By: Bill Moggridge Publisher: The MIT Press Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: The MIT Press Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 766 Publication Date: October 01, 2007
Product Description: Digital technology has changed the way we interact with everything from the games we play to the tools we use at work. Designers of digital technology products no longer regard their job as designing a physical object--beautiful or utilitarian--but as designing our interactions with it. In Designing Interactions, award-winning designer Bill Moggridge introduces us to forty influential designers who have shaped our interaction with technology. Moggridge, designer of the first laptop computer (the GRiD Compass, 1981) and a founder of the design firm IDEO, tells us these stories from an industry insider's viewpoint, tracing the evolution of ideas from inspiration to outcome. The innovators he interviews--including Will Wright, creator of The Sims, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, and Doug Engelbart, Bill Atkinson, and others involved in the invention and development of the mouse and the desktop--have been instrumental in making a difference in the design of interactions. Their stories chart the history of entrepreneurial design development for technology.
Moggridge and his interviewees discuss such questions as why a personal computer has a window in a desktop, what made Palm's handheld organizers so successful, what turns a game into a hobby, why Google is the search engine of choice, and why 30 million people in Japan choose the i-mode service for their cell phones. And Moggridge tells the story of his own design process and explains the focus on people and prototypes that has been successful at IDEO--how the needs and desires of people can inspire innovative designs and how prototyping methods are evolving for the design of digital technology.
Designing Interactions is illustrated with more than 700 images, with color throughout. Accompanying the book is a DVD that contains segments from all the interviews intercut with examples of the interactions under discussion.
Interviews with: Bill Atkinson, Durrell Bishop, Brendan Boyle, Dennis Boyle, Paul Bradley, Duane Bray, Sergey Brin, Stu Card, Gillian Crampton Smith, Chris Downs, Tony Dunne, John Ellenby, Doug Englebart, Jane Fulton Suri, Bill Gaver, Bing Gordon, Rob Haitani, Jeff Hawkins, Matt Hunter, Hiroshi Ishii, Bert Keely, David Kelley, Rikako Kojima, Brenda Laurel, David Liddle, Lavrans Løvlie, John Maeda, Paul Mercer, Tim Mott, Joy Mountford, Takeshi Natsuno, Larry Page, Mark Podlaseck, Fiona Raby, Cordell Ratzlaff, Ben Reason, Jun Rekimoto, Steve Rogers, Fran Samalionis, Larry Tesler, Bill Verplank, Terry Winograd, and Will Wright
Maybe I was being unfair.... I only read one chapter whose field I am familiar with and then judged about the book, so I might be unfair. However, this book is written not entirely right on the mark. It is a bit sketchy.
When a book is a collection of writings from different authors with topics not carefully organized and crafted, it is usually disappointing. This book is one of them. Though it might just be my prejudice. (I doubt it, but don't tell anyone :-) )
So So - Ups & Downs... but worth reading The book provides some good insights into the world of interaction design. However, it's a bit boring and too much of a history lesson.
While the information provided within is a nice examination of various things previously done, the book provides little about how to go about processing or coming up with the information or general practices for doing so in your own project(s). However, if you have a generally analytical mind, you can definitely pull some of that information out of it. The few gems of knowledge as applied to products already designed are very valuable and the proper descriptions were chosen for each.
The "interviews" contained within the book are a bit too disparate for my tastes, though. There is a lack of general cohesion that causes the book to "feel" off-topic, even though it is all related. Focus seems to be lost on the underlying reason for the book (even based on the forward, description, etc.).
There's a lot there, but you're going to have to pick it out for yourself. The book definitely lacks the ability to state what the intentions of varies arguments and examinations are but what is there is valuable.
Great overview of interactions This book makes you think a lot about how interactions have been designed. It has a lot of great examples and I even picked up a few tricks on storyboarding my interactions and designs. Well done.
Marcos Chilet .......Diseño de interacción. En este libro se revisan una serie de autores que son relevantes en el campo del diseño de interacción. Podemos encontrar desde Brenda Laurel hablando del desarrollo de juegos para niñas, hasta los creadores de Google. No es un libro que profundice en los temas, es más bién un útil panóptico del desarrollo del diseño de interacción.
Marcos Chilet Diseño, Pontificia Universidad catolica de chile.
Terribly Self-Indulgent This book is a terribly self-indulgent view of interaction design. There is no real analysis in this book or critical thinking. It's mostly a collection of simple stories from companies or efforts that Moggridge likes. There is no real theory offered here, only anecdotes. It's also a very Silicon Valley-centric view of the world. If you are looking for a partial history of interesting "interaction" design efforts, this book may be for you. Though, perhaps, not at the price it sells for.
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