Tom Uglow says that good designs should feel natural. Phones in our hands feel natural but it’s actually the information that we need not the device. In his TED Talk An Internet without screens might look like this Uglow shows us a few examples of his work that keep us connected while using simple and natural tools. Tom works as the creative director at Google Creative Lab in Sydney, and doesn’t hate screens but has a problem with the amount of time that people spend addicted to the content on the screens.
Working with Tellart in Boston Uglow created binoculars for the 40th anniversary of the Sydney Opera House. Taking data from Google Street View the binoculars were fitted with several world heritage sites, so visitors could see penguins in Antartica or the Grand Canyon.
Moodstone is a fascinating project that Google worked on with Japanese design firm AQ, allowing people to record their emotions during the day and then later record the environment that created the emotions.
A mechanical control for YouTube videos, hacky sacks that transmit information when you kick them, and a magic wand that gives trees the ability to communicate with users are the other demonstrations given in the talk.
Uglow is a great engaging speaker with big ideas. He drives the point home that he wants future generations to be able to experience the exchange of ideas, wealth of information and immediate access that the internet provides. He just wants that access to come to us in a large variety of paths.