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How to design a cable?

How does one learn to design for devices like an ATM, cable top box, etc?

  • Right now I work for a consulting company designing (ux, visual, front-end markup) e-commerce sites, custom applications, etc. I like what I do, but often think what I really want to be doing is designing on a larger scale. I would love to re-design an ATM interaction, or the on-screen cable guide you use every day. My question is, how do you start to make this transition? I am self taught and have thought on and off about going to graduate school for HCI. However, I'm not sure that is the right direction for the goals that I have. Any thoughts?

  • Answer:

    It sounds like you already have the skills and supposedly some experience doing the work. So go find design firms that do the kind of work you're looking for. Check out http://www.frogdesign.com or http://www.ideo.com. Additionally, consider looking for jobs at companies that build cable boxes.

Asa Sherrill at Quora Visit the source

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Study all the awful machines out there now. Work through improving them. We just deployed paid parking meters all over Atlanta and, I'm a reasonably computer literate guy... these machines are crazy hard to use and I fight with them every time I use them. I watch other people use them; same thing. Crowds huddle around these machines and help each other out. Just to pay for a parking space. Or look at ATM machines. I have NEVER chosen Spanish as my language. Why is my ATM still asking me what language I want to use? I'm getting cash to go to a bar and get wasted, do I really need to skip over an ad for some banking service I've never showed an interest in? At 10:30pm on Friday night, maybe show me a taxi cab ad if you have to. Or remind me not to drink and drive. I don't need investment or mortgage advice though at that time. Those flat buttons like on my Microwave or Gas pumps are just the worst. Not tactile. Poor response and feedback. You mash this flat surface very hard and look around for a visual clue that you entered any data at all or the right data. Nasty. I heard a podcast with the other day, and I've seen other conversations about Siri. Could Siri be the kind of thing that spreads universally? Use your voice to turn on the oven, set the temp and set the timer. I think this field is ripe for a revolution. This is a very good time to get involved. I have a 17" MacBook Pro and an 11" Macbook Air. I do not need an iPad, but I bought one anyways. Why? It seems like it's the place where the most experimental UI/UX design is happening right now. I see lots of iPad type things controlling things in the future.

Daniel Woodard

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