( 17 reviews )
-
Posted: May 29 2009
The title of this book might suggest that it's an introduction to the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). It's not, though I would recommend it to anyone going into that field. Rather, this is a collection of interviews, heavily edited and stylized, that tell the story of the mouse; the Xerox Star (though not in the depth it deserves); the Mac; the iPod; and hundreds of other design innovations. The book only superficially talks about the particular elements of these designs that made them revolutionary. The focus is, instead, on the story of how those elements were allowed to come together to bear fruit. Managers should read this book closely. The book deserves style points, with color pictures jammed into every page to keep things lively. My only major complaint is that it's too much of a good thing. There are a lot of interviews in here that are nice in and of themselves, but just don't fit the theme. Will Wright (creator of the Sims and Spore) is always an interesting guy, but his big thing--"Let's make software that works as open-ended toys, not closed games," to paraphrase--is tangentially related to interaction design, at best. I would have enjoyed this more as a slimmed-down, tightly-focused volume than as the hefty hardcover behemoth it is. For those who are interested in this sort of history, I'd strongly recommend the entrepreneur interview collection Founders at Work.
-
Posted: May 7 2009
If you are interested in Interaction Design, Human Computer Interaction or would like to learn more about how our technology reached where it is today in regards to interacting with us, i highly recommend this one for you. Great collection of interviews. very clear and well written.
-
Posted: May 6 2009
This is a great history book of interaction and product design by the heavy hitters in the digital industry. It's great for history, but if you want a book to learn from, this is not it. It's a huge collection of 42 interviews and is 735 pages with a lot of photos of how those experts did it. The last chapter, which is 94 pages, is the main chapter you can learn from. And there are 22 completely blank pages in the book. I would have been happy if they would have at least put some interaction design principles on those 22 pages. They could have really packed a lot of useful material on how to design interactions. (And they could use the enclosed CD to follow-up on those 22 pages with some great visual material and then you would have a complete course on "Designing Interactions") That's what the name of the book is, "Designing Interactions". I challenge them to put together a "design team" for the next edition and put the most important principles of interaction design on those 22 pages! I bet they can't or won't do it! Just think how much more valuable a book it would be. Then it wouldn't just be a history book of interaction design but something where learning could be integrated with the history. But that is probably too radical of a concept and the editors and publishers and decision makers just won't go for it. I bet they won't do it.
