Archive for November, 2001

Stanford Continuing Studies Winter Quarter

Posted in Personal on November 13th, 2001 by Brad Lauster – Comments Off

Stanford Continuing Studies has posted their class list for the Winter Quarter. I just thought I’d post the classes I’m thinking about taking to see if any of you would like to join me (hover for course descriptions):

Art and Vision

Designing Experience

Beginning Spanish I

Biomechanics: Understanding the Human Machine

SLAC Web 10th Anniversary Symposium

Posted in User Experience on November 9th, 2001 by Brad Lauster – Comments Off

Apparently, the first US website was for the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC). To celebrate the occasion, SLAC is hosting a two-day symposium featuring speakers such as Tim Berners-Lee, Nathaniel Borenstein, Tim O’Reilly, Paul Saffo and more. Click More… for details.

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Karim Rashid – WOW!

Posted in User Experience on November 8th, 2001 by Brad Lauster – 1 Comment

I went to see Karim Rashid speak at Stanford this evening. All I can say is WOW!

Ok, that’s not all I can say:
I had a few preconceptions about the person I thought Karim Rashid was going to be – they were all wrong.

Looking at his designs I expected him to be loud, boisterous, obnoxious. It turns out that he’s a soft-spoken, rational, caring individual. He seems to care genuinely about his work and the people who are effected by it. He cares about the people who have to produce his designs, the people who use them and the affect they have on the environment.

He’s got a huge body of work (check out the website and his book for samples). Of all the things he showed and spoke about this evening, he seemed most proud of a simple chair he designed using 100% recyclable polypropylene.

He’s one of those people who is able to turn the obvious into thoughtful observations. One of those thoughtful observations was, “the digital world is starting to have an effect on the expectations we place on the real world.”

The talk this evening left me asking this question (which will seem completely out of context given what I’ve written so far, but whatever): How do we create formality without ornament?

Also, Rashid’s relentless drive to leave his mark on the world has left me wanting this: A good set of tools for creating complete, end-to-end interactive systems. I want to be able to build a system of my own design, controlling the entire user experience, from bootstrap to user interaction, in a really short time – like a couple weeks.

What’s that you say? I’m dreaming? Well, I’ve got a feeling, this evening, that it’s the dreamers who change the world.

Designing the Complete User Experience

Posted in User Experience on November 8th, 2001 by Brad Lauster – Comments Off

The fine folks at Adaptive Path have released the materials from their two-day presentation, “Designing the Complete User Experience.” Nice!

There are also other presentations available on the Adaptive Path Presentations page.

Enamel Saver Toothpaste

Posted in Personal on November 5th, 2001 by Brad Lauster – Comments Off

Enamel Saver is the best toothpaste EVER! …especially for those of us who get canker sores.

Robert Reimann’s Persona Presentation

Posted in User Experience on November 3rd, 2001 by Brad Lauster – Comments Off

Just needed to bookmark this:
A presentation given by Robert Reimann, of Cooper Interaction Design, on personas.