April 17th Update: Welcome to iReaderReview – We have the latest Kindle 3 and Kindle DX posts here with Kindle 3 speculation, rumors and occasionally actual news 
.
This post details Kindle 3 design issues – you can also check out a Kindle 3 Feature WishList. Do leave your suggestions.
The Lab126 Team that created the Amazon Kindle got most of its design inspiration from ex-FrogDesign people -
- Lab126′s Director of Industrial Design used to be the Creative Director at frogdesign.
- The Lab126 Design Research Lead was a Senior Design Analyst at frog design.
- The Lab 126 Product Design Lead – Interaction and Technology was a Principal Engineer at frog design.
- They have a Senior designer who lives in the NYC area, who is also ex-frog design.
This clearly indicates that ex-frogdesign employees make up the heart of Lab126′s Design Team. Here’s a sample of the kind of designs frog design makes (all rights belong to them) -
frog design
This is some good, good work. Three product designs in particular stand out for me -
- The Titleist Golf Clubs.
- HP Touchsmart. Update Feb 9th, 2009 – I have owned a HP TouchSmart IQ506 for over a month now and it’s beautiful. Absolutely Beautiful.
- Logitech USB Cameras.
I’ve worked with the Dell.com website and the Media Player and they don’t do it for me since they might look good – however, it takes too much conscious effort to use them. I have to stress that the overall level of work of frog design is very high, with some truly beautiful designs. I’m sure the current Lab126 design people had some part in all this.
While the kindle is a good design – impressive for a first generation device – its painfully obvious that the sex appeal that’s coursing through a lot of frogdesign’s work is totally missing from the kindle. It pains me to say this because I know it probably took a lot of hard work. However we’re living in a world of Apple IPhones, Nokia N95s, Flip MinoHDs and other devices that just look amazing. Take a look at the Merian’s design by frog design -
Hoping Kindle 3 is as pretty as Merian
Here’s a crucial distinction that I think the kindle design team needs to think about – ‘the Kindle can look stunning, and at the same time have a simple, easy to use interface that makes it easy for the reading experience to take center stage. These are not mutually exclusive.’
- A lot of books are beautiful – to hold, to look at, and to touch. There is every reason in the world to make an ebookreader the same. I really hope Kindle 3.0 will be beautiful to look at (at this point I’ve given up hope that the leaked Kindle 2 pictures are fake).
- If you really want the ebook reader to take a backseat to the reading experience – to avoid distracting users – focus on making a great user experience – don’t overwhelm the user with too many choices, too many buttons etc. This I think to a large extent is already there. So definitely kudos to the kindle design team on that.
One of the biggest opportunities for Amazon with Kindle 3.0 is to make a device that has external beauty in addition to the internal beauty already present.
You can see more examples of frog design’s work at their website. Here are two more I liked (check out the folders on the 2nd one) -
Frog Design Strikes Again
The navigation shown in the 2nd device would be an excellent Visual Folders Design for the Kindle.
Filed under: kindle 3 Tagged: | 3rd generation kindle, kindle design
[...] The heart of the design team are ex frogdesign.com people (my entire post on kindle 3 + frogdesign). [...]
I am looking for:
1. size – 4″ screen is fine
2. CPU – Must be capable of really fast response (i.e. turn on, internet access, book opening, program opening and shutting down)
3. Opportunity to use third party programs (windows mobile compatibility)
4. Cell Phone
5. Carrier (Sprint)
6. Longer Battery Life
7. Up to 1Gb ROM
FYI…HP touchsmart was not done by Frog Design, but it was done the Teague (1st Generation) and the Lunar Design (2nd generation).
I know this because i personally have worked with the designers at Lunar…
Kindle could meet the needs of a much larger part of the population but it doesn’t.
[ Edit: Note that Amazon have said that they are going to make the Kindle's menu accessible - perhaps read out, perhaps larger font size - i'm not sure which. If you want to see what the screen contrast really looks like check out the Kindle 2 Videos link at the top of the screen. That'll give you an actual idea of the contrast and readability.]
Why not check out the 1 star customer reviews that
are getting the most attention and respond to them.
366 of 459 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Dark gray background. Difficult to read in dim light or for people with poor vision., February 25, 2009
By Sam (USA)
And remember, the babyboomers make up a huge
percentage of the population. Trouble with small print
starts when you hit your forties kids. And time moves
quickly.
Menu font size is fixed. It can’t be adjusted and the
background is much much darker than in the photos of
the Kindle 2 put up by Amazon. It’s very misleading.
And how many of us will be reading in our bikinis on a
beach in bright sunlight. The background is almost
“dark” grey.
I sent mine back. I’ll be happy to buy another one if
and when they worry less about sex appeal and more
about user needs for EVERYONE. There is no need
to isolate those who need large font, this thing could
be a great for everyone from kids to grannies to those
with low vision IF some sensitivity could be applied to
the functionality.