Small Surfaces » lifestyle http://smallsurfaces.com mobile user interface design / user experience design / interaction design resources Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:10:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 The phone of the future http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/12/the-phone-of-the-future/ http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/12/the-phone-of-the-future/#comments Thu, 07 Dec 2006 21:21:35 +0000 Gabriel White http://www.smallsurfaces.com/2006/12/the-phone-of-the-future/ Two interesting articles about mobile phones from the always-must-read Economist. The first, interestingly, predicts divergence rather than convergence and uses cars as the developmental analogue. I’m not convinced by the divergence argument here – unlike cars, mobile phones are general computing platforms than can adapt (or be adapted) to user habits in a way that cars just can’t.

“Last, and perhaps most important, the history of the car suggests that the technology industry’s current mania for “converged” devices is misguided. Nobody asks what the ideal shape for a car is, or predicts that eventually all cars will look identical. Instead there are different models for different uses: roomy people-carriers for school runs, sports cars for those suffering mid-life crises, small cars for urban dwellers.”

Link: Phones are the new cars (economist.com)

“And yet speculation about the future of phones persists, and no wonder. The telephone has changed beyond recognition since its invention in 1876, and is now both the most personal, most social and most rapidly evolving technological device. So to imagine the phone of the future is also to imagine the future of consumer technology, and its personal and social impact. What mobile phones will look like in a year or two is easy to guess: they will be slimmer and probably will let you watch television on the move. But what about ten or 15 years from now?”

Link: The phone of the future (economist.com)

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]]> http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/12/the-phone-of-the-future/feed/ 0 Designing games for people’s pockets http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/11/designing-games-for-peoples-pockets/ http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/11/designing-games-for-peoples-pockets/#comments Sun, 05 Nov 2006 23:22:05 +0000 Gabriel White http://www.smallsurfaces.com/2006/11/designing-games-for-peoples-pockets/ Some guidelines for the design of handheld games.

“There are two major things you have to keep in mind concerning the interface and user-experience, first one is that most players will be picking up your game in short breaks. They need to be able to quickly start it, and quickly put it away without losing “everything”. The second thing is that you are dealing with alot of non-technical people, without any or little gaming experience. So keep things simple and intuitive.”

Link: Mobiles, design, and gameplay (orangepixel.net)

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]]> http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/11/designing-games-for-peoples-pockets/feed/ 0 Imagining the products of the future http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/10/imagining-the-products-of-the-future/ http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/10/imagining-the-products-of-the-future/#comments Thu, 12 Oct 2006 09:58:46 +0000 Gabriel White http://www.smallsurfaces.com/2006/10/imagining-the-products-of-the-future/ As the mobile technology space explodes, everyone’s always asking: how do we imagine the products of the future?

“There are many more examples of such products from the non-digital world—think of the clothing and movie industries. It’s hard to imagine UCD techniques would have uncovered a latent desire for newsprint-look dresses or subservient chickens. These were cases where the power of the designers’ vision created the demand, showing vision-driven design is sometimes the right approach. In such cases, the role of UCD is to help better the odds that a particular idea will resonate with a product’s target market and screen out those ideas that won’t, as I’ll discuss below.”

Link: Designing Breakthrough Products: Going Where No User Has Gone Before (uxmatters.com)

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]]> http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/10/imagining-the-products-of-the-future/feed/ 0 The effects of 24/7 communication http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/07/the-effects-of-247-communication/ http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/07/the-effects-of-247-communication/#comments Tue, 18 Jul 2006 09:04:57 +0000 Gabriel White http://www.smallsurfaces.com/2006/07/the-effects-of-247-communication/ “Connecting people. Disconnecting people. Reconnecting people. analyses how people cope with being in touch 24/7 and how personal time and space are defined in a context where availability is always expected. It starts off with a description of the existing behaviors, personal strategies and complaints, to conclude with a proposal for alternative solutions oriented to help users to define personal boundaries and quality time periods.”

Link: Connecting people. Disconnecting people. Reconnecting people. (ana-c-amorim.com, 7.8MB PDF)

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]]> http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/07/the-effects-of-247-communication/feed/ 1 Experience design at Nokia http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/06/experience-design-at-nokia/ http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/06/experience-design-at-nokia/#comments Thu, 08 Jun 2006 09:33:23 +0000 Gabriel White http://www.smallsurfaces.com/2006/06/experience-design-at-nokia/ An interesting interview with the Head of Brand Visual and Sensorial Experiences (nice one!) at Nokia.

“Even today my work is still very much involved in understanding and recognising trends and the way people or societies are changing. One of the important things is to realise the difference between long-term societal trends and short-term lifestyle trends, but also to understand that some short-term trends have the potential to cross into the mainstream of society, where they become much more influential.”

Link: New levels of Experience Design (pingmag.jp)

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]]> http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/06/experience-design-at-nokia/feed/ 0 Nokia’s handheld computing experience http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/05/nokias-handheld-computing-experience/ http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/05/nokias-handheld-computing-experience/#comments Wed, 24 May 2006 05:33:22 +0000 Gabriel White http://www.smallsurfaces.com/2006/05/nokias-handheld-computing-experience/ “If you are old fashioned enough to call these devices “phones,” Nokia people will politely correct you. They are multimedia computers, which offer features and picture quality to rival digital cameras or camcorders, and music quality to challenge an iPod. And because they can connect to the Internet you can check e-mail, download songs, or even update your blog while on the go. (Thought the world already had enough blogs? Think again.)”

Link: Nokia Puts Your Digital Life in Your Hand (businessweek.com)

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]]> http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/05/nokias-handheld-computing-experience/feed/ 0 Mobile usage behaviours data collection project http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/04/mobile-usage-behaviours-data-collection-project/ http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/04/mobile-usage-behaviours-data-collection-project/#comments Tue, 25 Apr 2006 02:51:06 +0000 Gabriel White http://www.smallsurfaces.com/2006/04/mobile-usage-behaviours-data-collection-project/ “We have captured communication, proximity, location, and activity information from 100 subjects at MIT over the course of the 2004-2005 academic year. This data represents over 350,000 hours (~40 years) of continuous data on human behavior. Such rich data on complex social systems have implications for a variety of fields. The research questions we are addressing include: How do social networks evolve over time? How entropic (predictable) are most people’s lives? How does information flow? Can the topology of a social network be inferred from only proximity data? How can we change a group’s interactions to promote better functioning?”

(Are you at CHI in Montreal? Want to meet up? Send me an email)

Link: MIT Media Lab: Reality Mining (media.mit.edu)

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]]> http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/04/mobile-usage-behaviours-data-collection-project/feed/ 0 Book: Mobile Interaction Design http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/04/book-mobile-interaction-design/ http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/04/book-mobile-interaction-design/#comments Thu, 13 Apr 2006 23:47:28 +0000 Gabriel White http://www.smallsurfaces.com/2006/04/book-mobile-interaction-design/ From the first chapter of Mobile Interaction Design, by Matt Jones.

“Perhaps, though, the real issue is not whether mobile devices should focus mainly on communication or information processing. There is a broader concern should one device try to do everything for a user or should there be specialized tools, each carefully crafted to support a particular type of activity? This is the debate over the value of an appliance attitude in mobile design. Should we focus on simple, activity-centered devices ones that might well combine task-specific communication and information facilities or look to providing a Swiss Army Knife that has every communication and information management feature a manufacturer can pack into it?”

Link: Mobile Interaction Design (Chapter 1 PDF 2.8MB, wiley.com)

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]]> http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/04/book-mobile-interaction-design/feed/ 1 Miniaturisation and cultural change http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/04/miniaturisation-and-cultural-change/ http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/04/miniaturisation-and-cultural-change/#comments Tue, 11 Apr 2006 00:08:11 +0000 Gabriel White http://www.smallsurfaces.com/2006/04/miniaturisation-and-cultural-change/ Podcast of a discussion panel from SXSW ‘06.

“A library of music that might have once filled an entire room can now be stored on an MP3 player smaller than a deck of playing cards. New chip technologies and improved memory capabilities are enabling music players and a host of gadgets to decrease in size while simultaneously increasing in functionality. This session explores the next wave of innovation while also examining the cultural impact of such changes.”

Link: Smaller, Faster, Lighter (download 29.5MB MP3, sxsw.com)

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]]> http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/04/miniaturisation-and-cultural-change/feed/ 0 Design evolution of gaming controllers http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/03/design-evolution-of-gaming-controllers/ http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/03/design-evolution-of-gaming-controllers/#comments Sun, 26 Mar 2006 06:35:06 +0000 Gabriel White http://www.smallsurfaces.com/2006/03/design-evolution-of-gaming-controllers/ John Siracusa takes an illustrative look at the (lack of) evolution of handheld game controllers.

“But let’s take a step back. These are handheld game machines. You hold them in your hand. How many years will it take before someone realizes that sharp-edged rectangular solids are not ideal for gripping? Again, I recognize the constraints here. All I ask is some sort of acknowledgment of the reality of “hands”some sort of progress.”

Link: Waiting for the handheld revolution (arstechnica.com)

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]]> http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/03/design-evolution-of-gaming-controllers/feed/ 0 Design for the active lifestyle http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/03/design-for-the-active-lifestyle/ http://smallsurfaces.com/2006/03/design-for-the-active-lifestyle/#comments Sat, 25 Mar 2006 02:22:17 +0000 Gabriel White http://www.smallsurfaces.com/2006/03/design-for-the-active-lifestyle/ A PhD thesis exploring the mobile device design considerations for the active lifestyle.

“Actively Mobile integrates traditional training tools with new mobile services, and enables voice communication with control. Because it is designed specifically for running, it is easy to use and supports the mindset of the runner in motion. Through a small device worn on the arm, wrist, or hip, the runer can access functionality only available currently by carrying several devices: a stopwatch, speedometer, heart rate montior, GPS, MP3 player, and mobile phone. Integrating these features creates new opportunities to support the running experience, including specialized servces desgined to aid motivation and performance.”

Link: actively mobile (interaction-ivrea.it)

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