The Victorian flight-simulator

A while back I finished editing a book. A book about state of the art technology; the very latest ideas and prototypes in communication, transport and storing images. The interesting thing was that it was originally written in 1902. The book is ‘The Romance of Modern Invention’ by Archibald Williams. It’s a printed book and Read more about The Victorian flight-simulator[…]

BOOK: The Romance of Modern Invention; Trending Technology in 1902

Available on Amazon USA and Amazon UK. One hot Summer I was in a second-hand book shop while on holiday in Wales. There I came across an old volume entitled; ‘The Romance of Modern Invention’. It was published in 1902 and was an enthusiastic appraisal of modern technology of the time. Although it was written Read more about BOOK: The Romance of Modern Invention; Trending Technology in 1902[…]

The Oscars; Envelopegate and Design

  “And the winner of the Oscar for best picture goes to…” How could they get it wrong? It turns out that the envelope they were given to read out was actually a back-up, a duplicate of the envelope for the Best Actress Oscar. The card inside it said ‘Emma Stone, La La Land’. For Read more about The Oscars; Envelopegate and Design[…]

Jo Cox and the war on loneliness

The Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered by a 52 year old man described as; ‘a loner with extreme right-wing views’. The recent Orlando shootings were also the work of ‘a loner’: an angry Muslim loner. The key thing is not the one ideology or the other: not the right wing extremist or the Muslim Read more about Jo Cox and the war on loneliness[…]

Wish you were here! Why Tweets are like postcards

You know the feeling, it’s raining outside and you’re at work facing the gray wall with the gray windows behind you. You check Twitter and there is your mate’s latest; ‘We’re having a great time on the beach’ and there’s the photo of said beach with plenty of blue sky. Looks lovely doesn’t it? If Read more about Wish you were here! Why Tweets are like postcards[…]

BOOK: Designing the Real World

This is a book about the technology people use as part of their everyday lives, and the spaces in which they live and work. The advent of interactive, digital media has given us a whole new area of technology, whose complexities mean that the design of user interaction is more important than ever before. Despite Read more about BOOK: Designing the Real World[…]

BOOK: The User Interface: Concepts and Design

  Everybody has problems using technology, from heating controls through to video recorders. Move to computers and the problems are even worse; even the simplest computer programs seem to behave in strange ways. This book considers usability of technology and examines the factors that play a role in the design of such systems. Its goal Read more about BOOK: The User Interface: Concepts and Design[…]

Starting interactions as though they were ongoing interactions

So… there is a current trend in the UX of interactions where the interaction is designed to make it seem as though it has already been underway for some time. The idea behind this is rather than concentrating on on-boarding users you just start talking to them as though they were on-boarded three years ago. Read more about Starting interactions as though they were ongoing interactions[…]

BOOK: Design for New Media

  New media is like a giant jigsaw puzzle; a combination of different skills and media.  We know all about the pieces, but the biggest problem is putting them all together to get the ‘big picture’ of new media design. Design for New Media gives a unified approach to looking at the area, covering both Read more about BOOK: Design for New Media[…]