MAYA Design Inc. is a technology design

Design

Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...

 firm and innovation

Innovation

Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...

 lab founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1989. MAYA helps companies design more usable and useful technology products, as well as information-rich services and environments. It has established a pervasive computing practice to help companies design smart connected products, environments, and services.
The name MAYA is based on an acronym coined by the industrial designer Raymond Loewy

Raymond Loewy

Raymond Loewy was an industrial designer, and the first to be featured on the cover of Time Magazine, on October 31, 1949. Born in France, he spent most of his professional career in the United States...

, and stands for Most Advanced Yet Acceptable. The company's tag line is "taming complexity."

MAYA was started in 1989 as MAYA Design Group by Peter Lucas (a cognitive psychologist), Joseph Ballay (an industrial designer), and James Morris

James H. Morris

James Hiram Morris is a Professor of Computer Science. He was previously Dean of the Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science and Dean of Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley.-Biography:...

 (a computer scientist). At the time, all were colleagues at Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University

Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....

. In 1998, the name was changed to MAYA Design, Inc. The current President and CEO is Mickey McManus.

MAYA has been selected as a "Top Small Company to Work For in America" by Inc. Magazine
, Fortune Small Business, and Entrepreneur Magazine.

MAYA has created four spin-off companies: MAYA Group in 1998, MAYA Viz in 1998, now called GD-Viz since being acquired by General Dynamics

General Dynamics

General Dynamics Corporation is a U.S. defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2008 it is the fifth largest defense contractor in the world. Its headquarters are in West Falls Church , unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Falls Church area.The company has...

 in 2005; Rhiza Labs, spun out in 2008 and LUMA Institute, in 2010.

Human-Centered Design

The company practices Human-Centered Design (HCD) with an interdisciplinary team of engineers (computer, mechanical, and electrical engineers), human-scientists (cognitive psychologists, anthropologists, human-computer interaction specialists), and visual designers (industrial designers, communication designers, film makers, brick and mortar architects, and game designers).

Research Agenda

In addition to doing commercial technology-design, MAYA has a research practice that focuses on two primary areas:

• Information-centric computing, which explores the aggressive use of direct manipulation in the context of well-defined "physics-based" interaction rules. The company has done extensive research and development work in this area under awards from the Defense Advanced Programs Agency (DARPA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST.) Its Visage collaborative visualization platform was developed with leaders of the SAGE research project at Carnegie Mellon University and is the framework for the Command Post of the Future
  Command Post of the Future
  The United States Army's Command Post of the Future is a C2 software system that allows commanders to maintain topsight over the battlefield; collaborate with superiors, peers and subordinates over live data; and communicate their intent....
  
  . Work in this area has also been applied to global public information systems, transportation logistics, and drug-discovery.

• Architectures for pervasive/ubiquitous computing, which explores how to structure and build radically decentralized information devices for an era with more than a trillion nodes.

See also

• Brainstorming
  Brainstorming
  Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which a group tries to find a solution for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members...
  
  
• Design management
  Design management
  Design Management is a business discipline that uses project management, design, strategy, and supply chain techniques to control a creative process, support a culture of creativity, and build a structure and organisation for design...
  
  
• Design methods
  Design methods
  Design Methods is a broad area that focuses on:* Divergence – Exploring possibilities and constraints of inherited situations by applying critical thinking through qualitative and quantitative research methods to create new understanding toward better design solutions* Transformation – Redefining...
  
  
• Design thinking
  Design thinking
  Design Thinking refers to the methods and processes for investigating ill-defined problems, acquiring information, analyzing knowledge, and positing solutions in the design and planning fields...
  
  
• Ethnography
  Ethnography
  Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
  
  
• Human factors
  Human factors
  Human factors science or human factors technologies is a multidisciplinary field incorporating contributions from psychology, engineering, industrial design, statistics, operations research and anthropometry...
  
  
• Innovation
  Innovation
  Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, processes, technologies, or ideas that are accepted by markets, governments, and society...
  
  
• Industrial design
  Industrial design
  Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
  
  
• Interaction design
  Interaction design
  In design, human–computer interaction, and software development, interaction design, often abbreviated IxD, is "the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services." Like many other design fields interaction design also has an interest in form but its main...
  
  
• Internet of Things
  Internet of Things
  The Internet of Things refers to uniquely identifiable objects and their virtual representations in an Internet-like structure. The term Internet of Things was first used by Kevin Ashton in 1999. The concept of the Internet of Things first became popular through the Auto-ID Center and related...
  
  
• Pervasive computing
• User centered design
• User experience
  User experience
  User experience is the way a person feels about using a product, system or service. User experience highlights the experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human-computer interaction and product ownership, but it also includes a person’s perceptions of the practical aspects such...
  
  

External links

• MAYA Web site
• Trillions, a video by MAYA Design