Month: September 2011

Varieties of Controls

Never would’ve thought how particular a fella could get about the action of audio controls. I’ve collected an assortment of potentiometers for the audio mixer project. From well-dampened to action that goes tick-tick-tick with detents. The red one in the foreground? That’s an optical encoder that continuously spins — no stops. It might be a bit of a control fetish, but the action of these things matters. Even in an era of touch, click and very screen-y interactions tactility and motion matter. Which raises a little concern — not doubt, just concern — about going hog-wild with gestures.

Why do I blog this? Things are moving forward with the audio mixer. Slower than expected; unexpected things in and around the studio plus upcoming travel preparations and a shift-in-time to make the U.S. Labor Day holiday happen for me this Friday. Downtime and uptime. Sending the PCB off any minute now..
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Speculative Design: Blowup – The Era of Objects

Just a quick note to say — I’ll be at this event at V2__ in Rotterdam (V2_, Eendrachtsstraat 10, Rotterdam) Thursday September 29..so if you’re around, you should come. If you’re not — you should dial-in: ((This event will be streamed live at http://live.v2.nl))

Beyond the flying car: join top designers Julian Bleecker (Nokia, Near Future Laboratory), Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino (Really Interesting Group), and Anab Jain (Superflux) in an exploration of speculative design.

We are rapidly entering (and perhaps even have already entered) an era where we are able to print 3D objects at our desks, make and share laser-cut gifts for friends, and use off-the-shelf tools to plug these creations into the web and have them send status updates on our behalf. We have some commonly-held visions of the future, but what could our very wildest dreams (and nightmares) look like, beyond the cliché of the flying car? What answers can we find in speculative design? Our expert guests will explore these questions in collaboration with the audience in a hands-on, “open think-tank” format.

Addressing this contemporary issue will be Julian Bleecker: designer, researcher at the Design Strategic Projects studio at Nokia Design and co-founder of Near Future Laboratory; Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino: product designer, entrepreneur, and partner at Really Interesting Group (London); and Anab Jain: interaction designer, founder of Superflux, and recent TED Fellow.

Following a brief talk show with Julian, Alexandra, and Anab, the audience will have the unique opportunity to collaborate with our invited experts in an “open think-tank”: a guided speculative design session wherein we’ll address the product design challenges of the near and not-so-near future.

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Design Fiction on Australian Radio / FutureTense

I had a fun discussion with the folks at this wonderful Australian Radio National’s Future Tense show on the topic of design fiction — “Fictitious futures, virtual development and visual language.”

I suppose its a measure of things the degree to which the conversation about the co-mingling of design, science, fiction, fact and technology spreads far and wide — even to discussions in the realm of public radio. It’s tempting to be more actively involved in the practice of these things.

Actually — finding the way that even the behind-closed-doors work I do during the day can squeak out into the light of day without ruffling feathers is on the list of things to do..or has been for a couple of years now. Not at all to crow about the work, but to share it because there are learning experiences in there and, frankly — it’s not the kind of work that tips directly into the kinds of back alley gossip about what the titans of industry will do this quarter to make their financial lap dogs pant happily. It’s just great, exciting, thoughtful speculative design work that should be discussed and learned-from — process, outcomes, how-to do speculative design..more the meta-meat that is intriguing rather than the material itself.

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