Posts Tagged ‘ balance ’

The abomination of endless growth

  • July 25th, 2011
  • Posted in design

This article from CleanTechnica is a great example showing that unlimited growth cannot continue indefinitely.  There are no known cases of perpetual unlimited growth anywhere in the universe.  What’s makes us think we can do better[ READ MORE ]

Another Google summer

  • July 1st, 2011
  • Posted in design

I love Google.  They’re not perfect, but they’re one of the best companies out there.  And, I’d note, though they pay careful attention to what people say about them and their products, it seems that their primary source of direction and innovation is their own expertise.  This may fly in the face of some basic [ READ MORE ]

My Rules

  • June 30th, 2011
  • Posted in design

What are the rules by which you live your life?  Wanna know what mine are?  Here they are[ READ MORE ]

Technology, analogy, evolution, and Don Norman

  • June 22nd, 2011
  • Posted in design

According to Don Norman, technology comes before identification of need. That is, you can only recognize a need if you already know about the technology that can be used to address it.  It’s not a conventional idea, and it can rub some people the wrong way, but – as I’ve written before – I think [ READ MORE ]

An imbalance in the Ontario health care system

  • June 12th, 2011
  • Posted in design

I think of design as an activity that seeks balance between efficiency and effectiveness. So understanding effectiveness and efficiency, and being able to recognize efficiency and effectiveness in systems, is a fundamental skill in design. In this post, I will describe a situation from my own life of hyper-efficiency in the Ontario health care system. [ READ MORE ]

An overly effective system

  • January 8th, 2011
  • Posted in design

I have many examples of hyper-efficient systems, but I lack examples of hyper-effective systems.  I’ve found one, though, in the Grand Cayman airport.  Chronically overcrowded, horribly organized, and highly unstructured, it is also incredibly malleable.  Both the structure and the staff seem able to accommodate nearly any situation and adapt to it easily. It doesn’t [ READ MORE ]

Calvetica: weird name – sweeeet calendar

  • December 24th, 2010
  • Posted in design

Rarely do I find software that is so wonderfully balanced between form and function that it becomes an instant favorite of mine. Recently, I’ve found three. Dropbox, which I’ve already written about, was first.  The second was Burstn.  Calvetica, an iPhone calendar, is the third such app.  If you use an iPhone and you’re looking [ READ MORE ]

Snow, airlines, and balance

  • December 20th, 2010
  • Posted in design

London’s Heathrow Airport – suffering only a few centimetres of snowfall – is largely shut down.  Thousands of stranded passengers may end up spending Christmas in one of the least Christmas-y places there is. Dozens of other airports are carrying huge backlogs because of the cascade effect. The rippling of delays and cancellations is wreaking [ READ MORE ]

Designing is not problem solving

  • July 4th, 2010
  • Posted in design

Lots of people will agree with the statement “Designing is a kind of problem-solving.”  But I disagree, especially in light of how we typically think of problems in everyday life.  Problems are human constructs – nature has no problems.  Psychologists may have a more sophisticated way of thinking about problem-solving, but, in my experience, most [ READ MORE ]

Why Apple is Successful

  • May 28th, 2010
  • Posted in design

On 26 May, Apple‘s market value surpassed that of Microsoft.  Many have suddenly felt the need to explain this.  No one that I’ve heard or read has gotten it right.  Here’s what I think[ READ MORE ]

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