Design Friday - Secrets of Simplicity

This weeks design post features a slideshare, "Secrets of simplicity" by Giles Colborne of cxpartners:

Secrets of Simplicity: rules for being simple and usable (Giles Colborne) from cxpartners

My favorite:  "People are crying out for less."

Joy and Space and Noise - Brilliant Culture and Space Design

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I read a freebie chapter from Richard Sheridan's book "Joy, Inc." this afternoon . . . Wow!  


The chapter I read is "Space and Noise."  I realize that 1) this is the best writing on the space needs for knowledge workers since DeMarco's "Peopleware" (yes, I'm old); and 2) I want to work with Richard's Firm, Menlo Innovations.

Read the chapter - here is a link to the free download (PDF):
http://www.menloinnovations.com/joyinc/free-chapter

Watching HGTV I hear a lot about "Open Concept" designs.  Richard and his team provide a truly open and flexible concept workspace.

Here is a picture of Menlo's workspace:

Menlo's Space

I highly recommend the free chapter and plan to buy and read the book.

Here is the newest Kindle edition of Peopleware (2013). . .

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Cubli - Brilliant Design!

Check out the Cubli!  This is beautiful applied physics.  Great Project!



Details here:  http://www.idsc.ethz.ch/Research_DAndrea/Cubli

Hat tip to BoingBoing.net

Design: Modular House on the Waterfront

This week's design post features a custom designed house that uses CNC machines (not 3-D Printers) to fabricate (Cut) wooden components.  The house is optimized for passive solar gain in winter and assembled in just two weeks.



The narrator explains that the "Software" makes this oh so simple, but I fear it violates two of my favorite design principles - simplicity and modularity.

Evaluation Design

For today's design-focused post, here is an interesting IGNITE talk by Keith Proctor:



Given at IGNITE AEA 2012 (American Evaluation Association)

Keith explains key considerations in designing evaluations.

Link at igniteshow.com:  http://igniteshow.com/videos/modularity-layers-evaluation-design

Robots that Fly . . . and Cooperate

This week's brilliant design highlights Vijay Kumar's TED talk "Robots that Fly . . . and Cooperate."



I had no idea that drones had come so far!

Link to the Ted.com page:  http://www.ted.com/talks/vijay_kumar_robots_that_fly_and_cooperate.html

Brilliant Design - A Warm Embrace that Saves Lives

This week's brilliant design highlights Jane Chen's TED talk "A Warm Embrace that Saves Lives."  Simplicity is my favorite design principle, and this is a great example.  It also saves lives!

 

Design with the Blind in Mind

For today's "Brilliant Design" post, I offer Chris Downey's TED Talk "Design with the Blind in Mind.  What a great challenge!  Where do I sign up to work on this project?




Link to talk at TED.com:  http://www.ted.com/talks/chris_downey_design_with_the_blind_in_mind.html

Xavier Vilalta's Briliant Architecture

This week's Design Brilliance goes to Xavier Vilalta's architecture as described in this 7:44 TED Talk:



Link to the TED.Com page for Xavier's talk:  http://www.ted.com/talks/xavier_vilalta_architecture_at_home_in_its_community.html

The true brilliance is Xavier's ability and willingness to go beyond stakeholder expectations to deliver something much better! 

Congratulations Xavier!

Brilliant Design

This week's brilliant design goes to  . . . .

The traveling sprinkler.  I've admired these for years and finally bought one last spring.  This lawn sprinkler is water powered and uses the water hose for guidance.  It is a very user-friendly device and has an auto shut off feature implemented as a plunger that is engaged by a ramp placed where you want the traveling sprinkler to shut down.

The mechanism is described in this HowStuffWorks.com article:
http://home.howstuffworks.com/traveling-sprinkler1.htm