May 05, 2005
Design is in the Details
Finishing my thesis project prototype this week, it struck me that there's a significant blind spot in CMU's program (and from what I understand, other interaction design schools' programs as well): working with developers on a prototype to get the feel of the thing right. Because at school you very seldom get to the working prototype stage (due to time and money constraints), you don't ever get into the finesse of an interactive design, those tiny things that make a huge difference. And those tiny things can usually only be seen in a working thing that can be played with and broken and fiddled with. Animations and delays and such don't appear in flat paper prototypes and storyboards. At least not well.
CMU is supposedly better at building things than some other schools that have lots of cool ideas and slick videos to go with them, but it could be better. I suppose one could argue that this is what the thesis project is for: to take an idea out to the working prototype phase, but it seems like too important a thing to save until the very end of your graduate education. Especially considering that many people don't make it to the working prototype phase in their thesis work, or do projects that would be almost impossible to do that with without a team of developers.
Posted by Dan at 10:56 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 15, 2005
Carnival 2005
A CMU tradition, Carnival, started yesterday and continues throughout the weekend. The Shins are headlining the big concert that rages on the CFA lawn in the center of campus tonight.
Today and tomorrow are the particular CMU institution of Sweepstakes: buggy races that go through campus and into Schenley Park and back again. It's an amazingly huge deal and a blast to watch. I've been looking forward to it since last year. Also like last year, the weather is glorious: sunny with blue skies: a Pittsburgh rarity.
This is one of the things I'll miss.
Posted by Dan at 09:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 14, 2005
PI Day 2005
On campus today, another CMU nerdtastic tradition: written in chalk all over the sidewalks, looping all over campus are the first 16384 digits of PI. All this in honor of 3.14.
Posted by Dan at 03:46 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
March 03, 2005
Spring Break 2005
School is off for a week. The second-year women in my program are headed to Ashley Deal's father's house in Florida for some tanning. Me, I'm off to Montreal, where I'll be lucky if the temperature gets above 20F.
It's funny, but I can slowly feel myself disengaging with school. It's that feeling of being somewhere but your mind is somewhere else. School doesn't seem as difficult now because I'm not so wrapped up in it. I want to be finished, sure, and I'm enjoying my classes this semester, but it's not such a grind as, well, the first 3/4 of school were. Maybe it's because the end is in sight. Maybe it's because my thesis paper is mainly done and my thesis project is back in development again. Or maybe I've finally gone totally insane. Either way, it's a relief.
Have a nice break.
Posted by Dan at 07:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 28, 2005
Competition
Stanford's new design school website is up. Very slick, although the content is pretty shallow. I was hoping to find out more about their courses and projects.
Posted by Dan at 08:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 26, 2005
Stress
In the last week, I
- lost my programmer for my thesis project, leaving me in the lurch with a half-finished demo
- madly scrambled to find a replacement, which I think I might have done with some help from Jeff
- searched for money to pay said programmer, which may involve cashing in some savings bonds I've had for 35 years. Seriously.
- had major issues re-printing my music map of Amazon
- got a tattoo
- presented our group model for conceptual models class
- discovered a cavity in a tooth that I need to deal with ASAP
- got yet another $300 bill for the hospital for my emergency room visit back in July (this after paying them $250 already. CMU's insurance is terrible.
- speaking of which, my wife just got a notice that our insurance company hasn't paid a dime for some doctor's visits for her either, to the tune of $225
- AND the insurance company keeps sending me weekly letters asking whether I have other insurance, which I clearly don't and they are just stalling to prevent paying these bills
- had three job interviews during career days
- set up two more phone interviews for this upcoming week
- tried to do a backlog of grading for my class so I can submit my students' mid-term grades this week
- added to my thesis paper presentation for my presentation in Montreal next week
- Oh, and did I mention my daughter went to the emergency room sick?
- and that my wife is sick as well?
Anyway, this is what I've been dealing with. In this last semester, the schoolwork has gotten lighter, but the stress is still high.
Posted by Dan at 11:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 23, 2005
Career Dazed
The past two days have been the annual ritual known as Career Days, during which the School of Design is like a crazed bear half-shot full of tranquilizers, lurching around madly pawing at itself. I exaggerate, but only a little. For graduating students, it's a time of dressing up and subjecting yourself to a speed-dating style of job interviews in 20-minute blocks. Studios are cleaned, portfolios put together, interview clothes bought.
This year, like last, a reasonably impressive spread of companies came by with jobs to offer: Apple, Microsoft, GE, Google, Motorola, Sapient, Razorfish, and Siegel + Gale to name a few. A number of the interviewers were CMU alumni returning to rescue more of us and give us hope.
Posted by Dan at 09:02 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 11, 2004
Waiting for Mok
Once every couple of years, the Design Advisory Board pays a visit to the School of Design to make sure we're on track. This week was one of those times. After a flurry of frantic activity, cleaning studios and hanging posters, most of the grad students hung out in studio all afternoon Tuesday, waiting for a studio tour that never happened. Oh well. Hopefully the visit went well.
Posted by Dan at 07:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
5VV337
CMU has an undergrad named Kermin Fleming in Jeopardy's College Tournament and he's apparently kicking ass too. In true CMU style his final wager in an opening round game was a message to nerds-in-the-know: $1337. Classic.
Posted by Dan at 07:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 03, 2004
CMU and the Semantic Web
Interesting CMU project called myCampus that uses a semantic web environment for context-aware mobile services. Read this article on its implications. My question: how come there's no designer on the team?
Posted by Dan at 12:57 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
October 18, 2004
Bruce Sterling Teaching at Art Center
Wow. Writer Bruce Sterling, whom I've written about recently after his amazing SIGGRAPH keynote speech, has been asked to teach for a year at Art Center College of Design. CMU should take a cue from them and think way outside the box when it comes to picking our Nierenberg Chairs and even guest lecturers. I wonder if Sterling will teach the Future of Objects class I half-jokingly recommended?
Posted by Dan at 07:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 07, 2004
Tim Brown on Design Education
NextD, the NextDesign Leadership Institute, has an interesting interview with IDEO CEO Tim Brown, discussing (partially) design education and how schools don't properly prepare their graduates for working at IDEO."I think that the breadth of practical skills that institutions perceive their students need means that often not enough attention is given to the core thinking skills of empathy, analysis and synthesis around more complex problems. We have to work hard both to find people with the beginnings of these skills and then train them to bring them to a level where they can make significant project contributions. We are having more success with designers who have a more eclectic background and perhaps already had a career in another field before they enter design."
Posted by Dan at 03:57 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack