Sometime having to read through the comments makes sense. Smashing Magazine, one of my favorite site, had a post “Productivity Boost: Key Stroke Launchers“. I’m no great fan of utilities… alright, alright I admit, I’ve Yahoo! Widget & Google Desktop. Now, after I went through the post, the first comment was

I think you forgot to include “enso” it’s awesome and it recently moved to freeware

The I scrolled down and saw many visitors commenting about Enso Launcher. Now, more than month after installing Enso, my CAPS LOCK is my new Start button in my WinXP Laptop. Though, in term of frequency it still couldn’t beat the sweet old SPACE BAR I use in Photoshop :)

Thanks people for introducing me to Enso. Now I chant like the comment #57.

ENSO ENSO ENSO! Great.

About a week back, I came across this post at Gizmodo, 1960s Braun Products Hold the Secrets to Apple’s Future. Now, if you search the net, the comparison goes beyond Braun & Apple and it boils down to two designers.

• Dieter Rams, wiki calls him – one of the most influential industrial designers in the 20th century &
• Jonathan Ive, Senior Vice President of Industrial Design at Apple Inc. BBC calls him Armani of Apple.

While INSPIRATION is a complex word, it would be wrong to draw parallel. Myself a self confessed dreamer, would like to believe that these two geniuses separated by time & technology are in some way communicating. Don’t blame for drawing parallel to the movie “The Lake House“. But I won’t blame Jon Ive for chrome lining in the latest iPhone/iPOD touch and giving that retro touch in today’s technology.

Talk about Dieter Rams and his 10 Commandments on Design, which equals to usability in all aspect; now that the world web world is waking up to.

Dieter Rams: 10 Commandments on Design

• Good design is innovative.
• Good design makes a product useful.
• Good design is aesthetic.
• Good design helps us to understand a product.
• Good design is unobtrusive.
• Good design is honest.
• Good design is durable.
• Good design is consequent to the last detail.
• Good design is concerned with the environment.
• Good design is as little design as possible.

Devoid of a celebrity designer, Samsung’s product design are a group to be reckon with. Their new range of power pack NV Series cameras with the cool retro touch are simple awesome. I won’t be surprise if someone draws similarity with some 60′s Leica. Well than, Hasselbland following its tradition of quality & design, I bet they’ll be a tough one to crack.

I’ve seen my uncle, an Industrial Designer from NID, work on projects and how he focus on just one purpose – How will it effects the end user. Once I’d interacted on phone with Jhumkee Iyengar, Head, Usability Engineering, Persistent Systems, Pune. Sad that I miss the opportunity to meet her in person when I was in Persistent Pune for a day. But I was pleasantly surprise when I found out after sometime that she use to design products for Phillips, USA.

Now going to person who I’d met & interacted personally was my good friend & ex-colleague Param from Onward Research, who came across as a intense & honest person in following the users need.

Now time to draw the parallel. Drawing attention to Dieter Rams’s commandment. I believe – GOOD DESIGN IS HONEST.