Rahul Sen - Interaction Design Bauhaus

With the release of the Windows Phone, Windows 8, Google+ and a host of other interfaces – a call for revolution is becoming more absolute. There seems to be a clear opposition to skeumorphism in graphical user interfaces (skeumorphic UI were made popular by Apple for the past half a decade). There is a clear call for fierce reduction of chrome in favor of content.

History seldom repeats itself, but every now and then, it rhymes. My session focuses on what I call — ‘The Interaction Design Bauhaus’. It discusses this growing minimalist, ‘form follows data’ trend in UX and compares it to historical phenomenon that occurred in the early 1900’s in the form of the industrial design Bauhaus movement. This session draws comparisons and lessons from history, and attempts to focus on the new material we deal with in Interaction Design and how we deal with old human feelings like Envy.

Transcript

1. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | IxD BAUHAUS What history can teach us, While designing our digital futures. For people.
2. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | G’DAY SYDNEY! I’m Rahul [tweeting @rahulsen79 #ixdbauhaus]
3. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | FOCUS, RAHUL, FOCUS! Material Aesthetics My talk is predominantly about aesthetics in our profession. It is a discussion/challenge to traditional notions of beauty.
4. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | I’LL MIX THINGS UP, A BIT. interaction design architecture theatre
5. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | ...TRAVELLED A LONG WAY Stockholm
6. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | ...TO BE HERE TODAY. Sydney
7. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | ...ENDING AT THE BIG APPLE. New York
8. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | (ALMOST) AROUND THE WORLD IN 7 DAYS. 19,677 miles Circumference of the Earth = 24,900 miles approx.
9. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | I JUST STOPPED WORKING HERE
10. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | PIONEERS IN USER CENTERED DESIGN SINCE 1969
11. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | I WILL BE WORKING HERE (@rga)
12. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | I WILL BE WORKING HERE (@rga)
13. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | SPOTIFY FOR WINDOWS PHONE
14. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | METRO LOVIN’... Designers
15. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | SPOTIFY FOR WINDOWS PHONE RECAP METRO ‘Clean, Light, Open, Fast Celebrate Typography Alive in Motion Content, Not Chrome...’ It emphasizes - Authentically Digital Color Gestures Touch
16. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | DRAWING PARALLELS Architecture Interaction Design
17. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | HELLO JOHNNY!
18. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | LET’S TALK ABOUT (R)EVOLUTION Evolution Revolution
19. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | BIOLOGICAL + TECHNICAL Evolution
20. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | REVOLUTION SUGGESTS A CIRCLE, DISRUPTED. rev·o·lu·tion    1. an overthrow or repudiation and the thorough replacement of an established government or political system by the people governed. 2. a radical and pervasive change in society and the social structure, especially one made suddenly and often accompanied by violence. 3. a procedure or course, as if in a circuit, back to a starting point. new trajectory revolution
21. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | EVOLUTION = INEVITABLE, PRE-CODED
22. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | REVOLUTION = DISRUPTIVE, CONSCIOUS.
23. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | R.I.P. - A REVOLUTIONARY. AN ICON. “Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the World, are the ones who do.” Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)
24. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | FACELESS REVOLUTIONARIES
25. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | THE FACELESS REVOLUTIONARIES OF OUR TIME
26. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | A REBEL REFRESHED “...As little design as possible” Dieter Rahms (1932 - )
27. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | A CIRCLE COMPLETED... new trajectory revolution
28. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | iOS5 JUST LAUNCHED... YAAY!
29. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | iOS5 : SOME GENUINE EVOLUTION...
30. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | WHAT THE $%*# IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?
31. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | MY TALK CHALLENGES THE ‘CLASSICAL’
32. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | INORDER TO MAKE WAY FOR THE ‘MODERN’
33. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | SHIVA = PROACTIVE DESTRUCTION
34. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | AUTHENTICITY Let Pixels Be Pixels.
35. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | WE INHABIT COUNTRIES, CITIES, HOMES... Sydney Facebook
36. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | THEY ARENT PERFECT. BUT WE INHABIT THEM...
37. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | WE INHABIT ‘BUILT SPACES / OBJECTS’ WITH SCRIPTS.
38. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | connect/converse container courtyard
39. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | KEVIN KELLY
40. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | ‘THE TECHNIUM’ & KEVIN KELLY “A shelter is animal technology, the animal extended…” ‘What Technology Wants’ (2010) He describes this as the TECHNIUM
41. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | AN UNDERSTANDING We’re making new forms of containers and ‘shelters’ for interaction. Our personal computers and devices contain our social families, connections, content and networks. They contain our new living, working and entertainment spaces.
42. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | A DILEMMA We’re still nostalgic & envious while designing these digital containers. We’re not sure if they need to pretend to be physical in order to be beautiful. Even though they look and feel beautiful.
43. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | MARK TWAIN SAID IT BEST. “History doesn't repeat itself - at best it sometimes rhymes…”
44. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | MY HYPOTHESIS. The Bauhaus (1919-33) What Happened Soon After. The IxD Bauhaus (Now) What Might Happen Soon After. What Can History Teach Us.
45. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | Rewind Lets start at sometime near the 1800s.
46. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | GOTHIC REVIVAL & NATURE ENVY
47. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | ART NOUVEAU, ARTS & CRAFTS…
48. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | ENTER, MIES... “Less is More.” Mies van der Rohe made these words famous.
49. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | THE BARCELONA PAVILLION- A MONUMENT, A LANDMARK.
50. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE
51. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | THE BAUHAUS’ HISTORICAL SETTING ART NOUVEAU 1900 1950 2000 1850 1800 ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE GOTHIC REVIVAL ART-DECO THE BAUHAUS
52. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | REMEMBERING THE BAUHAUS
53. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | WHAT DID THIS REVOLUTION ACHIEVE? order purity reduction production
54. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | ‘PLAYTIME’ (JACQUES TATI, 1967)
55. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | ‘PLAYTIME’ (JACQUES TATI, 1967)
56. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | ‘PLAYTIME’ (JACQUES TATI, 1967)
57. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | ‘PLAYTIME’ (JACQUES TATI, 1967)
58. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | WHY WAS THE BAUHAUS CRITICIZED? elitist sterile inhuman monotonous ‘PLAYTIME’ (JACQUES TATI, 1967)
59. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | LEARNING FROM DESIGN HISTORY ART NOUVEAU 1900 1950 2000 1850 1800 ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE GOTHIC REVIVAL ART-DECO Po! - MODERNISM THE BAUHAUS
60. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | POST-MODERNISM
61. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | POST-MODERNISM ornament deconstruction reference wit
62. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | TO SUMMARIZE ART NOUVEAU 1900 1950 2000 1850 1800 ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE GOTHIC REVIVAL ART-DECO POST - MODERNISM THE BAUHAUS NATURE ENVY FUNCTIONALISM WIT, ORNAMENT, REFERENCE
63. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | History Rhyming Today.
64. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | REALISM ENVY : DESKTOP UI
65. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | PHYSICAL MIMICRY : UI SKEUMORPHISM
66. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | IxD HISTORY IN PROGRESS ‘THE WEB LOOK’ 2010 1978 REAL-WORLD DESKTOP METAPHORS EARLY GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACES IXD BAUHAUS SKEUMORPHISM
67. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | THE IxD BAUHAUS
68. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | MINIMALIST NARRATIVE IN UI.
69. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | A NECESSARY STEP IN UI-EVOLUTION The IxD Bauhaus The IxD Bauhaus could be defined as a return to purity and honesty in visual interaction experiences - with a focus on content rather than chrome, and a pursuit of authentic digital experiences rather than nostalgia and object envy.
70. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | A NECESSARY STEP IN UI-EVOLUTION Quotes “…a networked, digital, interactive copy of, say, the Tao Te Ching is simultaneously more and less than the one I keep on my shelf. You give up the tangible, phenomenological’isness of the book, and in return you’re afforded an extraordinary new range of capabilities. Shouldn’t the interface, y’know, reflect this?” - Adam Greenfield
71. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | A NECESSARY STEP IN UI-EVOLUTION Quotes “I say that flat is the new black, that 2D is the new avant-garde; that a surface doesn’t have to be ashamed of being a surface” - Steven Poole
72. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | MORE KELLY AND ARCHETYPES “The archetype is ordained by the technium’s trajectory, while the species is contingent.” ‘What Technology Wants’ (2010)
73. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | IN ENGLISH... We’re on an inevitable almost ‘pre-destined’ path for our collective technology. However, we affect its course - we nudge it by our designed action. new trajectory revolution
74. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | REPRESENTATION : CARRIED AWAY BY ‘MATERIAL RESOLUTION’
75. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | REPRESENTATION : CARRIED AWAY BY ‘MATERIAL RESOLUTION’
76. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | REPRESENTATION : CARRIED AWAY BY ‘MATERIAL RESOLUTION’ pixels paint concrete plastic
77. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | AN OLD DEADLY SIN: THOU SHALT NOT ENVY! EN VY
78. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | NOSTALGIC ENVY objects realism nature wood
79. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | A REDUCTION TO BASICS. pixels painting concrete steel
80. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | NEW DRIVERS FOR CONSTRUCTION. _________? abstraction prefab modular
81. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | NEW RULES = A BIT OF RE-LEARNING
82. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | RELEARNING ESCALATOR AS STAIRS...
83. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | STAIRCASE AS A UNIVERSAL STANDARD.
84. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | YET, NO 2 STAIRCASES ARE THE SAME.
85. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | STAIRS AND DIGITAL EXPERIENCES Could learning from staircases inspire us to think better about reduction, standards and yet... constantly innovative expression?
86. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | WE ARE STILL DEALING WITH COURTYARD, WINDOWS, CEILINGS… Facebook, Twitter, Social TV, Youtube etc. These are windows to our digital selves, our homes in the cloud and the content with which we choose to populate our digital mantle-pieces.
87. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | WITH A FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM... Built architecture DECAYS with time. Architecture, Furniture, Art, Graphic Design, Print - all the tradition forms of design. Digital architecture GROWS with time. All our digital experiences build on data over time.
88. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE GROWS WITH TIME... Perhaps, its structure ages, decays. HTML 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... CSS 1, 2, 3...
89. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | DIGITAL ARCHITECTURE GROWS WITH TIME... But the fact that it inherently deals with time & content suggests an inevitable growth.
90. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | LEARNING FROM ERGONOMIDESIGN... Functional (useful) It does the job Reliable It is available and accurate Useable Anybody can use it without difficulty Convenient Fits in my life Pleasurable An experience worth sharing Meaningful Has a personal significance Focused on Experiences Focused on Tasks Dreams and Aspirations Proficient How well people learn things after multiple use Focused on Tasks
91. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | WE’RE BUILDING OUR DIGITAL HABITAT WITH NEW MATERIAL. others… data time content
92. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | WE STILL HAVE OLD LINGERING FORMS OF ENVY others… GESTURE NATURAL USER INTERFACES REALITY AUGMENTED REALITY PHYSICALITY3D
93. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | THE TECHNIUM WILL EVOLVE
94. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | SO LET’S RID OURSELVES OF EXCESS BAGGAGE. Image credit: Mike Kruzeniski http://mkruzeniski.posterous.com/how-print- design-is-the-future-of-interaction
95. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | TOWARD A DIGITAL POST MODERNISM...
96. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | PRINCIPLES OF A NEW DIGITAL EXPERIENCE
97. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | PRINCIPLES OF A NEW DIGITAL EXPERIENCE Digital Post-modernism? Where a frame of reference is drawn between newer, authentically digital orders, structure and technology together with older frames of wit, humor, reference and human connectivity.
98. Rahul Sen IxD Bauhaus | Think Lateral. Avoid Literal. Be True to Material. Let Content Speak. “Brutally Reduce”.