Books
Design Revolution / by Emily Pilloton (2009)
Feb 1st
In January of 2008, with a thousand dollars, a laptop and an outsized conviction that design can change the world, rising San Francisco-based product designer and activist Emily Pilloton launched Project H Design, a radical non-profit that supports, inspires and delivers life-improving humanitarian product design. “We need to go beyond ‘going green’ and to enlist a new generation of design activists,” she wrote in an influential manifesto. “We need big hearts, bigger business sense and the bravery to take action now.”
Featuring more than 100 contemporary design products and systems–safer baby bottles, a high-tech waterless washing machine, low-cost prosthetics for landmine victims, Braille-based Lego-style building blocks for blind children, wheelchairs for rugged conditions, sugarcane charcoal, universal composting systems, DIY soccer balls–that are as fascinating as they are revolutionary, this exceptionally smart, friendly and well-designed volume makes the case for design as a tool to solve some of the world’s biggest social problems in beautiful, sustainable and engaging ways–for global citizens in the developing world and in more developed economies alike. Particularly at a time when the weight of climate change, global poverty and population growth are impossible to ignore, Pilloton challenges designers to be changemakers instead of “stuff creators.” Urgent and optimistic, a compendium and a call to action, Design Revolution is easily the most exciting design publication to come out this year.
Emily Pilloton is the founder and Executive Director of Project H Design, a global industrial design nonprofit with eight chapters around the world. Trained in architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, and product design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Pilloton started Project H in 2008 to provide a conduit and catalyst for need-based product design that empowers individuals, communities and economies. Current Project H initiatives include water transport and filtration systems in South Africa and India; an educational math playground built for elementary schools in Uganda and North Carolina; a homeless-run design coop in Los Angeles; and design concepts for foster care education and therapy in Austin, Texas.
Allan Chochinov is Editor in Chief of Core77.com, and writes and lectures widely on the impact of design on contemporary culture.
Designing for Small Screens / by Studio 7.5 (2005)
Jan 5th
Designing for Small Screens provides a guide for professional designers and students to developing functional concepts and good design for the small screen.
The design of interactive applications or presentations on small screens is becoming an increasingly pertinent field, given the advancement of technology in mobile phones, palm-top computers and other small-screen devices. However, design of this nature can be challenging for the designer. Not all design concepts that are valid on larger screens can be implemented on the small screen. Devices in this category differ in size and type of their display, in the nature of their physical interaction and in their performance.
Designing for Small Screens, therefore, equips the student or practitioner with the appropriate tools with which to develop functional concepts and realise good designs for small screens.
Mobile Interaction Design / by Jones and Marsden (2006)
Jan 4th
Mobile Interaction Design shifts the design perspective away from the technology and concentrates on usability; in other words the book concentrates on developing interfaces and devices with a great deal of sensitivity to human needs, desires and capabilities.
Presents key interaction design ideas and successes in an accessible, relevant way Exercises, case studies and study questions make this book ideal for students. Provides ideals and techniques which will enable designers to create the next generation of effective mobile applications. Critiques current mobile interaction design (bloopers) to help designers avoid pitfalls. Design challenges and worked examples are given to reinforce ideas. Discusses the new applications and gadgets requiring knowledgeable and inspired thinking about usability and design. Authors have extensive experience in mobile interaction design, research, industry and teaching
ActionScript / by Rob Huddleston (2009)
Jan 4th
Visual learners can get up and running quickly on ActionScript programming skills for Flash CS4
If you’re a programmer who learns best when you “see” how something is done, this book will have you up and running with ActionScipt in no time. Step-by-step, two-page lessons show you the core programming foundations you must master to create rich Internet content using the preferred language for work with Flash. The visual approach breaks big topics into bite-sized modules, with high-resolution screen shots to illustrate each task.
You’ll learn such skills as how to add interactivity, animate in code, and work with external content to create Flash projects with pizzazz. Designed for visual learners, with two-page lessons and step-by-step, fully illustrated instructions Covers foundation ActionScript, animating, interactivity, and working with external content Demonstrates using the Actions panel, syntax rules, and essential language foundations Shows how to use variables and arrays; write functions, classes, if/else statements, and loops; and work with static classes such as Math Explores essential techniques such as loading visual aspects at runtime, text from delimited text files and XML, and server-based assets using Flash Remoting Companion Web site features all the code that appears in the text, ready to plug into your Web pages
“ActionScript: Your visual blueprint to creating interactive projects in Flash CS4 Professional” is the visual learner’s way to master ActionScript quickly and easily.
ActionScript 3.0: Classroom in a Book / by Adobe (2008)
Jan 4th
The fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn ActionScript(R) 3.0 for Adobe Flash CS4 Professional ActionScript(R) 3.0 for Adobe Flash CS4 Professional Classroom in a Book contains 14 lessons. The book covers the basics of learning ActionScript and provides countless tips and techniques to help you become more productive. You can follow the book from start to finish or choose only those lessons that interest you. Learn to add interactivity to Flash files using ActionScript 3.0: Control timelines and animation, write event-handling functions, and control loading of and interaction with data, text, video, sound, and images. “The Classroom in a Book series is by far the best training material on the market. Everything you need to master the software is included: clear explanations of each lesson, step-by-step instructions, and the project files for the students.” -Barbara Binder, Adobe Certified Instructor, Rocky Mountain Training Classroom in a Book(R), the best-selling series of hands-on software training workbooks, helps you learn the features of Adobe software quickly and easily. Classroom in a Book offers what no other book or training program does-an official training series from Adobe Systems Incorporated, developed with the support of Adobe product experts.
Mobile Design and Development / by Brian Fling (2009)
Jan 3rd
Mobile devices outnumber desktop and laptop computers three to one worldwide, yet little information is available for designing and developing mobile applications. Mobile Design and Development fills that void with practical guidelines, standards, techniques, and best practices for building mobile products from start to finish. With this book, you’ll learn basic design and development principles for all mobile devices and platforms. You’ll also explore the more advanced capabilities of the mobile web, including markup, advanced styling techniques, and mobile Ajax.
If you’re a web designer, web developer, information architect, product manager, usability professional, content publisher, or an entrepreneur new to the mobile web, Mobile Design and Development provides you with the knowledge you need to work with this rapidly developing technology. Mobile Design and Development will help you:
Understand how the mobile ecosystem works, how it differs from other mediums, and how to design products for the mobile context Learn the pros and cons of building native applications sold through operators or app stores versus mobile websites or web apps Work with flows, prototypes, usability practices, and screen-size-independent visual designs
Use and test cross-platform mobile web standards for older devices, as well as devices that may be available in the futureLearn how to justify a mobile product by building it on a budget