This series of in-depth articles examines the sometimes tense but always intimate relationship between design and technology. We look at how today's designers are engaging with technology in new ways and what these experiences mean for design, design tools, and society in general.
Featured article
Getting Real: An interview with Jason Fried
by Khoi Vinh
Khoi Vinh talks to 37signals founder Jason Fried about the creative process and how to make more with less.
No boundaries: The challenge of ubiquitous design
by Adam Greenfield
How can designers adapt to a world where information is invisible, mutable, and universal?
Living skins: Architecture as interface
by Peter Hall
Architects and designers collaborate to create digital skins that blink, wink, and breathe. Step inside.
100,000 sprites
by Katie Salen
Game designers love a challenge. A gaming guru examines how technological limitations push game designers to the next level.
Making do and getting by
by David Reinfurt
Designers scrutinize their software in order to reclaim an intimate relationship with their tools.
VJ culture
by Momus
Equal parts filmmaker, illustrator, and improviser, VJs create live concert visuals to accompany bands and DJs.
The invisible city: Design in the age of intelligent maps
by Kazys Varnelis and Leah Meisterlin
New mapping technologies are fundamentally changing the way we experience the city. Varnelis and Meisterlin explore the busy intersections of design and cartography.
Design anthropology: What can it add to your design practice?
by Dori Tunstall
Design Anthropology takes user research to a whole new level. Dr. Elizabeth Tunstall explains how this emerging field can help to redefine design by exploring what it means to be human.
The fake-space race: Design and the future of travel
by John Thackara
With everyone from game developers to telecoms pouring millions into telepresence, why aren't we "there" yet? John Thackara examines what it means to travel without moving.
Telling stories using data: An interview with Jonathan Harris
by Liz Danzico
Designer, programmer, and storyteller, Jonathan Harris is using interactive technology to pioneer new forms of narrative. Liz Danzico talks to Harris about the projects that have led him from the Arctic, to Bhutan, to the Museum of Modern Art.
The road to finding is paved with data: Web analytics and user experience
by Louis Rosenfeld
Too often, web users get lost in the cracks between Search, Browse, and Ask. Information architect Lou Rosenfeld predicts that web analytics will enable designers to create truly integrated finding experiences.
The value of multimedia in learning
by Patti Shank
Explore research and best practices related to the use of
multimedia in learning environments.
Creative gesture or vapid prototyping? The importance of fictional products
by Allan Chochinov
Many of today's most creative product designs were never meant to be manufactured. Allan Chochinov looks at how prototyping is transforming the ways in which products are discussed and developed.
Graduate education: Preparing designers for jobs that don't exist (yet)
by Anne Burdick
With technology obliterating boundaries between disciplines, design education is in turmoil. Anne Burdick looks at how some design programs are responding creatively---and encouraging students to do the same.
Big games: Playing in the streets
by Greg Trefry
Games are breaking out of the box. Greg Trefry explores how designers are using mobile technology to turn urban spaces into giant game boards and, in the process, are bringing people together through play.
The last stage is acceptance: Robots and design
by David Womack
Robotic technology is coming soon to a home near you. David Womack examines the next frontier in interaction design.
Seeing green: Designing for conservation
by Peter Hall
What does saving the planet look like? Peter Hall explores new interfaces for visualizing conservation.
Bespoke futures: Media design and the vision deficit
by Peter Lunenfeld
To create a brighter future, we first need to imagine it. Peter Lunenfeld suggests that designers can overcome the vision deficit by taking on the future as a client.
On the ground running: Lessons from experience design
by Adam Greenfield
As products and services become increasingly integrated, more and more companies are marketing experiences. Adam Greenfield takes a street-wise look at an emerging practice.
Just the facts: How technology is changing the news
by Liz Danzico
New technology is radically reshaping the way we consume information. Liz Danzico provides an inside perspective from the front lines of online news.
All together now
by Rachel Abrams
As design projects become larger and more complex, designers are increasingly called upon to work together.
Uncertain futures: A conversation with Professor Anthony Dunne
by David Womack
If design is the answer, then what is the question? A conversation with Professor Anthony Dunne, chair of the design interactions graduate program at the Royal College of Art, London.
More and less: Designing for high-stakes decisions
by Dmitri Siegel
We all want options, but when does having choices prevent us from finding solutions? Dmitri Siegel looks at how people make important decisions and how design can help.
Big, chunky pixels: New lo-fi animation
by Dan Nadel
A few bold animators are abusing technology in order to take animation beyond pixel-perfection and into the realm of the unreal.
Seeing is believing: Information visualization and the debate over global warming
by David Womack
Information visualization is having a major impact on the debate over global warming. Find out how new techniques for making images are changing the way we see politics, data, and science itself.
Form in motion: An interview with filmmaker Matt Hanson
by Andrea Codrington
Digital visionary Matt Hanson talks about how technology is allowing designers to reinvent filmmaking and discusses his latest project, A Swarm of Angels.
The People will be heard: Interactive technology in public spaces
by Jennifer Kabat
Museums are leading the way by using interactive technology to transform our interactions with objects and each other. Get new views on old art.
New music for the masses
by Tina Blaine
Tina Blaine, a Carnegie Mellon University faculty member, investigates the emergence of interactive musical experiences, and the new interfaces that are making music accessible to non-musicians.