A friend, currently in her surgical residency program, describes what “scrubbing in” feels like:
> Once you’re scrubbed in, you can’t really do anything else until the procedure is over. If someone calls for you, all you have to say is “I’m scrubbed in”. You can’t touch your pager. You can’t touch anything. And you yourself are literally *untouchable*.
Is there benefit in “scrubbing in” for the rest of us, in other types of work? What might it look like for designers?
Ambition and naivete always seem to go together; it seems like a good idea to always be a novice at something, but to be aware of it.
A fascinating and sometimes frightening look at the way games are invading every aspect of our lives, and where they may be going next. The last 8 minutes are a wild exploration of one possible future.
A fascinating view into the cameras and technology used in Avatar. The new technology included a virtual camera that lets you physically shoot a virtual scene, augmented reality that overlays live footage with CGI backgrounds, face-scanning cameras, and a combination 2D/3D camera.
Another innovation was adding imperfections (camera movements, lens flares) to make a “perfect” virtual world more believable.
Really interesting to think about what this technology might do when released to the world in a few years…
Update: i09 has a bunch of great interviews with designers who worked on Avatar: [part 1](http://io9.com/5420143/5-designers-reveal-secrets-of-james-camerons-avatar), [part 2](http://io9.com/5444960/avatars-designers-speak-floating-mountains-amp-suits-and-the-dragon), [part 3](http://io9.com/5460957/the-complete-history-of-pandora-according-to-avatars-designers)
Michael Beirut, partner at Pentagram, describes his *real* design process:
“When I do a design project, I begin by listening carefully to you as you talk about your problem and read whatever background material I can find that relates to the issues you face. If you’re lucky, I have also accidentally acquired some firsthand experience with your situation. Somewhere along the way an idea for the design pops into my head from out of the blue. I can’t really explain that part; it’s like magic. Sometimes it even happens before you have a chance to tell me that much about your problem!”
As much as we like to tell ourselves (and others) about our robust, repeatable, formal design process, great work usually comes down to a little bit of magic.
“Imagination has brought mankind through the dark ages to its present state of civilization. Imagination led Columbus to discover America. Imagination led Franklin to discover electricity. Imagination has given us the steam engine, the telephone, the talking-machine, and the automobile, for these things had to be dreamed of before they became realities. So I believe that dreams–daydreams, you know, with your eyes wide open and your brain machinery whizzing–are likely to lead to the betterment of the world. The imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to invent, and therefore to foster, civilization.” – [L. Frank Baum](http://www.iwise.com/gAHxh)
It seems that if you hope to design things that cut to the heart of the human experience, you’re better off drawing inspiration from classical stories and literature than contemporary work. Something that remains relevant hundreds or thousands of years after its writing is a better foundation for meaningful work than the latest tech blog post.
Again: [read not the Times; read the Eternities](http://www.ryskamp.org/brain/?p=3640).
The Power of 8 is a set of concept videos, fake products, landscape designs, architectural plans and stories that combine to show what a future where technology brings people together might look like. Really well done and unique.
Ommwriter is pretty slick; a writing tool with ambient sounds, background imagery, and an elegant fading UI that lets you get deep into your writing.
Ommwriter from Herraiz Soto on Vimeo.
Square – really slick way for anyone to accept credit card payments using their cell phone. Awesome.