When Portfolio.com asked thehappycorp founder Doug Jaeger to redesign the Bloomberg stock terminals, Doug compiled stand-out elements from social networking, gaming, and medicine to create an interface that updates work into the business of life.

Since sitting at your desk all day is counterintuitive to happiness, Doug’s design supports a Wii gaming element where your performance in the market the day before becomes your golf handicap or advantage. The vital statistics monitoring system keeps track of your blood pressure and blood sugar levels to make sure you remember to eat and refresh your sanity. A visual contact array along the bottom of the screen lets you monitor the activities of your friends and rivals.

Perhaps the coup de grace, however, is the market lava lamp. For the lamp’s flash components Doug looked to digital architect Marumushi. Different size bubbles depict trading volume and stocks float or sink in real time depending on their market performance.

Roger Black makes some good points on his blog about the shortcomings of design that's touted as “cool,” but what he seems to overlook about thehappycorp's Bloomberg design is that it's as much about levity as intensity. It's about the confluence of imagination and practicality. You need both to be successful, and we think our design is a step in the right direction.

See what PSFK and Cool Hunting had to say. Compare IDEO and Ziba Design's plans for the Bloomberg terminals at Portfolio.com.