Maemo 5 GUI Design Template (GUI PSD)

The Maemo 5 documentation now includes also the GUI Design Template, which allows one to create high-fidelity image mockups.

Currently the GUI Design template is available in Photoshop format that has a fairly comprehensive library of assets – all fully editable.

As is usual with these things, this is not something you'd use e.g. for wireframes or as a replacement for pen an paper. This is more useful for situations where pixel perfectness is needed.

Designing UI for Maemo 5 (Maemo Summit 2009)

I had a presentation in Maemo Summit 2009 about Designing UI for Maemo 5. The slides of the presentation are available in slideshare.

Abstract:
How to make the applications work together as an integrated whole?

This talk will discuss the UI Design of the Maemo 5 product as an "application portfolio". Design patterns as well as application specific designs are presented, and the reasoning for the design decisions.

Design of the pre-installed applications in the Maemo 5 product is discussed, highlighting the UI flows, common user experience solutions and power user features. Throughout the application walk-through, the structure and "look and feel" of the applications is categorized, resulting in a conceptual design tool for 3rd party application designers and developers.

N900 - Sounds fun! (updated)

So there's this nice device called N900. And a cool user interface video:


The song in that video is GRUM - Go Back (Le Castle Vania Remix), an energetic tune, freely downloadable from the net.

Lastly, here's a less than 30 second excerpt of that song, so that you could, for example, enjoy it in your cellular phone :)

Update: You can get another, more official N900 ringtone and message alert tone from links on Nokia Europe pages.

Equality

Bono, the rock-star in the band U2, sees the current world as suffering from an inequality of enormous scale - the Africans and other third world countries are severely disadvantaged and burdened by debts, diseases (such as AIDS) and lack of societal infrastructure. He argues that the Western world must help, because of their misbehavior in the history, and that they are not doing enough currently to make the situation better.

He also argues that many of the previous ways of help have been selfish or misguided, and that much bigger efforts need to be established now.

He says that the question is not about charity, it is about equality. Point is that if a western country or a part of a western country would be in same situation, the western world would correct the situation. But Africans are just silently ignored.

I hope I can also contribute to reduce this inequality between western world and third world. My approach is that of a researcher, not a rock star. I take small steps. I want to work towards a world where the ways of production are more equal towards all people. Where products and services are not one-sidedly defined and controlled by huge western companies. A world that perhaps behaves more like open source. An enriching culture.

Open source -like ecosystems

COMPUTER SCIENCE
In the field of computer science, the last 20 years have seen two main modes of production - the companies and open source. There is also a third semi-producer - the academic research. Although academic world has traditionally been closer to the open source -approach than proprietary software -approach, the current financing and contracting frameworks in the research are actually driving towards proprietary research.

Lately, open source has become serious contender for the traditional proprietary (closed-source) business model. The advantages are high collaboration and contribution between individuals and companies in the field and the possibility to freely distribute and modify the product both in final and source code form. Because digitally created products are easy to duplicate, they are easy target for open source -inspired approaches. Physical products are much harder challenge.

USER-CENTRED RESEARCH
User-centred approach has been successful in enabling companies to reach out for users, in order to create more relevant and less risky products. Typically users in this kind of research are informants - they are a subject to be studied, understood and empathized with. It is the researchers and designers who interprete/translate the findings into the features/requirements for the product/service.

PARTICIPATIVE DESIGN
Parallel to the user-centred approach, participative design has sought to create methods and tools for users (e.g. Sanders's Make Tools), so that the users (who are non-professionals) can participate to the development and design activities in companies. Despite the higher level of participation from users, this approach allows companies to define the direction and flow of the development.

ACTIVE, EMPOWERED USERS
Lately users are increasingly capable of creating their own products (especially in the digital realm, see "prosumers") and content (like photos, video), thanks to new easy-to-use tools (e.g. Apple iLife) and services (e.g. Gmail and Flickr). In this ecosystem, the companies ultimately transform from creators of products to creators of tools (meta products), with which the users create the (final) products. Some of the meta products can translate into services, which encourages subscription based business models, instead of the traditional pay-to-own models.

It is possible to translate part of the physical product economy to this ecosystem by offering smartly designed interfaces and building blocks (remember LEGO -bricks?, see "mass-customization") to users who can then build their own product. The Apple's iPod -economy is a one kind of approach to this.

USERS AS PATH SHAPERS
Open source development has shown its potential to accelerate the creation and distribution of meaningful, well working products. It can scale beyond the abilities and resources of any single company. How this approach could be expanded outside the realm of software code?

Here are my thoughts:
1) Many of the (digital) tools of expressing and communicating ideas and thoughts already exists. Although they could be even better.
2) The re-use and re-cycling of existing products and ideas is a excellent facilitator to this process.
3) Users should have methods and techniques with which they are able to find out, articulate, describe and refine what is important and relevant to them. They should be empowered to create concepts that others (companies, organizations or individuals) can then productize. Professionals have this knowledge, but their ways of work do not directly help users.