Thursday, January 29, 2009

Deconstructing Product Design

I'm proud to announce I'll be a Principle Commentator in Rockport Publisher's fall publication, "Deconstructing Product Design". The book is by William Lidwell and Gerry Manasca, both experienced in the world of design. The book dissects many consumer products that at one time or another were on the cutting edge of industrial and product design. The approach is to dissect the product design and explore all facets of the design including form and function, emotional response, practical uses and more.

You might find me giving my opinion on many design aspects and personally insights on the Post-it Note, Atari Joystick, Swiss Army Knife and many other modern curiosities. You'll likely here some snarky, yet constructive remarks.

This book will be out in Fall of 2009.

2 comments:

Carin said...

Sounds awesome! I personally am a big fan of Don Norman and his Design of Everyday Things. I wonder if this is along a similar vein. People underestimate the importance of good design and how it really impacts us in almost everything we do. In my previous life, I was charged with technical usability, mainly web-based applications, for both intuitiveness and accessibility...but design transcends technology to doorknobs, chairs, toys, just about everything! Keep me posted...I'm super interested!

Carin said...

That sounds so awesome! I'll be very interested in reading both your comments and the book.

I've been a fan of Don Norman and The Design of Everyday Things, for quite some time. Is this along the same vein? I love seeing how good and bad design can impact our lives. People so underestimate how important functional and emotional design are. It's not just in art, but in technology and websites all the way to lamps and door knobs.

I'm not very good at design, but after studying some of these concepts (in the scope of usability and accessibility primarily), I've become a bit of a critic, but then aren't we all critics? Only geniuses like you are creators!