At once casual and precise, these preparatory drawings by Eric Daniels (top) and John Benjamin Filson (bottom) reveal the task of integrating complex components into a unit that sits seamlessly against the wall. The Nest Learning Thermostat brings advanced interaction design to a basic home device. The rotating interface recalls the classic design of Henry...

The latest in our 4 Questions 4 series interview Kevin Palmer, founding partner of London-based Kin Design. Kin Design is perhaps best known for their work for the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, recent work for the National Maritime Museum (London), and their custom covers for Wallpaper* Magazine. Seated in the beautiful North...

  High-school students in New York City are part of an ever increasing digital generation. They not only have an extensive knowledge about social media tools and technology— but also use it on a daily basis. A few of these teens participated in a workshop series at Cooper-Hewitt on interaction design, or design that focuses...

Lit Tree is an augmented-reality project which lets you use hand gestures to interact with an illuminated tree. Usually, a projector emits a field of pixels, creating a flat image on a flat surface. Lit Tree uses two projectors to emit a field of voxels, or 3-D pixels, onto a bamboo tree. A Kinect scans...

DesignBoost NYC was a two-day design conference held at Cooper-Hewitt in June 2011. Thirteen speakers specializing in everything from biomechanics to filmmaking addressed the conference’s theme, “Design Beyond Design” in this series of short talks.

The Devastating Effect of the Tsunami in Sendai, Japan, on March 11th, 2011 The horrifying images on television of the earthquake and tsunami that afflicted the Japanese coastline last Friday remind us of the fragility of the civilization that we have developed on our planet, and show the enormous power of nature. Professor Shinichi Takemura...

This is the third in a series of posts about my new book, Designing Media Paul Saffo, July 2008 I put the interview with Paul Saffo at the beginning of the book because he gives such an erudite overview of the changes in media and the challenges faced by the people involved its creation and...

Jake Barton of Local Projects, National Design Award Finalist in 2010 and 2006, warmly welcomed Cooper-Hewitt Members for a behind-the-scenes look at his media-design firm. A great story teller himself, Jake spoke of the clever uses of information design, media production, interactivity, and social media to both solicit and tell stories. Local Projects was the...

CIID Homepage The Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design offers a sophisticated post-experience program in interaction design, attracting students from Denmark and all over the world, as well as consulting with companies and organizations. They have a lot of really interesting projects on their website spanning a range of sixteen courses. It’s well worth a browse!...