Passion is the driving energy that powers people through problem solving, experimentation, and creative expression. Each learner has her own path and threshold to passion based on figuring out what matters deeply to her. In education, this is particularly important. Passionate people are more tolerant of failure, more willing to struggle while learning new skills, and take great pleasure in refining technique. Design has two incarnations, the process and the object, and passion is evident in both.
Blog World Expo
The Blog World Expo is taking place on November 8th & 9th in Las Vegas. The list of speakers is impressive and would be worth the $75 if Vegas was within walking distance. The nice thing about missing a conference on blogging is that there is sure to be some blog posts about it.
Risk in UI design
Children need a daily challenge intellectually, socially, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Experiences that lead to failure offer lessons about the way the world works and how one fits into it. Those that lead to success provide confidence and trust in one’s intuition. Risk is necessary in design to promote user learning, benefit from iteration, and speed effective development.
Startup Weekend in Purdue
This weekend, forty business and tech people will gather to create a startup company from scratch. Andrew Hyde’s experiment earlier this summer in Boulder has spawned a series of similar events in cities around the world, with Hyde trying to go to every one of them. Whether it is done in this format or through our own devices, I’m determined to organize a similar event here in Bloomington in the spring.
Belonging to an Interface
Interaction design has elements of learning in it. If the first condition for growing wiser is a sense of belonging, UI design can help facilitate a connection to users and improve their ability to learn.
Designing Wiser
In last Saturday’s workshop on early childhood education, the core content present by Bev Bos involved twelve conditions for growing wiser: Belonging, Risk, Passion, Power, Productivity, Presence, Support, Solitude, Humor, Gratification Deference, Mentors and Models, and Re-Seeding. This is also a good scaffolding for design. The user is the learner, in this case, and the interface is both school and teacher.
Artistnet
It is a great feeling when the design work you do on a white board or computer mockup makes its way to the real world. Our own Justin Donaldson had this feeling with the release of Artistnet, a visualization tool for communal playlists. Justin created this application while interning with MyStrands in the summer.