Smart Things: Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design [Paperback]

Mike Kuniavsky (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0123748992 | ISBN-13: 978-0123748997 | Publication Date: September 9, 2010 | Edition: 1

The world of smart shoes, appliances, and phones is already here, but the practice of user experience (UX) design for ubiquitous computing is still relatively new. Design companies like IDEO and frogdesign are regularly asked to design products that unify software interaction, device design and service design -- which are all the key components of ubiquitous computing UX -- and practicing designers need a way to tackle practical challenges of design. Theory is not enough for them -- luckily the industry is now mature enough to have tried and tested best practices and case studies from the field.

Smart Things presents a problem-solving approach to addressing designers' needs and concentrates on process, rather than technological detail, to keep from being quickly outdated. It pays close attention to the capabilities and limitations of the medium in question and discusses the tradeoffs and challenges of design in a commercial environment. Divided into two sections,  frameworks and techniques, the book discusses broad design methods and case studies that reflect key aspects of these approaches. The book then presents a set of techniques highly valuable to a practicing designer. It is intentionally not a comprehensive tutorial of user-centered design'as that is covered in many other books'but it is a handful of techniques useful when designing ubiquitous computing user experiences.

In short, Smart Things gives its readers both the "why" of this kind of design and the "how," in well-defined chunks.

* Tackles design of products in the post-Web world where computers no longer have to be monolithic, expensive general-purpose devices
* Features broad frameworks and processes, practical advice to help approach specifics, and techniques for the unique design challenges
* Presents case studies that describe, in detail, how others have solved problems, managed trade-offs, and met successes

Editorial Reviews

Review

Finally a book about ubiquitous computing that covers the broad challenges of designing for user experiences over a vast range of devices, device sizes from micro to meso to macro, and crucially, ecologies of devices. An evocative tour thru past design efforts and devices/systems that beautifully sets the stage for the design challenges we are quickly marching into. -- John Seely Brown, Former Chief Scientist, Xerox Corporation; Former Director, Palo Alto Research Center (PARC); author The Social Life of Information and The Power of Pull

"This book explains in no-nonsense language why you should care that computing has become ubiquitous and what the implications are for people who design things. Even better, it lays out suggestions as to how to use this knowledge to make better things. If you've ever wondered how interface, interaction, information, and industrial design overlap, what they have to do with user experience, and how it's all affecting your life, you should read this book." -- Tom Igoe, Associate Professor, NYU, Interactive Telecommunications, author of Physical Computing and Making Things Talk

"Smart Things is a rare artifact from the future that packs immediate practical value. I predict its coverage of multi-scale design will change user experience practice forever. It is the most useful book about the future of design I've read and has changed the way I work. Mike Kuniavsky doesn't just write about the future, he lives there... and now so can you." -- Peter Morville, President, Semantic Studios, author, Ambient Findability

"Provocative and pragmatic, Smart Things describes an important new approach to the design of consumer electronics. Its chapters explain why the design of digital products is different than other kinds of design and provide valuable techniques that unify the disciplines of interaction and industrial design." - Charles L Jones, Vice President, Global Consumer Design, Whirlpool

"Web designer Mike Kuniavsky, who has spent his career dissecting people's relationship to digital technology, hangs out at Four Barrel Coffee precisely because he can disconnect from the Internet and concentrate on his thoughts. That's where he wrote his upcoming book on consumer electronics design: 'Smart Things.'"--The Los Angeles Times

From the Back Cover

The world of smart phones, appliances, picture frames, and shoes is already here, but the practice of user experience design for digital ubiquitous products and environments that do not have traditional software user interfaces is a relatively new practice. Unifying software interaction with device and service design and creating a successful product is no easy task. Based on years in the UX, mobile, and industrial design trenches, Mike Kuniavsky brings you the first practical book on the subject, whether you call it ubiquitous computing, pervasive computing, or the Internet of Thingsuser experience design. His problem-solving approach provides both broad design methods and a varietycase studies of real world successes hits and misses. This book gives you both the "whyhow" and the "howwhy" of of designinging smart products that people will buy and use.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 1 edition (September 9, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0123748992
• ISBN-13: 978-0123748997
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #240,621 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am a consultant, writer, entrepreneur and designer exploring the intersections of high technology and everyday life. I have been a user experience design consultant since 1994 and have helped hundreds of companies and organizations design effective, pleasurable and profitable online, environmental and device user experiences. In 2006 I cofounded ThingM, a ubiquitous computing consulting company. Previously, I was a cofounder of Adaptive Path, a leading San Francisco internet consultancy, and the founder of Wired Digital's User Experience Lab. I live in San Francisco.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First In Ubicomp Mobile Devices & Interaction Design--Excellent, October 14, 2010

By 

Ira Laefsky "Ira Laefsky" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Smart Things: Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design (Paperback)

(What's this?)

This beautiful and simultaneously unbelievably useful book represents several firsts, incorporating the Interaction Design and User Experience Design of Mobile Devices and Household Appliances; at the same time it provides ideas and design guidelines for the design of Ubiquitous Computing solutions, suggesting what we can usefully do with the emerging "Internet of Things". The author is a leading light in Interaction Design having been a co-founder of Adaptive Path and the first firm offering Physical Computing Solutions with a Design and HCI flavor, ThingM. He is the originator of the concept of "Sketching In Hardware", an idea that owes some intellectual roots to Bill Buxton of Microsoft but which points the way to those Artists and Engineers who combine Physical Computing, Electronics and Interaction Design. He has a track record of developing real Physical and Computational solutions which illustrate an Engineering as well as an Artistic Problem-Solving Ethic. His physical creations include the interactive intelligent and beautiful WineM wine rack and a smart multicolor LED for Arduino (and other microcontroller) experiments.

Many scholarly, and a few idea-centric books (notably Adam Greenfield's "Everyware") and articles have been written about Ubiquitous and Pervasive Computing, but no other book to date has given the design parameters, heuristics and suggestions about how these communicating engineering devices can be incorporated into a desirable user experience. Simultaneously, Mr. Kuniavsky has written one of the first books documenting the optimal methods of designing Interactive Intelligent Objects including mobile computing devices and appliances (such as centralpark refrigerator). He develops useful metaphor's and monikers for designed Interactive Objects (e.g. Information Shadows and Service Avatar). This is a beautiful, interesting and necessary book.

Ira Laefsky, MSE/MBA
HCI Researcher and Consultant
formerly on the Senior Consulting Staff of Arthur D. Little, Inc. and Digital Equipment Corporation

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eye-Opener on User Experience, January 24, 2011

By 

Joshua Senecal (Livermore, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Smart Things: Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design (Paperback)

(What's this?)

This book really gave me food for thought. I've always thought about a user's interaction with a device in terms of its interface (buttons, GUI, etc.). This book opened my eyes to the fact that it's not just the interface, but the user's entire experience with the device that matters. Anyone who has a hand in designing or making something that must be interacted with should learn about this.

There are chapters on things like "Applianceness", "Scales of Experience", and "Information Shadows". Each one discusses an important design consideration, and how it relates to user experience. Some of the chapters are more like case studies: the development of a specific product (like the iPod) is discussed, with a focus on how its overall user experience was designed. I found them interesting and enlightening. It's fascinating to read about some of the products. As the author points out, some devices are easy to use but not useful. Other devices, like the iPod coupled with iTunes, provide a good overall experience and do well. Still others, while they may have a solid design and reasoning behind them, do not do well in the marketplace.

The author references many sources in the book, so if you want to do any additional reading on the subject you shouldn't have any difficulty in assembling a reading list. The author chooses to cite his sources inline using (author and year), as opposed to a number like [42]. Unfortunately, placing a reference citation inline is disruptive, and because he uses the longer citation format it got annoying at times.

I think that if you need (or want) to learn about user interface/experience design principles, this book will be an informative read.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good textbook on concepts and idea in UX design, December 21, 2010

By 

buru buru piggu (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Smart Things: Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design (Paperback)

(What's this?)

I am an interactive designer/web developer by trade and when I ordered this book, I expected it to contain discussions of different interactive technology platforms and implementation methods for creating "smart things", machines or objects with embedded processors that can respond to sensory input and do something cool.

Having "computing" in the title, I expected to be able to learn how to make and program simple gadgets or at least encounter some theory on human-machine interaction, like the excellent The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems by Jef Raskin. My expectations were perhaps misplaced. This is not an instruction manual or an engineering book. Instead, it contains a lot of foundation-type material like the kind of book you might find in a Design 101 class. It will teach you the vocabulary and concepts of the field, not the hows. It is a high level overview of design concept like "avatar ecologies" and "information shadows", and explores a wide range of products throughout the last few decades, including the iPod, Atari game machines, Nabaztag, QR codes, cellphones, and other electronic gadgets.

Recommended for students of the interactive design field so they can get a lay of the land. If you're looking to create specific products using various technologies, you will have to look at instructional books on programming iPhone, Android, HTML/PHP, or Flash instead.