Ben Arent

Product Generalist

Currently in Oakland, CA

Blog Posts

  • Interaction Design Books. June 2009.

    While interaction design is mostly concerned with the of defining the behavior of products and systems that a user can interact with. Which typically centers around complex technology systems such as software, mobile devices, and other electronic devices [1] . While IxD is young field there are tons of great books to help budding and established interaction designers. From Concept to Consumer. This is a cracking little book, Its short and to the point.  The book explains nearly all of the aspects of commeriazling a project and includes working out a BOM and pricing your product. The book has solid...
    Read Interaction Design Books. June 2009.

  • OLED Bike Light

    An OLED is a form of LED. Unlike an LED, OLEDs come in a sheet form and can thus be made in to any shape and bent into any form.  In the comming years OLEDs will replace LCD’s and Plasma screens leading to super sexy milimeter thin screens. The one concern about the Electroluminescence is that it runs on an very high voltage, but with low current. Motorla has a cool patent going back to the 80′s and it outlines a nice voltage reguator that ups the voltage from DC to AC.  I hope to making some more prototypes soon,...
    Read OLED Bike Light

  • Being an Interaction Designer at the TRIL Centre

    Its been almost 10 months at TRIL so I decided to post some updates here.  Unfortunately I can’t really talk about TRIL work, which may make this post a bit dry! During my time I have learnt an awful lot, and it was a running start from graduating.  TRIL is a really interesting project and I get to work with a huge range of people from Neuroscientists to Signal Processing Engineers. Most of my time in has been spent on project for the social connection strand, Building Bridges. (ii) Building Bridges to Health, Learning and Fun The aim of this program...
    Read Being an Interaction Designer at the TRIL Centre

  • SEED Dating @ScienceGallery

    What is SEED DATING? SEED DATING is a fast-paced event designed to spark off creative connections and allow people to share and develop ideas for innovative projects in arts, science, technology and media. http://www.sciencegallery.ie/seed_dating    SEED dating was yet another great event put on during the Lightwave exhibition of the Science Gallery.   The event meant meeting 10 different ‘luminares’ from a wide range of fields. Architects & Designers to Neuroscientists and Mathematician.   You get three minutes to introduce, brainstorm and come up with an idea.  I found three minutes a bit short but after a couple of introductions...
    Read SEED Dating @ScienceGallery

  • Arduino Workshop @ScienceGallery with Tom Scaff.

    As part of the science gallery exhibition I got to take part in Tom Scarffs Arudunio workshop.  The workshop covered all of the basics, and was a nice introduction to the open source micro-controller.  Tom focused a couple of the projects with a MIDI interface, but it was good to see how I could use the same very simple techniques to apply to Flash.  I have some very exciting Arudunio projects planned, both at work and with personal digital projects.  Watch this space. 
    Read Arduino Workshop @ScienceGallery with Tom Scaff.

  • Anthony Dunne @ScienceGallery – SIGCHI

    On the 2nd December I was able to see Alan Dix a part of SIGCHI’s inaugural lecture. Anthony co-owns Dunne and Raby and also lectures at the RCA .  Anthony presented the work of the RCA and various scientific projects. Anthony Dunne Anthony presented his talk “Fictional Functions and Functional Fictions. “.   The talk was about using design to help guide scientists work.  His talk was very similar to the talk at the Innovation Forum.   Anthony Dunne // Dunne & Raby from Innovationsforum on Vimeo. Afterwards Anthony opened the floor for questions. I asked him what he thought about the rescission...
    Read Anthony Dunne @ScienceGallery – SIGCHI

  • jive – Featured in Designing Gestural User Interfaces.

    Just a quick note to thank Dan Saffer from KickStudiofor featuring jive in designing user interfaces. I would recommend the Designing Gestural Interfaces: Touchscreens and Interactive Devices , but you can get a lot from the web. You can download the first chapter, and gesture stencils from the website.  Ow. And don’t forget you can download the source to build your own magnetic user interface.
    Read jive – Featured in Designing Gestural User Interfaces.

  • MK12 design process – How to design a sexy UI for MI5.

    After my last post, I contacted MK12 to get more information about there design process. Luckily they got back to me, this was there response. I hope this will be helpful to any computer scientists who spend 30 seconds designing an interface. MK12 took 6 months and create a unified UI for a range of devices for MI5.   I wonder if QintetiQ have a process like this, as they are the guys designing military interfaces.  Hi Ben Thanks for the inquiry! Our apologies on how long it’s taken us to reply to your email. We’ve been inundated with the usual end-of-the-year-type...
    Read MK12 design process – How to design a sexy UI for MI5.

  • benarent.co.uk – 31,000 Visitors in 08 – 09.

    Its been a busy year, with over 31,000 visitors to benarent.co.uk.  I have had some great experiences this year with three exhibitions and a job at TRIL. The most visited page was my portfolio, and the top 5 pieces of  blog content were. Design Sketching How to print your own Christmas Wrapping Paper.  How to laser cut your own decorations.  How to turn sketches into line drawings.  How to make a magnetic user interface.  Its seems like there is a lot of love for the how tos so expect to see more in 2009! Design and Art thrive in Hard times...
    Read benarent.co.uk – 31,000 Visitors in 08 – 09.

Subscribe via RSS