Author: Kars Alfrink

Dutch games review magazine Hoogspel went out of business in 2000. This is where they explain why (in Dutch). An interesting read that uncovers some of the questionable practices prevalent in the games industry of today.

A crazy Dutchman one can be proud of. Theo Jansen builds autonomous beach animals using mainly electrical tubing.

Bas zooms in on one aspect of a presentation at the last This happened – Utrecht (in Dutch): Irene van Peer’s remarks about the failure of many Western products to truly fulfil the needs of people in developing countries.

Adrian Hon on what it takes to be a chess master and an awesome Street Fighter match. Interesting parallels here.

Iskander compares the discourse at a recent Club of Amsterdam event on the future of creative agencies with the one at This happened – Utrecht #2. (In Dutch.) I think there are many viable approaches to design, of which people-centred design is but one. Something I found most interesting at the Club of Amsterdam event was the talk about vertical design disciplines (such as graphic design and architecture) and the need for us to look for horizontals. Often IxD has been positioned as another vertical discipline, but I think it is more of a horizontal approach to design that cuts across domains. It is exactly this that I’m trying to show with This happened.

Joe Lamantia shares some of the thinking behind the online service that accompanies Dutch PS3 game Killzone 2.

“There are a lot of web design blogs out there, and many of them explain interaction design principles incorrectly and make broad assumptions about why they should be applied. Designers who know better shouldn’t let this happen, and should at least attempt to enlighten the audience.” Kaufman dives into the wonderful world of modality. IMHO, the web is stateless, and therefore is no place for modal dialogues.

The Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design has opened admissions for their year-long graduate programme starting in September 2009. Check them out.

Alper reports on the Q&A sessions at This happened – Utrecht #2. We asked him to do this, and I must say I am not disappointed with the result. This post is a good reflection of what was discussed during the evening. (In Dutch.)

“Find me a single profession, no matter how old, that doesn’t have these same variations, tensions and spectrums of interest or philosophical approach. If it’s a living, thriving profession, it’ll have all these things. It’s just that some have been around long enough to have a reified image of stasis.” Few prolific IAs that I know are as articulate and lucid about the relationships between user experience professionals as Hinton is. The guy makes sense.

Tom reports on an idea floating around the S&W studio – a service for ‘endless notebooks’. Makes me want to try my hand at some bookbinding myself…

Alper announces his attendance of the past This happened – Utrecht #2. Soon he’ll post a summary of the Q&As (a little experiment we’re doing to see if we can up the quality of the event’s documentation even further).

Utrecht-based web agency Rhinofly reports on This happened – Utrecht #2 (in Dutch): “Ik vond het een toffe en inspirerende sessie. Een mix van mensen uit het veld, gevestigde ontwerpers, commerciële bedrijven en studenten spreken openlijk over hun methodes en ideeën en zetten je aan het denken. Dus: volgende keer weer? Jazeker!”

One of the winning games at this year’s Global Game Jam in NL. Pulse is a collaborative rhythm action game.

Chris experiments with using flight progress strips for to-do management. Ever since reading about them in Where the Action Is I’ve been fascinated with these things. Nice to finally see what they look like.

Iskander has posted a report of the second Dutch This happened within hours of its culmination. Crazy. Interestingly, he’s spotted a theme while we did not plan on having any. In Dutch.

“Topobo is the world’s first construction toy with kinetic memory, the ability to record and playback physical motion.” An awesome toy. Via Jerome.

“I hear there’s real wooden furniture, and paper books. You can have a lie down and read. / What’s a lie down? / Not sure, but I heard that’s what people did back then. / Crazy. / I can’t wait.” Alex switches from speculative modelling to speculative storytelling. Wonderful.

“The result is a highly dynamic overlay of current conditions, soundings and action potentials made explicit and superimposed on the city – something we might think of as network weather.” An outline of sorts for Greenfield’s new book. Network weather, what a lovely metaphor.