We had a record-breaking turnout (140 people!) last Wednesday at IDEO Chicago, host of our January event. The theme, *Embracing the Physical | Digital Divide* spoke to IDEO and many design companies approach and considerations when designing experiences that encompass both physical and digital interaction. The night included sharing of two recent IDEO projects as well as a show and tell of examples of successful physical/digital solutions out right now.
The the first project, a collabaration IDEO had with a small company called Bug Labs that creates modular, opensource toolkits for prototyping. Some of the possible components include touch screens, gps, wifi, and motion detection. The BUG tool kit allows everyone from businesses to students to professionals to rapidly prototype solutions. IDEO collaborated with BUG labs on a short 2-week open project, documented on a public project blog, to explore an adaptable interface system that would enable a designer to customize controls for their prototype as well as providing basic status feedback that their prototype was working (power, connectivity, etc). Learn more by visiting here: https://client.ideo.com/buglabs/ http://www.buglabs.net/products The second project, which has been more recently in the public eyes at CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) was the myFord Touch project. Ford Motor Company and IDEO collaborated closely on two major projects to conceive signature interface elements for all future Ford vehicles launching in 2010. The elements connect drivers with in-car technologies and let them stay connected to their digital lives outside the car. Five key features were reconsidered through extensive research, prototyping, engineering, and robust interaction design, a fast, iterative process that helped to accelerate innovation on Ford's development end, also. Wanting to induce strong “vehicle love” among new Ford drivers—and deepen their devoted customers’ brand adherence—a team of IDEO and FORD designers and engineers focused on designing an interior information ecosystem that drivers would find attentive, approachable, easy to use, and would allow them to keep in touch with their busy lives. The ambitious and ingenious prototyping effort included a dashboard removed from a Ford Edge, a PlayStation 2 and projector that played the simulated driving game “Gran Turismo 3,” the steering wheel and pedal set were created by hacking several game controllers, game steering wheels, computers, two screens (one of which was touch-sensitive), and various other objects and mechanisms. While playing the video game, consumers were asked to change the radio station, find tracks on their built-in music server, pick up phone calls, and find the nearest gas station. All together, this created an immersive experience that tested cognitive load while driving and led the team to propose final design solutions that utilized steering-wheel levers as primary touch points and created simple, spatial mapping systems for complex, multi-layered information. to keep those design principles front of mind for the designers and engineers as they moved forward with signature human-machine interface and projects that followed that. Learn more by visiting here: http://www.ideo.com/work/item/myford-touch/ http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/14/next-gen-dashboards-get-tegra-2-moblin-atom-we-go-hands-on/ UPCOMING EVENTS: February: *Interaction10 in Savannah, Feb. 4-7th* *Interaction10: Highlights and Stories* *Weds., Feb. 17th, 2010 *Beyond Design, 6pm-8pm rsvp: www.ixdachicago.org March: *Learning from Architecture* * Weds., March. 17th, 2010 location: TBD, 6pm-8pm rsvp: www.ixdachicago.org * ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
