Hello. This is Matthew Irvine Brown's portfolio.
email matthew@irvinebrown.com
Windows 1911
October 2004
A one-week brief:
"Transport the modern PC back one hundred years and redesign the screen interface. You do not need to stick to current patterns of use or today's desktop metaphor; it could be something more appropriate to the era. Produce 3 things: A startup sound, the look and feel of the interface, and a new piece of functionality."
The final idea uses a factory metaphor, both as a centralised, industrial process and a social system based on class and/or merit. The startup sound combines the blast of a ship's horn and a chord played by a brass band; logging in acts as 'clocking in'; networks are parallel in structure to employee hierarchy; the ability to interact with the information on display, store files in memory and so on is a privilege that has to be earned through promotion. Each user has an instant messaging system to physically patch their computer to another person's, bypassing network hierarchy, in order help foster (perhaps illegal) morale-boosting activity.
