alarm-clock changes modes with rotation + teddybear
  BoingBoing
• Koseklokke
  VG Nett — Teknoisme (Norway)
• Quattro Multi-Function Clock
  Amazon.com: Early Adopters

Music and Memory

After an initial investigation and multiple brainstorm sessions we decided to work with music and how it relates to memory (a topic we stuck with from the beginning). In part because of our own experiences with music and how when each of us hears a distinct song we think of a particular moment in our respective lives. Undoubtedly, music is one of the most engaging and emotionally powerful stimuli. Listening to music can have strong effects on people’s mood, thinking and even their physiology. I think it’s mainly because of the latter that certain songs remind us so vividly of a specific memory.

Design and Programming

The course was a combination of studio and skill sessions, in design and programming. Since IDII attracts students with different professional and academic backgrounds, from computer science to industrial design and architecture (emphasizing the institute’s multi-disciplinary approach), some basics were covered at first. The programming classes proved to be the most challenging (for some reason they dumped me in the advanced class... ouch!). IDII promotes the use of Processing, a Java based programming language, developed by Casey Reas and Ben Fry (IDII, MIT). Processing is a programming language and environment built for the electronic arts and visual design communities. It was created to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context and to serve as a software sketchbook. As most of you probably know I am by no means a programmer, but yet have always been interested in toying with code. Here are two examples I created: a. elasticity and b. particles. Probably nothing too exciting in the eyes of the seasoned programmer, but it nevertheless felt like an achievement to me! Now for some serious programming check out what Marcos has been playing with — yes, simply amazing.

Importance of Process

Interaction design requires good concepts and stellar execution. Consequently a good execution of a stupid concept is a waste of time, similarly, a poor execution of a good idea is a shame. Results-oriented thinking can bite you in the ass — very very hard. Earlier this year, in a must-read article, Andrei noted the importance of process in high-technology design. And boy, it is so true. Process ensures to some degree that you focus on what is important: the core of what you are working on. Getting lost in endless tangents? Go back to the core. Stuck struggling with mindless details? Go back to the core. Interaction not working properly? Go back to the core. Because no matter how good and sexy the aesthetics of an interface, nothing beats a good idea. Instead of trying to come up with an impressive interface for a crap idea or concept, go back a few steps and think hard about what a project is really about — what is the essence of what you are trying to communicate and design?

The Power of User Data

First, let me (and Marcos) thank everyone who has been so kind to share their memories related to music. The response has been beyond expectation: we gathered about 500 (!) records to date, and the database is still growing — if you are interested you can still add your memories. Additionally, a massive thank you to everyone who has linked to the project so far (K10k, Zeldman, Simplebits and others). I think it is important to mention that our intention is not to analyze the data or to discern specific psychological patterns. Rather, we wanted a real dataset for the visualization. But more importantly, the user data we collected showed us that the stories attached to the memories are the fascinating part of what we are trying to work with. The very personal, sometimes even intimate, nature of the stories is the core of the visualization. The challenge has been to build a graphical user interface (information visualization) that reflects the emotional value.

Graphical User Interface

In all honesty, we struggled a lot with the visualization of the data. Why? Simply because we wanted to address different issues at the same time — in retrospect probably too many issues. As mentioned we collected a number of attributes in the form, both quantitative and qualitative. Our initial approach was statistical, abstracted from emotion, a dry representation of data. It soon became apparent that such a visualization did not communicate the core of our project: it did not encompass the emotional or personal qualities inherent to the data set. Conclusion: back to the drawing board — hit it hard! Thus, going back to the core, and taking the stories as a starting point we sketched out different ways of accessing and displaying the content. How to browse the system? How to access the core of the data? What are essential attributes in this particular visualization? What is the essence of the user experience?

In the end we concluded that emotions, music (songs, artists) and memories (stories) are the main attributes, i.e. the essence of our visualization. Consequently we designed a 3 column interface that would reflect this approach, with a distinct focus on the memories. So what does it look like? I included a few screenshots, but I am not yet disclosing the full application. For the simple reason that we are building a public version that will launch sometime soon.

The very positive public response and enthusiasm made us realize that it would be a good idea publish our interface and make it available online. So, keep an eye out on http://www.musicmemory.net within the next few weeks. Right now we are working on refining the interface, programming in Flash, coding PHP, MySQL database, XML and anything necessary to make this work.

Technology

For those interested this is a quick overview of how our prototype actually worked, the back-end of it, that is. As mentioned before, Processing was the development environment of choice (or rather, required). This proved to be somewhat of a challenge and in the end we decided to build half of the interface in Flash and the other half in Processing. Uhm, yeah, this is probably where I should include a “do-not-do-this-at-home-kids” sort of notice. Anyway, the course brief was clear: use Processing to deliver your application — so be it.

The form (Flash) saves all the data in a MySQL database using a PHP script. Next, an XML file is created from the MySQL database. The left part (a) of the interface is a flash file that parses the XML file for emotions, songs and artists. The right part (b) is a Processing file (Java applet) that parses the XML file for stories. Now, Flash and Processing need to communicate, passing commands from the left side to the right side — this is done using Javascript. Yeah, it kind of gets ugly... but it worked, and for a prototype that is what matters. Now of course we van not publicly release such a monster, so we are rebuilding it in Flash and optimizing it for public release.

In a form we have put online we ask you to mention a specific song that you relate to a memory. Do you have a specific song that reminds you of your first girlfriend; that cool wedding of your best friend; a summer vacation? We are sure that you can find plenty examples! You can even sketch out your memory, among other things! It's great fun, really!

http://www.nundroo.com/memory/form.php

Your help is greatly appreciated, thank you! Feel free to send this form to other people too! Oh, yeah, and we would like to collect the data pretty soon, actually within the next 2 or 3 days.

note:
Your privacy will be protected, obviously, all the data used is collected anonymously and used for internal academic purposes (not sold to others etc.) As you can see we do not ask for a username or email or any personal information. We are interested in the stories, and how music relates to memory.

In his presentation Moggridge discussed 6 different categories of interaction design: games, screens, products, places, services and internet. Each category was then exemplified by a number of cases and interviews with industry leaders. For example, in the category “screens” Bill Atkinson and Larry Tessler talk about their work bringing the GUI to the Apple Lisa (based on technology from Xerox PARC), including extending the paradigm of pull-down menus (note: Jef Raskin was also involved in developing interface components and began to work on a small project in 1979, that would encompass a $500 business machine code-named Macintosh.)

Furthermore, in the category “internet” Larry Page and Sergey Brin elaborate on some of the design choices (or lack thereof in my opinion) for the Google interface. Moggridge added that Google made some sensible and appropriate design choices. However, personally, I think the Google interface could be significantly improved to result in a more efficient (in organizing and designing search results) and pleasing to use interface. In early 2004 Andrei Herasimchuk decided to redesign Google’s results page for educational purposes (see in addition his second iteration.) Andrei leaves Google’s distinct (though rather primitive) branding intact and improves a number of interface features and reshapes the way information, namely the search results page, is displayed.

After the lecture there was a more informal Q&A session and I got a chance to talk to Moggridge and discuss some of his work at IDEO. Before leaving for dinner Moggridge donated a deck of IDEO Method Cards to IDII. These cards show 51 of the methods IDEO uses to inspire great design and keep people at the center of their design process. I will most probably discuss the cards (and their potential usefulness and applicability) in more detail once I have had a more thorough look at them.

The pool of students is impressive, bordering on frighteningly talented. I will need to seriously brush up on my skills in every department, but that is a good thing. Among the students is also Marcos Weskamp, known for his work on Newsmap — an application that visually reflects the constantly changing landscape of the Google News news aggregator. In general it is inspiring to see the variety in backgrounds, from graphic design, industrial design, architecture, technical writing, computer science, cognitive psychology, to economics and business (yes, that would be me.)

For now I am enjoying the surroundings, getting to know people from all over the world and attending my Italian classes to make myself understandable in this country. I can speak a few words, but it is rather pathetic at the moment. Furthermore, now that I am somewhat settled here this blog will get a little more attention and I think the next year will provide me with enough inspiration to write about interaction design and related topics more frequently. Okay, time for coffee.

Speaking of Italy, I am moving in a months time, or 5 weeks to be exact. Damn. That is actually pretty soon. I need to finish my stuff overhere and it is keeping me plenty busy. I try to enjoy moments with friends inbetween. They all say they are going to visit me in Italy, but I know for a fact how that will work out: some will, most will not. I will hand in my thesis during the first week of September, then I move. This is going to one of the least complicated moves in my life. I pack my clothes, my computer, my skateboard and hit the road with an open rooftop, unless it rains, and just drive to Italy (I need my car in Italy, actually, I always need my car…) I just do not have time to think about the whole process, and honestly, I am just too damn excited to worry about such an insignificant thing as logistics.

That said, I will probably forget a zillion things, but who cares? In October it will be graduation time back in Rotterdam, so I will fly back, and officially receive my graduate degree in economics. Another chapter in life that will be concluded. To officially end those fantastic years I am going to throw a massive party with all my friends and family in Rotterdam, say goodbye and basically get wasted. I will probably fly back on a Sunday to Italy with a huge hangover. Rock on!

After all those things are taken care of I seriously hope to sit back and relax, or atleast ease the mind a little, settle again, and enjoy the new surroundings. Currently I am in overdrive mode, which is fine, but not all the time. I am already looking forward to so many things. For the first time in my life I will be able to think, talk and dream about design 24/7, 365 days a year, that is almost surreal in a way. Christmas is going to be great, as usual. Drive to the French alps, get together with the family and pretend to be a bad ass snowboarder (which translates to sitting inside with a glass of wine, with my boats on, mind you.)

So, yeah, this blog thing is going to have to wait. Maybe an article (or announcement) or two, but do not expect much. Anyway, there are enough bloggers around to keep you busy with reading. The next time I will post an article I will probably sip an espresso made of the finest Italian coffee, enjoy my cigerette (damn, I still smoke, how did that happen?) and contemplate mesmerizing 16th century buildings.

I am not going to discuss job titles in this article and while I am aware of their importance I would rather try to define (and understand) the industry as a whole before opening a can of worms. From the above three terminologies, experience design is, in my opinion, the least suitable. Experience is something inherently subjective, it can be anything from good, to bad, to catastrophic. I see experience as an outcome — it is impossible to design an experience as such. I can not design happiness, accomplishment, satisfaction or frustration, these are merely outcomes that I may be able to influence, but not design, command or construct. However, what I can do is design and construct an interface or stimulate an interaction that is going to lead to such an experience (hopefully an experience that is both useful and helpful.) You may find the disparity trivial, but it is nonetheless critical.

Interface and interaction

This leads us to the difference between interface and interaction. Interface refers exclusively to an object, while interaction can refer to either an object or a subject (or more specifically their relation.) Interactions can occur between two subjects (mediated by technology, i.e. mobile phones), two objects (i.e. two machines talking to eachother) and between an object and a subject and vice versa (i.e. ATM machine or personal computer). Different technologies do not necessarily limit themselves to one type of relation, a mobile phone or personal computer can facilitate interactions between subjects (i.e. chat, instant messaging), as well as interactions between objects (i.e. protocols, connections) and interactions between an object and subject (i.e. data input, data output.)

Interactions between two objects are needed and useful, but not imperative in the context of this discussion (I do not want to trivialize the work being done in this area, but an interface between two objects is by and large abstracted from human factors and behaviour.) The real challenge is to construct a successful interaction between two humans (usually mediated by technology.) Humans have emotions and can behave irrationally, non-lineair and without prior notice. The latter is of course what makes this job so damn interesting. Eventually I believe my job will be to “design that stuff” — as simple as that. I want to facilitate interactions and to do so I design and construct interfaces. Does this mean we should stick exclusively to the terminology of interface design (as Andrei suggests)?

Tangible definitions work better

Personally I think there is nothing wrong with interaction design, nor with interface design for that matter. It boils down to a personal preference, either referring to a more tangible aspect of your work (interface) or to a more abstract concept (interaction.) Nevertheless, the more tangible the definition, the easier it will be to communicate what we do, and elucidate our added value to the outside world (project managers, decision makers, business executives, in-laws, family, friends and whoever is interested.) How much sense would the following description make to the laity? “Interaction takes place through the use of an interface, our job is to design and construct that interface.”

It seems this business is still in its infancy, transitioning en route to becoming a rebellious teenage kid, and we all know what that brings about. It will take some time before we (and I especially include myself) grow up and become a mature industry. We will make mistakes, more so probably than we will succeed, but that is part of the game. Maybe one day I will be in a position to define the rules the game is played by, meanwhile I do my best to understand and apply them.

Read more about interaction design

• Making the case for Interface Design
  Andrei Herasimchuk
• A Definition of Interaction Design
  Dan Saffer
• What Is Interaction Design?
  Interaction Design Institute Ivrea
• About: Interaction Design
  Nico Macdonald
• Interaction Design
  IxD Group
• So You Want To Be an Interaction Designer
  Robert Reimann
• Interaction Design
  Jennifer Preece et al.
• About Face 2.0: The Essentials of Interaction Design
  Alan Cooper et al.

There is probably much more around, both online and offline, but these will help you get an idea of what interaction and interface design is all about. This industry is exciting, and I am equally excited to be part of it. ]]> 2004-07-29T13:27:10Z 2004-07-29T13:18:37Z tag:www.nundroo.com,2004://1.8 2004-07-29T13:18:37Z

Validation as a tool

What probably bothers me most in this discussion are the anal and ignorant trolls that gleefully accept validation as their new found religion and add to it a determination to convert the masses and persecute the infidels. Get a life. Validation by itself, considered as an axiom or taken out of context, is utterly useless. Eventually validation is exclusively a tool to assess if you have “done things right”, but is by no means a way to determine if you “did the right things.” For now, assigning more significance to validation is both naïve and futile. More imperative to me is an amalgamation of wide-ranging topics that include standards, semantics, syntax, and yes, ultimately also validation.

XHTML is essentially a reformulation of HTML in XML, and XML requires strict validation. Browsers, most notably Internet Explorer, will accept lazy and wrong code, such as unclosed paragraph tags and worse. Is that a good thing? No, for the reason that I deem the web will one day be XML powered — truly and fully XML powered, from front-end to back-end. Imagine we take the strict validation rules that pertain to XML and apply them to the current state of the web. Oops… Apocalypse now…

Do you care or not?

I do care about standards and validation, but only to a certain degree. Coding is simply not my job, I do not see it as my role to discuss or investigate the correctness of mark up. And to be honest, I think other talented people are in a far better position to discuss these topics with sense and intelligence. I see code as a mean to deliver my work. Nevertheless, any designer involved in producing web sites should have a basic understanding of good mark up, even if he or she is not required to actually code. This advice is not limited to the web — an architect has to be acquainted with an assortment of building materials and their respective characteristics, for example. In the same way, Design Eye for the Usability Guy proved that teamwork and mutual professional understanding, in addition to the expertise of each individual, lead to an improved result.

To have your personal blog or web site validate is not hard. Don’t even bother telling me it is, because if I can do it, you can do it. Nevertheless, several professionals may have to deal with proprietary systems or content that is beyond their control. Validation gets a lot tougher when a quantity of variables are exogenous. You should also keep in mind that a validating web site is not in effect accessible, usable or attractive, which honestly takes a lot more effort. I will admit that validation can be gratifying, like getting an A+ in class. The W3C validator is like your high school teacher giving you a pat on the back — “Good job, son.”

So, to conclude, I believe validation matters, and it will matter a whole lot more in the future. Ideally I would give my design and code to professionals that understand good code better than I will ever understand. Yes, I do have a decent level of comprehension to be able to recognize the limitations and possibilities of mark up, yet someone that works with code on a daily basis will be able to deliver a clean and semantic document, and, with a bit of luck make it validate too. So, keep those small buttons and please care about standards, just do not bust my ass about an ampersand that is not encoded. Deal?

So, this is my new and first blog. Damn, I have a blog — how geeky! I wish I could write a detailed account of my design, coding and implementation process but I am afraid that my time is limited, so that will have to wait for now. In this post I will elaborate on some aspects but leave others undiscussed. You may freely comment on what you think about it all, but be constructive (for typos, coding errors and others, please send me an email.)

Design and how it looks

There is not much to say about the design per se. I did not feel like trying to reinvent the blog concept, I will leave that to Andrei for now (oh, and I also shamelessly nicked his comment display metaphor and some other bits.) It is as basic as it gets: two columns, center with content and sidebar with other stuff. This design has a lot of common points with my other recent production, their styles are similar. I will agree that some elements are just too small or hard to read. It is something to take care of in the near future.

At times I hated this design and wondered if I should not start all over again. Something I am sure every designer thinks at some point. Please read my article Being a Perturbed Designer to understand some of these feelings, and why not add your own feedback. I had to balance my available time between working on this blog and writing my thesis. Sometimes it is frustrating not to be able to focus on design fulltime.

How it works

The main navigation is basic. For now both essentials and bookmarks are not active. I will update these sections as soon as possible. The homepage will always display the 3 latest articles and the 2 latest comments. In the sidebar you will find Blogocarta™ and a search box. That is it, not much really. In the future I might add more content. Individual archive pages have a calendar in the sidebar showing the current month. The archives page shows the 3 most recent articles, and a calendar with the current month in the sidebar. You can navigate to different months using the links below the calendar (there is currently just one month, so no navigation.)

Technical details and Movable Type

This site is built using XHTML 1.0 Strict Doctype and CSS for layout purposes. It should validate but I can not guarentee that. You will not find any validation links other than the one just provided. For more information you can read Mike Davidson’s thought on validation, which nicely echo my own thoughts on the topic. My CSS is a bit of a mess, with unused style rules and other things that are littered all over the place. I will clean this up when I find time.

I do not know what to think of MT 3.0. It is pretty cool and a solid web application but I was dissapointed at times, especially with the template tags. I never worked with MT before and I definitively underestimated the time it would take me to implement everything using templates. In retrospect it is not that surprising, I had to learn a whole new language with its own syntax, tags, code and rules.

This is about content

Design is cool, but this blog will be mainly about content. With the launch of this blog I offer you 3 articles, one of which you are currently reading. Others include Being a Perturbed Designer (the frustrations that haunt designers) and Interaction Design Institute Ivrea (why I am moving to Italy.) You can expect a whole lot more content, mainly focussed on interaction design. I prefer to blog less frequently but offer quality content — enjoy!

What is important to remember is to never let self criticism become counter productive. Deadlines are set to be met, and not to be postponed endlessly, whether it be personal projects (such as a blog) or professional client work. Moreover, a bad case of being self critical can lead to serious frustrations about your own work, which will reflect on the people you are working with and your clients.

Many times I have thought of disposing of a design seconds before it was due to launch, usually with regard to personal projects, where deadlines matter only to myself (so, essentially they do not matter.) You are as good as your last design, and that is sometimes a scary thought. But in practice your last design may not be your best, for whatever reason. Of course you want every new project to kick serious butt and show off your abilities and skills the best you can – me too.

Design can be tough

Every designer has moments when anything that is produced sucks, atleast judged by their own criteria. This is where team work can be very effective, motivating each other and finding solutions to design problems – or complimenting good work. Working alone, on a personal project, results in a tunnel vision, that is rarely productive. You forget the big picture and how you came to produce the design in front of you. Sure, sometimes a design may truly be less good. But why is that? Is it because you just do not like it, aesthetically, or is there more. Try to evaluate what is wrong with your current design, just concluding that it is not good enough will not help you much.

In the end your design will never be good enough, whether judged mainly by your own criteria or sometimes by those of others. You might reach a point where you are satisfied about how it looks, but it can always be improved. Nothing is perfect in this world, and I think that is a good thing. I truly believe that if you are 100% happy about the result you have not tried hard enough. But remember: do not let self criticism dictate your will to design. As with probably everything in life, apply it with care and some limitations.

I am glad that I have a masters degree in economics. It has brought me nothing but good things. A career as a banker or consultant was waiting for me. Follow the greed, money and success. Ironic? Cynic? Maybe, but I had the privilege to experience corporate environments first hand. There are a lot of great companies out there — do not get my wrong. But personally I had to make a choice between following the money or following my passion. Follow your passion with dedication and talent and money will follow. I still [want to] believe in that tenet.

Becoming an interaction designer

Everything I know about (interaction) design, usability, web development, information architecture I have learnt in my moments not being busy with economics or stock markets. Reading books, reading web sites (too many to list), dissecting code and design of other talented people. But how does one go from economics and the corporate world to design, while also keeping in mind that my level of education asked for a challenge, not something I would succeed at easily? It is a question that tormented me for about 4 years. Should I just stick to my fate and the fact that design was just a hobby? Would I be the kind of manager or banker that was secretely a painter but never dared to follow his passion? You control your own destiny. Plus I am young and have abolutely nothing to lose. No guts, no glory.

My decision was made. Design it was. It could not be anything else. I took the time to do some research and see what graduate degrees were available in the field of interaction design. That is when I stumbled across Interaction Design Institute Ivrea. I made a phone call. My background was not a problem, they look for talent and people that understand design and its role in our society (an undergraduate degree was mandatory, however.) With that positive thought in mind I got my act together and worked extremely hard to get my application ready with all the material I could possibly show. I was nervous — very nervous. Only 25 people get accepted every year and god knows how many applications they receive. But I knew I did the best I could. And, as you all now know, everything ended in an extremely positive note.

What I will be doing

So, what is it I will be doing? That is a tough question to answer in a few lines. I am sure I will be better able to answer it with more relevancy once I see some action. But let me nevertheless give it a go. In a nutshell I will be studying design in the high technology field, from computers to mobile phones and from operating systems to interactive clothing. Yet, I will also apply my knowledge of business to design. I always like to refer to it the “business of design” and “the design of business.” Design and business are two fields that may not seem close, but upon further inspection share some similarities. More importantly they can learn from each other.

Stimulating environment

Interaction Ivrea is a stimulating environment where leaders in the industry, such as Don Norman, John Maeda, Nathan Shedroff, Molly Steenson and Peter Morville, among others, have taught and spoken. I feel privileged to be part of it all very soon. Hoping to be a leader myself one day, but foremost just enjoy myself. Is that cool or what?