Objects of pure desire (was [Sigia-l] FT: User Experience Analyst, Designer - New York)

[Ziya Oz]

Jonathan Baker-Bates:

> I don't love Internet technologies, I just say that to get them into bed
> with me.

What's your pick up line then?

BTW, Microsoft disagrees with you. You know, the company that can't design
an OS is now telling its "partners" HP, Dell, Gateway, etc how to design
their hardware:

A How-To kit for the ideal PC has been making the rounds of leading design
shops. It calls for "accelerated curves" and "purposeful contrast." The
preferred colors include a shade of black called Obsidian and a translucent
white dubbed Ice. "We want people to fall in love with their PCs, not to
simply use them to be productive and successful," reads the enclosed
booklet. "We want PCs to be objects of pure desire."

Doesn't sound much like Microsoft (MSFT), does it? But it is. BusinessWeek
has learned that a team of 20 in-house designers has been working quietly
for the past 18 months on an elegant new look for PCs that will run
Microsoft's next operating system, Windows Vista. It's a major departure for
the company, which historically has left design to the likes of Dell (DELL),
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), and Gateway (GTW). Persuading the hardware guys to
embrace the toolkit won't be easy. They're already working overtime to build
better-looking gear on their own.

But Microsoft feels the PC world needs a major face-lift, and one way to do
it is through better integration of software and hardware. No one does that
more effectively than Apple Computer (AAPL), and the folks in Redmond may be
worried that their resurgent rival is getting too much traction in the race
to dominate the digital home.

<http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jul2006/tc20060726_652632.ht
m>

Why is this relevant? Next time your management or client declares that user
experience is overblown as top priority and cuts your budget, tell'em how
even the king of anti-UX peddlers, Microsoft, has seen the light...then ask
for a raise.

So what's wrong with an institution that floats your deposited checks for a
week and pockets the interest on it, you know, the bank, getting' physical
and talkin' about "love"? :-)

----
Ziya

Surgeon of Design, Doctor of Love