Post-It Art: Ms. Pacman

It started when I tried to accomplish something in a software 3 times in a row and failed. Out of frustration I went looking for a creative outlet.

Earlier on I had purchased some small square Post-It notes, so I thought maybe I can add to the wall that already has a giant thumbs up sign on it with some more Post-It art.

I did Ms. Pacman first.  I had a limited supply of colors and my initial idea of doing the Mario 1-Up Mushroom wasn't going to work since I had no black squares to work with.

One of my colleagues colored a white square in with a black sharpie to create the single black mole for Ms. Pacman.

After lunch and some meetings, I came up against another road block, so I went back to the wall and added the blue ghost and cherry with the little "white" dots.

White wasn't going to show up on the white wall so green was used instead. I also originally did the blue ghost when it's in "edible" mode, but it was a bit small and the resolution wasn't fine enough to reveal the squiggle of its mouth.

At the end of the day, I went back and replaced the blue ghost with a "normal" one that is bigger in dimension, so I could have the resolution I needed to give it a proper shape and also proper eyes.

With this version, I didn't need the mouth, which worked much better. Using the same technique as earlier, a colleague helped me color in a few white squares as black for the eyes.

Connecting the dots (literally) with the original thumbs up on the wall, that was done by my colleague many weeks before.

Finally, another colleague mentioned it might make sense for the ghost to be looking back at Ms. Pacman. I agreed and we went about moving the eyes so it looked to the upper left instead of the bottom right.  A master piece in 8-bit pixels, if I may say so myself. :)

B&B: Raphael Inn

Talk about an experience! This is the best bed and breakfast I've ever been to, and it will be the standard for all future ones.

So often we only think of the digital experiences when we think of interaction design, but ultimately the user experience is much bigger and all encompassing.

I happened to stay in 2 different rooms during my stay at the Raphael Inn on my visit to Gettysburg, PA.  Both rooms were meticulously decorated, well furnished, and truly offered the B&B experience of a lifetime.

First is the Evangeline room, which is freshly painted in this gorgeous purple with a theme of flowers and birds.  It's perpetual spring in this room

The view from the rocking chair in the room revealed the wonderful ceiling work, giving a modern and refreshing feel.

The white bird cage is a nice accent against the bold paint color, and many butterflies adorn its surface.

On the dresser is an old style radio that can actually play cassette tapes, and the inn keepers provided various music tapes for your listening enjoyment.

Also on the dresser is a nice lamp, with a glass dragon fly hanging off of its edge.  With the main ceiling light off, you can really see the line shine through the glass and provide a certain air of magic.

The curtains were hand made with a semi-see through printed layer and a plain layer that allows light in while providing privacy.

There were little above door village house decorations on the door frame between the room and the bathroom, and there was even a mini park bench with a mini giraffe to the right of the dresser.

This is true attention to details!

The main entry way is styled with a Paris cafe theme.  In other B&Bs, the breakfast is just basic continental.  At the Raphael Inn, be prepared for a feast for both the eyes and the mouth.

On my first day I had an early morning, so couldn't stay for sit down breakfast. The inn keepers made a special effort to pack me a "boxed lunch" that consisted of a sausage & egg bagel sandwich, a chocolate muffin, an apple, a bottle of water, and a bottle of orange juice! I didn't even realized until later the apple was both cored and cut in half for my convenience.  Such hospitality!

The next day I was able to enjoy sit down breakfast and was presented with a gorgeous fruit plate before the main course of waffles and bacon arrived.

The Raphael Inn does not take breakfast lightly, and they are very good at it indeed. I think I had the best 4 days of breakfast I've ever had on any vacation I've ever taken here.

It happened to be with the scheduling of things, I needed to switch to a different room during my stay.  I moved into the California Rose Suite which had a king size bed and a futon couch.  The bed had a foam layer and I melted right in.

This room has a nautical theme, and used treasure chests as night stands as well as the coffee table next to the futon.

The little sitting area by the bed has mock fences as if on the beach, and the closet had a wall paper reminiscent of being in a wood hut.

There were little "treasures" all over the room, including a small treasure chest filled with "gold coins" (werther's originals).

The book ends on the coffee table were nautical themed, and even the books were seaworthy adventure books like Robinson Crusoe, and Treasure Island.

Every last detail was accounted for, and my experience at the B&B really could not have been better.

While I realize being a designer means I noticed a lot of details that might have been missed by most visitors, it is these details that not only complete the experience, but brought it to a new height unmatched by others.

This is true of all user experiences. The details really do count. Often times, less is more. Do fewer things, but do them really really well. Cross all the T's and dot all the I's. Completing the details will complete the user experience and bring delight.  In the end, who wouldn't want to delight their users?

Wally the Green Monster Pillow Pet

Is there really anything to say besides I'm envious of those who have the cool job of designing all the variations of pillow pets out there?  In this case, it's Wally the Green Monster - the Boston Red Sox mascot.

I happened to go on a tour of Fenway Park and we were told to wait in the team store before it started.  As soon as I saw this I knew I wanted it. After 20 min of roaming the store, I found myself circling the display, so I knew I needed to buy it.  It's fun, and it's functional (as a pillow)!  Form AND function! Imagine that! :)

M&M Merchandising

So I must admit that I'm an M&M character fan. I'm fairly sure, if I dig through my art portfolio, there's a blue M&M (maybe it's yellow) somewhere in there. Actually, thinking about it, it might even have been a middle school art poster (in which case it was most definitely yellow and not blue).

Anyway, I've always been a fan. I think things that are round with a face on it are cute, and they're even funnier when they talk and are personified.

This shouldn't be all that surprising, after all, the baby-face bias is a well known design principle (things that look like babies will naturally appeal to us - it's an evolutionary instinct - after all, if we found babies ugly, we wouldn't protect it, and the human race wouldn't be able to continue).

Therefore, when I walked into the M&M World store in Time Square and saw this giant Blue M&M dressed like Elvis rotating on a disco floor I couldn't pass up the chance to really act like a tourist and get my picture taken with it.

I have to bow to the absolute genius of the toy designers when I saw the Lady Liberty M&M dispensers in the store.

Of course it makes sense to have a Lady Liberty dispenser when you're in NY.  Integrating it with the Green M&M, which, up until the beginning of this year, was the only lady M&M, is pretty ingenious.

I actually saw this on a previous visit, but didn't buy it because (1) I had not seen the real Statue of Liberty yet (2) if I had an M&M dispenser, then I would be eating lots of M&Ms.

But since I made it to the real Statue of Liberty this time, I could justify the purchase.

This is the genius of M&M merchandising. I'm envious of the toy designers who were in the position to create such an ingenious product. If only I trained in industrial design, I might have had a shot at working as a toy designer for them! Oh well, I'll admire with my pocket book instead.

Empire State Building Project Gantt Chart

You would think that growing up in southern NJ means I have had plenty of opportunities to go visit NYC and all of its attractions. But somehow I have never made it to the main ones just about every other NYC tourist have seen, such as the Empire State Building.

I finally had a chance to make it there on a weekend trip to NYC, and is immediately greeted with this large display in the lobby.

It was completed in 1931, at that time, at 102 stories high (1454 ft), it was the tallest building in the world. It stood as the tallest building in NYC until the World Trade Centers were built. It was once again the tallest building in NYC after the twin towers came down during the 9/11 attacks.

So during my visit, it was the tallest building in NYC.  I did attempt to go out to the viewing deck a few times. But the weather was stormy so I couldn't stay out there long. It was too windy and the visibility was almost none.

What I found most fascinating, however, is the project schedule showing the progress of construction.

I know, what an interaction design geek.

I was in awe! To see a non-computer generated project Gantt chart! This is pre MS Project and if you look closer, you'll notice it's all art deco font as well.

An original data visualization! You hardly ever see any of this nowadays, not ones that were not generated digitally.  This format of presenting information is obviously very successful for the type of information it is communicating, which is why we still see Gantt charts today for communicating project schedules and progress.

What a gem for the UI/UX eye! Ok, enough geeking out, back to being a tourist. ;)


So as I made my way up toward the top, a mom with 3 kids were in front of me.  We came across a guy in a safari outfit who said to the family that they should feel free to go up and take a picture with the King Kong (and that it doesn't cost anything).

The mom saw no harm in it and sent the 3 boys up. They got into position to take the picture, and the King Kong said "Boo!" sending them screaming. :D

Of course, that means I absolutely had to have my picture taken with King Kong.  He does look a lot like a statue instead of a person in a King Kong costume. He certainly stood still enough earlier on that you really thought he was just a statue. What great fun!

After I made it to the top and had my fill of being blown around by the gusting rain and wind, I made my way down. In the elevator was this marble silhouette of the building. Really classy!

Tetris on the Green Building

One of the best MIT hacks in my lifetime (so far) is when MIT turned its Green Building into a live Tetris game.  I had the privilege of playing the game on the Green Building and it is by far one of the most memorable experiences I've ever had playing any game in my life.  

The action is all captured in this almost 4 minute video.  I would have lasted a lot longer if there weren't so many "dead pixels"! Some offices had their lights on, which interfered with where there might be blocks, while other offices were completely dark.  Those "dead pixels" interfered with providing feedback of where there is an existing block, which proved to be my downfall early on (around the 1 min mark).

It just goes to show how important providing feedback to the user is when it comes to interface design.

3D Puzzle - Pearl of the Orient

I had a chance to put together the 3D puzzle of Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower this afternoon. The box said 180 min or so, and I finished in about 2 hours.

I wonder if the puzzle designers modeled the building first, and then found a way to "flatten" it into puzzle shapes, or if they actually thought in terms of these construction pieces to begin with and figured out a way for all of them to fit together to look like the final product.

It's very intricate, and I can't imagine someone designing this without some sort of CAD program.

Now that I work in the 3D modeling industry, I can't help but wonder if the process of making these puzzles are similar to that of our customers who does design for sheet metal, where a part gets flattened into metal sheets that gets bent into the final product.