The Look of Things

Two interesting, recent articles:

Kathy Sierra writes about design differences between the US and Europe: "The restaurant/cafe decor in much of western Europe looks like it was ripped out of a MOMA installation." In one of her examples, she compares Swiss bank notes to those in the US. Switzerland wins because of fancy features: the colors, the designs, the different sizes for each value, and tactile cues for the blind. Personally, I have to admit that I first didn't like the 10 Franc note because it looks like Monopoly money.

Bálint writes about the future of the desktop: "Today's operating systems still use a GUI based on ideas already available in the 90s. But computer resources are growing exponentially - couldn't we use this extra computing power for a better desktop experience? We could." He argues that the desktop experience will start resembling the real world by introducing physics-based interactions. The examples in the entry are pretty nice - be sure to check out the videos!