"Invention is the secret sauce," Myhrvold says. "It has the highest concentration of value compared with any task in a company. But because it's so risky, it also has the lowest amount of focused effort."
Evan Schwartz, "Sparking the Fire of Invention ," Technology Review, May 2004
Wang’s digital pen also reflects an ongoing transformation in the process of invention at some large corporate labs, a hybridization of the lone inventor and traditional corporate R&D. Wang is the pen’s lead inventor, and it is his insight, daring, and creativity that have largely driven the effort to develop it. But at the same time, he could not have made such rapid progress without Microsoft’s collective expertise in pattern recognition algorithms, computer vision, handwriting technologies, and text-editing software. “Personally, I’m really excited about it,” says Rick Rashid, senior vice president of Microsoft Research, whose main facility is in Redmond, WA. “It’s an example of a new kind of product incubation that we do,...one that brings together people with many different skills to solve a unique problem.”
Gregory T. Huang, "Microsoft’s Magic Pen," Technology Review, May 2004 via Tomalak's Realm
The teapots also illustrate three different aspects of design: visceral, behavioral, and reflective. Visceral design concerns itself with appearances. Here is where the Nanna teapot excels?I so enjoy its appearance, especially when filled with the amber hues of tea, lit from beneath by the flame of its warming candle. Behavioral design has to do with the pleasure and effectiveness of use. Here both the tilting teapot and my little metal ball are winners. Finally, reflective design considers the rationalization and intellectualization of a product. Can I tell a story about it? Does it appeal to my self-image, to my pride? I love to show people how the tilting teapot works, explaining how the position of the pot signals the state of the tea. And, of course, the ?teapot for masochists? is entirely reflective. It isn?t particularly beautiful, and it?s certainly not useful, but what a wonderful story it tells!
. . . .
The problem is that we still let logic make decisions for us, even though our emotions are telling us otherwise. Business has come to be ruled by logical, rational decision makers, by business models and accountants, with no room for emotion. Pity!
Don Norman, Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things, Basic Books, 2003
The New Yorker article goes on to say about Hall:
He gradually concluded that people used cards to maintain emotional contact with friends and relatives, and that they wanted cards that helped them convey personal feelings that they were unable to forurmulate on their own.This insight was the foundation of what would one day be a global business.
One insight built the global business. All it required was simple, to-the-point research and some clear thinking to extract the relevant conclusion.
Mark Hurst, "Case Study in Customer Experience," Good Experience, 22 Apr 2004.
John L. Campbell, in "The Development of Human Factors Design Guidelines," ... reminds us that the final design "will always represent an integration of user requirements, design constraints, available information and expert judgment." There are no guidelines that are applicable in all contexts.
Tanya Rabourn, "Making guidelines part of the team," Boxes and Arrows, 19 Apr 2004.