Vehicle Key Fob Design - A Follow-Up

Earlier this year I posted about the incredibly flawed design of the Lexus key fob. Fortunately, I stumbled upon the antithesis. Last week I rented a Nissan Altima, and this is its key fob:

Lock, un-lock (with little bumps to feel for in the dark), trunk (hold to open), and panic. Simple, straightforward, no ambiguity.

Battery Hand Wall Clock

Really clever, if somewhat unfeasible, idea for a wall clock. Use the batteries as the hour and minute hands:

I question how fast the batteries would run down if they have to power the weight of their own rotation. Regardless, an elegant idea.

(via Gizmodo and The Wrong Objects).

Spotted at a drug store. Didn’t catch who makes these, anyone know? I dig it.

Simplified Privacy Controls on Facebook

I’m digging Openbook’s proposal for simplifying privacy controls on Facebook: place a “Privacy Slider” on every user’s homepage, ranging from completely private to completely open.

Clicking on the slider invokes a popup which breaks down the privacy settings and allows for more granular control (if desired). I think this is a nice, transparent solution… and probably nothing like what Facebook will unveil on the coming weeks.

(via Wired).

Via curvedwhite: “Hold On Tight” book shelf designed by Colleen & Eric.

The $0.69 iPad Stand

drewvigal:

Bought a wireless keyboard today to eventually replace the iPad Keyboard Dock I ordered online with my iPad. One really should try out a product before buying peripherals. But what I was really looking for was a stand that kept my iPad upright in either landscape or portrait. Neither the Keyboard Dock nor the iDock does this… granted, those do charge the iPad while docked. And I saw Griffin’s A-Frame: Tabletop Stand for iPad in stock at the Apple Store. But at $49… it’s ridiculously expensive.

Then I went to Office Depot and found this: Business Card Holder for $0.69.

Of course, this isn’t made for the iPad. So don’t expect the stability you’d want from rough handling or turbulence on a flight. And when used in tilt mode for on-screen keyboard typing, the curved top and smooth surface don’t really give enough traction to prevent from the occasional slippage. I ended up putting some gaffers tape to improve the friction.

But it’s less than a buck. And it keeps my iPad screen tilted enough for easy viewing. That’s what I need while writing on a wireless keyboard. Oh… a mouse would be nice. But more on that later.

BTW, I twittered last week that I found another device that can tilt the iPad for easy typing: my iPhone.

I’ve tried this out and it works splendidly. I would team up with some friends if you plan on ordering online, however. The stands are $0.69 but shipping is 10 bucks, even if you buy just one. 

Just look at that image on the right. It looks like a laptop from the future.

Never Miss the Key Hole

Clever.

OneZero: Parsons DT Thesis Symposium

The Design and Technology department at Parsons (of which I am an alum) is holding their second annual thesis symposium this weekend, titled OneZero. I had the privilege of seeing a few of the talks and checked the gallery out this Saturday. The show is described by the students as a “way of sharing research and work as designers, programmers, developers, gamers, storytellers, animators and social entrepreneurs. [Their] work is wide ranging but grouped within a variety of themes.”

A really solid and impressive showing this year. Specifically:

Not for Bots, by Kunal D Patel.

Not for Bots is “ a collection of online software that playfully demonstrate how the Internet is shaping human behavior.” As of this writing, there are two Twitter services in the collection: Transito.us and Penultim.it. Check out those links for more info, they essentially both subvert the user’s expectations of URL shortening services.

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Pennant by Stephen Varga

Pennant is “an interactive exploration of baseball data that allows users to quickly and accurately recreate and investigate the history of the annual race to be the best team in Major League Baseball.” Really cool iPad app, with awesome data visualization (notice the Tufte inspired Sparklines). Check out the video here for a demo. Should be available in the App Store soon.

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Data by Zach Gage

Data is a series of projects that “explore a number of discrepancies surrounding our use of data, and how that use is, or could be, shaping our lives for the better or worse.” They are all worth checking out in detail. My favorite is Lose/Lose, an Asteroids-style shooter game that links enemy ships to files on your computer. Thus, killing enemies slowly destroys the user’s hard drive.

Simplicity isn’t that simple

52weeksofux:

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” —Leonardo Da Vinci

Simplicity, by definition, is freedom from complexity; the absence of luxury or pretentiousness. Sophistication, on the other hand, often implies a sense of style, cultivated beauty and refinement. So is Da Vinci contradicting himself here?

On the contrary. I believe the ultimate level of sophistication happens when the refining process is so complete that there is truly nothing else to add and nothing else to take away; when the nature of a thing is perfectly represented and understood by its state and appearance. To behold it is to know and understand it.

This may seem overly philosophical, but as my co-author, Josh Porter, said recently, “Simplicity is much more than the trite “less is more” we so often hear. Simplicity is… about clarity.” And clarity comes from constant refinement.

John Maeda’s First Law of Simplicity states: The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction. Refinement that is thoughtful, calculated, and whenever possible and appropriate, based on data is one of the fundamental tools of any designer.

Anyone who occupies themselves with the task of creating truly usable products becomes instantly aware that achieving simplicity is not that simple. For any single feature in a product we must take into account the way it looks, the way it functions, its place in the overall system, affordances to help convey context of how and why it is to be used, as well as taking into account the motivation of the user.

Designers are in a constant process of weighing each decision against previous ones, against common conventions and against the user’s goals in order to create an interface, a product or a service that is clear in all its meaning and function. There is no denying the difficulty in this process. There is a delicate balance between the simplicity of use and the complexity of usefulness. But it is true the product that is clear in its purpose, elegant in its execution and simple in its use will set itself apart from the competition and endear itself to the user.

Designing for simplicity is a process of calculated refinement. 

Elegance and The Art of Less

Matthew E. May:

The singular thought that what isn’t can often be as or more powerful than what is presented me with a completely different view of the world. In fact, it offered an altogether unique reality—and a life-changing one at that. I embarked on the journey I’m still on, in search of solutions that derive maximum effect from minimum means, ideas that are elegant by virtue of their ability to achieve two conflicting goals at once: profound simplicity and surprising power.

It turns out that if you know where to look and what to look for, the “stop doing” strategy can be found at the heart of elegance in a wide range of fields— from the arts to athletics, from manufacturing to architecture, from science to media. Elegance is a widely sought-after quality, and it can take many forms. A few individuals, teams, and companies have become quite adept at exploiting the principle of subtraction to better sculpt their ideas, performances, and lives.

Scientists, mathematicians, and engineers search for theories that explain highly complex phenomena in stunningly simple ways. Artists and designers use white, or “negative,” space to convey visual power. Musicians and composers use pauses—silence—in the score to create dramatic tension. Dancers and elite athletes deliver their maximum performances by minimizing unnecessary exertion. Physicians draw on Occam’s razor principle—or diagnostic parsimony—to find the single cause of a patient’s myriad symptoms, shaving the analysis down from a sea of possibilities to the most likely explanation.

Delightful. Read the full article here, an excerpt from his book In Pursuit of Elegance.

(Full disclosure: I work for frog design, who publish Design Mind).

Wieden + Kennedy for Nike

The blogosphere et al. has been buzzing in the past couple days about a new Nike spot for Tiger Woods, by Portland based ad agency Wieden + Kennedy. In case you haven’t seen it already:

Predictably, the extreme simplicity appeals to me here. Personal opinions about the man aside, I think the commercial is pitch perfect, which is quite a feat considering the circumstances. I seem to be in the minority on this, however. My favorite quote: “I find the use of his dead father’s voice … out of context by definition … grotesque and in some ways more tasteless than his sexual transgressions.”

I’m actually glad this commercial popped up recently, because it gave me an excuse to post another super-simple ad that I’ve been keeping in my back pocket for a while. I believe this comes from Wieden + Kennedy as well, but don’t quote me on that.

Brilliant. All it took was some archival footage and a dash of dramatic irony to create one of the more emotional commercials I’ve ever seen. However, I’d imagine this ad, as with the other one, creates a fairly divisive reaction. What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts over @RussianPencil.

The iPad User Manual

How you know a product is easy to use: when the ‘user manual’ is a single index card.