When you design for the screen, it’s easy to think the screen is where you should go for inspiration. It’s definitely one place – there are some amazing people doing some amazing work in pixels. But you’d be cheating yourself if you only looked to your own industry, or medium, for inspiration.
I’ve always found inspiration looking at parallel industries. I love looking at physical objects for interface design inpsiration. Designing interfaces for physical interfaces requires more discipline because, unlike the virtual world which has no shape, edges, or boundaries, the physical world has strict limitations. How designers deal with those limitations and tough choices makes for a wonderful library of ideas.
I wanted to start our own 37signals library of physical interfaces from which we could draw inspiration. So I hired Object Design League here in Chicago to seek out, source, and begin building our physical interface library.
The initial collection was just installed last week. It’s near the entrance of our office so you can’t miss it when you walk in:
There are buttons, measuring tools, indicators, timers, and lots of other interesting physical interfaces.
We put together a short video highlighting the start of the collection. Over time we hope to expand the collection and find more inspiration for manipulating the physical, and virtual, world.
Brandon Hansen
on 18 Jun 12I like the concept. Maybe it is just me, but everything feels very retro. Though there are quite a few objects, it feels they have very similar characteristics. Is this intentional?
Des
on 18 Jun 12Really nice. An online gallery would be cool too.
Related but more tech focused: The Buxton collection of interactive devices
JF
on 18 Jun 12Brandon: We wanted to start out with older, simpler objects – the kinds of things we’re less exposed to these days. I find a lot of clever, honest wisdom in these older objects.
Jason Kolb
on 18 Jun 12Pretty cool idea Jason… have you guys found it to be useful yet?
joe larson
on 18 Jun 12The stacking cubes take me back to when my girls were attending Montessori preschool, where stacking cubes are a staple. In fact, many of these objects might be at home in a preschool. It’s cool how going back to basics / elementary / oldschool stuff can make your brain start thinking differently… Especially things you can manipulate with your hands.
Gareth Rees
on 18 Jun 12I really love a lot of old audio gear like the Neve desks. Really focused on getting the job done.
Laurent M
on 18 Jun 12Great ideas guys! I love to get inspiration wandering outside, visiting shops, parks…but of course you can’t do that at work, good job!
J5
on 18 Jun 12Typo: “inpsiration”
radex
on 18 Jun 12This is really clever. I’d love to see such awesome collection in person.
Just one thing: I don’t really like those chimes in 37s logo animation. They kind of sound cheap and ruin the awesomeness.
Sherwood
on 18 Jun 12IDEO designs physical products, and has a similar collection of objects and materials: http://www.ideo.com/work/tech-box/
Frank
on 18 Jun 12@Jason F
This reminds me of how Apple has drawn huge inspiration from Braun on designing it’s products.
Devan
on 18 Jun 12So, I am thinking that the items serve as a visual inspiration of various different interfaces, that can be used to trigger some creative thinking?
Initially I thought they were some form of ‘old school’ drawing tools that were to be used to draw/design interface elements.
Would be good to lock a designer in a room with just cardboard, paste and a pair of scissors, or perhaps a brush, india ink and a bezier curve ruler – and ask them to come up with an interface element for a project… :)
CRC
on 18 Jun 12This is a great idea. I’ve tried looking to other source as well.
Often you get new ideas about color, shape, size, proportion.
Mark
on 19 Jun 12What’s the music at the end?
John
on 19 Jun 12Really cool idea here. Loved the video mash-up as well.
Kinda reminds me of working with Legos when I was a kid. Sometimes you had something you wanted to build, but it was tricky to do because of the physical limitations of the blocks.
This little collection you’ve put together doesn’t just seem useful, it looks like fun!
Problem solving at it’s best. :-)
Gene
on 19 Jun 12You guys should check out the book “Humble Masterpieces: Everyday Marvels of Design”. A collection of simple things which are so well designed we don’t even notice them.
Anon
on 19 Jun 12I don’t feel inspired watching that video, many modern day designs are just plain ‘lets keep it cheap’ bland.
Scott
on 19 Jun 12Cool. Kinda hipster. Lots of overlap, especially among the gauges and timers.
GeeIWonder
on 19 Jun 12Shouldn’t the ‘collection’ be an ‘installation’? At the very least, the value might double.
Guy Manningham
on 19 Jun 12Time lapses are a great way to showcase video in an interesting way. Too often, video photographers try to move around the camera and do crazy zoom shots that make it appear tacky. I think this was simple and well done.
GeeIWonder
on 19 Jun 12Also, bike shifters. And brakes. And bottles.
GeeIWonder
on 19 Jun 12Also, a Vernier scale. Which has got to be one of the coolest things ever.
Also, any other surveying tool.
Anonymous Coward
on 20 Jun 12does the animated 37signals logo & chime annoy the shit out of anyone else?
Marc Stevens
on 20 Jun 12Love it. This stuff reminds me of Brendan Dawes’ (Analog In Digital Out)... A #2 pencil feels nice in your hand, and has a built in progress bar. Just what you need, nothing more and nothing less.
ADI
on 21 Jun 12Pretty smart ideas, the video made all the difference.
acrylic display
on 21 Jun 12so cool
Adam
on 22 Jun 12Check this out. Basically exactly what you’re doing.
“With Interest Table” http://www.flickr.com/photos/withassociates/sets/72157629568492277/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/withassociates/7172613573/in/set-72157630095207424/
Michael
on 22 Jun 12Cool. But… you hired someone to come in and put some random junk on a table?
Tatueringar - Tattoo design
on 22 Jun 12Nice work! i like this blog alot!
Gut Checker
on 22 Jun 12What a fucking waste of time. Shit like this marks the beginning of the end for 37 sig.
Jon Livingston
on 23 Jun 12Great reminder of the elements beyond the screen and how there’s so much more in the details. I remember a certain architecture professor in college that would make us diagram classical music. Initially we were like “What?”. After amercing yourself and listening to a piece over and over a whole slue of design concepts and patterns started to appear. I need to do more of this as it’s a great way to get back to the basics.
santiago
on 24 Jun 12It’s a nice idea
And a great video
If I may, why the guy(s) who did the music didn’t deserve any credit?
(take that off and your video isn’t quite the same)
By the way, you should start a 100% chicagoan partnership with Wilco
Jean Paldan
on 24 Jun 12We are just redoing the layout of our office…nice idea. Am thinking about getting a bunch of stuff for the minions as inspiration. :) Thanks… Jeannie x
TVD
on 24 Jun 12@JF: Clever, honest wisdom…Couldn’t have said it better. Really looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with.
This discussion is closed.