Neshan 40

My first encounter with digital technology was a shock. In an elective class with the title “Informatics” in high school – it must have been in the late 1970’s – we learned to write code in Basic using a terminal connected by a phone line to a mainframe computer belonging to one of Basel’s pharmaceutical companies. The terminal had no screen. The 
code and the outcome of the program were plotted on paper at the terminal after sending the request to the mainframe through the phone line. I remember the turmoil I caused by adding four zeros to th... > more

MODES: In societies where productivity is prioritized over presence, anxiety abounds. The extensive and alarming effects of anxiety on the mental and physiological wellbeing of university students inspired a cross-disciplinary team to to tackle this problem using design research methods. Using combined expertise in visual design, music technology, psychology, art therapy, and mindfulness, a digital tool entitled “Modes” was born. The “Modes” digital tool is an atmospheric, introspective, and aesthetically sophisticated engagement of three s... > more

The current text is an introduction to Human Computer Interaction (HCI); the words computer, machine, and system are used interchangeably herein. Not so long ago, calculator watches (with buttons that could be pressed difficultly with the tip of a pen) dazzled our eyes, and the first video games entered our houses via Atari. These examples might be considered the first public experiences of the interaction between human and computer — an interaction which was not so simple and pleasant at first but envisioned a bright future. The emergen... > more

His crutch word in everyday conversation is "befitting.” He constantly corrects common errors when you are talking. In one second, he can change his tone from highly cultivated to that of a blunt lowbrow. With a nostalgic story of a Friday noon in the 1980s, he can awaken a thrilling experience of your childhood. He can even take you farther — he can sail a ship to Doulab and revive the Qajar era and its high-registered verbiage. Then he might recount you a cult movie he enjoyed watching last night for probably not the first time, and initiate... > more

Using instructions (or rule-based methodology) in order to create a visual piece is not necessarily a new phenomenon in the area of visual arts and design. Conceptual artists in the late 60s and early 70s—including principal figures such as Sol LeWitt—used instructions as their main approach to produce art pieces. Sol LeWitt more specifically completed several small and large scale drawings where he designed the instruction for the piece and used other artists or contractors to implement the final piece. In this process, the role of the artist... > more

"I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones." - John Cage In the past fifteen years, as in all previous decades, the most important developments in design have changed the paradigm or pattern of the past so significantly as to create a rift, or break with tradition. The majority of these events have not created this break of course. Instead, they have built towards it by further refining existing concepts in the traditions of modernism and/or postmodernism. Robert Appleton is known for his ... > more

Luke Wroblewski, known as LukeW, is an internationally recognized interaction designer and digital product leader. He is the author of three popular Web design books (1). His most prominent book “Mobile First” is one of the key resources for modern web design, and made him a significant figure in the UX field. Luke is currently a Product Director at Google. Before Google, he was the CEO and co-founder of Polar (acquired by Google in 2014) and the Chief Product Officer and co-Founder of Bagcheck (acquired by Twitter in 2011). Prior to founding ... > more

Paola Antonelli, senior design and architecture curator of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), has become a controversial figure in the world of art in recent years. Antonelli is from Italy, a country where she believes there are only three subjects that are never missed during dinner table conversations: football, politics, and design. Since 1994, she has held this influential position in one of the worlds most prominent and wealthy art institutions. By means of philosophy and her progressive approach, she has attempted to challenge and develop ... > more

User Experience Design has its roots in the ancient science of ergonomics, which tried to establish a set of principles that made work more convenient and efficient. The connection between ergonomics and labor survived into present times. In 1900, Winslow Taylor pioneered the modern optimization of work based on his research of the interaction between workers and their tools (probably the first example of a systematic UX research in history). Early 1900s: Taylorism and the Industrial Revolution UX design can be dated back to the early 1900... > more

The relationship between “visitor” and “object” in museums is changing. What used to be a more or less one-sided relation in which the visitor received the object in a reactive way is being turned into interactive connection, a network in which all entities – human and non-human—have impact on one another. What is produced from interaction is therefore unpredictable and irreplaceable. The museum is no longer the space of packaged experiences, but the site of emerging and sometimes unexplainable experiences that the visitor never suspected.   ... > more

While 4k+ screens and projectors enable even more precision in current display technologies, a band of media artists believe there remains untapped aesthetic possibilities to draw out of older media (which was all new at one time). One technology in particular, the Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), long since replaced in the realm of TV and computing by flat panel technology (LCD, LED, OLED), is being rediscovered for its unique analog display properties. The CRT started with an instrument that physicist Ferdinand Braun developed for visualizing alterna... > more

Interactive design has created an opportunity for interaction with nature in some built environment projects, helping people communicate effectively with their surroundings. Therefore, the digital spaces used in the interiors or exteriors of buildings have somehow become the extension of nature into contemporary life. The current essay views this issue from two angles, aiming to promote visual studies and to discover aspects of nature and the functions of designing an interactive environment.... > more