LonelyStreets.com
A Cyclopto-bunny Strip for the ID’ers
Thanks to the far superior webcomic XKCD for the joke. Here’s a design twist on a classic coder comic.
November 30th, 2009
Posted by Paul in Design, Humor | No Comments »
Another New DJ Mix
Got another new DJ mix for your listening enjoyment. This one is a blend of Tech and Progressive house with Electro tinges.
And here’s the tracklist (also embedded in the Mp3)
October 11th, 2009
Posted by Paul in Uncategorized | No Comments »
Cyclopto Bunny Strikes Again
I feel like I’m on a roll here, click to enlarge and check out the only interaction designer comic strip on the web (maybe. I haven’t actually looked):
September 16th, 2009
Posted by Paul in Design, Humor | No Comments »
More Cyclopto-bunny goodness
Click to enlarge - another designer joke.
September 12th, 2009
Posted by Paul in Design, Humor | No Comments »
Cyclopto Bunny Comic Strip
Click to enlarge. Definitely a designer joke.
September 9th, 2009
Posted by Paul in Design, Humor | No Comments »
Thesis Project Documentation
I’ve finally updated my portfolio site a bit, and have put up my thesis project presentation and documentation for anyone who’s interested. You can download them here. Thanks for looking, and if anyone has feedback, or questions please don’t hesitate to post it or email me directly (paulrobare{at } gmail[dot] com)!
August 16th, 2009
Posted by Paul in CMU, Design, Design Thinking, thesis | No Comments »
New Mix
I picked up a nice little Behringer audio interface/Midi controller for DJ mixing a couple months ago, and have been steadily re-learning how to DJ using nothing more than my laptop, Native Intruments’ Traktor LE DJ software, and the new controller. It’s a lot of fun because for the first time in years I can come home at night and simply sit down and DJ with whatever music I’ve been listening to lately (the whole setup works with mp3’s).
Here’s a 2 hour mix I did last night - it’s a mostly new progressive set with a few old favorites mixed in.
Thinking about how I’ve learned this new ‘interface’ for DJing has me wondering about the implications for designing other interfaces. Very often, we try to build interfaces using known paradigms - we believe that users don’t want to learn new ways of doing things. This is often true - there’s a delicate balance that needs to be achieved between the amount of effort needed to learn something new and the benefit gained by doing so.
But when the user truly enjoys the learning process, as I did with my new DJ equipment, the learning is it’s own reward, shifting the balance quite a bit. How do we make new interfaces on other devices, say a portable mp3 player, a joy to learn? In the world of DJing, I think there’s a good argument that the new ways of doing quite directly enable new means of self-expression. Maybe gadgets need to do a better job of allowing users to express themselves? I’ve mentioned before that I believe the future of interaction design is deeply involved with the idea of “designing tools to allow people to design.” More and more, I think that a central tenet of any interaction design project should be: how can we enable personal self-expression with this design? Therein lies the successful product.
August 16th, 2009
Posted by Paul in Design, Music and Movies | 1 Comment »
They Just Don’t Make ‘em Like They Used To
We’ve all heard that old refrain, whether the source be a grandpa or a movie character. And, truth be told, the idea is an alluring fantasy - I can picture an age when hard working American assembly-line men put together the big pieces of Machinery that are now made in China.
No wait.
They don’t make cars in China. The parts maybe, but the cars still get put together in North America (though often Canada, perhaps as a result of the National Health Insurance plan). And modern electronics haven’t ever been (for the most part) assembled anywhere other than east Asia (Once, Japan, then Taiwan and Korea, and now China).
First Gen iPods, on the other hand, are a truly amazing work of manufacturing prowess that is unlikely to ever again be equaled.
Huh? Well, let me explain. I recently quit smoking, and in an effort to make up for many long years of trashing my lungs I’ve begun running on my building’s treadmills. On one fateful evening I spun myself a nice mix of recently downloaded music, loaded the mix onto my first gen iPod Nano, and went running to my smooth progressive beats. While running I sweat like a pig. When I came back downstairs to my apartment, I peeled off my sweaty workout clothes and dropped them near the laundry basket.
The next day I went running again. It took me a while to find my misplaced iPod (why had I left it on my wife’s desk?), and when I grabbed it I was surprised and saddened to see that a certain amount of moisture had condensed underneath the screen. “Wow” I thought, “I sweat so much that it seeped into my iPod. Gross.” Everything still worked fine however, and I had my jog and listened to my tunes.
What I found out later that night when my wife got home was that iPod and headphones had both been left in my gym shorts the night before and taken a spin (i.e., full cycle) through the washing machine earlier that day. I couldn’t believe it. My iPod had gone through the washing machine, and a mere five hours later I was running along getting my jog on while it pumped music to my ears. Better yet, the next two days I simply set it out on the window sill where it would get direct sunlight, and all of the condensation simply disappeared. My pod is now absolutely none the worse for going through the washing machine!
My iPod after going through the washing machine
I might also point out that, according to the back of the iPod, it was “Designed by Apple in California. Assembled in China.” So perhaps quality comes from the design rather than the locale of manufacture? What a thought.
July 18th, 2009
Posted by Paul in Design, General | 3 Comments »
Anyone here speak Asian?
OK, I know I said that my next post would be about design, but I’m on vacation here and so trying not to think too hard. Also, this was too good to pass up.
The following is from a job posting on the USAJobs.gov site (the clearinghouse website for all Federal jobs).
Look at selective factors number 1:
That’s right people! If you want this job you MUST speak read and write in FLUENT ASIAN!
And people say Federal workers are lazy - look at the demanding criteria they must meet just to get hired.
June 14th, 2009
Posted by Paul in Humor | No Comments »
Back to Blog
It has obviously been quite some time since I’ve made regular posts. Partly this was a result of the chaos that is the last semester of grad school, and partly this was intentional rhetorical silence while I quested for a job.
And now it’s all done - school is all over, my friends are all going their seperate ways. I finished my thesis, graduated, accepted a job offer.
I remember reading years ago the end-of-school post that Dan Saffer wrote when he finished the program here at CMU. I don’t remember eactly what he said, but it was something along these lines: I’ve learned more than I ever imagined, made friends I’ll keep for the rest of my life, and just generally am far happier with where I am now compared to two years ago. This is all as true for me as it was for him, perhaps more because I was not a designer when I came here, and I very much am now.
Of my colleagues, two are headed for the bay, quite a few for New York, one to Australia, several will stay in Pittsburgh, and I alone am heading off to Chicago. Funny that after all of this I find myself headed back to the city I grew up in - doing so was not in my original plans. However, I received an offer for a stellar job as a senior interaction designer at Motorola, and so am off to work in the downtown Chicago design office starting next month (I’m really excited!).
Goodbye everyone! I’ll miss all of you. It’s been a great time and you’re a wonderful bunch of designers that I’ve been honored to work with and learn from over the past two years.
In other news, I plan to start blogging more regularly again. I won’t be able to talk about and show off my work now that I’m leaving the educational world, but I can still speak abstractly about design to my heart’s content. And with that I’ll sign off on the personal notes and promise that my next post will be about design (and happen in the next couple of days).
June 8th, 2009
Posted by Paul in CMU | No Comments »