Design Thinking Digest

Dan Saffer and Designing for Interaction

It's been awhile since some good design books have appeared that focus on interaction design.

I want to get my hands on this one from Adaptive Path's Dan Saffer called Designing for Interaction. Like books by other Adaptive Path folks like Jeffery Veen's The Art and Science of Web Design (who is now with Google working on their recently acquired Measure Map Product) and Jesse James Garrett's The Elements of User Experience Adaptive Path continue to lead and innovate in the interaction design space and are pushing it in exciting new directions.

Design in Cinema

Along time ago I thought I'd make movies (maybe I still will). As part of my exploration of film I did a great deal of film studies work versus just learning the ins and outs of production. One theme I've been thinking about alot lately is how design is represented in film. Not so much as a component in a film's creation but how it's used. I can think of no better recent example than The Incredibles which was such a rich and complex piece of work on so many levels.

Jessica Helfand wrote an interesting essay on this subject at Design Observer. You may have enjoyed The Incredibles for its humor, its story, its love of classic comics and early James Bond films but even though you can't put your finger on you probably also appreciated it for it's love of design and how it's usage shaped the different acts of the film.

If you think The Incredibles is just a move for kids give it a look if you're a fan of DC comics from the 50's, James Bond from the 60's and mid-century modernism.