Google has launched its new design guidelines called “Material Design”. The name caught my attention, since I’m convinced, as visual designer, that observable pixels are really material to play; that is, to create user interfaces. What’s the possible meaning of this called design language? Well, I bet that my understanding of observable pixels as actual material is not […]
Category Archives: Reflection
Postcolonial design and Mexican culture
I don’t know why I hadn’t paid attention to it before. Maybe it’s consequence of being surrounded by design philosophers, feminists, and rhetoricians as part of my PhD education. I’m talking about the postcolonial role of design in the development of the Mexican culture. I don’t have a concrete argument here, but sparse thoughts and […]
The visual rhetoric of the workplace
What are you communicating about yourself from the arrangements of signs at your workplace? What about your personal spaces?
Is there a theory of design?
A quick reflection among two PhD students and Research Assistants on Human-Computer Interaction Design at Indiana University Bloomington.
Schematic UI and Car Controls
In a previous post I commented about some examples of flat design for user interfaces (UI) and about the prominent use of the circle—as the basic widget component in such design. Later, I found this novel user interface design for car controls proposed by Matthaeus Krenn. Video of the UI in action: From my perspective, this is a […]
Design, Science, Art and Craft: among facts and abstractions.
A schema to glimpse the relation of Science and Design, Art and Craft, and the position of User Experience (UX) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) regarding Design Theory (DT).
What is bad design anyway?
When can we say whether a design is good or bad? We consider that good-design is time-dependent as a consequence that design is about selling an idea, reality will always constrain that idea, design is not always about solutions and that bad design is always situated.
The circle as the king of flat design
One interesting aspect that we can notice about flat design interfaces is the recurrent use of circular forms. When circles and circumferences are employed to compose interface widgets, they seem to express time effectively without the necessity of more visual information.
We cannot escape from the metaphor
Metaphors and metonymies are the two more used rhetorical figures in HCI. Will we be able of getting rid of metaphors and metonymies in HCI design and experience design ever?
Design and agency
Where is the limit between an interactive system’s agency and the user’s control? Is Facebook converting us into passive, lazy users?