Virtual Reality and Real Virtuality

Recently I have realised that many ideas in design: new design models, processes and theories of design, are in some way related to a transformation of ideas from computer science or related digital logic into the real world. Examples for this are the concept of Object Oriented Design in product design which is something I have been considering for a few years now but also, as a less dependent example, the prospect of an API for a non digital object seems quite interesting. In any case, I think computer science is built on very rich developments on logical systems which I think many other disciplines can learn from in some situations. I hope this happens often, and in more ways than simply the current interest in openness such as open-source hardware (and more from Make and Wired) in which open-source notions are physically represented. 

In any case, I thought an important step here would be to devise a term to describe this trend. One that I thought may be appropriate in some contexts is Real Virtuality, but that is more like tangible computing or meeting online friends offline. I would be interested to hear any other suggestions. 

The image is an Arduino board which is a notable example of open-source hardware. 

Posted via email from Mark Whiting's posterous

Google Design School

Google Logo for Lego's 50th Birthday

I am in the midst of applying for a interesting looking job. I hate writing cover letters, however I did think of something a little interesting. Google Design School.

Google, as everybody knows has a great line-up of really usable services and they have consistently kept the user at the centre of their design requirements. Being a large company and one that claims one of its core fundamentals "don't be evil" there is a need for a well defined path to avoid the expected corporate evils and ensure a future of great user service. Google has published their interpretation of this path on their corporate home-page and in doing so created a defining structure for others, in the same space and in my opinion, in almost any other industry. My personal interest lies in two of their documents which I think combined could be used to teach comprehensive design thinking, and hence the prospect of a school of design based on the methods and thinking of Google. The two articles are as follows

1. Google User Experience - A casual documentation of what google holds important when considering the user in their products. 
2. Google Philosophy - Seen as "ten things Google has found to be true" and some great insight about good strategy for almost anything, business, design and whatever else. 

I think it would be fun to discuss this more. If anyone wants to help me put together a course outline for a Google Design class it would be a lot of fun. I really think there is a lot of design learning available there and that it could be used to create something really interesting.