My Curious Life

Dan Saffer of Adaptive Path led off the day with a great keynote on new sources of inspiration for interaction designers. He pointed to three specific sources of inspiration:

1. Architecture
2. Film
3. Mechanical devices

He did a great job of covering a ton of potential material in a very tight timeframe … lots of things to consider as inspiration in each of those areas. I was especially impressed by his insights in the realm of film … I’m not a big movie buff, nor do I get the chance to watch many movies. As a result, I’ve never really gotten a chance to study much about film, other than some basics about transitions and sound effects. Dan brought to light some interesting techniques and information about various classic and modern films that I had noticed but never understood their significance.

I highly recommend looking through his slides (PDF) … the visuals alone are inspiring.

Bill DeRouchey of Ziba followed Dan Saffer with an excellent presentation of his own on learning interaction design from everyday objects. Bill brought some humor and open-ended questioning to his presentation that was refreshing, and it was nice to see how his examples complemented the prior presentation. His site, No Ideas But In Things, is a collection of interesting and intriguing things that inspire.

Rather than ramble, catch Bill’s slides (PDF) and grab the audio, too.

Just after Bill’s session finished, I had a chance to speak to him and introduce myself. In typical fashion, I introduced myself, mentioned that I was impressed with his presentation and noted the local connection (Ziba is located in my hometown, Portland, Oregon) and then promptly ran out of things to say. Ugh! So much for good impressions.

The conference wrapped up with a presentation by Cybelle Jones of Gallagher & Associates and Robert Freeland of Quatrefoil Associates, both of whom teamed up to design the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

While their presentation was interesting, the “field trip” to the museum was fantastic. My guess is that just about every adult male in the building reverted to a 10 year old boy, geeking out on spy gear, stories and gadgets from around the world. The museum itself is well organized and covers a lot of ground (physically and informationally). The format is such that it caters to both kids and adults, with interactive exhibits and lots of background information on all of the objects in the collection. Any subsequent trips I make to D.C. will likely include a brief stop at the museum, just for fun.

All in all, UX Week was well worth the time and money. I’ve got a notebook of ideas, sketches and trivia that will inform the work I do in the near term, as well as some longer term material to learn from. I’m looking forward to next year.