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.
Jason Fried wrote this on Jun 18 2012 There are 34 comments.
Brandon Hansen 18 Jun 12
I 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 18 Jun 12
Really nice. An online gallery would be cool too.
Related but more tech focused: The Buxton collection of interactive devices
JF 18 Jun 12
Brandon: 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 18 Jun 12
Pretty cool idea Jason… have you guys found it to be useful yet?
joe larson 18 Jun 12
The 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 18 Jun 12
I really love a lot of old audio gear like the Neve desks. Really focused on getting the job done.
Laurent M 18 Jun 12
Great 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 18 Jun 12
Typo: “inpsiration”
radex 18 Jun 12
This 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 18 Jun 12
IDEO designs physical products, and has a similar collection of objects and materials: http://www.ideo.com/work/tech-box/
Frank 18 Jun 12
@Jason F
This reminds me of how Apple has drawn huge inspiration from Braun on designing it’s products.
Devan 18 Jun 12
So, 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 18 Jun 12
This is a great idea. I’ve tried looking to other source as well.
Often you get new ideas about color, shape, size, proportion.
Mark 19 Jun 12
What’s the music at the end?
John 19 Jun 12
Really 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 19 Jun 12
You 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 19 Jun 12
I don’t feel inspired watching that video, many modern day designs are just plain ‘lets keep it cheap’ bland.
Scott 19 Jun 12
Cool. Kinda hipster. Lots of overlap, especially among the gauges and timers.
GeeIWonder 19 Jun 12
Shouldn’t the ‘collection’ be an ‘installation’? At the very least, the value might double.
Guy Manningham 19 Jun 12
Time 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 19 Jun 12
Also, bike shifters. And brakes. And bottles.
GeeIWonder 19 Jun 12
Also, a Vernier scale. Which has got to be one of the coolest things ever.
Also, any other surveying tool.
Anonymous Coward 20 Jun 12
does the animated 37signals logo & chime annoy the shit out of anyone else?
Marc Stevens 20 Jun 12
Love 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 21 Jun 12
Pretty smart ideas, the video made all the difference.
acrylic display 21 Jun 12
so cool
Adam 22 Jun 12
Check 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 22 Jun 12
Cool. But… you hired someone to come in and put some random junk on a table?
Tatueringar - Tattoo design 22 Jun 12
Nice work! i like this blog alot!
Gut Checker 22 Jun 12
What a fucking waste of time. Shit like this marks the beginning of the end for 37 sig.
Jon Livingston 23 Jun 12
Great 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 24 Jun 12
It’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 24 Jun 12
We 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 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.