My presentation for IDEA Conference 2008

1. Design Context Clues
2008
IDEA CONFERENCE

2. Hi. I’m Jason.
Here’s my portfolio.

3. Today’s talk in 3 parts
How do we take context into account when
designing experiences that take place in physical
and digital spaces?
How does context inform our practice and day to
day culture?
Some aspirational crap you can mock me for at a
bar later

4. T.S. Eliot:
Modernist, Curmudgeon.

5. TS Eliot:
Modernist, Hip Hop Artist

6. Working in Space and Place

7. FastFrog, 1999

8. FastFrog, 1999

9. TWEC Listening and Viewing Station, 2001-2002

10. TWEC Kiosk, 2001-2002

11. TWEC Video?

12. Field Museum, 2002

13. Orbitz + Orbitz for Business, 2003-2007

14. Ronin

15. ThePoint.com, 2007

16. Vibes 2007

17. Vibes 2007

18. Vibes 2007

19. Vibes 2007

20. LeapFrog 2007-2008

21. Microsoft 2008

22. cMomGo

23. Along the way
I’d acquired
team members,
partners,
+ clients,
but there was something missing.

24. Who am I? Who are we?
We can’t agree on a definition of what we do, though
our job is often to define and label other domains.
We can’t differentiate ourselves from interaction
designers or usability professionals without utterly
confusing the lay person.
As a community, we debate these things amongst
ourselves semi-annually.
Why?
We’re willing to accept the oddest of jobs dealing
with people and how they use technology to
manipulate and retrieve information. It doesn’t give
us firm ground to stand on.

25. What do

26. It Leaves Us Feeling Defensive
“ Go for quick learning generalists
over ingrained specialists. We’ll
“never hire someone who’s an
information architect. It’s just
too overly specific. With a small
team like ours, it doesn’t make
sense to hire people with such a
narrowly defined skill-set.
1 March 2006
”
”

27. Our Thinking About This
Has Become Way Too Uptight

28. Let me suggest we are Bricoleurs
It has come to mean one who works with his hands, usually in
devious or quot;craftyquot; ways when compared to the true craftsman,
whom Levi-Strauss equates with the Engineer. The Bricoleur is adept
at many tasks and at putting preexisting things together in new ways.
The Engineer deals with projects in their entirety, taking into account
the availability of materials and tools required. The Bricoleur
approximates the mind of quot;the savage mindquot; and the Engineer
approximates the scientific mind. Levi-Strauss says that the universe
of the Bricoleur is closed, and he is often forced to make do with
whatever is at hand, whereas the universe of the Engineer is open in
that he is able to create new tools and materials.

29. So when I say IA, you mean...
So when we say Information Architect, Fried says
designer, and we both mean bricoleurs.
The difference is the context in which we perform our
work, but the result is the same:
We derive intuitive, learnable, efficient patterns of
human activity for addressing the problems of
chaotic, analog life.

30. “Be so good
that they can’t
ignore you.”
- Steve Martin

31. The Design Ecosystem

32. 40 Years of Computing Devices
in 60 Seconds

33. 1970’s: consumer ready

34. 2008 won’t be like 1984

35. It will be much more playful

36. Design is bringing the power of computing
to the oddest of interfaces

37. Ushering in a New Era of Interactions

38. We’re Dancing on the Surface

39. We must balance that potential against a
common language

40. We Don’t Do This

41. We Do This

42. We Have to Innovate Our Way Out

43. And now for something completely
different

44. Ken Garland:
First Things First 1964, 2000

45. Victor Papanek:
Design for the Real World, 1970

46. Viridian Design

47. The internet of things

48. Valerie Casey:
The Designer’s Accord, 2008

49. Santa Barbara’s Light Blue Line

50. Special Thanks To
The IDEA Conference volunteers and organizers,
especially Jorge Arango and Russ Unger.
My team: Mark Baldino, Ben Ihnchak, Jef Lear
My Friends & Clients: Paul D’Alessandro, Chris
Cooper, Joseph Wanka, Jeff Laubach, Keith Daniels,
Michael Chanover, Gillian Jetson, Janna Devylder,
Devin Henkel, Brendan Gramer, Brian Maggi
My family: Lora Kovac and Sophia Kunesh

51. Thank You for Your Consideration
Jason Kunesh
jason@kuneshdesign.com
(312) 925-7533
4445 North Sacramento Avenue
Chicago, IL 60625–3827