Microsoft Research Community

I’ve been really impressed by the student output from the design courses at Dundee University in Scotland. I saw work from the Innovative Product Design (IPD) course at New Designers a couple of years ago and was really struck by the fact that they encouraged visitors to their booth to play with...

I’m really blown away by the Eco Zoo as the first very compelling example of the use of 3D in a Flash website. The art style is lovely, very reminiscent of the shots I’ve seen of the forthcoming Playstation 3 game, Little Big Planet.

I’m a bit of a 3D UI sceptic. I just have some history in the area, and it’s left me thinking that 3D interactions are often cumbersome and rarely have a life beyond what their cool factor gives them. Case in point is this Tag Galaxy search. I really find it compelling. I’m not sure...

There’s an irony in green product design that we may just never get passed since you need to purchase new stuff, and creatively recycle/throw out the thing you’re replacing, in order to follow your ethics. Sometimes it just feels better to keep going with what you’ve got until it “naturally”...

Edward Tufte has posted a video that extols and criticises the iPhone UI design. He’s clearly a fan, and having played with the device I can understand why. I thought his critique on the Stock widget was particularly interesting, though, calling the UI “cartoon like” and wishing that...