[IxDA Discuss] Microsoft Surface (Who Made It)

[Chris Bernard]

I've been through a crit or two and as creative and design director for over a decade so I've also played the role of destructor and made people cry and all that business but you're comparing apples and oranges and talking about how we teach versus how we interact as a professional group of peers.

I'd also disagree with most old school art and design folks on this being a 'best' practice in terms of teaching people how to work effectively in teams (although I admit all designers need a bit of a boot camp during their foundational knowledge in both academia and the workplace). And as lecturer at the Institute of Design I talk extensively with incoming students about this very practice during a teaming and collaboration workshop but also caution that how you interact with your fellow students in school will most likely follow you for your entire career. I being polite here but basically if you're into Bob Sutton's work over at Stanford you'll get an idea of my perspective.

But THAT as opposed to the craft of interaction design and how people constructively create new things and work together in cross disciplinary teams is different. Many designers don't get how self-destructive this approach can be in collaborative environments and I'll submit it's why design as a profession is still in a bit of stasis and is largely left out of some of these efforts that seem to be the topic of the day.

The bottom line is that the majority of people that are active on this list (although not all) bitch about what is wrong with everything that people submit versus offering up ways to make it better or acknowledge what is done well and then conversation typically falls into summary and ad hominem judgments on the creators or sponsors of such work. I mean if that's all I or other designers want we can have this debate on Amazon or Slashdot. I simply expect more out of this community I guess.

It's not a small irony that much of what is discussed on this board that involves IxD is not work that has actually had the participation of members of this list or community. Why do you think that is?

We certainly don't need sycophant here and criticism is valid and necessary but anyone that's been to design school knows that the best hard asses that broke you down also frequently gave you the best advice about how to make things better. That last part doesn't exist here as much as it should.

Also, we all know I work for Microsoft but I'm also a part of this community and have been a practicing designer way before I ever got involved with Microsoft and I'm passionate about advancing our profession. My comments here are not just about or specific to Surface but the general tenor of this list and the perception this tenor projects on all of us. I'm encouraged however by how this thread is evolving. And for the record I own 4 iPods and 1 Zune and like them both. :)

Chris Bernard
Microsoft
User Experience Evangelist
chris.bernard at microsoft.com
312.925.4095



Blog: www.designthinkingdigest.com
Design: www.microsoft.com/design
Tools: www.microsoft.com/expression

"The future is already here. It's just not evenly distributed." William Gibson


-----Original Message-----
From: discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com [mailto:discuss-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com] On Behalf Of Nathan Kendrick
Sent: Friday, June 01, 2007 1:35 AM
To: IxDA Discuss
Subject: Re: [IxDA Discuss] Microsoft Surface (Who Made It)


Clearly someone didn't go to a art school and experience foundation
year in life drawing =)

destruction is the only way to create.

On May 30, 2007, at 8:07 PM, Chris Bernard wrote:

> I'll also agree that we are all critics from time to time but boy
> is this a self-destructive posture for this community to embrace on
> this board if we want to advance our profession and encourage our
> fellow peers to participate here.

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