The Layman's Almanac

Jon Kolko

As an accomplished Interaction/Industrial designer, writer, and educator, Jon Kolko is currently Director of Thinktv. His history includes stints as Principal Designer and Associate Creative Director at frog design, a Professor at Savannah College of Art and Design, Director for the IxDA and Editor-in-Chief of Interactions Magazine. He has written Thoughts on Interaction Design & most recently Exposing the Magic of Design.

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Industrial Design is a field focused on producing physical objects. I studied ID at Carnegie Mellon, where the focus was on designing for behavior. Unbeknownst to me, the entire focus of the curriculum was actually on interaction design. While I learned a few classes in CAD or human factors, these weren't taught very well and I certainly wasn't prepared for that sort of job - which was good, because the huge majority of those jobs are now gone. Instead, CMU prepared me for a job of thoughtful and intellectual system, service, and interaction design, which is what my career has consisted of since.

(I'm) not a big fan of predicting the future, but I'm pretty certain that consumptive production is a done deal. China is going through the same process of ownership that the US went through in the 50s, but at an increased pace; I would assume that they will also then go through the same decline/realization of cultural ignorance that we are, as a discipline, starting to go through here in the US. When they offshore their work, where will it go - the African continent? Kind of a sorry model - "here, have our trash" - but it's what we've been doing to China.

...generally, I don't focus on technology. It's incidental to my work. I focus on problems and goals and culture and feelings; technology can certainly support any of these things, but for me and my teams, it becomes just a means to an end. The end is the larger emphasis of our work.