Thoughts, ramblings and experiments in making sense of a complex Future

(via AllAboutSymbian)

Forum Nokia has released a tool, Flowella, which allows designers and developers to easily create design prototypes (mock-ups of how an application will look), without using a single line of code. Prototypes are built by using images of screen mock-ups and defining links between them (i.e. what happens when you click of a given area). The information is then used to create a Flash Lite application or WRT widget, which can be run on a Nokia phone or in the included simulator.

The tool is important because it allows designers to create design prototypes more easily, making it more likely that an application design can be evolved several times during the course of a development cycle. In a video introducing Flowella Tim Brooke, Senior Design Specialist (nokia Desgn), notes that Forum Nokia found that, “a lot of designers were creating visual assets that never made it made out of Illustrator or PowerPoint” and that “a lack of developer resources means prototypes are not created or are created too late in the process”. The result is that “designers are unable to test until late in the design process and this is often too late to suggest significant change”.

The aim of Flowella is to allow a greater amount of design prototyping to be included within a project. It should also help free up developer resources that may have previously been used for prototyping. The end result will be an application with better UX, which will be easier to use and more popular with consumers.

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Even though Flowella might be coming out a little late in the day, I think it’s still interesting enough to try.

I think its great for simple screen based interaction, especially when there’s lots of wireframing involved.

Personally I’ve been trying to use Adobe Flash Catalyst a bit in recent time, but the dream of the perfect software for IxD designers remains elusive.

Download Flowella here.
Watch compelling demo video here.

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For the past few months, I’ve been intensely involved in concept-development, scenarios, Microsoft surface prototypes, writing and video production for our project titled – ‘Helping Hands – The Future of Integrated Healthcare’. The video below along with the article attached caps intense collaboration between several of my most talented team members working with limited resources and time.

After over 40 years of pioneering work in the Life Science industry, we have been working for the past months to put together our take on the future of Life Science. Our story comprises not only scenarios and a clear picture of the eco-system in which Life Science might exist (in 2015) – but we have gone as far as prototyping glimpses of how interaction might occur with doctors and other medical professionals and services. The future concept and prototype was developed by the Life Science team at Ergonomidesign including user experience and interaction designers, design strategists, graphic designers, developers and health care professionals. Our challenge was to envision the future of Life Science and develop possible solutions for the world to test, use and reflect on.

The future of Health Care is a subject that has aroused intense speculation recently across different forums. Several interesting scenarios and points of view have been discussed. Professionals and designers alike have tried to make sense of a fuzzy future. Predicting possible futures for the Health Care industry is an ambitious task, fraught with great risk. There are far too many disparities in various global Healthcare Systems today that make it impossible to present one comprehensive solution that fits all. The industry is constantly affected by Government legislation, making their rate of development impossible to predict in isolation from external factors. Most importantly, Health Care is about us – ordinary people – for whom tailoring one universal solution is out of question.

Often the best way to predict the future is by attempting to design and build critical glimpses of it. Storytelling has usually been the most favored approach – usually giving rise to compelling and believable scenarios. The approach taken by us at Ergonomidesign was to bring in elements of prototyping at crucial moments in the scenario, in order to demonstrate key interactions actually taking place. Right or wrong is always subject to debate – a process of endless iteration.

More to come, once our press-kit is released.

Medical Ecosystem in 2015

Personally, I’m very excited, exhausted and delighted that this project came as far as it did. We started with no real plan except to talk about the Future of Health Care at the World’s biggest medical fair in Dusseldorf – Medica. What followed was some intense periods of creative thinking and making, learning new tools along the way and alot of positive energy from everyone involved.

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Work in progress at Ergonomidesign.

For the past 3 months, I’ve been learning the craft of the Interaction Design trade at the amazing office of Ergonomidesign in Stockholm. Being amidst the unsung heroes of Scandinavian design has given me an enormous education (already!) and I’ve been privileged to be collaborating with some brilliant people.

‘The Future of Intergrated Healthcare’ is an internal project I’ve been intensely involved with, right from process to prototype – over a 2 month period. I have learnt tools that are completely new to me in the process and also had a chance to use high-end prototyping as a tool to tell a story about our complex Future.

Given above, is a glimpse – a poster image. Stay tuned for more.

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