Blog Design4Impact
By Robert Fabricant - January 10, 2012
Like many of you, I was delighted to find an Amazon Kindle Fire sitting on my desk a few weeks ago, when it was first released. My delight was heightened by the fact that I hadn't actually bought it. The Fire belonged to another Robert in frog's New York studio, Robert Curtis, who was more than happy to unbox the product with me so that we could both get a sense of the quality of that crucial "first" user experience with the product. Lest there be any doubt as to whose Fire it was, the screen immediately displayed a personal message: "Hello Robert Curtis. Welcome to Kindle Fire" (even though it was not yet connected to our Wi-Fi network).
Blog Sketch Jam!
By nelee sim - November 18, 2011
As of today, the Amsterdam studio started Speed Creation, a 30-day challenge for frogs to create something fun, functional, and creative within a 24-hr window. Every morning, two random victims (not just designers) are pitted against each other to think of and produce something that adds flare, personality, or practical value to the studio space (i.e. beautify a space, design a poster, make a better doorstop, boost morale, update the BD deck, clean up the server folders, etc.). Round and round it goes with two frogs, each creating a project within 24 hrs for 30 days.
The purpose is simple. They are challenge to use their mind, creativity, and gut in new ways. It may break their routine or force them to use another part of their brain. The 24-hr turnaround helps to keep the solution low-fi, instinctive, and personal. The idea is to have fun! Stay tuned for daily posts on the progress.
BE WARNED - As a result of a project...Someone might smile! Someone might learn something! Someone might say thank you!
Blog Elektroniker
By Tim Leberecht - June 15, 2011
Can flying be fun again? Yes, it can. Airbus just released a video and a series of images that envision air travel in 2050 as a fully immersive, human-centered experience. The company’s designers and engineers conceptualized a plane with "bionic structure and interactive membrane” that provides spectacular panoramic views through its almost fully transparent skin.
Blog frogs on the road
By Andrea Bebber - June 13, 2011
In the age of information overload and data glut, where Americans consume about 1.3 trillion hours worth of data on a yearly basis, it is crucial for the field of interaction design to evolve. The Frontiers of Interaction conference in Italy has become the Mecca for interaction designers to converge and explore the latest trends and challenges in their field. The event serves as an inspirational hub for thinkers and doers alike and brings together innovators, academics, early adopters and loyal geeks.
Blog Beyond Mobile
By Scott Jenson - May 9, 2011
In my previous article, The Coming Zombie Apocalypse, I discussed how small, cheap, web-connected devices are overturning our old-school assumptions about devices and applications. It was a general introduction to the trend, and I'd like to drill deeper in this article by focusing on a core building block of this new order: the ability to store user data in "the cloud."
I assume most readers are familiar with the concept of cloud computing, but it's a very broad concept encompassing a wide range of technologies. This article will focus on a core aspect, the storage of a user's data outside of their personal devices. This is a very disruptive shift that enables user experiences that would be impossible with only local storage, and creates a new facet of design: the UX of data.
Blog Beyond Mobile
By Scott Jenson - April 18, 2011
Small, cheap devices will disrupt our old-school UX assumptions.
Editor's note: Scott Jenson was the first member of the User Interface group at Apple in the late 80s, working on System 7, the Apple Human Interface guidelines and the Newton. After that, he was a freelance design consultant for many years, then director of product design for Symbian, and finally managed the mobile UX group at Google. Now a creative director at frog design, Scott will be exploring the future of mobile on his blog.
Blog Intangible
By David Sherwin - April 4, 2011
I was recently invited to deliver a talk at Emily Carr University of Art and Design about what interaction designers do and how interaction design factors into the worlds of design and art.
My talk "The Language of Interaction" (slides above) was my attempt to summarize the critical role that language plays in our efforts as designers and artists. In doing so, I touched upon the three challenges that all designers and artists face in trying to craft interactions…
Blog Ideator
By Adam Silver - March 31, 2011
The secret to design success? Invent something your customers can hack, remake, and customize—then let them run wild.
Blog DesignWell
By Suelyn Yu - March 18, 2011
About a month ago, frogs participated in a Health 2.0 code-a-thon hosted by Google in Mountain View. You may remember Alex Tam's winning Healthy Commute concept at the last event. The day’s goal was to design and build new healthcare tools by bringing together developers, designers, and healthcare stakeholders. Raw data sets, such as the OpenGov data, helped inspire creative ideas to improve health.
Blog Intangible
By David Sherwin - February 21, 2011
In early February, a number of frogs attended this year's Interaction 11 conference, sponsored by the Interaction Design Association (IxDA). Our time in Boulder began with a fresh blanket of snow and ended with all-you-could-drink absinthe at the closing night party. In my contribution for the conference, I taught a three-hour workshop called "Better Ideas Faster: Effective Brainstorming for Interaction," which focused on the unique tools and techniques that interaction designers bring to bear in translating research findings into actionable design concepts that cohere into large-scale systems.
This year's conference has been hard for me to summarize—not because of the absinthe, mind you—and in combing through my notes and reflecting on the experience, more questions have emerged than coherent themes.
