Ok, i want one of these…there was something about the kindle, that made me wonder if I should plunk down $300, uh ok, $250 (since the intro of nook). I was unsure when I wrote about this a while back and am now certain, that i won’t buy a kindle.
For now, until i can go to Barnes and Noble to buy one, my thoughts based on what i’ve read on the web and what i can see in pics:
Look: winner Nook – ok the Nook is nice and clean, not a stunning design, the Kindle 2…pretty darn bland, i can see the braun/rams/bauhaus inspiration, but, still just too plain. And the original Kindle, well honestly, that thing was pretty ugly, I mean, look at that keyboard.
Technology: winner Nook – dual screens, gotta love it
UI: winner Nook – jury out, but the potential of, the dual screens!
Experience – Nook – bring it to a Barnes and Noble and read stuff for free. Phyigital Reality, making digital things act like real life things
Cool Factor: Nook
Tags: boring, classic, ebooks, experience design, i like it, kindle, media, modern, simple, technology, ugly, UI
strategic design
cultural invention
experience design
meaningful experiences
design thinking
business design
design for business
service design
world design centers, california, london, tokyo, silicon alley, etc.
design research
human centered design
changing people’s behaviour
changing the way people see the world
analysis paralysis
what ever happened to the simple pleasures, passion and beauty that design brings?
ID’s first cut at judging media in 1999.
“minus ten”. A look back 10 years to see what was going on. I’ll pick out what I feel got Stuck in Time, good or bad design that was clearly of the moment. Ahead of Time will be a look at something that had brought some insight to the future and finally, the Test of Time will soon be design classics, at least imho.
Issue of ID before the Annual is always light, not very many ads from the consultants as they we all saving their pennies for the Annual. Regardless, I was able to find a couple of nuggets.
John Maeda was making jaws drop in 1994 with Reactive Square, Flying letters and in then in 1998 with Tap, Type, Write. This stuff is still great and WAY Ahead of Time. Its a shame that it only runs on a PowerPC.
Oh, and look at young John back then!
Heres something that i think i used to like. The Motorola iden phone was clearly a memorable design. But does it stand the test of time? I believe it’s Stuck. Those damned ellipses again!
From ID Magazine, June 1999.
Some might say they are riffing off Apple and some might say the design is so simple, its boring. It also has a bit of mid 80’s Japanese electronics feel, think Sony back then. I just played with the Spinn for a bit. It’s definitely a nice product. OLED display is awesome and the build quality is solid.
The Visual Media is really nice as well, simple swiss grid like feel. They are also talking about a new home screen they are calling “magazine” style on some of their other big screen products. I think its a really fresh take on media design. It goes beyond the Apple jelly style buttons, or any buttons for that matter, you just interact with the media itself. But their website, ugh, in this case, Flash doesnt have anything to do with how fast you can view all of their products. The site is really painful to navigate as well. That said, the UI on the Spinn was a little strange combining touch and physical control in a way that wasn’t naturally intuitive.
You gotta love the original walkman, it changed the game in personal electronics. 1979…wow.