Design for everyday life --- In Space?

The last shuttle mission ever to fly to the ISS (which is parked more or less in a low, geosynchronous orbit above the planet) is sadly, upon us. Yet, sadder still, no other serious replacement has been suggested, as of yet, to pick up where the space shuttle(s) leave off. However, thanks to free enterprise (not the galaxy class), more and more entrepreneurs will appear in the arena to further journey men into space.

One would be hard pressed to call the shuttle program a failure. Indeed not, it' been extremely productive and rewarding endeavor. The very first launch in the early 80’s, up until today – the beginning of the 21st Century, data gleaned from the shuttle program (as well as earlier manned space missions like the Apollo shots) gave birth to staggering amounts of innovation, which then filtered down into every industry imaginable. Nearly half century has passed since men last tread upon an extra-terrestrial surface, the time is right to begin the real journey. It shall begin beyond our moon.

Due to the fact that manned space exploration is in it's very early stages, design defers to pure engineering and scientific concerns. One look inside the space shuttle flight deck and this fact becomes painfully clear. Spacecraft interiors are totally dedicated to the work of astrophysicists, astrobiologists, materials handling/engineering experts, flight/communications operations and much more.

Yet, where is thought for the human side of the equation? Can deeper investigation of the interface between men and the machines (the space shuttle is the most advanced piece of equipment constructed by mankind to date) help to positively enhance the "user experience". The experience of living is space.

I suspect that eventually as space travel becomes more common place, and the demographic involved in extra-terrestrial activities becomes less homogenous - more thought in the areas of visual/physical ergonomics, semantics, psychology, usability (form-function), contextual alignment, intuition, and culture will help assist in developing environments for prolong use in space.

The user will become king.

Long time coming; rise of the "pod".

Well, it's been a few months since I last posted, so I'm going to try and post comments with more frequency. This blog is a work in progress with adding a few examples of my past work as well as tuning the "look" of my blog.

A few months ago I purchased an Apple iPod(touch)4. Of course, I know exactly what you are thinking; what took so long? Well, I went through a couple of "Palm" handhelds (remember Palm PDAs?) and a Dell Axim v51 - which worked for me pretty well until my dog ran into me one afternoon and I dropped in on the floor. The impact instantly dispatched the Dell to PDA heaven.

So this was an opportunity to look at Apple devices. I was not automatically sold on Apple as I've always existed in the Microsoft OS "realm", and saw no reason to leave it. The Mac world was foreign to me; I've always felt the Gates system was far superior to Jobs rickety concoction. When measured together, Microsoft compared to Apple is a lumbering behemoth, and Apple was just some "niche" player in my eyes.

That said, I honestly can say nothing detrimental about the pod. It is superior to my Axim and T3 in every way; even in terms of power consumption. Compared to the T3, the pod is a Volkswagen, the T3 is a Hummer H2, hands down. My pod is a 32GB model, and as such, I've literally PACKED it FULL of software apps. Additionally, my pod has every feature imaginable (2 cameras, headphone, speakers, clock, recorder, yada yada), but for the telephony service. Aside from that, it does EVERYTHING else the vaunted iPhone does.

Just recently I discovered a way to "jail break" the pod so that it can make and receive phone calls. Imagine that, spending half the cost of the iPhone and still getting every feature it has (they need to throw my ass into the joint, lol). I guess there are many iPhone people out there who do not want to hear this, better luck next time. Needless to say I am now a happy camper. I used to think my silver T3 was the cat's ass, but the pod literally stomps on it. Goodbye Palm, it was nice while it lasted.

One attribute that intrigues me about the pod is it's black screen (when turned off). Sitting on my desk the little thing mimics some kind of strange alien artifact. Blank and mysterious, nothing in it's form hints what it does.

I remember studying semantics in product design for a couple of semesters in school, all that is thrown out on it's ass by the pod. Way back there in undergrad school the professors used to chant like thirteenth century holy I.D. monks - "less is more", "less is more", "less is more"...damned if they weren't right. My poor old fax machine might as well be a 20 ton block of stone in one of the Egyptian pyramids.