Design

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 05 mar 2015

In the world where products and services are designed to be simple and bring ease in human lives, Brian Millar, head of strategy at Sense Worldwide, brings out a contrarian view. According to him difficulty can sometime make lives and jobs more meaningful. To explain his perspective he mentions an influential book 'Drive', in which author Daniel Pink argues that humans are motivated by autonomy, mastery and purpose and when things are designed to be simple, it takes away the fulfilment and satisfaction that come from mastery. He cites example of phishing scams that prey on trance-like state of people where clicking a link to reset password is not always thought about well. He also provides a case of shared space movement, a successful road safety design campaign, where ambiguity is brought back into road use at certain points, by making unclear who has right of way, for both padestrians and drivers. This resulted in slowing down of traffic and subsequent 43% fall in accident rates. He talks about his experience of an unsuccessful risk assessment sofware product that was designed to be very simple but since complexity was prevalent in investment banks for decision-making at that time, it was rejected. He argues that by incorporating a little difficulty in the design of that sofware might have resulted in a better outcome as the industry's practice relied on it. Read on...

the guardian: Why we should design things to be difficult to use
Author: Brian Millar

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 03 mar 2015

In addition to just aesthetics, architects are now applying neuroscience, by studying how brain reacts to various environments through brain scanners, to design schools, hospitals, community spaces etc. Eve Edelstein, president of consulting firm Innovative Design Science, says 'Understanding the power and significance of design is not a luxury. It has a direct impact on wellness issues and a direct influence on activity within that space.' According to Betsey Olenick Dougherty of Dougherty + Dougherty Architects, 'Visual access to sky, trees and landscape stimulates brain function. Providing vistas throughout the facility and particularly in classrooms has been a major strategy in the design of this building (Corona del Mar High School, Newport Beach, California).' Justin Hollander, co-author of the book 'Cognitive Architecture' and urban planning professor at Tufts University, says 'Patterns matter. And edges matter. The research argues that not only do we need order but our brain likes hearing stories...When you go to Times Square, you're told a story. You go to Disneyland, it's a story.' He further adds, 'Humans have a clear bias for curves over straight or sharp lines. Studies have shown that curves elicit feelings of happiness and elation, while jagged and sharp forms tend to connect to feelings of pain and sadness.' Hospitals and care centers are now being designed based on how brains of Alzheimer's patients reacts or how lighting affects patient's sleep cycle. Neuroscience shows light triggers brain reactions far beyond vision. 'It has an impact on heart rate.' says Edelstein. Michael Arbib of University of Southern California Brain Project and the vice president of the Academy of Architecture and Neuroscience, says 'Smart architecture can learn from brain science. To use artificial intelligence to build buildings that can better interact with people...is going to be very applicable to a home.' Read on...

Al Jazeera: Smart buildings- Architects using brain science for design guidance
Author: Haya El Nasser

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 feb 2015

Designing for Internet of Things (IoT) is pushing the boundaries for designers and engineers to experiment and evolve out of their specific roles. Martin Charlier, design consultant and co-founder of Rain Cloud, provides his perspective on the future of interfaces and how to design for IoT. According to him, 'Products in today's world, especially, need to be thought about from variety of angles. A designer has to consider both the looks and working of the product while designing.' He stresses the importance of symbiotic nature of interaction design and service design. On working of cross-disciplinary teams, he says, 'Every field needs to know a little bit, have a basic understanding, of the other side... The key, though, is that they started working as one team together, before splitting up into their respective domain areas, so that there was a joined vision.' While discussing the role of human values in IoT design, he suggests, 'Designers need to start thinking about how they change people's behaviors and affect their lives.' Read on...

O'Reilly Radar: Design to reflect human values
Author: Jenn Webb

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 24 jan 2015

Apple Inc. is associated with the best designed world-class products. It's a result of extraordinary design process that they apply before their products reach the hands of their customers. Here are few product design lessons from Apple - (1) Quality counts at every stage of product development and customer experience. (2) Embrace change and continuously iterate, evolve and develop new products. (3) Stay ahead and provide new to market technologies within compelling new products people need. (4) Whole widget, meaning owns the primary software technology giving it the flexibility to introduce new solutions and add new features over time. (5) Riding without wheels, meaning the robust, inventive and long design process that takes time to launch new to market product categories. (6) Take risks, embrace failures and learn. Apple understands the value of process innovation in order to maintain its design lead. (7) Thoroughly understand the various elements of the innovations process like use of advanced new materials and technologies etc. (8) Deeply complex but simple to users. Develop products so that they work intuitively. (9) Customers count at every stage. (10) Consistency across every strand of the user experience. Read on...

Computerworld: Apple's top 10 tips for great product design
Author: Jonny Evans

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 dec 2014

User Interface (UI) design is undergoing innovative evolutions and providing effective and efficient machine interactions with humans and better control. In 2014, mobile software tried to balance simplicity and power, connected and networked devices worked more harmoniously with other machines and devices, and touchscreens seemed to have their limitations. Following are some of the best UI design ideas of 2014 - (1) Lollipop's Lock Screen Notifications (Google's Material Design concept) (2) Texting From Everywhere (3) A Smart Touchscreen for Cars (4) Physical Interfaces for Flickr and Google Street View (5) The Death of "Shake to Send Feedback" in Google Maps (6) Inbox Makes Email Saner (7) Instant Hotspot, the Unsung Hero of Continuity (8) A Key Rack That Bugs You Into Doing Good (9) The Rise of TouchID. Read on...

WIRED: This Year's 8 Smartest UI Design Ideas
Author: Kyle Vanhemert

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 nov 2014

In the world of ever changing expectations of customers for meaningful product experiences, designers have to bring emotions, empathy and sensitivity into their designs. Technology is often a facilitator but not everything in the design process. Sohrab Vossoughi, President & Founder of Ziba, as a participant of the panel discussion on 'The Future of Product Design' alongwith Allan Chochinov of the School of Visual Arts and Core77, Aura Oslapas of A+O, and John Jay of Wieden + Kennedy, explores and evaluates the evolution of product design since the time they entered the profession. They all agreed that the real expertise of product designers is not in the mastery of latest computer-aided tools and technologies but their ability to identify needs, create meaning and form a thoughtful point of view on what a design should do... and why. Five important themes emerged out of the panel discussion regarding the direction in which product design would go in the next 30 years - (1) The product is rarely just physical anymore. (2) As more services go digital, real world experience becomes more meaningful. (3) Consumers expect better design across the board. (4) Improved tools make us more efficient, not more effective. (5) Tomorrow's crucial design skills will be empathy and translation. Read on...

Core77: Expectations and Empathy: The Future of Product Design
Author: Sohrab Vossoughi

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 oct 2014

The concept of 'open source' is finding relevance in the field of architecture. Open source is bypassing the 'starchitects' and portfolio projects, and providing alternatives by facilitating sharing and collaboration between people as they design and build. It is utilized particularly to build good quality housing for the large population that live in urban slums and will provide housing to the evergrowing population that migrates to the cities. The United Nations Population Fund estimates that by 2030, five billion people will live in cities. According to Alastair Parvin, co-founder of Wikihousing Project, right now the world's fastest growing cities are the self-built cities such as Rio's favelas. There are number of collaborative projects and organizations around the world that are focusing on open source architecture to build sustainable housing - Duplicable City Center by One Community and a number of projects by Open Architecture Network, an online community of design professions. This quote from architect Stephen Gardiner describes the philosphy of good design - 'Good buildings come from good people, and all problems are solved by good design.' Read on...

Sourceable: Open Source Architecture Offers Good Design Where Needed
Author: Steve Hansen

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 oct 2014

An exhibition, 'Burst Open' at The University of Queensland in Australia, challenges the notion 'good design is both elitist and costly' and explores architecture and design from the perspective of the emerging global phenomenon of open-source. John de Manincor of the architecture department at UQ said, 'Burst Open' explored how information sharing related not only to the design of objects but to architecture and the built environment. Collaborating curator of the exhibition, Christian Duell, said that critics often labelled today's design as expensive and elitist, viewing the modern day designer as someone operating in a 'bubble' of isolation. The open-source concept provides free access of product designs through online platforms where designers post their work for public and also collaborate with one another. Read on...

The University of Queensland News: Open-source design to redefine architecture?
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 sep 2014

'Design Thinking' is being applied by professors at University of Michigan's Ross School of Management to develop and enhance leadership capabilities of participants in their Executive Education programs. The programs are developed by using design thinking approach to seek and understand perspectives of potential candidates and fulfill their expectations and aligning theory with practice. In today's business world innovation is a critical component of leadership and competitive advantage. According to Professor Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks of Ross School, 'The design thinking approach shrinks innovation to something that doesn't require a massive strategic change in an organization, but can be applied every day; from how might we better communicate within a team to how might we increase our ability to identify new market potentials and trends.' Professor D. Scott DeRue, associate dean of executive education at Ross, explains that, 'We had a program in place, and it was doing well, but we weren't sure it was the best we could offer. We went out and immersed ourselves to understand the needs of high potentials in today's world.' Read on...

Talent Management: Use Design Thinking to Develop Better Leaders
Author: Kate Everson

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 sep 2014

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Architecture & Construction defines 'Minimalist Architecture' as, "Architecture that follows the doctrine that the use of all decorative elements, including ornamentation and color, should be held to an absolute minimum. This tenet considers all such architectural features to be nonessential and of negative aesthetic value, thus promoting the concept attributed to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe that 'less is more'." According to Wikipedia, minimalist architecture became popular in the late 1980s in London and New York, where fashion designers worked together in the boutiques to achieve simplicity, using white elements, cold lighting, large space with minimum objects and furniture. Moreover it is also considered to be highly inspired from the Japanese traditional design and the concept of Zen philosophy. View the homes designed by architects utilizing architectural minimalism in their work, ranging from sleek facade to perfect blending with the natural environment. Read on...

Huffington Post: Architectural Minimalism: 7 Stunning Homes
Author: NA

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