William Moggridge, Laptop Pioneer Dies at 69

William Moggridge, British industrial designer, designer of the first laptop and founder of successful design firm IDEO passed on Saturday of cancer.

Moggridge is credited with designing the first portable computer which was sold to the American military in 1979.

Moggridge has written two books, Designing Interactions, published in 2006 and Designing Media, published in 2010.

Happy Birthday!

It’s been a year since we launched this blog.

Here’s a look back at our top 21 posts:

1. Summer Reading Booklist
2. SLA 2011 Conference Highlights from a SLA Rising Star
3. Tablet vs Laptop
4. Google Does It Again!
5. Everyday Usability: Library Cards
6. Ignore Everybody
7. SLA 2011: Picks from a SLA Rising Star
8. Kudos to Lisa!
9. Everyday Usability: Book Carts
10. Are YOU T-Shaped?
11. Making the Most of 3.5” x 2”
12. Everyday Usability: Portable Library
13. Hello, My Name Is…
14. We ♥ IDEO
15. Music for the Mood, Digital Stamps, Vending Machines and More
16. I’m Not Job Hopping, I’m Job Shopping
17. Looking for Ways to Freshen Up Your Skills?
18. Our Top 10 Free Tools 2010
19. Will Apple soon be launching iCloud?
20. User Experience: The Reference Interaction
21. Creating and Managing Your Online Identity

Summer Reading Booklist

Fend off ”brain drain” this summer with our recommended summer reading booklist.

What we’re reading this summer - 

Sandra’s Summer Booklist

Lisa’s Summer Booklist

We ♥ IDEO

We were first introduced to IDEO in the People-Centered Design course at Pratt.

IDEO is a design and innovation firm that does some amazing things. The first thing that comes to mind is their redesign of the shopping cart.  The second is IDEO method cards; We each own a deck. We’ve got IDEO stuff on our bookshelf too.

A few months ago, IDEO launched OpenIDEO. The whole idea is that people design better, together. Check it out.

Now There’s An App For That

Just found out that there is now an app for IDEO Method Cards: 51 Ways to Inspire Design. The deck of 51 cards is a great tool for brainstorming and exploring ways that focus on people-centered design. We first heard about IDEO and its method cards in our People-Centered Methods and Design course at Pratt. Since then, we have been using this tool in our usability projects and workshops. More information about the cards can be found here.