Design lessons from Space Invaders

Interface design for creative, thinking work is particularly important for software, which is a medium that has few true constraints. The medium of canvas or photography constrains output to two dimensions of shape and color. Recorded audio is a stream of sounds, writing is a stream of words. But software itself? It can take any perceptual form we ... See more

"Doesn't it strike you as interesting that we are in the second decade of the 21st century and a lot of the most interesting music is still being made by people playing very primitive instruments like electric guitars and drums.

I mean, what is a drum kit? It could be a bunch of old chairs or cans or anything. It's really quite an arbitrary bunch of... See more

How to build a creative playground

Here are 4 tips on how to lock yourself into a cage and have fun :

1. Make variations : Stick with something that you can iterate and vary. Think of basketball: There is only one goal, yet there are countless ways to achieve it.

2. Limit your time : This lets you know when you are done .

3. Pick a format : You won’t... See more