Apple Store Fifth Avenue, by highstrungloner on Flickr
Experience Design (aka XD or ED) is a field of design that focuses on the creating the broader experience of using a product/service/space/process, rather than narrowly focusing on its functional features.
To witness the power of Experience Design in retail, walk into an Apple Store. The shopping experience is impeccably consistent with the product experience (using a Mac): intuitive, beautiful, thoughtful, simple, and approachable. Read more
One cold night a few weeks ago I met Ben Beaumont-Thomas in a hip, low-key cafe down an alley and behind an indie theatre in London’s Dalston. (ICYDN, Dalston = the new Shoreditch, chictragique.) Read more
If there’s one big company I love, it’s Google. No Apple. No Google. Oy vey! Until now, the two usually got along quite well, with many Google apps becoming backbones for the iPhone and eliminating we Mac users’ grumpy reliance on all things Microsoft. Many Google lovers love the Mac and vice-versa.
But now it seems that Google is making a play against Apple. Or is this a desperate move of courtship?
The recently released Google Sync (in beta) will allow users to synchronize Google Contacts and Google Calendars across multiple computers and devices and platforms (Web, Windows, Mac, Blackberry, iPhone, Windows Mobile, and of course, Google’s Android phones).
Why pay Apple $99 a year for Mobile Me if I can sync via Google for free? Second curious fact… Google Sync is based on a license from Microsoft for its Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol, which is running on Google’s servers. I usually don’t think of the Goog and MS as BFF…. Is Google holding hands with Microsoft just to make Apple jealous?
Have you tried Google Sync? Please let us know what you thought.
(Oh, and what is Mobile Me? It’s Apple’s subscription-based ‘cloud’ service that syncs tons of data – calendar, contacts, photos, preferences, files, etc. – between iPhones, Macs, and the Web. Automatically, through the air. My iPhone with Mobile Me setup has happily ended my sync-frustration, and I don’t have to grovel to my (MS Exchange-oriented) IT department any more! Except for fun.)
I am a writer, teacher, researcher, teamworker and ideawoman. I believe in observation, collaboration, and the open-minded following of ones' heart and nose.
I help teams and companies combine creativity with insights about human behavior to design elegant solutions to real problems, and develop their capacity to create powerful products and services in less time with fewer resources.
Except for fun.)
