Jeff Raskin: Pioneer Of UI Design, Passes Away on Feb 26, 2005
In a statement that was released by the Raskin family on Jef Raskin’s site:
Pacifica, CA February 27, 2005–Jef Raskin, a mathematician, orchestral soloist and composer, professor, bicycle racer, model airplane designer, and pioneer in the field of human-computer interactions, died peacefully on February 26th, 2005 surrounded by his family and loved ones. He had recently been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
Jef created the Macintosh Computer as employee number 31 at Apple in the early 1980s, revolutionizing computer interface design. Jef established many methods now taken for granted by computer users, such as “click and drag.” He named the Macintosh project after his favorite variety of apple, the McIntosh (modifying the spelling for copyright purposes). Jef strongly believed that computers should make tasks easy for people, not the other way around.
In his acclaimed 2000 book The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems, Jef coined the term and founded the field of cognetics, “the ergonomics of the mind,” transforming interface design into an engineering discipline with a rigorous theoretical framework. His book, translated into more than nine languages, has become the standard text for more than 100 computing courses around the world.
His book is an interesting one and manages to rehash and dig into some of the assumption we place upon technology that are not necessary. Raskin had this uncanny ability to simply ask “Hello idiots, why do things this complicated” Ok, he really didn’t say it with those exact words, but he posed the question that few have been willing to ask. Look at your VCR and wonder what the heck do half of these buttons do and why are they there in the first place? The book is certainly an interesting read and while I definitely do not agree with everything he mentions, it brings about enough questions that really make me examine the thinking behind my own designs. Certainly pick it up and at least read a chapter or two, the next time you happen upon a book store
