What Makes a Good Design

A good design in my opinion, needs to achieve its goal clearly, what it was primarily meant for.

The goal of the design can be:


• 1. Solving a problem creatively
• 2. Communicating an idea effectively
• 3. Plain aesthetic, which makes people wonder

To solve a problem creatively "Form follow function" is a great principle because its focus is the functionality which is the solution to the given problem. To communicate an idea effectively, visual delight becomes more important, effective display of the core idea with the help of minimum amount of pictures, words or illustration makes a greater impact. Plain aesthetic design can be achieved with both simplicity as well as abstractness, it is not limited to any design principles and neither are means to an end. It could be a visual delight and can also reflect an Idea.

So what makes people wonder ?

I think that this quality is the impact of a good design.

1. One way would be to make it very simplistic, for example Picaso's famous painting make people wonder because of hte simplicity.
   
   


2. Another way is if the picture has extraordinary depth for example the Barbershop by Norman Rockwell has amazing lights http://www.nrm.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Shuffletons_Barbershop_300.jpg
   
   


3. yet another way to make people wonder is by hidden meaning or trick in the picture

So what do you think ?

First step in the Right direction

After working for a decade in software industry, when I realize that it is not the MBA or Project Management route I want to take, my options looked quite limited, but some soul searching, and I realized what I really want to do, to learn fundamentals of drawing, design, typography, and illustrations.

Not long after, I came across the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and their online course in Design which also give a Diploma in Digital Design.



The Diploma in Digital Design course was almost mesmerizing. It was like waiting there to be discovered by me.

* Fundamentals of Design
* Concept Development
* Typography
* Digital Image Manipulation
* Electronic Design
* Design Principles
* Digital Illustration
* Design and Technology
* Portfolio G313
* Foundations of Electronic Production
* Interactive Portfolio Design
* Advanced Computer Graphics

Small enough to be finished in 5 quarters and big enough to give me a diploma, now that's a lucky find.

So I filled the online application and came to the part where you have to write an essay why you want to join. That stopped me, but not for long, today afternoon my admission counselor called me and said she will hold the call till I finish the essay. now thats some persuasion ! Phew, no way out, she is waiting in the call. So here is the 185 words I came up in 10 minutes !

--------------------- ESSAY ---------------------
I remember the first time when I came across the book "Universal Principles of Design" by William Lidwell, I was immensely fascinated by the possibilities to which design principles can be implemented in the real life. Another revolutionary book which affected me a lot was "The Design of every day things" by Donald Norman. These two books opened my eyes to a good design and a better user experience, since then I started blogging about design at http://abcofdesign.com and got interested to learn the fundamentals.

After working for many years in designing and developing user interfaces for desktop, distributed and mobile applications, I have realized that a good design makes a lot of difference, and having an aptitude for User Interface and User Experience, I think learning about digital design can help me get to know the basics.

Being a Senior Engineer with an interest in Software and Product design, I see myself as a future design engineer changing/shaping the world, and for that a diploma in Digital Design is the first step in the right direction.
-------------------------------------------------

Needless to say when I re-read the essay I liked it and so did my admission counselor, she said "it was phenomenal" and "I passed it". I wonder if she says that to every other essay, but I felt really happy and so that's my first step in the direction of design.

Beginning Smartphone Web Development: Building Javascript, CSS, HTML and Ajax-Based Applications

The book hit the stores today and is available at Amazon , Barnes and Noble and all popular book stores.

The Book is authored by Gail Fredrick and I have contributed a chapter on Mobile Web Usability, so if you are creating website for mobile device, this is the book to get.Buy it now

To check the latest update go to http://smallinterface.com

What will Apple iSlate Have

There has been too many speculations on Apple Tablet PC. This is my take on that.

Apple has a reputation of emerging from the average by using mature technologies which is available otherwise to everyone and differentiate in the user experience.

For example

1. IPod had no new features than an MP3 player cannot have but it was cool and it was a phenomenon
   
   
2. IPhone, any new feature ? well touch screen was there but not utilized in that way ever, apart from that everything else was there
   

Now comes the Tablet

Microsoft has a Tablet for almost 5 years now, they have got everything but success.

Amazon Kindle eReader is a reading device which does not utilize the technology to the full but earns by limiting them, you don't have USB port to transfer to and from your device.

Now, what will apple tablet have that will differentiate them from these two giants.

• They will utilize the Tablet multi touch screen interface
  
• Second, a major functionality missing from Kindle is eWriter which everyone is ignoring, Microsoft Tablet has got that in a medicore way, thats where Apple will excel first. An eWriter with excellent touch, draw and write capability, if you think of it these functionality are already mature and available in any tablet.
  
• Third eReader, where Kindle retricts and limits user by going against technology, Apple will utilize technology to the full, Wifi, usb, blue tooth, a device completely independent of the service, unlike Kindle, but can be used to download ebooks from an Apple service
  

Thats how Apple will do, beating Microsoft tablet and Amazon Kindle
by producing a great touch screen eWriter and a boundless eReader.

Lets see.

Vote Now: 10 Tips for Mobile Web Design !

How to create a mobile version of your website? Do you need to optimize your current website for mobile devices or design a completely new website? Do you need to worry about different platforms, Windows Mobile, iPhone, Symbian, Blackberry, Linux, Brew, Android, and Nokia? What resolution, what screen size you should target, and what is this PPI anyway? How to design for maximum number of users and devices, in the least amount of time? In this session, mobile web usability expert and author of "Beginning Smartphone Web Development", Rajesh Lal will discuss ten pragmatic tips, for designing website for mobile devices.

Interested ? VOTE for it at Mix 10 (1. Add to ballot,2. Submit ballot)

http://tinyurl.com/10TipsMobileWeb

Vote Now: Top 10 Features of Silverlight 4

What makes Silverlight a complete platform for RIA development? What are the top desired features of a rich and interactive language, and why JavaScript, CSS3 and HTML5 cannot compete with Silverlight, not now, not ever? In this session, "Silverlight 4 How To" author Rajesh Lal show you why Silverlight really shines, by demonstrating the top ten features of Silverlight 4 and how it fits with the current web scenario. You will learn How To use these features and see running demos. More information about the book at http://silverlightfun.com

Interested ? VOTE for it at Mix 10 (1. Add to ballot,2. Submit ballot)

http://tinyurl.com/10Silverlight

My Presentation at Discover Maemo Event in Santa Clara Dec 03 2009

I presented on creating Hybrid application for Maemo N900 device using Qt Web Technology, Here is the slideshow.

Qt 4.5.3 is now officially supported in Maemo Devices and is much more than promising. In the two demos I showed in the event you can create an HTML application in no time and package it for N900. Questions ? email me at rajesh.lal@nokia !

Hybrid Application Development on Maemo N900 device

Hybrid Application Development for Maemo N900 Device

View more presentations from Rajesh Lal.

Download the demo source, Debian package and presentation here

Here is the video

Hybrid Application Development for Maemo N900 Device using Qt Webkit from rajesh lal on Vimeo.

Video Presentation on Designing Mobile Widgets

Finally I was able to optimize and upload my presentation video at vimeo. Here is the 20 minutes video on 'Ten Tips for Designing Mobile Widgets' at Maemo Summit, Amsterdam Netherlands, 11th October 2009.

Download the slides for the presentation. Let me know your comments !

Maemo Summit 2009: 10 Tips for Designing Mobile Widgets from rajesh lal on Vimeo.

Paperclip Principle

I gave this presentation at Amsterdam 10 Tips for designing Mobile Widgets and I am getting a lot of these emails about the Paperclip principle.

Paperclip Principle inspired by the most popular paper clip (GEM) is a principle for Designing Software User Interfaces which is based on a simple assumption and my experience that:

Most effective designs are least complicated

When designing a User Interface you need to take care of three things, The user interface should be

1. 1. Easy to Look At
2. 2. Easy to Understand
3. 3. Easy to Use

It is my belief that if you follow these three guidelines, you will achieve an effective design on developing an interface for any device.

Ten Tips For Designing Mobile Widgets - Slides

Here is my presentation at Maemo Summit, Amsterdam Netherlands, 11th October 2009

Ten Tips For Designing Mobile Widgets 2009 Maemo Summit Amsterdam

View more presentations from Rajesh Lal.

Also check pictures of the event here