Information Appliances and Beyond: Interaction Design for Consumer Products (Interactive Technologies)

Information appliances and other interactive products "beyond the desktop" present user interface design challenges that are only beginning to be understood. In this one–of–a–kind book, interaction designers examine the issues they confronted in their projects: Microsoft Windows CE, a vehicle navigation system, interactive children‘s toys, and more. You‘ll enjoy reading their engaging and sometimes surprising stories, but more importantly you‘ll gain insights that will benefit your own design and development work.

* Begins with an interview in which design expert Don Norman details his vision of "making technology invisible."
* Includes an eight–page, full–color insert containing screen shots, product diagrams, and other illustrations.
* Presents inside accounts of information appliance success stories including:
* An interview with Rob Haitani, lead interaction designer of the original PalmPilot
* The design and evaluation methodologies behind Nokia‘s mobile phones
* The high–level information appliance design considerations emphasized by Sun Microsystems
* Essential reading for interaction designers, human factors engineers, usability specialists, software engineers and project managers working in all of these areas.

From the back cover:

Read the Chapter 1 from the book

Read an article from the Sept/Oct issue of interactions




"This book is both visionary and practical: future consumer electronics, toys, and games need great usability or customers will abandon them. "My new cell–phone is so complicated that I need a two–week training class." Not!"



Jakob Nielsen Usability Guru, Nielsen Norman Group



"An important book. Anyone involved in either interaction design or the development of information appliances will find food for thought, and everyone in the industry should read Rob Haitani‘s observations about designing the PalmPilot."



Alan Cooper, Cooper Interaction Design



Information appliances and other interactive products "beyond the desktop" present user interface design challenges that are only beginning to be understood. In this one–of–a–kind book, interaction designers examine the issues they confronted in their projects: Microsoft Windows CE, a vehicle navigation system, interactive children‘s toys, and more. You‘ll enjoy reading their engaging and sometimes surprising stories, but more importantly you‘ll gain insights that will benefit your own design and development work.


Features


Begins with an interview in which design expert Don Norman details his vision of "making technology invisible."

Includes an eight–page, full–color insert containing screen shots, product diagrams, and other illustrations.

Presents inside accounts of information appliance success stories including:

An interview with Rob Haitani, lead interaction designer of the original PalmPilot

The design and evaluation methodologies behind Nokia‘s mobile phones

The high–level information appliance design considerations emphasized by Sun Microsystems


Essential reading for interaction designers, human factors engineers, usability specialists, software engineers and project managers working in all of these areas.

About the Author:

Eric Bergman is a senior interaction designer in the User Experience Group, part of the Consumer and Embedded organization at Sun Microsystems. Recently, he has led interaction design teams responsible for a television set–top box and an information appliance application suite. He is currently working on user experience issues for mobile devices. One of his other principal interests is accessibility for users with disabilities. A regular presenter and organizer of HCI professional events, Bergman holds a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from Emory University.