Monthly Archive for March, 2010

Crafting Subtle & Realistic User Interfaces — Flyosity: Mac & iPhone Interface Design

Published on 03/31/2010 in Interfaces. 0 Comments

The underlying secret to beautiful user interface design is realism: making 2D objects on your screen appear to sit in 3D space with volume, surface properties and undulations that might appear in real life. These faux 3D objects have highlights and shadows just like objects on your desk might have, and they have textures that emulate real objects from glass to sandpaper and everything in between. Designing beautiful user interfaces has more to do with the why than the how.

via Crafting Subtle & Realistic User Interfaces — Flyosity: Mac & iPhone Interface Design.

fluidIA Fluid Information Architecture?

Published on 03/28/2010 in Blog. 0 Comments

fluidIA is an emerging agile design tool for prototyping rich user interfaces. The big idea behind this experiment is whether we as interaction designers, IA's, UX professionals and developers can create our own prototyping tool in an open way. Provided with access to an open design and open source process, this project kicks off with the following vision:

via fluidIA.

ZURB – Super Awesome Buttons with CSS3 and RGBA

Published on 03/23/2010 in Blog and Featured. 0 Comments

One of our favorite things about CSS3 is the addition of RGBA, a color mode that adds alpha-blending to your favorite CSS properties. We've kicked the tires on it a bit with our own projects and have found that it helps streamline our CSS and makes scaling things like buttons very easy. To show you how, we've cooked up an example with some super awesome, scalable buttons.

via ZURB – Super Awesome Buttons with CSS3 and RGBA.

Build it and They Will Telemed? | Blog | design mind

Published on 03/16/2010 in Blog and Featured. 0 Comments

In the healthcare device and software industry, the mantra: build it and they will come doesn’t work. It hasn’t worked since Noah built an ark or the movie Field of Dreams was made. Ignoring the user experience is what’s wrong with the healthcare experience and begs for innovation.

via Build it and They Will Telemed? | Blog | design mind.

Orientation Demo with Firefox 3.6

Published on 03/14/2010 in Featured and Innovation. 0 Comments

Orientation Demo with Firefox 3.6.

New Orientation-Aware Firefox 3.6. Accelerometer Is a Must! – SoftSailor

Published on 03/14/2010 in Featured and Innovation. 0 Comments

Owners of laptops and mobile devices equipped with built-in accelerometers that can tell which way is down will now benefit of the new Firefox 3.6 that can recognize your screen orientation and adapt accordingly. This new feature was announced by Mozilla evangelist Christopher Blizzard.

via New Orientation-Aware Firefox 3.6. Accelerometer Is a Must! – SoftSailor.

Onlive Demo TEST / UX

Published on 03/13/2010 in Blog, Featured and Innovation. 0 Comments

Take a look at the newest Tech Game consoleSAN FRANCISCO–Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, look out. Your traditional video game console business model may be in danger.

Its too early to tell how much danger, of course, but a start-up called OnLive announced a brand-new game distribution system Monday night that, if it works as planned, could change the games game forever.

OnLive, which was started by WebTV founder Steve Perlman and former Eidos CEO Mike McGarvey, is aiming to launch a system–seven years in the works–that will digitally distribute first-run, AAA games from publishers like Electronic Arts, Take-Two, Ubisoft, Atari, and others, all at the same time as those titles are released into retail channels. The system is designed to allow players to stream on-demand games at the highest quality onto any Intel-based Mac or PC running XP or Vista, regardless of how powerful the computer.

The system will also stream games directly to a TV via a small plug-in device, and players can use a custom wireless controller as well as VoIP headsets in conjunction with it.

via YouTube – Onlive Demo TEST.

Innovation X: Why a Company’s Toughest Problems Are Its Greatest Advantage – Adam Richardson

Published on 03/10/2010 in Featured and Innovation. 0 Comments

With so many companies focusing more intensely than ever on innovation, why are so few seeing results?

Adam Richardson, creative director at the award-winning global innovation firm frog design, gets to the bottom of this dilemma in his new book, Innovation X. Richardson argues that companies’ efforts to innovate are being thwarted by “X-Problems,” a new class of 21st century challenges that defy conventional planning. But Richardson has hope. If used in the right way, these problems can present massive innovation opportunities.

via Innovation X: Why a Company’s Toughest Problems Are Its Greatest Advantage – Adam Richardson.

Biking directions added to Google Maps

Published on 03/10/2010 in Featured and Innovation. 0 Comments

Whenever I meet someone who finds out that I work on the directions team for Google Maps, the first question I'm asked is often “So when's Google Maps going to add biking directions?” We're big biking fans too, so we've been itching to give you a concrete answer. I don't want to keep the good news a secret any longer, so the answer is: right now!

via Official Google Blog: Biking directions added to Google Maps.

Pitchfork: New Daft Punk in Tron Legacy Trailer

Published on 03/10/2010 in Blog. 0 Comments

While lots of fake MP3s claiming to be “new Daft Punk music from Tron!” have come and gone over the last few months, we finally have our first real taste of the French duo's score for the forthcoming Tron Legacy. In the second half of the new trailer for the sequel to the 1982 cult classic, we hear a ridiculously huge pulse that sounds like Human After All ripped on gallons of muscle milk. The thing looks amazing, too.

Tron Legacy, featuring Oscar winner (!) Jeff Bridges, is out December 17 (in 3D!) from Disney. Watch the trailer below and download an iPod-friendly version of it here and a maxed-out 1080p version here.

via Pitchfork: New Daft Punk in Tron Legacy Trailer.

YouTube – TRON: LEGACY – Official Trailer

Published on 03/10/2010 in Blog. 0 Comments

TRON: LEGACY

via YouTube – TRON: LEGACY – Official Trailer.

the CLOUD – raisethecloud.org – london 2012

Published on 03/09/2010 in Blog and Innovation. 0 Comments

The CLOUD proposes an entirely new form of observation deck, connecting visitors to both the whole of London and the whole of the world, immersing them in euphoric gusts of weather and digital data. Each individual footstep on the ascent to the CLOUD participates in a vast collective energy-harvesting effort. Everyone around the world can contribute to the Cloud – whether by visiting or by sponsoring an LED, helping to keep the London lamp aflame.

via the CLOUD – raisethecloud.org – london 2012.

Creating an agile organization

Published on 03/07/2010 in Blog, Featured and Innovation. 0 Comments

The ability to innovate faster and in new ways will always be critical to achieving high performance. But given the new dynamics of a fast-changing and less predictable global economy, a number of competitive assumptions are changing. One of the most important changes: The new business environment will favor those companies able to execute innovations faster, and to move their organizations forward more nimbly.

via Creating an agile organization.

interaction’11 – save the date!

Published on 03/03/2010 in Blog and Innovation. 0 Comments

The 2011 conference will be held in stunning Boulder, Colorado; Boulder boasts gorgeous scenery, outdoor adventures, and a vibrant design community.

A call for participation will be posted in the summer of 2010. Registration is open now, though – be sure to register early, as the conference sold out in 2010!

Click here to register now.

IxDA Interaction ’11 | Boulder from Cruz Dann Productions on Vimeo.

interaction’11 – save the date!.

Symbian announces Symbian^3 and immediately gives it away | Symbian

Published on 03/01/2010 in Blog, Featured and Innovation. 0 Comments

MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS, BARCELONA: London and San Francisco, 15 February 2010 – The Symbian Foundation today unveiled the Symbian^3 S^3 platform, the first entirely open source release following the platform’s transition to an open source license on 4 February, 2010, which was the largest of its kind in history.

via Symbian announces Symbian^3 and immediately gives it away | Symbian.