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Design Readings

Watch Jason Ulaszek & Brian Winters’ “From Design Research to Experience Roadmap” talk at Interaction’13 | IxDA Conference

Design research is critical. Creating foundational, living documentation about the needs, beliefs and behaviors of your customer is of the utmost importance. And, being able to identify needs, opportunities and the future direction for the business, based on both sound process and analytical thought, will be your keys to short and long-term success. In this session you’ll learn how to turn design research activities into a mental model, identify potential new business opportunities and derive business and experience direction from your newly found consumer insight. And, you’ll look like a freakin’ rockstar in your company doing it […]

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Design Readings

Watch Mike Lemmon’s “Design Language for Interactions” talk at IxDA | Interaction ’12 Conference

A design language establishes the visual vocabulary, relationships and hierarchies that allow diverse products to become recognizable and unified. But as products become digital and shift to multi-platform app-driven ecosystems, what constitutes an effective design language for interaction that can drive consistency across these varied experiences? This presentation provides a framework for how to establish an interaction design language by sharing professional project experiences and examples […]

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Design Readings

Watch Aris Venetikidis’ “Making sense of maps” talk at TED

Map designer Aris Venetikidis is fascinated by the maps we draw in our minds as we move around a city — less like street maps, more like schematics or wiring diagrams, abstract images of relationships between places. How can we learn from these mental maps to make better real ones? As a test case, he remakes the notorious Dublin bus map

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Design Information Technology Innovation Software

Autodesk Expands Power of AutoCAD 2011 with New Features for Conceptual Design and Drafting Productivity

Autodesk announced the availability of the 2011 AutoCAD software products, including AutoCAD 2011 software, a leading 2D and 3D design and documentation platform, and AutoCAD LT 2011 software for professional 2D drafting and detailing. The latest releases of AutoCAD deliver powerful new features — such as new tools for surface modeling and transparency for objects and layers — that can help designers explore their ideas and maximize productivity […]

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Consumer Behavior Trend Watching

Watch Barry Schwartz’s “The Paradox of Choice” talk at TED

Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz’s estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied […]

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Design Information Technology Innovation Trend Watching

Watch Jan Chipchase’s “Our mobile phones” talk at TED

Nokia researcher Jan Chipchase’s investigation into the ways we interact with technology has led him from the villages of Uganda to the insides of our pockets. He’s made some unexpected discoveries along the way […]

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Design

Robert Fabricant’s “Behavior is our Medium” keynote at IxDA | Interaction ‘09 Conference

Robert Fabricant talks about Interaction Design as a practice beyond just computing technology. He gives examples of Interaction Design as far back as ancient history, all the way to a humanitarian project underway today. He shows that Interaction Design’s primary medium is behavior, extending far past the high technology world into the realm of human behavior and relationships […]

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China Trend Watching

Internet in China: Students look to the Web for sex education

More than half of high school students consider the Internet the best way to learn about sex, a survey conducted by a Shanghai family planning body and the city’s accidental pregnancy hotline has found, Xinmin Evening News reported recently. The survey, covering 1,684 middle school students, revealed that 68 percent of high school boys and 46 percent of high school girls learn about sex from Websites, the newspaper said […]

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China Economics

60% of world’s paintings come from one village in China

A single village in China is responsible for cranking out 60% of the world’s paintings. The overwhelming majority of the paintings are slavish reproductions of famous paintings. The artists doing the work are very talented, however, and an organization called Regional asked some of the artists to paint themselves. The results are incredible. Dafen is a village surrounded by the thriving metropolis of Shenzhen, and the origin of most of the world’s reproduction oil paintings

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China Consumer Behavior Economics Trend Watching

Finance industry employees in China top salary rankings

Employees in the financial sector earned much more than workers in other industries last year thanks to the lucrative financial market, an annual salary report has revealed. The report, released by leading human-resources service provider Zhaopin.com in Shanghai, was based on a survey of more than 1,000 companies across all sectors throughout the country last year. It found workers in the financial industry were paid an average salary of 4,987 yuan (US$694) per month. The figure is about 40 percent higher than the national average […]