Matías Duarte: That Design Hippie

Me, You and Palm: Profiles of Palm People
	Role: I've been called the "Guru of New-ness," or "That Design Hippie," when my friends want to give me grief about my aesthetic sensibilities. My actual title is Vice President of Human Interface and User Experience. Less exciting, but technically more accurate.   At Palm since: I wish I'd been around when Palm first brought the world the PDA and the smartphone, but I'm happy to have bragging rights for being here at the start of the third Palm Revolution: webOS.
I read a lot of science fiction growing up, and I was excited by the optimistic vision of the future and the advances that came with it. I think human interface design is the best way I can help make that vision a reality. I'm still bummed about the lack of flying cars though.   You might not suspect it, but your phone has the potential to be the most powerful tool you’ll ever know. It should always be there to help you, not make more work for you.   Palm has always been at the forefront of mobile computing, making the digital world integral throughout all aspects of your life. I'm thrilled to be a part of making history and crafting the future.

  

If you watched the video of the Palm Pre press conference at CES, you might recognize me. Getting to introduce the design of webOS to the world was quite a thrill for me, and was very satisfying after so much hard work. I will say, however, that I never expected that my name would be forever associated with the mating habits of voles.

When I started in this field, the Palm V was the unquestioned leader in mobile devices. To this day I believe it represents one of the best consumer electronic products ever created. I always aspired to match Palm in simplicity, usability and design -- so now that I’m here, I feel like a kid who's just been handed the keys to Daddy's convertible.

Join Matias on a Facebook discussion board all this week and ask him if he had any knowledge of the mating habits of voles prior to CES. (And just what IS a vole, anyway?). You can also read about him in a recent article in Forbes.

Comments

[Esteban Contreras]

Palm Pre was definitely the most exciting part of this year's CES. Can't wait to try the Pre tomorrow.

[bizzyboi]

i dont care what you do, but don't ever EVER EVER make another commerical like that again. dumbest ish ever, almost made me not want a pre (almost)

[Dave B]

How's the Pre going to sync with my Mac? same Hot snyc as before?

[Aaron]

You did a great job presenting the WebOS that day especially when the SFGate article shows up, and you even joke about it (lol).

I'm always amazed by Human Interface engineer as they have the ability to make things simple and friendly. Can you give us some references of sites/books that we can learn more about user experience? I used to visit useit.com before ^^

[Jon Z at Palm]

Aaron, here are some suggestions from Matias:

There are hundreds of great books on UI design for various levels of expertise available. If I had to pick a couple of my favorite about the process of design, then I'd recommend Sketching User Experiences by Bill Buxton, and Designing for People by Henry Dreyfuss.

[sohbet]

thanks

[sohbet]

thanks