computer, the GRiD Compass, in 1979.^16 The industrial design of
the Compass had numerous innovations, including the first
clamshell keyboard cover. It ran a custom operating system
called GRiD-OS, which featured an early graphical user
interface, but with no pointing device. Using this GUI prompted
him to realize for the first time that his role as a designer
shouldn’t stop at the physical form, but include the experiences
that people have with software as well.
Years later, Bill Moggridge, along with Bill Verplank, would coin
the term “Interaction Design” as a way of distinguishing
designers who focus on digital and interactive experiences from
traditional Industrial Design.
Pioneering computer scientist and HCI researcher Terry
Winograd has said that he thinks “Interaction Design overlaps
with [Industrial Design], because they both take a very strong
user-oriented view. Both are concerned with finding a user
group, understanding their needs, then using that understanding
to come up with new ideas.”^17 Today we take for granted this
approach of designing software by focusing on people, but in
Silicon Valley of the 1980s the seeds of human-centered
computing were only just being planted.
The Bifurcation of Physical and Digital
In the 1970’s, influenced by Douglas Engelbart’s NLS
demonstration, numerous research projects at Xerox PARC
explored similar topics. The Xerox Star, released in 1981, was
the first commercially available computer with a GUI that utilized
the now familiar desktop metaphor. This structure of a virtual
office correlated well with the transition that computing was
attempting to make from enthusiasts to professional users.
(^16) Moggridge, Bill. Designing Interactions. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT, 2007.
(^17) Preece, Jenny, Yvonne Rogers, and Helen Sharp. Interaction Design: Beyond Human-
computer Interaction. New York, NY: J. Wiley & Sons, 2002.