Dconstruct I had a fantastic time at dConstruct down in a very misty Brighton last week. The theme for this year was designing digital products and how we can create better, more human experiences.

Here are a few of my takeaways...

  1. Create stories that unfold over time. Don Norman expressed the value in designing systems rather than components. What we want now is beauty, pleasure and fun, things that we can engage with - a total experience. Moments are quickly forgotten but experiences stay with us and if we enjoyed them we want to repeat them.
  2. Design the spaces inbetween things. Kelly Goto suggested that we think the spaces in between things, the connecting components that make a system that creates an experience. People develop attachments to brands and products. Think beyond usable, think emotional.
  3. The most powerful tools are the ones that allow us to create something new. People don’t always want a perfect end product, they want something that they can put their own identity on, something that can be personalised and made unique. People like to play and create. As Stephanie Rieger said, there will always be somebody who puts a gnome in your zen garden!
  4. Collaborate and keep your perspective. Get input from all around, work in a cross-platform team. The tools we are shaping now will define the future, have your say and contribute.
  5. Make constellations out of stars. Frank Chimero left me thinking about everything I favourite, like, star or bookmark and how all of this contributes to my trail on the web and it's potential value if I could just retrieve the data from it's various silos and connect it somehow. The web is very good as helping us to information get in, but how do we get it back out?

Lots of food for thought and I'm still processing everything that I heard. Oh, and the after party beers, wines and discussions were pretty awesome too!