Andy Reitz (blog)

 

 

Foo Camp: Some opinions about product design

Matt Webb - Schulze & Webb

Constraints on products - need to be mass produced, use artifically cheap components, etc. Means that you need to have design in order to satisfy these constraints.

Internet Sensibility - folks who grew up on the intenret. They have different ideas/opinions than "normals". Assumption that we can see how things work, and adapt it. Whatever we do, we do it socially. "Generation C" - defined not by age, but by activity. Very creative. Community based. Comfortable with connectedness - device connectedness, data can move between devices.

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Matt Webb, talking about design for "Generation C"

Connected products - adapt to new trends by glomming things on the side (API or physical connector).

Paper by Alex Taylor - "gift of the gab". studied teenagers in the UK, looked at the way they use SMS messages. Show-off text messages (get a viral one early, then you're cool). Resembles gift-giving.

Cigarette pacakge that understands its context of social use - it slides open (looks cool), which makes for more of a conversation starter. There is a social aspect of smoking, where people approach you to borrow a cigarette. Also has a place to write-down phone numbers.

On the web, we like to personalize, or break things apart and understand stuff.

Canon has a MFP where they have build a widget platform, so you can write custom UIs for certain tasks. UI on the MFP is complex (so many features), building a custom UI can radicaly simply for certain tasks. Smart idea, but they charge $5k for sdk and recurring cost for deployments.

We have become design literate, and discerning.

glancing - neat IM app for mac - can do in-between presence states. Group based - supports looking around. Plausibly deniable.

Small groups - immediate network, 1st tier, primary network. Re-inforce importance (would fight to defend) by conversation. Allowing network to influence your desktop.

Products that aren't extensible, social, hackable won't survive over the next 10 years. Generation C requires this.