Smart Things
Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design
Published on 14. September 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-0-12-374899-7 (ISBN)
Description
The world of smart shoes, appliances, and phones is already here, but the practice of user experience (UX) design for ubiquitous computing is still relatively new. Design companies like IDEO and frogdesign are regularly asked to design products that unify software interaction, device design and service design -- which are all the key components of ubiquitous computing UX -- and practicing designers need a way to tackle practical challenges of design. Theory is not enough for them -- luckily the industry is now mature enough to have tried and tested best practices and case studies from the field.
Smart Things presents a problem-solving approach to addressing designers' needs and concentrates on process, rather than technological detail, to keep from being quickly outdated. It pays close attention to the capabilities and limitations of the medium in question and discusses the tradeoffs and challenges of design in a commercial environment. Divided into two sections, frameworks and techniques, the book discusses broad design methods and case studies that reflect key aspects of these approaches. The book then presents a set of techniques highly valuable to a practicing designer. It is intentionally not a comprehensive tutorial of user-centered design'as that is covered in many other books'but it is a handful of techniques useful when designing ubiquitous computing user experiences.
In short, Smart Things gives its readers both the "why" of this kind of design and the "how," in well-defined chunks.
Smart Things presents a problem-solving approach to addressing designers' needs and concentrates on process, rather than technological detail, to keep from being quickly outdated. It pays close attention to the capabilities and limitations of the medium in question and discusses the tradeoffs and challenges of design in a commercial environment. Divided into two sections, frameworks and techniques, the book discusses broad design methods and case studies that reflect key aspects of these approaches. The book then presents a set of techniques highly valuable to a practicing designer. It is intentionally not a comprehensive tutorial of user-centered design'as that is covered in many other books'but it is a handful of techniques useful when designing ubiquitous computing user experiences.
In short, Smart Things gives its readers both the "why" of this kind of design and the "how," in well-defined chunks.
Reviews / Votes
Finally a book about ubiquitous computing that covers the broad challenges of designing for user experiences over a vast range of devices, device sizes from micro to meso to macro, and crucially, ecologies of devices. An evocative tour thru past design efforts and devices/systems that beautifully sets the stage for the design challenges we are quickly marching into. -- John Seely Brown, Former Chief Scientist, Xerox Corporation; Former Director, Palo Alto Research Center (PARC); author The Social Life of Information and The Power of Pull"This book explains in no-nonsense language why you should care that computing has become ubiquitous and what the implications are for people who design things. Even better, it lays out suggestions as to how to use this knowledge to make better things. If you've ever wondered how interface, interaction, information, and industrial design overlap, what they have to do with user experience, and how it's all affecting your life, you should read this book." -- Tom Igoe, Associate Professor, NYU, Interactive Telecommunications, author of Physical Computing and Making Things Talk
"Smart Things is a rare artifact from the future that packs immediate practical value. I predict its coverage of multi-scale design will change user experience practice forever. It is the most useful book about the future of design I've read and has changed the way I work. Mike Kuniavsky doesn't just write about the future, he lives there... and now so can you." -- Peter Morville, President, Semantic Studios, author, Ambient Findability
"Provocative and pragmatic, Smart Things describes an important new approach to the design of consumer electronics. Its chapters explain why the design of digital products is different than other kinds of design and provide valuable techniques that unify the disciplines of interaction and industrial design." - Charles L Jones, Vice President, Global Consumer Design, Whirlpool
"Web designer Mike Kuniavsky, who has spent his career dissecting people's relationship to digital technology, hangs out at Four Barrel Coffee precisely because he can disconnect from the Internet and concentrate on his thoughts. That's where he wrote his upcoming book on consumer electronics design: Smart Things."--The Los Angeles Times
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
San Francisco
United States
Publishing group
Elsevier Science & Technology
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Industrial designers, Software or Web Interaction/Interface designers, Ubiquitous computing designers, Mobile application designers, Developers working in mobile media, Project/Product managers.
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
sewn/stitched
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 192 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
708 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-12-374899-7 (9780123748997)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
09/2010
Morgan Kaufmann
€32.95
Available for download
Person
Mike Kuniavsky is a user experience designer, researcher and author. A twenty-year veteran of digital product development, Mike is a consultant and the co-founder of several user experience centered companies: ThingM manufactures products for ubiquitous computing and the Internet of Things; Adaptive Path is a well-known design consultancy. He is also the founder and organizer of Sketching in Hardware, an annual summit on the future of tools for digital product user experience design for leading technology developers, designers and educators. Mike frequently writes and speaks on digital product and service design, and works with product development groups in both large companies and startups. His most recent book is Smart Things: Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design.
Content
Part I: F rameworks 1Chapter 1: Introduction: The Middle of Moore's Law Chapter 2: W hat Is User Experience Design and Who Creates It?Chapter 3: Interaction MetaphorsChapter 4: Information Is a MaterialChapter 5: The Whirlpool centralpark (TM) Refrigerator: The Design of an Accessory PortChapter 6: Information Shadows Chapter 7: Clickables: Toys and Information ShadowsChapter 8: Devices Are Service AvatarsChapter 9: The iPod: A Service AvatarChapter 10: AppliancenessChapter 11: RoomWizard: An Appliance for Office SocietyChapter 12: Scales of ExperienceChapter 13: Plasma Poster: Unifying Work Cultures with a Digital Poster
Part II T echniquesChapter 14: Observation and IdeationChapter 15: Simulation and SketchingChapter 16: Nabaztag, an Ambiguous AvatarChapter 17: Augmentations and MashupsChapter 18: Common Design ChallengesChapter 19: From Invisible Computing to Everyware
Part II T echniquesChapter 14: Observation and IdeationChapter 15: Simulation and SketchingChapter 16: Nabaztag, an Ambiguous AvatarChapter 17: Augmentations and MashupsChapter 18: Common Design ChallengesChapter 19: From Invisible Computing to Everyware