Jamin Hegeman

Category: Design

  • Interaction Design Not a Selling Point

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    I caught a commercial for some Braun product this evening, and became intrigued by the mention of “German engineering.” I can’t remember the product, and I’m not sure it matters, but it occurred to me that Braun thought “German engineering” to be a selling point. This got me thinking about the evolution of design thinking and the…

  • Fitwits

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    Before the Thanksgiving break, Kristin Hughes, who is currently teaching my graduate typography class, asked me to help her put up a placeholder website for Fitwits. I don’t really know what it is: I didn’t have time to ask. But I built it, and thought it was cool she asked me.

  • Thanksgiving Respite

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    Ericka, Matt, and Jeff where Kennedy was shot I spent Thanksgiving in Dallas (photos) with my youngest brother, Jeff, and his fiance. My brother Matt and his wife joined us from Mammoth Lakes, California. And my mom, who lives in Pittsburgh, tagged along as well. It was the first time we had all been together…

  • Else/Where Project Complete

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    Consuming the majority of my school time recently has been the visualization of information space project, which was due today. My space was the book Else/Where: Mapping. Due to all the other stuff I??????ve been up to or had to deal with (like being accused of intentionally changing server passwords), I did not have the…

  • Spring 2007 Courses

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    On Monday graduate students were allowed to register for spring courses starting at 6 a.m. A couple classes I wanted to take seemed rather popular, so I set the alarm for 5:55, after going to bed at 3 a.m., and not falling asleep until 4 a.m. My strategy paid off, however, as I got in…

  • Practicing Design on Wicked Problems

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    In response to a previous comment, I tried to define what an interaction designer does in rebuttal to the assertion that the goal is to build a better mousetrap. I wrote: From an interaction design standpoint, you might ask why we have mousetraps? Are mice the real problem? How do mice get into areas where…

  • Buchanan in Lisbon Impression

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    I received a report from the field about Dick Buchanan’s speech at the design conference in Lisbon last week. While subjective, I found it interesting and got permission to share it with you. Buchanan tells us that the design methods movement of the 1940s was largely concerned with design potentialities, productive science (the act of…

  • Still Struggling With Design

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    It took me a while, but I’ve accepted that I am now a designer because my thinking about what it means to be a designer has changed. And while I can envision and practice design from a certain standpoint, I’m still very much lacking in the communication design arena. This is proving to be quite…

  • Why Learn the Arts?

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    Dick Buchanan is in Lisbon for the 2006 Design Research Society International Conference, so today Carl DiSalvo filled in, and nearly stumped us by asking a basic question about our current topic of interest: the arts. “Why learn the arts” he asked. There was a pause, perhaps because it was a tough question to start…