Is interaction design a dead-end career?

Hmm! This arose via some comments by Bill Moggridge (esteemed “father of interaction design”, at IDEO, who coined the phrase) where he implied that interaction design may no longer be necessary as a discipline. It’s such a profoundly consequential thought that I’m honestly having difficulty getting my head around it! Here are some discussion on […]

In defense of sketching

I’m a strong advocate of sketching as a critical and fundamental design skill, as noted here. For me, sketching is not cool artwork, but a great rapidly visual way of processing information, working through problems, exploring lots and lots of ideas very quickly and fluidly. It’s not about “the perfect drawing” at all, which I […]

Why it’s “human”, and not “user”

I’ve personally had problems with the term “user” (as in user-centered design) for the subtle implication of a non-empathetic, sterilized, objectified view of emotionally, socially complex people, denying what makes us human. Of course, Dick Buchanan goes a few steps further, phrasing it brilliantly here: What is important at the moment…the major tenet of new […]

A design typology continuum

This diagram wasn’t of much interest to ixda (who are more interested in password security settings or delete buttons, rather than critical design theory) but perhaps this is of interest to you, GhostPixel reader ;-) Here’s an attempt to make sense of the recent (and ongoing) Cambrian-like explosion of new design activities, fields, or domains […]

The essences of Design

I created this a little while back, as a short poster to distribute online. Yet another personal attempt to articulate succinctly the wide range of definitions and purposes of Design as a compact yet visually tasteful statement. Some of the key points: ** Design is a cultural, aesthetic, humanistic endeavor ** It’s a mode of […]