The Anonymity of Interaction Design(ers)
by DanLast Friday saw the launch of arguably the most hyped interaction-design driven (and marketed!) product ever: the iPhone. And yet…where were Apple’s interaction designers? Those animations, the way the keyboard works, how the touch screen interacts, etc…all that stuff didn’t design itself.
When the iPod launched, Apple certainly trotted Jonathan Ive, CBE out to discuss and promote it. Where is Apple’s VP of Interaction Design? Is there even one? Why do we only know the names of industrial designers at Apple, but the PR machine keeps the interaction designers hidden behind the curtain?
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July 3rd, 2007 at 9:58 am
I hear you – we could learn so much from these guys.
…but everyone would be poaching them
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:04 am
Some of them are here.
http://www.visi.com/~snowfall/AHA.html
July 4th, 2007 at 5:57 am
Exactly. Good point. And they also deserve to bathe a bit in the sunlight.
July 4th, 2007 at 9:30 am
In general, the average consumers are probably very happy with not knowing about interaction design at all and many other peculiar and intriguing professionals who take part into the product development and market entry process. Simplifying the “end credits” makes the cognitive load for the consumer lighter.
July 4th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
I’ve also been trying to track down the people behind the iPhone UI design to learn more about their design process.
Linked In picked up a few of the current iPhone hardware engineers, but not UI, from what I found. Someone I know worked on the audio system for iPhone, so I’ll have to ask him. I also worked with Tony Fadell at General Magic so I might be able to get in touch with him and find out some more.