Information Appliances and Beyond

From the Publisher: This book is both visionary and practical: future consumer electronics, toys, and games need great usability or customers will abandon them. My new cell-phone is so complicated that I need a two-week training class. Not! Jakob Nielsen Usability Guru, Nielsen Norman Group An important book. Anyone involved in either interaction design or the development of information appliances will find food for thought, and everyone in the industry should read Rob Haitani's observations about designing the PalmPilot. Alan Cooper, Cooper Interaction Design Information appliances and other interactive products beyond the desktop present user interface design challenges that are only beginning to be understood. In this one-of-a-kind book, interaction designers examine the issues they confronted in their projects: Microsoft Windows CE, a vehicle navigation system, interactive children's toys, and more. You'll enjoy reading their engaging and sometimes surprising stories, but more importantly you'll gain insights that will benefit your own design and development work. Features Begins with an interview in which design expert Don Norman details his vision of making technology invisible. Includes an eight-page, full-color insert containing screen shots, product diagrams, and other illustrations. Presents inside accounts of information appliance success stories including: An interview with Rob Haitani, lead interaction designer of the original PalmPilot The design and evaluation methodologies behind Nokia's mobile phones The high-level information appliance design considerations emphasized by Sun Microsystems Essential reading for interaction designers, human factors engineers, usability specialists, software engineers and project managers working in all of these areas.