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Putting all this together [by 1976], we
want an apparently free environment in which exploration
causes desired sequences to happen (Montessori); one that
allows kinesthetic, iconic, and symbolic learning –
"doing with images makes symbols" (Jean
Piaget and Jerome Bruner); the user is never trapped in
a mode (Grail); the magic is embedded in the familiar
(Nicholas Negroponte); and which acts as a magnifying
mirror for the user's own intelligence (Samuel Coleridge).
It would be a great finish to this story to say that having
articulated this we were able to move straightforwardly
to the design as we know it today. In fact, the UI (user
interface) design work happened in fits and starts in
between feeding Smalltalk itself, designing children's
experiments, trying to understand iconic construction,
and just playing around.
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