Opening Essay

News:

• Change of status. After six enjoyable years, I'm retiring from Northwestern University effective June 2010. Retiring? Well, I'll be busier than ever, but this will let me travel more, stay longer, and be more spontaneous (but I'm pretty booked until early 2011).
  
• Business Week  rated both the Northwestern University  MMM program in Design and Operations and the Industrial Design department at KAIST as two of the best Design Schools in the world. I co-direct the former and teach in the latter. Neat.
• Design of Everyday Things, Second Edition (DOET-2). Once Living with Complexity is in its final form (see below), I intend to update DOET (as DOET-2). The principles have not changed, but the examples in DOET-1 are stale. Since DOET-1, much has happened that can inform, modify, and broaden the discussions. I'm looking for good examples.Timeless. I want DOET-2 to last 20 - 30 years, so  examples have to be relevant decades from now. Doors never get obsolete.
  

Welcome to jnd.org:

Welcome to jnd.org, home for writings, musing, reviews, and contact information. I post my publications (as permitted), chapters from my books, book reviews, and essays. What does "jnd" stand for? jnd is a technical term in psychophysics, which was my first field in psychology: jnd = just noticeable difference. See What is jnd?

I spend half my time with the Nielsen Norman group consulting for industry to produce enjoyable and effective products and services (see below), half my time teaching in two programs at Northwestern University, a one-year graduate program leading to an MS degree in Engineering Design and Innovation (MS-EDI) and in MMM, the two-year joint MBA / Engineering degree program between Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management and Northwestern Engineering that focuses upon Design and Operations, half my time serving on advisory boards for companies, and half my time writing and publishing. And two months each year as a Visiting Professor of Industrial Design at KAIST, in Daejeon, South Korea. (This list  demonstrates why I wish to reduce my formal activities.)

Living with Complexity: to be published Fall, 2010 (MIT Press)

The world and our activities are inherently complex, so our tools must match that complexity. Complexity is necessary: it is confusion and unnecessary complication that should be eliminated. This book is an argument in favor of properly designed complexity, against the simple-minded notion that things should be simple. Simplicity is boring. We need richness and depth in our lives.

The world gets ever more complex, yet we cope. How? We manage because we are not alone. We work in groups and the interaction is interesting and important. Moreover, understanding defeats complexity. To most of us, the cockpit of a commercial airline is a confusing jumble of dials and controls. To the expert, the cockpit is comforting, familiar, and understandable. Knowledge makes the difference.

Translations of my published books keep appearing. A Portuguese (Editora Rocco, Brazil) translation of "Emotional Design" is out as are Japanese and Taiwanese translations of "Design of Future Things." I've seen Korean and Chinese editions of "Design of Future Things." Translations in Brazil,  Italy, Korea, and Spain are underway. Greece is working on a translation of "Design of Everyday Things," which will make it the twelfth country to publish it.

Company Advising: reQall

I am officially empowered as "Chief Mentor" of reQall. Call reQall from any phone and speak whatever you want to remember. It then shows up in your email as  text, as a voice message, and on a website. Even automatically on your calendar. We worked hard to make it really simple, to eliminate all the features that came to mind. No features, therefore no fuss. Simple and powerful. Developed by a team, some of whom worked with me at Apple. Neat. (The iPhone implementation is cool. I myself use the special Blackberry application.)  It is also a teamwork tool. Free. It works smoothly with Evernote, to increase the power of both (read the CNet discussion).

reQall is also an active memory assistant, using time or your location to remind you. Read all about it in a review by David Pogue in the New York Times.

Company Advising: Mint

An automatic floor cleaner (for hard floors only). I'm an adviser to Evolution Robotics: Mint is their latest, cool release. See the You-Tube Video. And here is the website.