Surgeries have been a staple in the field of medicine which date back as early as 3000 BC where a procedure known as trephining (cutting small holes in the skull) were evident. Fast forward to the 18th century, we can see historical evidence of surgical procedures conducted from tooth extractions to treating battlefield wounds. Now…
Thanks but No Thanks
The technology presented in these Science Fiction shows isn’t very far off from what we currently have. For the Black Mirror episode of Nosedive, there is research and development for a smart contact lens by Mojo Vision at the moment. https://www.wired.com/story/mojo-vision-smart-contact-lens/ The idea takes eye-tracking technology and utilizes it to create a visual display with…
Communicating with the Blind, Mute, or Both
I chose to design a product that could help the blind, mute or both communicate with others through a blue tooth glove and display apparatus (similar to a tablet) that is worn like a necklace and sits in front of the chest area. The glove acts like an I/O device such as the standard keyboards…
The Need for Information Architecture
The importance of Information Architecture is described by Richard Saul Wurman as a way of “creating of systemic, structural, and orderly principles to make something work–the thoughtful making of either artifact, or idea, or policy that informs because it is clear.” It helps breakdown complex and/or large amounts of information by allowing us to map…
The Birth of Survival Horror Games: Shinji Mikami
Shinji Mikami is a Japanese game designer, producer and director. He was born in Iwakuni, Japan on August 11th, 1965 and graduated from Doshisha University in Kyoto, majoring in merchandise. Soon after, he landed a job with Capcom as a game planner in 1990. At the early stages of his career, he worked on Disney…
Microsoft Word: Then and Now
Microsoft Word (originally known as Multi-Tool Word) was introduced in the early 1980s by software developers Richard Brodie and Charles Simonyi who came to work for Microsoft from Xerox. Although Microsoft Word was made available for both Macintosh and computers using MS-DOS, It wasn’t until 1989, when Word shifted its focus to Windows, bundled with…
The Evolution of Social Apps and Bulletin Board Systems
I believe the general concept of social apps have stayed similar; to bring people together and communicate about interests, topics, and other issues. But, with the advance of technology since the days of The Well and eWorld, one huge element that I thought is crucial for the modern experience of digital, social communities are real-time…
How far We’ve Gotten with GUI’s and Modern Interaction Designs
Looking at the graphical user interface for the Xerox Star (1982) and the Macintosh (1984) and comparing it to modern day computers and devices, we can see what aspects changed and which stayed pretty much the same. First, we need to understand that the Xerox Star was designed for office professionals which handled storage, transfer…
How Oregon Trail Became a Favorite
Wow, this brings back some memories. I remember playing this for the first time in elementary school as personal desktops made its way into classrooms and this is probably one of the reasons why it became popular; being able to play a video game at school, where we spend most of our day at as…
Design Patterns of Christopher Alexander from Paper to the Digital World
Christopher Alexander describes #36 Degrees of Publicness using our personalities (introvert/extrovert) as a way of choosing where to live in a neighborhood. He states, “To make sure that the different kinds of people can find houses which satisfy their own particular desires, we suggest that each cluster of houses, and each neighborhood should have three…
Hironobu Sakaguchi: From Zero to Game Hero
Hironobu Sakaguchi is a well-known Japanese game designer, producer, writer and former film director. He was born in 1962 in Hitachi, Japan. Although he started out studying to become an electrical engineer while attending Yokohama National University, he decided to drop out in 1983. He then began working for Square, which was part of Denyusha…
PDA & Brain Pal for CDF
Here’s what I got from the reading of the PDA and Brain Pal’s capabilities/features. Once the features were written down, I sketched out my design of the PDA. From the description of how Brain Pal functions, I figured it would be surgically implanted onto the surface of the visual cortex as it mentions its capabilities…
Uprise of Computers and it’s Influence on Interactive Design
When we look at original computers back in the early to mid 20th century, we will see machines that were gigantic in size such as the Harvard Mark I and ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer). These massive computers took up a lot of space (about the size of a large room) and expected results/calculations…
Grandfather of Video Games: Miyamoto Shigeru
Shigeru Miyamoto is Japanese artist, video game designer and game director who is well known for his work with Nintendo. He was born in 1952 in the city of Sonobe, Japan. Graduating from Kanazawa Municipal College of Industrial Arts in 1970 with a degree in Industrial Design, he originally intended to design for toys and…
Seeing the Bigger Picture
By thinking in a way that is expansive in my opinion means to think of more than just the aesthetics of a product. Henry Dreyfuss once said, “on the other hand if people are made safer, more comfortable, more eager to purchase, more efficient—or just plain happier—by contact with the product, then the designer has…
Designing for People, by People
Henry Dreyfuss, a notable industrial designer who quoted “when the point of contact between the product and people becomes a point of friction, then the industrial designer has failed” created works like The Measure of Man which helped construct principles that revolved around ergonomics (human-factors engineering). He also incorporated the importance of approaching every problem…
The Memex: From Concept to Reality
Vannevar Bush was a well-known engineer and scientist who played a huge role with the American government Since World War I. He envisioned a device, known as the Memex that could store and manipulate information; whether it be words or pictures, and be mechanized to work at high speed and flexibility. Through his article As…
Janine Benyus
Janine Benyus is a biologist, science writer and co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8 (consultancy) and Biomimicry Institute which deals with the study of nature and how it can inspire ideas in order to create designs with sustainable solutions. Born in 1958 in New York City, she graduated with a BS in Natural Resource Management and a…
Finding Deeper Meaning Past the Face of Design
As newly taught designers within the field of interaction (or any other field of design), we can easily decide to work for a company as long as we get paid. This can be a pitfall when the company starts to control the outcome of our designs to be tailored towards their own profitable gains. But,…
How Games can Influence Interaction Design
When you hear the term video games, what comes to mind? Someone sitting in front of a TV, computer or mobile device with their attention fixated onto the screen for hours on end? Many think that video games are a bad thing as a lot of our time is consumed out of the day from…