Things we do, thoughts we have and things we like at Vostok Studio
This is our humble contribution to @DesignObserver‘s week devoted to Massimo Vignelli:
Yes, it’s a beautifully framed first edition of his 1972 NYC Subway Map at the Vostok studio. It has been here since day 1.
Check the video of Mr. Vignelli talking about it, for those who lack a bit of context.
Learn about the past from the future. Or was it the other way around. Nevermind. Paleofuture.tv, by retrofuture researcher Matt Novak goes right to our instafave-ultrafan video playlist. Enjoy episode 0000:
What would you say it’s wrong at Nokia?
This is what a former software engineer at Nokia told John Gruber:
Here’s the problem: Hardware Rules at Nokia. The software is written by the software groups inside of Nokia, and it is then given to the hardware group, which gets to decide what software goes on the device, and the environment in which it runs. All schedules are driven by the hardware timelines. It was not uncommon for us to give them code that ran perfectly by their own test, only to have them do things like reduce the available memory for the software to 25% the specified allocation, and then point the finger back at software when things failed in the field.
In addition, I read their “competitive analysis” of the iPhone. It was a short powerpoint deck that proceeded to lay out all of the reasons why Nokia did not have to change what they were doing at all. They even included “developer annoyance at the App Store submission process” as a reason why the iPhone would ultimately fail (this was around the time that the 3GS was released, so they had no excuse).
Bottom Line: Nokia is a hardware company that hates software.
Sad.
After some months of reviewing applications for my next Interaction Design course. I finally finished the selection and I can say I have a very good group of students. It has been very hard: just eight openings and around 30 aplicants, many of them being very sharp people with interesting backgrounds.
These are the eight members of Programa Vostok III (2010-2011)
Nicolás Alcalá
Marc Cercós
Hugo Cornejo
Ricardo Fernández
Gabriela Lendo
Irene Marqués
María Jesús Sierra
Bruno Teixidor
I’m really looking forward to begin classes. There is a great responsability in teaching and doing so the way I want to do it requires a lot of work and involvement.
I remember when a good friend of mine coined the term “web 2.love” as a way to refer to those internet projects fueled with feelings and passion rather than money. It made me think a lot back then and I still give some mental RAM to that every now and then.
To me, methodology and techniques are very important for a designer but nothing great comes out if there isn’t personal involvement in it. Feelings are indispensable. Values are a must (honesty, truth, beauty…) are the drivers of our work. That’s why I respect so much Ale Muñoz’s approach when he talks about love and design all in the same sentence:
I really wish every web developer out there poured so much love into every form as we did with this one.
Ale Muñoz
Go check his forms for BeBanjo and you’ll understand.
This article on The Design Observer about Massimo Vignelli’s desk has introduced us to a new little gem: Lines. A wonderful addition to our list of movies on design.
In their own words:
Lines consists of mini-documentaries, running 5 to 7 minutes in length, highlighting the beauty and importance of the architecture in everyday objects, and details how the design and structure of these objects affect and reflect our lifestyles.
Highlights: The Desk and The High Heel.
In case you’re not familiar with The Guardian‘s beautiful series on writer’s rooms that the Design Observer article touches on, check it out: you don’t know what you’ve been missing. El País has tried to do something similar, missing the mark by a long shot unfortunately.
Aza Raskin just posted the latest proof of concept on search for Mozilla Firefox: Panorama Search. Check the video:
It looks like instead of focusing on touch manipulation or voice interaction they are clearly into productivity derived from keyboard interaction. You know, those thenths of a second you grasp when avoiding moving your hands from the keyboard to the mouse and back to the keyboard.
It kind of reminds me of Ubiquity (remember?), which was released two years ago.
What do you think? Are you convinced by this keyboard approach?
Elcomercio.pe could be doing well for all sorts of reasons, not just the ones we’ve mentioned (one column, non-stop stream of information and extensive use of images), but this graph has given us food for thought. Perhaps we’re on to something here? Our source.
Two things we like from their home:
