Author: kozlowskima

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Interaction Design Chapters 1 & 2 – Madison Kozlowsk

What makes up interaction design and what are some of the industry’s challenges?

            According to the text by Jon Kolko, interaction design is defined as, “a creative process focused on people”. Further, a group at Carnegie Mellon University has created a formal framework for discovery during the design process. The process includes Define, Discover, Synthesize, Construct, Refine and Reflect components. A designer must first understand wants and needs and balance political requirements with the end user while also achieving business goals. Otherwise known as defining. Discovery allows a designer to gather data related to the given problem and understand who ultimately will use the creation. Both of these steps must be completed in order to move onward with your design, and also the structured process. Synthesize, Construct, and Refine fall next. These phases often get grouped together because of their similar nature and total time consumption. These steps include sketching ideas, creating personas and scenarios, mapping ideas to solve problems, testing prototypes among other things. Designers must work through creation and refinement over and over again during this time in attempt to extract the wrong ideas from their work and decide on a particular solution. The final step in this framework is Reflection, or the act of assessing success or failure. Regardless of the guidelines put in place, Interaction design is based on people and it is essential for designers to realize that. There are a lot of challenges being an interaction designer. In most companies, interaction designers are not involved in the beginning stages of product development at all. This type of work is left to business people who make decisions based solely on increasing profits or building brand equity. More collaboration should be established between designers and upper management. Another challenge that interaction designers face is the regulated funds they are allocated. The best elements of functionality may be costly to implement. When this is the case, designers become advocates for usability and attempt to convince superiors that it is worth the extra money to be user-friendlier. Interaction design may be difficult to grasp and implement, but creating a more user-oriented world is in the works.

What is interaction design, how it’s evolving. What fields does it draw knowledge from?

Just like many other aspects of the world are evolving, interaction design is no exception. A concept that correlates with interaction design very well is the idea of progressive learning. In order to be a successful interaction designer, one must be willing to learn new things everyday. For example, an accountant can get his degree in Accounting and thirty years later complete the same tasks without learning anything new. Opposite goes for interaction designers. Their job is evolving as the world’s like/dislikes and trends change. Interaction designers must change gathered information into meaningful data and incorporate that into their work. Interaction designers must also design for errors. When something is developed, every interaction with that product will not be the same and errors will occur. Errors related to the product itself and errors made by the user. Interaction designers must think deeply about the types of errors that could occur and effectively design for them.

Interaction Design draws knowledge from a few different fields. Some of the main fields of study this relates to are Psychology and Sociology. Both of these relate to human behavior. Psychology looks into the minds of humans and at their physical behavior and Sociology looks at humans social behavior. Interaction design deals a lot with its users and in-depth knowledge of humans could be very useful. Obviously basic knowledge of Design is very pertinent to this field of study as well.

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Mobile App Review

A fairly new app that I use on a daily basis is Snapchat. At first the concept of communicating with only with pictures was a little but odd, but the idea became extremely popular very quickly. The application allows users to take photos, record videos, add text and drawings and send them to a controlled list of recipients. The sender can also regulate the amount of time a recipient can view the “snap” before the content is deleted. Users can also view Snapchat stories, or a group of snapchats played as a video for a predetermined amount of seconds. The app has evolved since its conception in 2011 and both positive and negative features have been added since then, which I will be reviewing.

The general idea of the Snapchat app is great. The “selfie” has been increasing in popularity among all ages, not just the millennials, and people were already sending pictures of themselves via text messages pre-Snapchat. By introducing an app where an infinite amount of selfies could be sent to an infinite amount of people in a day, Snapchat made sending pictures much easier. To become the app of choice to send selfies, it was crucial that a text feature was added. It has become normal to hold entire conversations via Snapchat. I think a drawback of conversing over Snapchat is the character limit put in place. Users are only permitted to enter as much text in the horizontal space the screen can hold. In fact, people have gone great lengths to attempt to increase the amount of text allowed in a Snapchat by using the voice-recording feature on smartphones. This alone should signal to Snapchat that they are not accommodating the users wants.

Another feature of Snapchat is the drawing tool. The drawing tool offers a colorful selection and enables people to use their imaginations with their finger as a paintbrush. This feature has enabled users to draw simple things like arrows and faces, but has inspired some extremely creative works as well. However, as much as this feature has been used for creative purposes, people often use it to continue their sentences due to the character limit. Snapchat has updated the app and since created a messaging feature through the app itself. In my opinion, this feature has been adopted as well as Snapchat may have wished. Many users see no difference in messaging through the app or texting on their mobile devices. Even though users have signaled a need for more text, this addition is not exactly what the user wanted. To satisfy the users, I would like to see the amount of text allowed on a snap to be extended to two lines across the screen.

An aspect of Snapchat that has become increasingly popular is the Snapchat story. Like mentioned above, users can combine a sequence of snaps to display to their friends for 24 hours. This has increased the ability for individuals to share their content. Instead of personally selecting every friend, a user can simply select the “My Story” button, and that content appears for their friends to watch instantly. Social Media is currently thriving and by allowing people to have continuous content, this app has become another source of social media.

As popular as Snapchat has become, there is room for improvement. I think that a group Snapchat message would be very beneficial. If someone wants to send a snap to a number of people, they have to scroll through all of their friends and individually select each one. Users should be able to create groups and select only one folder and send to as many people as they desire. For example, many people in my family have Snapchat and instead of going down my long list of friends, I would like to be able to add them to a folder entitled “Family” and simply select the folder and know which individuals the snap will go to. I think many individuals would utilize this feature and I am surprised that Snapchat has not made an update with this addition.

Overall, Snapchat is a new phenomenon that matches societies wants in an app. With selfies booming popularity and constant communication a must, Snapchat has had perfect timing. The app is always updating and I am interested in seeing what features are added and what new ideas come about.

 

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Interaction Design Chapters 3/4/5

What information can ethnographic tools give you to improve the interactivity of an online banking website? (pp. 48-54)

By using ethnographic tools, the designer can collect important information about their designs. As a designer, you inherently have bias towards your own thoughts and ideas based on how you perceive the design. An ethnographic study, watching a user utilize the online banking website, can expose flaws in the design that were a result of the designers bias. For example, the designer may not utilize the mobile check deposit feature very often, so he/she buried the feature inside of a menu. But when performing an ethnographic study, it is revealed that most users heavily use the mobile check deposit feature. After performing this study, the designer might find that the feature should be placed in a more prominent area of the website, where the user can more easily access it.

At what point is a design finished? What makes it a success? What is its purpose? (pp. 54-62)

After reading the assigned chapters in “Thoughts on Interaction Design,” I have come to realize that there is much more to design than aesthetics alone. Although aesthetics still plays a role in overall design, there are many more aspects and concepts a designer must keep in mind when creating.

In my opinion, a design is finished and purposeful when the designer:

  • Creates an argument and effectively persuades users to agree
  • Conscientiously decides what things should look like (Form and Function)
  • Takes Semiotics into consideration

When a designer designs something it is critical that a rhetorical argument is made. All designs should prompt people to believe that the design is useful and also persuade users of a specific attitude. For example, the design of a cell phone may be prompting people to engage in technology because it is extremely useful. With this, the designer is also stating that, “This cell phone looks cool,” attempting to develop a specific attitude towards the phone. If the call phone looks cool, the user must be cool too.

Form and function must also be taken into account when designing. In today’s society, form no longer has to follow or even relate to function. Previously, function and form went hand-in-hand with design. With this new view, a designer has a new opportunity to convey a form to both emotional and social qualities instead of function alone.

Because of this the Semiotic Movement has begun. Words are embedded with semantic meaning and stand for other things. The text uses the example of a chair. The word chair is associated with the idea of sitting and the idea of the object that we sit on. A designer must consider if their design relates to what people may associate their product with, both attitudes and physical products.

In my opinion, a design is finished and serves its purpose when these principles have been extensively analyzed and executed. The purpose of the design is not only to please the eye, but to enrapture specific attitudes and ideas of the designers choosing. With this, a design is successful when this is accomplished. It is very difficult to predict what users will say or think about something, but based on research and observation, one can conclude generalities amongst the population. Design reaches way beyond aesthetics.

Identify a product family you use regularly (can be anything from technology to consumables except for coffee). How has its branding effected your use, relationship and experience with the product? (pp. 78-84)

For years I have used Herbal Essences hair care products. Branding has affected my long-time use. The text describes three key components to branding: honesty, mindfulness and sensory detail. In regards to honesty, the integrity to the consumer was brought up a few times. I feel that the company is being honest with me when speaking of their products. For example, when I see an Herbal Essences commercial on television showing voluptuous, shiny hair bouncing around the TV with a narrator saying your hair will smell delicious and stay clean for hours, I trust them. Because of my use, I know that what they are saying is true, and that the company is being honest with me.

Mindfulness has often been cited as the primary state of mind necessary to accomplish meditation, or an awareness of the present moment. When I use my shampoo and conditioner in the shower I do not meditate. I do, however, realize the familiar red raspberry smell as I put the product in my hair everyday. Because of this, when I shower at places other than my apartment, I do not feel clean. When I shower using hotel shampoos and conditioners, my hair doesn’t feel “normal”.

Because of the branding of Herbal Essences products, I have become loyal. At first I bought shampoo and conditioner, then I bought hair spray and without me noticing, Herbal Essences is the only hair care products I buy. Clearly, I have had positive experiences with their products developed into a loyal relationship.

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Objectified Review

There are very few movies or documentaries that require a tremendous amount of thought and concentration while watching; However, Objectified is an exception. From the very beginning of the film, images and clips were shown that made the viewer think and the context had a profound impact on my views of design. There are many professionals that appeared in the documentary who had opinions on design and views of society that I had never heard before or thought of on my own. One of the first ideas the film mentioned was the fact that every object has a story behind it. Everything one uses on a day-to-day basis has been strategically designed, yet no one thinks about it. Maybe here or there someone ponders why a toilet looks like a toilet, or why a door looks like a door, but it is a rarity. In my opinion, the people shown in the flick have molded their minds to automatically think about these background stories and incorporate that knowledge into modern design. Because of this, effective designers know what people need or want before everyday people realize it. For example, a company designed a new handle for hedge clippers without anyone even bringing up the fact that they were hard to use. By having a grasp of the stories behind products you haven’t created, one can incorporate this knowledge into other products – ultimately improving performance by design without anyone noticing or thinking about the change.

Someone in the film stated that good design is “un-designed”. Allowing users to say, “well of course it is this way.” A person using said hedge clippers would assume that having notches in the grip for your thumbs would be an obvious feature, but at one point it was not. Some designer had to have an “ah-ha” moment and realize just how obvious that feature was, and eventually implement it.

Being inventive and ultramodern is an important aspect of design in general, but someone in the film mentioned that one of the hardest parts of design is removing what is unnecessary. Although having a lot of features can be attractive, it is not always user-friendly. The documentary emphasized this point a lot. It is all about the user, and that must be kept in mind at all times while designing. A good design should be unobtrusive, easy to use, self-effacing. A good design should have as little design as possible. I completely agree with this statement. When things don’t work properly, individuals automatically assume that they are too stupid to use the product, but it is the design that is actually stupid. Design is supposed to allow humans to interact subconsciously, while producing the expected result of some object.

Watching this film has really changed my view on everything I touch. I have begun thinking, “Why is that the way it is?” and, “Who decided that that looks ‘right’?.” Before watching Objectified, I had always thought of design as simply aesthetics. Much of design still pertains to aesthetics, but even more of it has to do with usability. I had always thought that much of those aspects of design were left to engineers, architects or inventors, but it dawned on me that we are all people, living in the same world, using similar products. Anyone from a plumber to a doctor to a pilot to a small child has insights to usability, but it is how you train your mind to acknowledge potential changes. Being a designer, the world is virtually in your hands.

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Strategy & Scope

Madison Kozlowski

ARTM2220 Project 1a – Strategy & Scope

The product that my team came up with last week is a high-tech luxury shower that bathes you, washes your hair, dries you off and does all other shower activities while you relax. Along with the basic protocol of showering, our invention is voice activated, allowing users to turn on music, adjust water temperature and give the shower specific commands. Along with this, the shower can also be a sauna. Our product is highly customizable and extremely efficient. As a start-up, we are marketing our product to high-income individuals who are willing to complete major renovations in their bathrooms and take part in a technological revolution.

By creating a mobile website for our product, my teammates and I are will accomplish three main goals: educate the world about our shower, promote and persuade people to make an inquiry and sell our showers to as many individuals as possible. While creating our company goals for the website we also explored what users of our website would want and need as well. Investigating this is very crucial in developing a website for such an innovative and shockingly futuristic product. As a user visiting our site, an information page is essential. A page that explains exactly what our product is, using precise details and leaving the user with no questions. A user also wants to know a price. Being that our product is customizable, one must call for a quote in order to know a personalized price. However, we need a step by step process explaining how quotes are determined and explain that a contractor would have to come and measure your bathroom. Along with this, we will provide a price range based on some specific shower dimensions as a guide. Again, it is important that all content on the site is extremely clear and leaves the user with no unanswered questions. Another goal of the site would be to establish our brand identity. Our product is luxurious, innovative and cutting edge. Portraying these values is also a goal of the site.

To determine the scope, we used our goals as a guide. As a company we wanted to educate users about our shower, promote and persuade people that they won’t be disappointed with our shower and finally to make sales.  In order for us to sell our product, we are going to provide a specialists number that can be contacted and also a list of distributors that can be contacted. With this, potential customers will be able to provide us with their basic information including their name, address, email address, age ect. allowing us to put them on file and provide them with information. Another asset that will promote selling is to provide a “Find a Location Near You” feature. By simply entering a zip code, the users nearest distributor will be shown.

Another goal for the site is to educate our users. A simplistic way to do this is to create an information video that includes the details about our product, how to use it, images of our product, before and after pictures and quotes from the many celebrities who have converted to our showers. Along with this, like I mentioned above, we will have an informational page where users can read more about our shower.

The video explained above also helps achieve our last goal: to promote our product. With this, we are going to display many customer reviews and user experience stories. Anyone is free to write a review. We have many stories from celebrities that we are eager to share on our website – in hopes that celebrity influence may increase sales. We also are planning on implementing a 3D customization page that can be used to give a customer the freedom to choose size, features and how they want the shower to look.

To accomplish the look of innovation, we will use a blue, black and silver color scheme and simple type.

Overall, we want this site to be clear and informational. We want users to leave the site with substantial knowledge about and interest in our luxury shower. If people exit the site with these two things, we will make an impact in the bathroom industry and produce valuable sales.

 

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Assignment 1

1. As described in the Elements of User Experience by Jesse James Garrett site objectives are most often objectives in general terms. Mostly all business websites have one of two fundamental goals: to make the company money or to save the company money. I believe that the first fundamental holds true to Apple’s website as well; They want to make money. The website has a lot of information on it, but the reason that content is there is to promote their products and encourage sales. Their website also enhances their brand identity, which could be a site objective in itself. Apples brand identity is innovative, imaginative and empowers people through their technology. I believe that their website exemplifies these characteristics well. The aesthetics and feel of the site are representative of Apple’s brand identity. This impression is surely a result of conscious choices designers made.

For a person who has just purchased their first Macbook, the website should address this new customers needs very well. One of the most important reasons that the Apple website, or any website for that matter, should effectively address a new customers needs is because gaining a new customer is fairly easy, it is retaining the customer that takes skill and expertise. For a person who has just purchased a Macbook they may want to know how to use certain controls,  tips and tricks on the trackpad, and information about the programs that are already pre-installed on Macs. The first element I noticed on the Apple website was User Segmentation. According to the text, user segmentation is dividing your audience into smaller groups consisting of users with certain key characteristics in common. When you click on the “Mac” button on the nav bar, the site directs you to a page dedicated to their computers. At the very top, there are different options one can click on including Macbook Pro, Macbook Air, iMac etc. By allowing users to choose the computer they have/want, you’re categorizing the user and providing them and abundant amount of information about the computer they chose. Upon being directed to the computer of your choosing, the usability of the page was well done. For example, I clicked on Macbook Air because that is the laptop that I have. The homepage for Macbook Air includes simple sections emphasizing the laptop’s high points. At the top right of this page is also a navigation bar that allows users to browse, or find what they are looking for quickly. As for the new Macbook customer, the OS X tab would be the most useful. This tab includes information about the operating system, connecting your Mac and iOS, different apps, iCloud, and how to use the multi touch methods. In my opinion, I think the name in the nav bar should not be OS X. For new users, they may not now what that is or means. To even further usability, I would label it “Getting Started”, or “About Your Macbook”. Overall, I think the site effectively accomplishes their goals and gives new users an outlet to learn about their computer and find information they may need.

2. A functional specification is a document used to describe in detail a product’s intended capabilities, appearance and interactions with users that is given to software developers. In essence, the functional specification is a guideline and reference point as the code is being developed. Facebook’s wall probably has an extensive functional specification that continues to evolve. One specification definitely was the profile picture. When Facebook was developed in 2004, the profile picture was displayed in the lefthand corner of the wall as a sqaure, as it is today. Other specifications include the status bar, where one can write their own thoughts, add pictures or videos, or declare a new life event. Within this, a user can tag their friends, add and emotion, add their location and even choose who they want to see their status. Mentioned in the text, specifications are, like the name intends, to be specific. When describing what you want the status bar to be able to do functionally, one must use a lot of detail. Other specifications on the Facebook wall are the cover photo, the about section, the timeline and the timeline year clickable on the right. In order to get exactly what you want out of your functional specifications, you must write in in a positive manner, use a lot of details, and avoid subjective language.

3.

Hierarchical Structure:

An example of a hierarchical structure would be the Robert Morris University website. In this type of structure, nodes have a parent/child relationship with related nodes. Not every node has children, but every node has a parent. Most webpages are set up in this structure. On the homepage, you can go to many pages that lead to other children pages, but they all lead back to the homepage in some way.

https://sentry.rmu.edu/

Matrix Structure:

A matrix structure is a structure that allows a user to move from node to node along two or more “dimensions.” The books explains this structure by using an example of a person who wants to browse a selection by size and also by color. By learning this, zappos.com is an excellent example of a matrix structured website. When looking for a pair of shoes, not only can you search in the search bar, but you can choose the type of shoes you are looking for, the size of the shoe, the width of your foot, the brand of shoe, the color, the price, the season, the preferred insole and even he weight of the shoe. The matrix structure can accommodate for this type of searching.

http://www.zappos.com/

Organic Structure:

Organic Structures don’t follow any pattern in structure.There are no sections and encourage free-form exploring on a webpage. An example of an organic structure would be Pinterest. When you go to pinterest.com, there is no order to the posts that come up. Some things may be very interesting to you and some may not. It can be tailored a little bit to your interests, but other than that, the posts are random and in no order. This type of structure can be a problem for those users who want to visit the same piece of information again. It may be very difficult to see the same content again without some extensive digging. 

http://www.pinterest.com/

Sequential Structure:

Sequential structures are just what they appear to be: sequential. Information is displayed in order, like it is in books, articles and videos. The website I stumbled upon that displayed this structure was the evolution of the Porshe. It is a single-page site that acts as a timeline and gives users information in a vertical fashion according to different years.

http://porschevolution.com/

4. The Huffington Post index page is mainly content. To me, about 80% of the page consists of content and only 20% is dedicated to navigation. Because it is the index page, all of the previous articles are being showed.

As for Google, I think the homepage and when you make a search vary in regards to content and navigation. On the Google homepage, I believe that 95% is navigation – the search bar, the Google login, the Google+ notifications, and the click ables in the footer. The only content would be the Google Logo or the picture in place of it. When you make a search however, the percentages change. Content becomes the majority of the site and navigation take on a lesser role.

Wikipedia, on the other hand, is 60% content and 40% navigation. Wikipedia provides a plethora of information on a number of things but has less navigation. There is a bar on the left hand side strictly for navigation including links to their main page and language changes, but the majority of their navigation lies within the content itself. In just a few sentences you may have five or six links to other wikipedia pages.

I would consider Etsy similar to Wikipedia, with 70% content and 30% navigation. There is a navigation bar at the top which includes a search bar. The page includes a footer as well. But other than those two things, the rest is content leading users to different products available to purchase.

5. Landor.com guides the readers eye very nicely. The text book says that successful designs have two important qualities. The first is that your design follows a smooth flow. To me, the site seems guide my eyes very well. The first thing I notice is the Landor name in the top left corner in the yellow square. The next thing that catches my eye is the colorful news rectangles in the center of the page. Once I explored this, I noticed that the smaller, black and white squares surrounding these two things were rollovers and provided more information about the picture. This arrangement of rectangles and squares had nice contrast while still maintaining uniformity and communicating to the user.

The second quality of a successful design is giving the users a “guided tour” of the possibilities available to them without overwhelming them with details and intricacies. This quality was a part of the Landor site as well. Along with the black and white square, there is a navigation bar and also a footer.

Another element of the surface plane is internal consistency. As for internal consistency, the site maintains similar designs throughout the pages I clicked on, mainly having a main, colorful section with the details of the page, surrounded by black and white squares. Although each page looked relatively the same, I found it a little bit overwhelming at times. I would like the site more if the smaller squares were a little bit more muted and there was a border around the main information.