Back and forth. Forever.

I’m currently preparing the second part of an Interfacedesign and Information Visualization workshop I’m currently doing at the brand new Berliner Technische Kunsthochschule together with Martin. Thinking about how to teach the things you’re normally involved with on a daily basis without actively reflecting them too much anymore really inspires you to start questioning and rethinking your work as a designer, your ideas, the way you approach a project, a medium etc. again. It is very time consuming and exhausting, but above all very exciting.

Exhausting because I just wanted to stop work for today (check the post timestamp). All of a sudden, all these additional ideas and approaches for this and that are coming to my mind. Trying to find a conclusion for my day pretty much always led to a lot of more thinking during the past few weeks of irregular preperation sessions. My ladies are already starting to make fun of me (ok, one of both would if she already could, I assume). “Everything OK with you? Hello?”. It’s great.

I also said “very exciting”. It is exciting, because it triggers interesting and promising thoughts. And questions. So, actually, what is Interfacedesign really (after subtracting all your personal experience and the general buzzwords surrounding it)? What is an Interface Designer, an Interaction Designer, a Graphic Designer? How should we think about the medium, about software, websites, design and all that stuff that keeps us busy. Should I maybe get me a Pernod? Just kidding. But I should actually get one anyway.

Ok, what a long introduction to a potentially meaningless post. Here begins the part where I start writing about what I orginally wanted to talk about. With you.

In my hopeless attempt to explain sense and meaning of my work as a designer to myself to get a better picture of how to teach the basics about it, I found an article I read some time ago. It has a wonderful headline that goes like this: User Interface Design – Is it A Science, An Art, or A Craft?.

I think I started my first attempts at walking on the internet (hehe) with sort of an “artistic approach”. It was just easy and super thrilling to publish my personal, experimental graphic work and getting to know other people that did similar things (we weren’t that many in 1.0 times!). Today I’m an experienced Interface Designer. The headline above combines “Art” and “User Interface Designer” - that’s how it came to my attention. The article itself does not answer all questions, it does not make the blurry pictures all clear (fortunately?). But it is a thought-provoking impulse, test it for yourself and let me know what you think!

Trying to follow a train of thought that popped in my mind through that article, I wanted to write something down for myself. Then maybe publish it here soon. Just some minutes ago, I stumbled across another very eye-catching headline: Optimizing for Design Unusability (you remember, I wanted to turn off my computer a while ago, and now I’m still typing). This article is on subtraction.com, the personal website of the mind-blowing Khoi Vinh, who is by the way also the Design Director for the NY Times.

He basically introduces a project he found and liked a lot. Then he gets a bit more philosophical (does this sound cynical? It’s not meant to be). I love what he writes, it’s all that needs to be said right now - please read it, it does not really make sense to quote or outline. Thank you Mr. Vinh, I think I can shut down my mind for now. For tonight. Or at least for some hours.

But hey, if you’re reading this until here, please have a look at the “info-porn” project that Khoi Vinh posted about - it’s just amazing. The way it is.

PS: If you’re still hungry, also read this article. It’s also nostalgic and visionary at the same time. What I personally love about blogs is that many designers started to write about design. The downside is that many people (including me) gave up their personal design projects due to lack of time and for the sake of blogging.