Design Thinking Digest

Where you aware? Things you didn’t know Microsoft did.

Apologies to John Hodgeman but sometimes it gets lost in the shuffle that Microsoft has some folks that are doing special things that sometimes go un-noticed. Our MIX Online Team is one of them. Here are some of the things they are working on. What’s wonderful about all of these efforts is that they are freely downloadable, open source, and immediately useable prototypes with no strings attached.

Oxite
^new!

Our Homegrown Content Management Platform

Oomph

Our Microformats Approach

A Website Named Desire

A Look At What It Takes To Launch A Website

Descry
^{coming soon!}

Exploring Data and Information Visualization

Gary Hustwit’s ‘Objectified’ will screen at MIX

The MIX team is hearting design in a big way this year.

Objectified is a feature-length independent documentary about industrial design. It’s a look at the creativity at work behind everything from toothbrushes to tech gadgets. It’s about the people who re-examine, re-evaluate and re-invent our manufactured environment on a daily basis. It’s about personal expression, identity, consumerism, and sustainability. It’s about our relationship to mass-produced objects and, by extension, the people who design them. Read director Gary Hustwit’s post about the film. If you enjoyed Gary's last film, Helvetica, you can't miss this!

Why go to MIX?

It goes without saying that most of us are doing a bit less traveling today. Those of us that get to go to conferences probably have to do a lot more dancing with the corporate bean counters than ever before and, truly, the value proposition of conferences are changing.

I’ve had to make some hard choices myself this year. Such as not going to Interactions 09—but please stop by the Cafe and say hi to Manifest Digital as I’ll be living vicariously through them (If you say something nice about me they might even give you a treat).

But there are two conferences that are pretty important to me personally this year. One is SxSW. I’m a relative virgin to SxSW and this will only be my third year attending, but this is the conference that energized me and restores my spirit. I’m excited that Microsoft has been able to play a part in it for the past few years and I’m excited that the PhizzPop finale will occur here.

SxSW is a great place to have a beer, reconnect with old friends and be stimulated by the diversity of discourse and get some of that special energy and mojo that I only seem to get when I’m in Austin.

But MIX is different. It’s certainly a more serious event—and there’s far more depth to the content that is delivered there. Like SxSW, it’s also a conference with serious, sometimes exhausting, fun.

But what makes MIX special is that it’s about things that are new and things that MIicrosoft has never talked about publically before. This year, if your passions fall to design, or you’re on the fence, or even past the tipping point, on stuff like Expression Studio and Silverlight, you’re going to want to be there. Not just for the content (which, let’s be honest, you can see online later) but because you get a chance to meet, talk, argue and a give feedback to the people that invent and build this stuff at Microsoft.

You also get the opportunity for outstanding networking with your peers, and let’s face it, your competitors—sort of like when James Bond has to partner up with the Russians to foil Spectre, stuff you just can’t do when watching a keynote from a Web Browser or even when you’re at the local pub eyeing your competitors suspiciously. In this economy it’s probably safe to assume that we’ve all got lots to talk about—and what better place to that than Las Vegas.

But in truth, the most important reason to GO to MIX is that your going to learn important exciting things about Silverlight and Expression Studio that are going to impact greatly the way we all work and the expectations that folks have around the classic iron triangle and what’s possible and expected within the constraints of time, money and quality.

You’re also going to see folks that you probably won’t see speaking at other events in 2009. This includes a keynote by Microsoft’s very own Bill Buxton and design standbys like Molly, Luke W., Dan Roam, Lou Carbone and Bill Scott.

See a smattering of the speakers here.

If you’re still reading I’m gonna suspect your interesting so in the spirit of the Sham Wow guy I’m also going to offer up a special that we’re running at MIX. Register by February 13 and you can save over $400 bucks on registration.

Are you still here?

One more thing, if you can’t get to any PhizzPop events and you won’t be at SxSW you can still see videos of PhizzPop events at MIX and actually meet and interact with many of the PhizzPop teams in our PhizzPop booth. We’ll have teams and solutions from our 08 and 09 events.

My Panels At MIX

Going to MIX? Want to see my panels? Here they are. They will also be taped and posted at the www.visitmix.com site.

Real World Design: Working with Silverlight and WPF in the Design Studio

Thursday, March 6 8:30 AM - 9:45 AM, Delfino 4001A 

Speaker(s): Beau Ambur (Metalliq), Chip Aubry (Tribal), Chris Bernard (MODERATOR), Nathan Dunlap (Identity Mine), Rich Weston (Neudesic)

Audience(s): Creative, Technical

Session Type: Panel

Silverlight and WPF represent a new way for designers and developers work together. But what happens in a professional practice that's focused more on employing designers than developers and using Macs versus PCs for much of their daily design work? Join us as we find out how practitioners from companies like Tribal, Projekt202, Metaliq and Identity Mine discuss the learning curves and the workflow that they adapted with their visual designers and rich interactive developers to get up to speed with Expression Studio, XAML and Silverlight. You'll hear the unvarnished truth about the challenges and rewards of how Silverlight is enabling the digital design practice.

What Is the face of the next Web?

Wednesday, March 5 1:30 PM - 2:45 PM, Delfino 4001A 

Speaker(s): Chris Bernard (MODERATOR), Paul Dain (Tribal), Anthony Franco (EffectiveUI), Tjeerd Hoek (Frog), Mark Kurtz (Gage), Garrick Schmitt (Avenue A | Razorfish)

Audience(s): Business, Creative, Technical

Session Type: Panel

Web 2.0 appeared almost overnight from innovative uses of technology to break through the traditional HTML/JS browser ceilings. But what comes next? What is the face of the next web? What are the expectaitons for user interaction and experience? What about a mobile web?

Touch Me: Where Are Interfaces Going?

Thursday, March 6 2:30 PM - 3:45 PM, Delfino 4101A 

Speaker(s): Chris Bernard (MODERATOR), Doug Cook (Thirteen23), Dale Herigstad (Schematic), Daniel Makoski (Microsoft), Yoshihiro Saito (2nd Factory), Dave Wolf

Audience(s): Business, Creative, Technical

Session Type: Panel

The keyboard and mouse are aging input devices. For the future of computing and UX, where are interfaces going? Are these enough? Is touch-screen Surface/iPhone/iPod Touch just a gimmick? Where should Man Machine Interface (MMI) go?

Technorati Tags: MIX08

Follow MIX2008 from home

Sadly, MIX2008 is sold out. But don't let that stop you from following all the announcements and sessions that are happening at MIX. We'll be live streaming all keynotes and sessions will be hosted online within 24 hours.

Starting the day of the event (March 5th) you'll be able to see content at: http://sessions.visitmix.com

Also be sure to check out the MIX Flickr feed.

You'll be able to see presentations from Steve Ballmer, Ray Ozzie, Scott Guthrie, Guy Kawasaki and Dean Hachamovitch unveiling the latest web-oriented products and technologies.

To see what sessions are coming you can browse a comprehensive program of sessions for designers, developers and business strategists led by industry experts.

I'm especially excited because Guy Kawasaki will there. Check out his blog and some of his thoughts on Avenue A | Razorfish's Digital Media Outlook Report. Great Stuff. BTW, also check out www.alltop.com. Great for those of us not on the RSS/ATOM bandwagon yet. I'd love to get in the ego category but of course if you have to ask...

Technorati Tags: Guy Kawasaki,Scott Guthrie,Steve Ballmer,Avenue A | Razorfish,MIX08

Beautiful Applications

Technorati Tags: Thirteen23,MixMe,Continuum

There's a great deal of talk about how Vista (when compared to Windows XP) doesn't provide value to most users. I think much of this stems for the fact that we have yet to see many applications that truly take advantage of the platform and have created applications that make us feel good when we use them.

Of all the numerous designers and firms I work with I'm not sure anyone understands that better (or is able to execute their vision better with WPF and Vista) that a firm by the name of Thirteen23.

Some of the folks from this firm will be sitting on one of my panels with me at MIX on next generation interfaces and I'm hoping I can convince them to show more of their work at SxSW this year too.

They've built two beautiful applications that show the power of Vista and the graceful and beautiful applications that can be built for it when one applies great design to our platform. As the Vista adoption curve matures I'm sure we'll continue to see firms like Thirteen23 prosper.

So what are the two applications they've created that I love so much? The first one is an update to their MixMe 07 application they created last year. This year they've focused on creating an elegant tool that let's me keep track of all of the sessions that I want to see this year. It's a great complement to our own Flotzam tool to keep track of the buzz at MIX. You can download it here.

The second application is a simple, yet elegant chat tool. I find myself using this over my other chat tools because I simply find it more pleasurable and easy to use. Called Continuum. You can download it here.

Do we need branded utilities

Technorati Tags: MIX,My Vegas,Branded Utility,Las Vegas,Silverlight

A big part of my shtick when I talk about Rich Platforms is that we'll all be using them in a few years if not sooner. I'd argue AJAX is a rich platform too but the real question is will the applications we live in today (social media, way-finding, etc.) eventually migrate (or become augmented by) richer technologies like Flex, Flash, AIR, Silverlight, WPF, etc.

Critical Mass takes a tender step into that area with a social application called My Vegas. It's goals are based on the following simple (and accurate) premise.

People go to Vegas to have fun and “be someone else”
People travel to Vegas in groups and often “converge” at a common destination

There's a whole bunch of tools (like Facebook and Twitter, etc.) that we can use to facilitate this right now, but what happens when we aggregate them? If and when this convergence happens what we're really talking about is branded utility. That's what My Vegas is all about. Now I'd love to see a version of My Vegas built on Silverlight to make this interface sing : ) but what stands out here has more to do with the approach to design than the application of technology--or rather the fit, polish and emotional response it engenders. All great things that marketers and technologists must strive to provide to distinguish itself in the online realm.

I'll be using My Vegas for a trip this week and during MIX to plan my events and keep in touch with my friends it's one of a number of great tools that I'll be taking advantage of while I'm at MIX (more on those other tools later).

What's Going On At MIX?

In addition to speaking gigs at MIX here are some other interesting things that are going on.

MIX08 is to debut the first ever MIX UX Track which is 3 days of solid content dedicated to user experience.  Lou Carbone, David Armano, Dan Roam, Kim Lenox and others will speak.  In conjunction with Adaptive Path, the User Experience track is just one of the many great reasons for all types of designers and creative professionals to attend MIX this year. Learn more at http://visitmix.com/2008/mixux.aspx.

The deadline for this year’s CSS contest, RESTYLE, has been extended.  You can restyle the MIX08 Homepage and win a pass to MIX08, 3 nights at the Venetian, $$ and more, more, more! Learn how at http://visitmix.com/2008/restyle/.

 

Have you been listening to The Signal?  Each week a new episode debuts featuring a speaker or MIX crew member talking about some of the upcoming coolness happening at MIX08.  Listen to their interviews with Molly Holzschlag, Kip Kniskern, Jonathan Snook and others as we countdown to Vegas.  Got a question for the show?  Email signalm@microsoft.com or leave a voice-mail message at (425) 703-4650. Learn more at  http://visitmix.com/blogs/TheSignal/.

If you were at last year's MIX you might remember Flotzam, a WPF screensaver mash-up that showed MIX07 feeds from Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and blogs. Well, we are doing it again this year with a twist: we are running a contest and will feature community created skins of the application on the big screen and on the screensavers of the computers available to attendees at the show. The best skin will win an XBOX 360.  Entering the contest is easy: everything you need to know can be found here http://www.visitmix.com/blogs/News/403/ including links to screencasts and instructions that show how easy it is to do the restyle.  

What Chris Bernard is doing at MIX

Aside from having a great time at one of my most favorite conferences of the year I'll be doing three panels at MIX this year. MIX sells out EVERY year so if you're thinking of going book your travels soon. You'll get the latest and greatest on the following topics plus you'll be able to see some great panels that I'm moderating.

Learn about:

• IE 8
• IIS 7.0
• ASP.NET (including ASP.NET 3.5, ASP.NET AJAX, ASP.NET MVC, and ASP.NET Dynamic Data) 
• VS 2008 and Expression Studio
• WPF
• Silverlight 2
• And much more....

And join me for the following panels.

Real World Design: Working with Silverlight and WPF in the Design Studio

Silverlight and WPF represent a new way for designers and developers work together. But what happens in a professional practice that's focused more on employing designers than developers and using Macs versus PCs for much of their daily design work? Join us as we find out how practitioners from companies like Tribal, Metaliq and Identity Mine discuss the learning curves and the workflow that they adapted with their visual designers and rich interactive developers to get up to speed with Expression Studio, XAML and Silverlight. You'll hear the unvarnished truth about the challenges and rewards of how Silverlight is enabling the digital design practice.

Will have panelists from Metaliq, Tribal DDB and Idenity Mine and we'll get down and dirty about how Web agencies use our tools in the real world. We might have a few surprises up our sleeve with the addition of some surprise panelists.

My second panel?

What is the face of the next Web?

The Web 2.0 appeared almost overnight from innovative uses of technology to break through the traditional HTML/JS browser ceilings. But what comes next? What is the face of the next web? What are the expectations for user interaction and experience and the intersection of digital marketing, social media and services? What’s next, mobile, the living room, everything?

My panelists include:

• Anthony Franco is the president of EffectiveUI
• Paul Dain is the Director of Technology for Tribal DDB in Chicago
• Tjeerd Hoek is one of the principal creative leads for Frog Design (and former lead designer for Windows at Microsoft)
• Mark Kurtz is a former technology director at IdeaPark and who’s next gig is VP of Interactive Technology at Gage.
• Garrick Schmitt is the author of the Avenue A Razorfish Digital Technology Outlook

My final panel?

Touch Me: Where are interfaces going?

The keyboard and mouse are aging input devices. Where are the future of computing and our experiences with  technology going? Are touch interfaces the wave of the future? Are they enough? Is touch-screen Surface/iPhone/iPod Touch just a gimmick? How will human and machine interfaces evolve?

My panelists include:

• Doug Cook, an interaction designer from Thirteen23.com
• August de lost Reyes and Daniel Makoski from the Microsoft Surface team
• Saito-San from Japanese Web Agency and UX pioneer 2nd Factory
• Dale Herigstad from Schmatic (If you've seen Minority Report you've seen Dale's incredible work).