dechezette

26 October 10

Design Management Insights from BMW’s Former Chief of Design

This interview with former BMW Chief of Design Chris Bangle reveals some universal creative principles for creating and managing a culture of design.

Break down the walls between your teams, but ...

During the true development process there’s no reason to hide things. However, keep the board of directors and the marketing guys at bay - you can’t create life under an atmosphere of ‘no’.

Balance your race-horses with thinkers

First and foremost you want designers to bring energy to the table ... those are the race-horses - you just want to turn them loose. But you also want to make sure you get the deep thinkers in there, the artistic ones, who are sometimes shy and often intimidated by the aggressiveness of the other types. But they’re often the quiet sleeper ones that come up with that deep deep idea.

Having the power to let go

When you are on a model, you are the design chief - you have to know you have that power. Yet, design chiefs, if they do their job right, need to become experts at letting go.

Get deeper inside your team’s heads

My job is to help you do your job. However I’m going to open up your drawers and see what you’ve got stashed away that you’re not doing. What is it that you want to do that someone is not letting you do, that you’re dreaming of doing, but don’t have the courage to put up on the wall?

Open your horizons

If you like cars you have to appreciate all of them - for what it took to make them. Even the cars that are butt-ugly - there was a design team that put a lot of love into that. Try to understand it from their point of view - their limitations - and see what you can learn from that.

via PSFK

22 October 10

Coming Soon to an Experience Near You: Gaming Dynamics

There’s a really interesting dialog going on right now about integrating gaming dynamics and principles into into traditionally non-gaming experiences.

What if we could inject a little joy and surprise into everyday or otherwise mundane tasks?

The above TED Talk does a good job of outlining a few of these principles and giving examples.

Right before seeing this video I coincidentally bought an iPhone to-do list app that uses the RPG metaphor of leveling-up your character as you complete tasks. I’m not a to-do list app type of guy, but I was so impressed with the execution that I decided to check it out.

Weeks later I’ve found myself consistently interacting with the app every day - though I’m still only a Level 2 Stooping Dwarven Nerd-Do-Well.

Not only am I having fun with this app, but I’m actually accomplishing more things as well.

Very interested to see where this new thread takes things.

Here’s another article worth checking out: Friction Can Be a Good Thing: The Role of Gaming Dynamics in User Experience

And here’s the complete list of game dynamics referenced in the TED video (via @stephenanderson): SCVNGR’s Secret Game Mechanics Playdeck

04 October 10

Thoughts on the BlackBerry PlayBook

And the company to be the first to jump into the ring with the iPad is BlackBerry!?

In viewing the above video I have to say that I was a bit surprised and impressed with the snippets of the UX. Yes, it is very Apple - but there are worse criticisms out there for a 1.0 product release.

It will be interesting to see if they get any real momentum on this product. My feeling is no. But not because it doesn’t look like a great product. I think BlackBerry’s biggest challenge is their brand. In the public’s eye they are largely perceived as an enterprise (or business) brand. They’ve spent millions of dollars trying to change that perception with their Apple-esque “Love what you do” platform. Was I the only one that felt the disconnect there?

And then there’s the advantage that Apple has on everyone with a robust app ecosystem.

The exciting thing for me is to see another player putting a solid product out there. Hopefully heating up the competition will accelerate innovation in the tablet space.