Zooming, Reading and Education

Zooming, Reading and Education

Bob Cringley has written several interesting columns about technology and the future of education recently that got me thinking about my experiences designing a Zooming User Interface (ZUI) for Sony. In his most recent column he talks about the video game paradigm as a model for the future of education. In the spirit of Steven Johnson's, "Everything Bad is Good for You" Cringley argues that the popular and financial success of video games means they have already proven their power as an education platform. Today, gamers may be learning about air guitar but the same paradigm will continue to grow and work for other subjects.

While at Sony, I was part of a skunkworks-style startup developing a media navigation platform based on the concept of zooming. The basic concept was zoom in for more detail and zoom out for more context. The idea was simple and we worked keep the interaction equally simple. This evolved into a web/hyperlink model where you selected something on screen to zoom into it and see more detail and then used the back or “zoom out” button to get back to where you were. This was all before Macromedia/Adobe Flash which can be used to create similar effects. But our software was built on a data space that allowed all types of data, content and media to be placed in the space... even webpages. Once in the space, whatever navigation rules were set would work for all of the content without any further coding. While working on the navigation scheme and rules, one of my designers, Tom Grauman came up with the term, ZUI or “Zooming User Interface” because the combination of scaling content, buttons and interaction rules really was a complete UI experience. There is good coverage of projects in the ZUI space on Nooface and a nice general write-up on Wikipedia here. The genesis for zooming was Pad++, a software application that was developed by Ben Bederson and Ken Perlin at NYU. Ben eventually moved to the University of New Mexico and then to the University of Maryland where he is now.

There are several alumni from the Sony days that have zooming in their blood and have felt compelled to continue the mission. This includes Franklin Servan-Schreiber (project director for the Sony “Galileo” Project), Eduardo Sciammarella and myself. Franklin has kept our old zoomorama domain alive and has been building and shipping several zooming applications in his native France including a zooming version of a show at the Louvre.

After living, breathing and sleeping zooming for several years at Sony, I put it aside to focus on a broader range of projects. But it was always there in the back of my head. Then, in 2000, I started working on maps in my spare time. Recently, I have been working on several with a narrative that progresses as you zoom in. I did a map of border disputes between India, Pakistan and China where you can see the major disputes from a macro zoom level but the most interesting story only reveals itself when you zoom in. The Siachen Glacier occupies a small section of Northern Kashmir but at 20,000 feet, it is known as the highest battlefield in the World. It is the micro-scale example of the overall conflict between Pakistan and India.

As I read Cringley's article, I realized that this is inherently true for maps. Whether it’s a globe, Google Earth, Yahoo Maps or an antique paper map, we interact with it by scanning it and then zooming in on interesting details. That experience of a dynamic visual information space has the potential to be every bit as engaging as a video game provided the subject is interesting.

Reading a newspaper involves the same zooming interaction as a map. You scan the headlines and pictures until you find something you're interested in and then zoom in. It is abundantly clear that the traditional paper newspaper is slowly going away. When you hear how many trees are felled for one issue of the Sunday New York Times, I think, this is probably a good thing. But when I think about the benefit of scanning and consuming news on the large "display size" of a newspaper, it saddens me that it might go away. From a technology perspective, the explosive growth of the Web combined with the much slower growth of better displays has conspired to squeeze newspapers out of existence. In order to recreate the benefit of a newspaper page, displays need to be large, durable, affordable, portable, and legible… a tall order. Laptops, Amazon’s Kindle, and Apple’s iPhone are all attempting to serve the need for a portable display for reading with varying levels of success.

Of course there is probably more behind the decline of print newspapers than display technology. Many would argue that reading itself is becoming a thing of the past but books continue to sell well. Why?

I think the future of the book and the newspaper lies in transforming them into scalable experiences. By scalable I mean two things. First, an experience that can be read at a summary or detailed level (meaning you can read the book jacket or the whole book). The new experience has to fit into the web model where you may only read the Amazon summary and reviews before clicking on one of the "people who bought x also bought y" links. That's how people read now. It’s no different than browsing books in a physical bookstore or library. Scaleable also means that the navigation of that experience can happen in a zooming space where the text, images and headlines all combine to create a visually rich and immersive experience.

The ZUI experience includes features that make zooming more than just a static plane that a camera zooms in and out on. Two examples of this are semantic zooming and "sticky z". Semantic zooming understands that different levels of information are relevant at different scales. So as you zoom in on a piece of information, additional information is added... the caption for a photograph, a link to a related article, the next paragraph or page of the book. Pad++ and our Sony ZUI both programmed this capability into the system by allowing data to appear or fade based on its relative size on screen. Sticky Z was a simple setting that allowed you to place an object such as type or an image in space and lock its size on screen. This can be combined with other scaling media and semantic zooming to create an endless set of dynamic information displays.

The launch of Amazon's Kindle took the evolution of the ebook to an important next level. Building a wireless connection into the platform allows it to connect to the Amazon store, Wikipedia and news sources all the time. The e-ink display allows a relatively high resolution display to be visible in bright light or dark rooms. I’m not a huge fan of the physical design of the first generation Kindle but they got the overall service offering right. I ride a corporate shuttle to work every morning and often read the SF Chronicle on my way. I noticed recently that there are never more than 1 or 2 people on the bus reading a paper but many riders are surfing the Web on their laptop. It may take a while but the last hurdle to get ebooks into the mainstream is a better and faster display, one that is capable of quickly moving and scaling content on screen. When you bring up the subject of ebooks to general consumers, so many of them say something like, “Oh, I’ll never use an ebook… I’ll always prefer paper books”. To this I have a number of responses but the best argument I’ve ever heard was the simple case of the environment. Eventually, consumers will realize reading single use documents on paper is a waist of resources. Paper will continue to make sense for some documents and books but be phased out for more transient media.

As Cringley hints in his article, kids gravitate towards the most engaging media and right now that is video games. It is hard to believe but at one point newspapers were a very engaging media. Its combination of local and international coverage and its large, flexible and portable media made it as good for reading the Sunday leisure section on the sofa as it was for the Monday morning news on a commuter train. As a writer and visual designer, I believe in the importance of words and reading. I believe that reading is not going the way of the dinosaurs... just transforming itself in the wake of new technology and stiffer competition. TV has been the dominant media for 50 years but the Internet is slowly gaining on it. TV and video are powerful persuaders but video can sometimes persuade without getting you to think. Words almost always compel you to think about what you're reading. Meaning is created in your head, not on screen and this makes it more powerful. The hyperlink allows both the writer and the reader to connect to related content throughout the process.

In some ways, video games represent the ultimate combination of all these technologies, visual, text, interaction, play, even socialization. But reading and visual media will be with us for a long time to come. As the Kindle and iPhone are starting to show, zooming will almost certainly play a part in making it more engaging than a static piece of paper.

Protesters & The Rule of Law in San Francisco

Protesters & The Rule of Law in San Francisco

I walked through the Iraq War protest march on my way home from work tonight. It was great to still see so much passion about ending the war after 5 years of Bush and Cheney not listening. I was walking a bit faster than the parade and that led to an interesting experience. The police were all around... on foot, on motorcycles, monitoring the protesters but also monitoring car traffic which was being heavily backed up and re-routed. There was a group of policemen out in front of the parade that kept moving forward a block to make sure the streets were clear for the protest march. They were doing their best to support the march as much as keep it under control. What made me take notice of this was what I saw after I left the route of the march. About 2 blocks up on Upper Market, there was a whole collection of policemen... in vans, on foot and on motorcycles, all ready to go in a moments notice. They were there in reserve in case things took a turn for the worse. The potential was there for problems on both side but I came away thinking the police were doing their best to be ready but be out of sight. Most were carrying a bunch of plastic zip ties that replace hand cuffs in these situations. Again, a sign that there could be problems but much better than hands on holsters or tear gas canisters. I left the area feeling that both sides were doing a much better job dealing with their differences than Bush has with the Middle East.

China & Tibet

China & Tibet

As I've been reading the news this past week about China squashing Tibetan protests, the image of a map with China dominating over Tibet typographically as much as militarily popped into my head. So I decided to quickly draw it up so I could post it. If it had a title it would be "A Political Map of China & Tibet". I find the term "political map" funny as so many of them involve unintentional political statements.

Heath Ledger and the Death of a Man

Heath Ledger and the Death of a Man

Hearing about the death of Heath Ledger was very sad news. He had so much to say even when saying very little.

Despite what most people thought "Brokeback Mountain" was about, Heath Ledger's character gave me new insights into what it means to be a man. Everyone makes decisions in their life that they regret... men and women. But men seem to deal with regrets differently than women. Ledger's character in Brokeback is transformed over the course of the movie and not by the question of whether he is gay or not. What I saw was far deeper in its implications for a man's character and integrity. First, Heath's character is transformed as he wrestles with what it means to be gay AND a cowboy. Although meaningful in its own right, this is really a bluff by director Ang Lee for the superficial. He fakes us into asking, "Is this about the image of a cowboy or, who this cowboy really is?" But as the movie continues, Ledger's character is transformed, far more deeply, as a gay man who has decided to marry a woman and have a child. In maintaining this double identity, neither of his lives achieves its full potential and he is left with regret.

But it is what his character, and ultimately Ledger the actor does with this regret that I found so profound. Regret can lead a man to many things. He can lash out and blame others for his situation or pretend it has no affect and act as strong as ever. But regret can also turn a man inward. When that happens it can make him at best, intraspective or at worst, overcome with an internal dialog that leaves little room for the world around him. This is exactly what happens to Ledger's character by the end of the movie. He knows he has not made all the right decisions. He knows he has let people down, people he loves deeply.

So in the end he becomes a man of few words... full of turmoil and yet a true man for accepting responsibility for everything he has done. His words remain well chosen and true but gradually retreat inside his throat until at the very end, they are barely more than grunts. But the truth is still there. Somehow Ledger communicates his love for his daughter, his regret for his decisions, and ultimately his identity as a man, while barely saying a word.

One could look at the last scenes of Brokeback and say, he's just playing the cowboy. But as one who has had regrets in his life, I know. He was being a man.

Is Creationism Selling God Short?

Is Creationism Selling God Short?

I've been seeing and reading a lot about Creationism lately. This includes the battle in Dover, PA to teach Creationsism, or rather "Intelligent Design" in school and the new natural history museum based on Creationism's re-interpreted timeline of the World.

The Dover Case is an interesting story in and of itself. There is a key issue that came up in the case that got me thinking that maybe the Creationists are selling God short. The Creationist's case for intellligent design is summed up by the statement that evolution is just a theory and there are enough gaps in the theory to warrant the consideration of other theories (namely Creationism). Of course their argument starts with a misinterpretation of what science means by "theory". But there are gaps in the fossil record and the Creationists have used these to drive their case. One of these gaps was the missing link between fish with scales and land-dwelling reptiles. If reptiles evolved from water-dwelling fish, there should be animals in the fossil record that have overlapping features. For some time, scientists had been unable to find evidence of these animals and during this time, creationists used that missing link as an example when promoting their case. But then fossils of a cross-over animal were found... a reptile with legs and fish-like scales.

Each time evolution science makes a discovery relating to what intelligent design saw as a flaw, it forces the Creationists to re-work their case. None of their arguments for intelligent design have been accepted by mainstream scientific journals. They convert the largely converted of their case almost entirely by pointing to what the bible says about the evolution of life and by pointing to perceived gaps in the prevailing scientific view.

Their self-imposed behavior of re-adjusting their argument each time their previous one is debunked got me thinking. If God is all knowing and almighty why would he spend so much time figuring out how to make an eyball, or a reptile, or monkeys that are so similar and yet evolutionarily separate from humans. Why wouldn't God, as the smartest of smarts, take a smarter approach.

It seems to me that if I were God and I was planning the creation of the universe that my time would be better spent setting certain rules in motion rather than trying to create each atom, organ, and animal individually. Maybe God has much more to worry about than just our own little planet in this little Milky Way Galaxy. Maybe there are even other universes to worry about and maybe he has tried working with different rules in thos universes. If that were true, it would be almost foolish, if not stupid, for God to put so much time into the creation of individual organisms.

It seems to me that the history of man, religion and cosmology is about moving up the food-chain of creation. For cavemen, everything was the work of God... fire, the birth of another person, etc. For the Greeks, it seems the stars were the outlines of gods in the night sky. For aboriginal cultures, the Earth is like the Mother God... the one resposnible for creating all the things we enjoy on Earth.

These myths serve their purposes and help make sense of a mysterious world. The aboriginal culture myths create a culture that is more environmentally friendly than many enlightened environmentalists are today. But even as we still regard the birth of a baby in the family as a "miracle", we also know how babies come to be. We understand the science and biology of reproduction and how it relates to reproduction in other species. When that mystery was solved, we moved onto the next mystery.

So it seems like you could have a belief in science and a belief in God and reconcile the two. All that is requires is a belief that science brings us new understandings of the world around us. Since science builds on previous discoveries, it also means that earlier generations did not know these things and did the best to explain the world around them in terms they understood at the time. This includes the story of the bible. Accepting science requires that you accept the stories of the bible as parables and interpretations of history and creation myths and not as hard facts that can not themsleves be interpreted in light of recent discoveries.

At some point in our human history, everything on Earth was magic and there was no science. Fire and lightening were God's work until we figured out how to make it ourselves. The discovery process continues until we find ourselves where we are today, contemplating the existence of other universes in theoretical physics. These theories are based on rules of science, mathematics and quantum mechanics. So if whole parallel universes are possible and contemplated by our smartest physicists, couldn't an almighty God work by implementing these rules. In this light, we are just slow, dumb organisms taking thousands of years to understand our immediate surroundings let alone the cosmos. If these parallel universes exist, God not only understands them but put the rules in motion while also thinking up the rules that would allow electrons to spin around a nucleus in such a way as to make carbon possible, so as to make organic matter possible and eventually, through the rules of electrical, chemical and physical interactions to make animals that would evolve into Adam & Eve and everything else on this
amazing planet. Isn't it possible? Isn't it amazing enough that whether or not some reptile with scales existed is such a minor issue relative to the grandeur of everything else. Wouldn't believing in all of this only make God more powerful and amazing?

Creativity and Restrictions

This is a quote from last year's TED Conference. It might be
counter-intuitive to young designers but is very true.
"Creativity starts when you cut a zero off the end of your budget. It
gets even better if you cut two zeros."

Design and Product Management

This is a letter I wrote to Jeff Flash after reading a presentation he wrote and posted on his blog about product management.

Jeff,
I downloaded and read your 10 Tips for New Product Managers presentation. Thanks for sharing this.

I have some feedback and a question for you. I was wondering what your ideal stakeholder diagram is. There was one included from someone else (showing product management in the center surrounded by sales, marketing, management and engineering) and then several from you. The last one you show has pretty much everyone being invited to the party but I was wondering what your simplified version is. I'm sure the list would change based on the industry-domain of the product but again, there is probaly a high-level version that would relate well to a majority of products.

I ask as someone who has worked with product managers for about 15 years. As a designer, I've always had close interaction with product management, sales, marketing, engineering, senior management, etc.. But it is rare that design is represented as having a direct relationship
with product management. You'll often see it as an off-shoot of marketing or engineering but rarely as a direct link. I think this is wrong. In my 10 years at Sony, design always reported directly to the CEO. Even though we worked very closely with the product teams and business units, we also had independence. The relationship between Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ives (SVP of design) at Apple is legendary but underlying that relationship is a firm belief that design is a core component of what Apple does. This doesn't diminish the importance of marketing or engineering at Apple (also centers of excellence), it just represents an approach to product development that says business and engineering aren't the whole equation.

You make many great points in your presentation like surrounding yourself with experts. Its possible to create great products by including a designer in your expert circle even if that's not the way the company is organized. But I think the best approach is to have it structured into the organization. At Microsoft, design reported to engineering for many years and I think it shows in their products.

There is a ven diagram [see image below] that I have seen that represents a design perspective. There are three overlapping circles, one represents business... looking after what is "viable", the second represents engineering... making things "possible", the last is design which looks after what is "desirable". It may be too simplified or too design-centric but does capture a different point of view from those that over emphasize sales and marketing.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I was curious to hear yours on the issue.
Regards,
Andy

This issue has been discussed at many different companies and conferences. Every group likes to see themselves at the center of the universe or at least on the A List. But I think the debate goes on about whether design is or should be on that list.
This is the diagram that designers often show as the major stakeholders for product development. But while simple and clear, it raises as many issues as it addresses. Among them,

• Is it over simplifying the case to have a single circle representing all business issues? Within this circle are sales, marketing, finance, management, legal, biz dev, etc. How many of those groups deserve their own circle? Is it always the case or dependent on specific types of products?
• Does design deserve its own circle? Is it over simplifying the case to say that design is responsible for making things desirable? What about useful, usable, simple?
• Where is the voice of the customer in this diagram? Is each group responsible for knowing what the customer wants relative to their domain or is there a circle missing?
• Should product management be at the center of the diagram or should the user be there?

I don't know the answers to all these questions. My general perspective is that design provides a key role in the development of projects. We can visualize the end product faster, earlier and more accurately than any other stakeholder. As a function of budget, our circle is usually much smaller than the other two. This is the crux of the value offering. We provide a key role at a relatively low price. The seat at the table is therefore justified by the high value / low cost offering. You can always consider us work for hire and subservient to one of the other circles but then over time, that's exactly what you'll get.

I love Adobe, I Hate Adobe

I love Adobe, I Hate Adobe

I sent the following letter to Adobe Customer Service last week. I wanted to share it...

I am a designer and have been a loyal Adobe & Macromedia customer for over 15 years. I have bought multiple versions of Photoshop, Illustrator, Director and Flash for myself and my staff over these years at multiple companies. After Apple, Adobe is the company serving the needs of the design community... especially following the merger of Adobe and Macromedia.

Two things about Adobe are really pissing me off and ironically, it seems to have the most to do with Adobe Acrobat... the one program I don't pay for. Over the last 2 or 3 years, Acrobat buttons have been showing up in Word, Outlook, Excel and Powerpoint. I don't want them there but they won't respond to requests to remove them. Worse, they often show up on their own line in the toolbar so I lose a whole line on my monitor for buttons that I don't even use and can't remove. I remove them once and then they show up the next time I launch the app. I never asked for them in the first place! I've also had a "Send as Acrobat" button replace my "Send" button in Outlook. This happened at two different companies I've work at and challenged both tech support departments in removing them. How could Adobe think that sending an email as an Acrobat document could be more important than just sending a plain old email? I would love to know the thinking behind this move.

The other major problem is that Acrobat, Photoshop and Illustrator were constantly checking and downloading updates. I got notices everytime I tried to quit and go home for the night that they were checking for updates. In Acrobat I got notices for the same language updates over and over. Luckily, this problem seems to have subsided. But were they really updating the software that often?

Adobe, please stop pushing your buttons and updates where they are not wanted. You are THE design software company. When designers need something from you, we'll pay you for it!!!

Slow Media

Slow Media

Last night I was thinking about maps... the appreciation of maps and the time it takes to create them. As I was thinking about it, the concept of "slow media" came to me. Maps are clearly a form of slow media relative to video, TV and a heavily cross-linked web page. It takes time to view a map. The type is often small enough that you can't read the whole thing from a distance. So you end up panning and zooming with your eyes. You take in the gestalt and then zoom in on a detail of interest. Like reading a newspaper, you repeat this process until you feel like you've gotten a full appreciation for the details and the whole. For a moment, I thought I might be the first person to think of the concept of slow media but I was wrong. Helen de Michiel wrote about it in 2002. On the Wikipedia page for the Slow Food movement, there is a See Also link to the Slow Movement that references, Slow Travel, Slow Shopping and Slow Design. Personally, I don't think there is any other type of shopping when you're doing it with a woman... good for women, bad for men.

The post by Helen de Michiel talks more about slow media as it relates to the creation process using the example of her deep appreciation for the content of a documentary she worked on over several years. In this respect, almost all authoring might be considered a slow media relative to the final product. But I do understand the idea. Creating maps takes a lot of time because of the amount of detail that is typically required. And I share her experience in that if you are doing it on the side rather than your day job that it takes a lot of time and your deep appreciation is required to keep the ball moving forward.

I'm hoping to create a blog of my maps to talk about what I've been trying to create but in the mean time, a number of them are posted here along with brief descriptions.

Hotel Del Over-crowded

Hotel Del Over-crowded

This is the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego. For most of its life it has been an amazing place and a fantastic example of Victorian beach architecture. The original structure and the majority of the many expansions were all built out of wood. To step into the lobby or grand ballrooms is to step back in time and yet it has been preserved so you can enjoy it today.

We have been spending a weekend here every year for the last five years. It has always been a beautiful and relaxing experience. Although it has always also been an expensive weekend, we always put up with the $4 bottles of water and the $35 breakfasts because the overall experience was worth it. But after five years, we are now ready to throw in the towel. To expensive, you can now add over crowded and, I think, over-extended.

Everthing you see in the shot above is part of the Hotel. In the last 2 years, they added a series of private vacation villas... the low buildings to the left of the main hotel. The major crime here is that while the pools, hot tubs and seating areas of the villas are all closed to Hotel guests, the restaurants and bars of the Hotel are open to guests of the vacation villas. So the Hotel has added what I guess must be 30 to 50 rooms/accomodations without expanding their dining and bar facilities. The result is a line 30 - 40 people long to get into breakfast, crowded bars, and long waits for almost every expensive amenity they offer. The amazing beauty of the surroundings is constantly interupted by the choking crowds. Some of the staff remains attentive and civil while others seem to be as frustrated with the crowds as the guests.

The owners seem to know what they're doing. The new vacation villas are tastefully designed in the spirit of the original hotel. They also seem to be keenly aware of how to charge large sums of money for everything to pay off their large investment. There is something very democratic about the original hotel. Its always been an exclusive hotel. But a stroll through the hotel, a drink at the bar, high tea was open to all. Sadly, their financial greed seems to have tarnished the Del's former sparkle.

Conflict in the Middle Beach

Conflict in the Middle Beach

This a shot of Coronado Beach in San Diego. What happened here today was an amazing illustration of what I imagine must be much larger and frequent problems in the Middle East. Around 12:00 a group of around 30 Arabic-speaking people moved decisively into the middle of a bunch of other people already sitting and laying on the beach. They followed a leader who was dressed in a head-to-toe black robe and was, I assume, a religious official from their mosque. They arrived with four large pop-up tents... the kind that you see at street festivals defining a sales booth. To say there was room for maybe one would not be exagerating the case. But they proceeded to setup all four right on top of the others around them. One-by-one, we all looked up in amazement... thinking they couldn't possibly keep expanding. But expand they did. The third tent went up within a foot of my chair and the remaining space was later taken up by one of their coolers. As they continued to set the tents up, the people that had been sitting nearby... all comfortable spaced apart began to get up and move away... incredulous at what was unfolding before their eyes. I took this shot an hour later after even more people had moved away in disgust and disbelief. The fourth and final tent went up literally right on top of another couple's two chairs and umbrella. The couple was somewhere else at the time so they were up for a rude awakening when they returned to find their stuff folded up and moved away.

The majority of this obnoxious group seemed oblivious to the rudeness of their actions. Three quarters of the beach was empty... they could have had all the room they wanted if they had setup just 50 feet further back from the water. Did they want to piss off everyone around them? I have no idea. There was one teenage boy who was helping to setup and finally noticed that the rest of us on the beach were not happy. He told his buddy who seemed to tell him to ignore us. Which is exactly what they all seemed to be doing. I don't think you could do something this rude and callous if you were aware of the reactions of those around you.

It was just space on the beach. No one got hurt. But I can't help but think that their actions have something in common with the problems going on inthe Middle East. Over the last 10 years, my support for the Palestinian cause has grown while my acceptance of Israel's heavy-handed aggression has decreased. But I have to wonder whether behavior like I experienced on the beach in San Diego had a lot in common with what is going on everyday in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, the Golan Heights and anywhere else there are land disputes between Israelies and Palestinians. Disputes among neighbors are normal and happen everywhere. But most are resolved by being aware of how your neighbors react to your actions. If they can engage in overtly rude behavior in a foreign country while ignoring the reactions of people only inches away, what hope is there for the towns in conflict across the Middle East.

Boy Books & Girl Toys

Boy Books & Girl Toys

I'm a member of an all guys book club which is an endless source of humor for my wife. Last night we had a men's and women's book club meetup at a local bar. Richard, one of our members, met an attractive woman from their book club at the Commonwealth Club and suggested that the 2 clubs meet. She eagerly agreed so the date was set. It was a fun evening... mostly young, single cute chicks with one attractive married woman (which was good since I was the only married male). The ruse of an intellectual "meeting of the minds" was a good ice breaker for what was for both sides a chance to exchange looks, witty banter, and hopefully... a few phone numbers.

The girl's club is a bit more open minded than ours when it comes to sticking to the books. We police our meetings to make sure we actually spend a decent amount of time discussing the previous books and get in heated exchanges over what the next book should be. Their meetings include wine tasting trips to Napa, cooking classes and even... a Tupper Ware-style sex toy party sponsored by Good Vibrations. It was the married woman who confessed this to me. Maybe the fact that I was married made it easier for her to share this juicy secret. Its interesting when an attractive woman you don't know confesses that she owns sex toys. You want to ask a lot of questions but you have to feign only casual interest so she doesn't become uncomfortable and change the subject. She told me that the girls spent over $500 on "toys" that night earning her bonus store credits which she has yet to redeem. I left wanting to know more. I let her know that my wife was looking for a book club and that she might enjoy discussing "books" with the girls. She extended an invite today so we'll have to see where it all leads.

Bocce... Like father, like son

Bocce... Like father, like son

This is Buzz and Alexander at Campo di Bocce in Los Gatos, CA. When I was living in New York, I would occasionally see older men playing bocce in some of the Italian neighborhoods. But there is something special about bocce that I think the Italians have known for a long time. Bocce is a game for all ages. It takes skill to master but almost none to play. But it is experience and not physical strength that allows men to continue playing into their later years. Lastly, the primitive simplicity of the game... throwing balls in the dirt makes it possible for kids as young as 1 or 2 to participate in a mock game without disrupting the real game further down the court.

I first came to this realization while playing with some friends and my brother and sister in law. It is beautiful in it's simplicity. Seeing Buzz and Alexander wonder the court together made me think that it would have been nice to play with my father.

Stumbled upon this billboard today. Its a smart campaign and a clever Acronym for Sony that they are using to promote the high image quality of their TVs, digital cameras and VAIO computers. Sony still has lots of challenges to overcome but maybe this is a sign they've turned the corner... at least from a marketing perspective.

Old and New San Francisco

Old and New San Francisco

This is an old but newly exposed apartment building just off Market Street In San Francisco. The city recently approved a new zoning plan for the Upper Market area that will allow for buildings along Market St. to be up to 10 stories tall. Since Market bisects the city at angle there are numerous odd-shaped lots like this one that will now be turned into large apartment buildings. I had never seen the shingled apartment building in this photo until the demolished the building and billboard that were here.

The plan was controversial but I think it is a good one. There are so many old, single story buildings in this part of the city that were always ugly and have gotten worse due to disrepair. It didn't make sense to fix them because the owners probably weren't making enough money from rent of a single story business. The city also has a long term housing shortage that it needs to deal with and in-fill housing (the name for expanding urban density with existing lots) is the right way to deal with it. It should also do away with some of the seedier businesses that have occupied this part of city for the last decade or more. We are close enough to Market St. and adjoining Church St. That the plan could have a positive or negative impact on us. Hopefully it will be positive. We have a parking lot across the street from us which gives us great natural light but a homeless problem as well so it could go either way if they build something big across from us.

Delft De-constructed

Delft De-constructed

Two shots of the Tulip sculpture and fountain in the courtyard outside the Disney Concert Hall in LA. The entire sculpture is composed of the shattered fragments of blue and white Delft pottery. The petals of the fountain appears a bit heavy as you approach it but the real joy of the piece is when you realize what its composed of. There is a fractal quality in the tiny floral details of the pottery itself contrasted by the sharp, angular edges of the fragments and then the soft, curving forms of the larger fountain.

Although not evident throughout the sculpture, I really like the places where typographic fragments appear near each other in Picasso-like compositions.

The only bummer is that I think I remember hearing on a tour that to make the sculpture, Delft started with perfectly fine pottery and then had them shattered. I would have though that they would have plenty of seconds, or pieces that had already been chipped, broken, or otherwise compromised. To me, it undermines the integrity of the piece to know that it started with a bunch or perfect blue and white plates.

Writing and Remembering My Father

Writing and Remembering My Father

It’s my Dad’s birthday today. It’s also been a bit more than 2 years since he passed away. My Dad always enjoyed reading stuff that I wrote and thought I would make a great writer. It is one of the things I’ve wanted to do and one of the reasons I keep this blog. But between my day job and my other pursuits, I am not yet devoting enough time to writing to make a go of it. I have ideas for a book, and thoughts about a column about design and technology but they are just thoughts for now. My Dad was always so supportive of my interests. I’m sure he is proud of what I have achieved so far. Still I can’t help thinking that writing is part of my destiny and that I am letting my Dad down by not pursuing it more. I also wish I had spent more time with him and been better about sharing my thoughts with him... perhaps it would have made writing easier. Miss you Dad.

Remembering George Yu

Remembering George Yu

George Yu passed away this past weekend. George was an architect based in LA. Before striking out on his own, he spent time working for Thomas Mayne of Morphosis. He taught at Sci-Arc. As a designer, what I admired most about George was his belief in the purity of a concept. I suspect that many of designers start out strong in the concept phase. But over the years, the compromises in design for the real world water-down our concepts to the point where they become solutions more than pure concepts. But breakthrough designs require a high commitment to concept and vision. George had an almost child-like excitement about his designs and yet a stubborn-like commitment to keeping them pure. I admire that.

In response to a request, I shared some thoughts about how George used modeling in his design process.

I’m honored to have had the chance to work with George. When George was first diagnosed with cancer, he had been working on the Sony Design Center in LA. I was the lead for the project on the Sony side and worked closely with George for about 18 months. It was at the launch of our Sony office that George was introduced to the head of the Honda Design Studio, which led to his commission to design their Pasadena studio. During the Sony project, George made several study models including one that gave a floor-eye view similar to a reflected ceiling plan. It was appropriate to the project as it was an open ceiling with a number of key elements relating to the ceiling plan. There were a number of repeated architectural elements and George was able to build quick and effective models thanks to digital prototyping tools. We were familiar with these techniques because Sony has always relied on model making to review product designs. Years ago, models were hand made the same way architectural models were. But as digital prototyping tools became available, Sony moved quickly to take advantage of them. These tools significantly raised the bar in terms of what was achievable in a model. It allowed the designers to be more aggressive in their designs because it could be accurately modeled for review and approval by senior management. In the same way, George’s models allowed us at Sony to review and approve higher fidelity prototypes of his design. George was clearly comfortable with the digital prototyping process and had been using it for client work and his experimental projects. He made regular use of these tools at Sci-Arc.

Whereas Sony never prototyped anything larger than a TV, Honda was using the same tools to prototype cars at full size. I think George saw this as an opportunity as soon as he started the Honda project. Prototyping something at full size was the natural next step from working on scale models. A couple of months after the Sony office was completed, I flew to LA and met George for lunch. It was early in the process for the Honda project but he already knew what he wanted to do and had gotten Honda’s approval. I think he was on an experimental cancer drug at the time and was always fighting a cough. I’m sure all the thoughts that come to you when you hear the word “cancer”; had occurred to George but that was not what was occupying his thoughts that day. Instead what I saw was pure joy and excitement. He knew the solution for the Honda Studio was to build part of the office using the same tools they use to prototype cars. He knew this would enable him to build something unique to Honda… something that would otherwise be hard to build and that was not found in any catalog. He was like an excited boy with a new toy and at the same time a passionate designer intent on bending the technology to his creative will.

Many years ago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York did a show on the Deconstructavist movement. The show included drawings by Frank Gehry, Peter Eisenman and Steven Holl among others. One of the things the show made a point of illustrating was the difficulty of both communicating and building the new designs these architects were proposing. Digital design and fabrication seems to be eliminating both of these challenges. Initiating construction now seems closer to hitting the “Print” button on your laptop than figuring out how to communicate it to a builder. I think George learned this early in his career and was working as fast he could to implement it in his work. I only wish he had more time.

Lessons from Africa, Part 2

Lessons from Africa, Part 2

This is Bi Kidude as she bowed to a standing ovation on the TEDGlobal stage. She is a 96 year-old Taraab singer from the island of Zanzibar off the coast of Tanzania. Bi Kidude could challenge just about anyone’s stereotypes. She is a Muslim woman who smokes, sings, dances, flirts and plays drums. Seeing her perform reminded me that everything in the Muslim world is not as Al Qaeda or the Taliban have defined. There are traditions that survive that are a testament to the richness of the full Islamic culture and the strength of character of women like Bi Kidude. She is considered a national treasure in Tanzania and continues to perform Unyago music and ceremonies that help prepare teenage girls for marriage. Unyago songs speak frankly about the joys of marriage, sex and men but also warn girls about abuse and oppression. Having survived and left two failed marriages and being as strong and independent as she is, one can only imagine what advice Bi Kidude offers.

I wonder what would happen if the Taliban crossed paths with Bi Kidude. I also wonder where belly dancing fits into the restrictive rules of Islamic fundamentalists. Most of all, I am glad there are women like her to remind me to keep an open mind and not believe everything I see and hear on TV about Islam.

Lessons from Africa, Part 1

Lessons from Africa, Part 1

In June I went to Africa for the first time. We attended the TEDGlobal Conference in Arusha Tanzania and then climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. I’m hoping to post my Kilimanjaro journal separately but wanted to start by posting a few of the lessons I learned while in Africa. This is the first (of many).

I'm probably no different than most first time visitors to Africa… I brought lots of stereotypes with me. My first realization of this came on our very first morning. We were having breakfast at our hotel, the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge in Arusha. Initially there were only three or four people at the table (all non-African) and we were marveling at these huge birds walking around just outside the hotel. We later learned that they were Marabou Storks but at the time, all we knew is that they were huge, bizarre and yet somehow charismatic in their ugliness. As we were all staring out the window, two men from Africa joined us and had the same reaction we did. One of them even said, "what the hell are those?" I was thinking that these two guys being from Africa, should know what kind of bird this was but they had never seen them before. The birds are only found in Sub-Saharan Africa and the two men were from the North and South of Africa. On the plane I had read an article titled, "How to write about Africa." by Binyavanga Wainaina. One of the first satirical recommendations the article made was, "always treat Africa as if it is a single country" (ignoring that it is one of the largest and most diverse continents composed of more than 50 countries). So here I was a mere 12 hours later doing exactly what the article warned not to. I suppose its natural to condense your image of a place you've never been to. At least now I am in the position to know what an amazing place Africa is and how much more of it I have yet to see.