Hasta La Ideas

In anticipation of the upcoming IxDA Interaction12 Conference taking place in Dublin, Ireland February 1-4, Core77 will be bringing you a preview of this year’s event. Follow us as we chat with keynote speakers, presenters and workshop leaders to give you a sneak peek at some of the ideas and issues to be addressed at this year’s conference. Come by and say hello to us at the Coroflot Connects recruiting event and don’t miss out on our live coverage as we report from the ground in Dublin!

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19th century culture was defined by the novel, 20th century culture by cinema, the culture of the 21st century will be defined by the interface.
-Lev Manovich, Media Theorist

What will the future of interaction look like in 10 years? 20 years? According to Pete Denman, we will see personalized reactions to a singularity of “vibrant data.” Pete is a Portland, Oregon-based interaction designer for Intel Labs. Such a job description is still a relatively new one that didn’t even exist very long ago. But in a digital lifestyle where our mobile phones, streets, televisions and even our shoes are a nest of analog sensors, these ubiquitous interactions are increasingly governed by digital information transforming the physical into data.

This data will revolutionize how we act and interact: Biomimetic infographics will help us to interpret data, according to Denman. These biomimic techniques tell a story—whether it’s the rings on a tree, the petals of a flower or the depth of clutter on your desk—as Denman will discuss at his presentation, “Biomimic Infographic,” during IxDA’s Interaction12 conference taking place in Dublin this week.

1. What exciting things are Intel Labs currently working on?

Pete Denman: There are some great things being done in Intel Labs. The projects and ideas produced by the group I work in—Interaction and Experience Research—range from ‘revolutionary’ to ‘thrilling.’ The Labs is a crazy place where ideas are currency, and we are purchasing the passion/excitement/talent of our co-workers. Everything from automobile technology to sensing, data, mobile and cloud tech. I’m sorry I can’t be more specific. The things we are working on are in the delicate process of becoming “real” and are not ready to be shared yet.

How does Intel Labs make use of Rapid Prototyping in your everyday work? Specifically, what tools and processes are you finding most helpful to experience design and why?

Everyone has their favorite tools. I do my prototyping for UI in Flash/Actionscript. It gives me rich visual capabilities and a vast array of interaction tools and content connections. I am able to generate these prototypes quickly, and I do my testing mostly on iOS. Yup, on the iPhone/iPad making and testing prototypes is pretty easy. In the past months I have begun to explore other options since Adobe seems to be abandoning my favorite tool. Recently I have taken Android and iOS training, but programming natively in either of these languages seems to limit me to one platform, and while knowing the structure and capabilities is great, it commits me to that camp. I’ve decided to give up my heretic ways and make the agnostic choice: html5 and CSS. Now I just need to become as fast using it.

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