Herman Miller – Why Design Series

Great series on Design process and why it’s important (and sometime messy) from Herman Miller

http://www.hermanmiller.com/microsites/whydesign/02/index.html

Their description is better than mine…

At Herman Miller design is the language we use to ask questions and seek answers to the problems our customers face. The design process is a journey into the unknown—or as George Nelson once quipped, “I have never met a designer who was retained to keep things the same as they were.” Before we decide what we do and how we do it, we like to begin by asking the question “Why?” In Why Design, a new video series, we explore the world through the eyes of our designers, and share something of why we value their point of view.

Transparent Vote Counting

What concerns me most about this fraud nonsense is that it’s nonsense – all fuss and bother causing the focus to shift away from the real issue of having a transparent election process.

http://drunkardslamppost.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/diebold-and-new-hampshire/

http://benmoseley.blogspot.com/2008/01/do-nh-primary-statistics-show-election.html

http://presscue.com/node/38034

Who can you believe when you can’t believe anything you hear, or read or see?

Drawing at the kitchen table

Doodle Table

Man, I love to doodle. If I could find a job where all I did was doodle I would be a happy happy man.

Advertising seemed to fit that mark for a little while. Marketing too. Software seems pretty anti-doodle and I think that may be part of the reason I am becoming tired of it.

There is a freeness that come from putting pen to paper that just doesn’t fit with the software crowd. It’s just not quantifiable, I suppose.

As it turns out, the kids love it too – which is a lot of fun.

Kemmer the nice Monster Veterinarian

Archer the Nice Pirate

3D Spaces

Dashboard cubes 2

Are 3D spaces of any use to computer users?

I’m working on a lot of exciting examples of expanded spaces – and how users can interact with data in these spaces, but I’m not sold on the 3D aspect. Does it need to be a 1 to 1 map of our physical space? Or should we be striving to build a space for information that is specific to how we interact with our computers?

Lot’s of questions – I’m going to try and keep a detailed (as much as I can) log of out progress.

Dashboard tiles

The social is why the social will fail

People are dicks. Period. Given the chance (and a certain amount of anonymity), they will prove it over and over again.

For those of you not watching the hulabaloo going on over at digg.com right now, the “community” is tearing itself apart over the HD-DVD key that is circulating around the internet. The key is a 32 bit Hexidecimal “code” that, when used correctly will allow a user to by-pass DRM technology. Basically, steal shitty movies in better quality. The key, by the way, is supposedly the Intellectual Property of the MPAA – if not that, it is certainly crucial to protecting their IP – and they are voracious in their protection of it.

So where’s the problem? The users of digg are making asses of themselves in the most grandiose way possible – by posting the key over and over and over again. An entertaining protest for sure, but irresponsible nonetheless. The only real possible outcome of this is to focus the might of all the entertainment lawyers in the free world on digg.com like a greedy fucking laser beam.

Can digg withstand it? Who the fuck knows – the anonymity that the digg provides for it’s posters will be diggs undoing. And it’s a shame. Lot’s of people worked hard to create digg.com and a lot more people work hard to make it something special. It’s unfortunate, but the community may be their undoing.

Should digg stand for it? Probably not. Kevin Rose et al should pull the plug for a week and let their “community” find another outlet for their self aggrandizing – and wish them good luck.

I don’t care if you want to steal movies. Hell, I applaud your inventiveness and creativity; but I want to read real news stories on digg.com and I don’t care if you think you’ve suffered some great injustice (you haven’t).

Pricks.

Oh, and if you had any balls you’d make an account with your **real name and address** and post the key.

Edit (11/27/2007): Cory thinks so too: Facebook will sink under…