Gamut

Interaction Design

david Morgan — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 20:37:02 +0000

For me Interaction Design is the most defining aspect of a product. It steers the entire experience of using a product and the emotions that evokes.

I studied Interaction Design at the Utrecht School of the Arts, where I received my Masters degree. The HKU was one of the first schools in the world to setup an educational path focused exclusively on the field of Interaction Design.For my graduation projects I worked on a Location Based Story Driven Game and a working prototype of an augmented reality system that brings user generated content to the physical domain.

After My education, I have been heavily involved with innovative Interaction Design in the area of intelligent physical products through my work at the TU/e. In the complex products that are designed, Interaction Design plays an elementary role.

A recent project that I have worked on, was a design for a bag that has characteristics of a cat. The bag purrs when you pet it. This project started out in a workshop by Mediamatic.

Design Coaching

david Morgan — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 19:04:06 +0000

Two days a week I work at the Technical University of Eindhoven as a Lecturer/Coach and Coordinator at the faculty of Industrial Design. Besides this, I also give workshops in Visual Communication.

The faculty of Industrial Design in Eindhoven distinguishes itself from other Industrial Design faculties in that it focuses on so called intelligent products. The intelligence refers to computer technology in a product that can for instance assist the user in Interaction with the device. Furthermore, the faculty works with a competency and project based learning system.

This means that student are assessed on their overall growth each semester and spend most of their time working on projects in a team. These projects are written by coaches.

All this makes Industrial Design at the TU/e a great place to work. It is fun, awesomely inspirational and keeps me up to date with the latest innovations in design.

Visual Communication

david Morgan — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 17:17:29 +0000

If one image says more than a thousand words, how about 25 images per second with sound!

In motion graphic design, the fields of film making, graphic design, information design and special effects all flow into one discipline. Be it a presentation video that communicates a complex organizational structure or a video that explains a product’s interaction scheme. Motion graphic design is a versatile tool in communication.

Being an Interaction Designer I have thought much about the role video can take in product design. Firstly, video can be used for presentation and explanation. When explaining about an interactive product, the medium you choose should be suited to show this interaction. Far more than text and/or still images, video can show the interaction of a product.

A second area of video that I have explored is that of using video as a research tool. When making a documentary, there are many similarities to the process of, for instance, researching a user-group. The added value of using video in this process is that you are forced to focus your view of a situation and become much more sensitive to all subtleties of the subject that you are researching. Furthermore, video provides you with the opportunity to view experiences over and over again. Lastly, you end up with a tool for communicating your research. I am currently teaching a class at the TU/e that has students researching a context through use of video. The results of this class are wonderful and really show a tremendous increase of sensitivity to the context.

Extreme Sheep LED Art

david Morgan — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 16:09:21 +0000

This is an old video, but I came across it again recently.
What if we had a bunch of sheep and even more LEDs and we put them together…?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw

BooneOakley.com

david Morgan — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:09:37 +0000

This inventive portfolio makes use of YouTube’s ‘new’ ability to add buttons to video’s. It’s one of those ideas I wish I had myself. Click inside the playing video, so that you are redirected to the YouTube site. The navigation interactions will not work otherwise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Elo7WeIydh8

Grindin’ by Nobody Beats the Drum

david Morgan — Sun, 23 May 2010 13:27:08 +0000

A great video that show how sometimes all technology can still lead to new ideas. (plus a whole lot of hard work)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntc4l-poovo

Calculating color contrast for ledgible text

david Morgan — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:09:40 +0000

Here is a great article about how you can calculate the best color contrast to make your text as legible as possible. Gotta love Colourlovers.

Electronic Popables by Jie Qi

david Morgan — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 12:39:44 +0000

At the TU/e I have been working on some student projects in which we sought to innovate the electronic greeting card. One student pointed this video out to me. It shows great examples of enriching popup techniques with some basic electronics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI-6wMlaVTc

OK Go – This Too Shall Pass – Rube Goldberg Machine version

david Morgan — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 08:55:22 +0000

I love Rube Goldberg / Incredible machines and the one shown in the new OK Go video is one of the best I have seen yet. This is the band who gave us the video-gone-viral with the treadmills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w

Pedigree Dogs ad shot 1000 FPS using the Phantom camera

david Morgan — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 09:18:18 +0000

This video does not require much explanation. I just find it fascinating to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUCRZzhbHH0