Category: Reading Response

Madisyn Kovach

Designing for New Media

What are the goals of Apple’s website? How does Apple’s website address the needs of a user who has just purchased their first MacBook? (Chapter 3)

The goals of Apple’s website are to make the company money and to save the company money. When looking at Apple’s website, there is a step-by-step process listed on their website to help users that just purchased their first MacBook.   Apple wants the users to have a quick and simple service when having an issue.  Apple has also set up their website based on demographic. If you think about it, people from the ages of 10-70 could be purchasing their first MacBook.  So, the website is user friendly to all ages.  Also, the Apple site wants the user to have good impressions.  Apple wants to make sure their site is helping the users with questions, so they are saving their own time and money.  If the user has a good service, they will probably buy another one of their products.    

What are the functional specifications of Facebook’s wall? If you are not on Facebook what are the specs for the signup page? (Chapter 4: Functional Specifications, Content Requirements a Prioritizing Requirements)

Functional specifications provide the developer and the designer with a vision or concept of the final website. A functional specification does not define the inner workings of the proposed system.  Instead, it focuses on the people interacting with the system.  When looking on Facebook, the functional specifications include tagging friends in posts, posting your thoughts or pictures, and scrolling to see what other people have posted.   

What are four architectural approaches to information structure? Find one example of each. (Chapter 5: Information Architecture)

There are four architectural approaches to information structure. These four architectural approaches include hierarchical structure, matrix structure, organic structure, and sequential structure. The most obvious example of a hierarchical system in computers is a file system, in which directories have files and subdirectories beneath them.  When looking at a matrix structure, a good example would be on Amazon. When looking up a product, you can look on the left side of the computer and see different boxes that you could check off.  For example, you could say I just want prime items to be shown. You would hit the box that says prime and then Amazon items that are only prime will pop up.  For organic structure, a good example would be when you are on an educational website. You can find a several page document but if you were to leave the page, it would be hard for you to get back to the same exact spot on the page.  The final architectural approach is a sequential structure.  A good example for a sequential structure is when you are checking out on a website.  It takes you through a step by step process. These are examples of the four architectural approach to information structure.    

What percentage of The Huffington Post index page is navigation, and what percentage is content? What about Google, Wikipedia, and Etsy? (Chapter 6)

When looking at the Huffington Post, I say there is about 90% navigation with 10% content.  When looking on the website, there are several options that you could use to navigate your way through the site.  While searching Google, I found that about 65% is content and 35% is content. Searching for the presents of Wikipedia’s navigation and content, I found that they have 15% navigation and 85% content.  While searching Etsy, I found that almost 80% is navigation and 20% is content.    

How does http://landor.com guide the readers’ eyes and focus their attention on what is important? (Chapter 7: Follow the eye)

When looking at landor.com, I found several things that could guide the readers’ eyes and focus their attention on what is important.  You could tell just by searching that they were trying to interest you in research, design, and consulting methods that the branding industry still uses.  They also used several navigation keys that brought you to a lot of the content. In my opinion, this website also used a strong color palate.  When having a black screen with white font, and then you hover over a word and it changes to yellow it will catch the readers’ attention on something different. Also, this website uses a very strong grid.  The readers will not get confused or lost when looking at images and reading what it put down. 

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

Ethnography is simple methods of understanding people and problems associated with work. You can use tools such as a ecosystem diagram, journey map to better understand the relationship between beginning to end. An ecosystem diagram tells the relationships between system touchpoints. For example, for an online banking website it may include the marketplace, partners, research company, the feedback from users, etc. This diagram will help the designer predict what the interactivity will be with the product, in this case, the website. For an Journey map, it tells a different story. It illustrates how a customer will engage with the various products and services over time. For a banking website, it may be a journey from how users get from looking at their account information to transferring money from one account to another. The ultimate goal is to understand how ideas connect so designers can make better decisions about the design going forward.

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

As designers we strive to improve all aspects of human life. Whether it be visual, emotional, and experimental. Interaction Design should be desirable, beautiful, and appropriate. For myself, what makes a design successful is if it does what it intends to. It could be communicating something, making people touch it, make people feel something. If you have an original goal of what you want this design to and that goal is accomplished, I think that design is considered successful. I think the purpose of it would be for the design to be impactful however big or small the impact may be.

• 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)

I buy a particular type of shampoo and conditioner. Its from Renpure. I don’t particularly like the packaging or their branding, however I am loyal to that brand because 1. It works, 2. Its Sulfate Free, Paraben Free, Cruelty Free, 3. It’s relatively cheap for the about of product you get. So, I believe that sustainable design is a big factor when it comes to me purchasing products.

• What makes up interaction design and what are some of the industry’s challenges?
• Interaction Design is the communication between the person and the product or service. It is found in literally everything we do every day, from making coffee to driving. According to the book, it can be broken down into six parts, Define, Discover, Synthesize, Construct, Refine, and Reflect. It is understanding the flow and movement of this communication that Interaction Designers need to understand and improve upon. Anyone can design something to look aesthetically pleasing, it is more impressive to create a design that is effective at interacting and understandable by the audience. I think some of the industry’s challenges stem from a misunderstanding or lack of understanding of Interaction Design. Since it encompasses so much about design and web and UX some people in the design industry may misconstrue their perception of Interaction Design.
• What is interaction design, how its evolving? What fields does it draw knowledge from?
• Like mentioned in the previous question Interaction is that flow of communication between the person/user and product of service. It is evolving as technology evolves. There are more opportunities to create and invent more ways to make everyday tasks easier. This field is relatively new, but Interaction Design has existed in other fields such as Graphic Design, UX (user experience), UI (user interface), Visual Interface Design, Information Architects, Cognitive Psychology, and more. They are all trying to create that dialogue between person and product and communicate some type of message.

1. The goals of Apple’s website is for the company to make money, and to provide users with high quality technology. They provide users with this technology in a simple minimalistic way. They have a strong sense of Brand Identity to the point where if you were stopped a stranger on the road and ask them to draw the Apple logo they more than likely could. It is very hard to navigate if you need your questions answered. There may be a way to receive help from Apple’s IT, however, I have never owned a MacBook so I wouldn’t know if it would meet a users needs if they need help getting it started up or creating an Apple account or whatnot. Granted you have to take into consideration that most people that are shopping for a MacBook have the capability to adapt quickly when it comes to technology, or already know or own a product from the Brand.
   
2. Since Facebook is a form of social media, the specifications of what the website should do would simply to allow the user to post and share messages or photos as a form to communicate their feelings and opinions. What Facebook users actually experience is something different. Since what shows up in your feed is solely based upon who you follow, I would say that for the most part, everyone gets something a little different. For myself, I get engagement photos, memes, and the rare very vocal political opinion. In a sense, Facebook does allow you to personally engage and share your thoughts about anything simply, for me however, that means scrolling through memes and pictures of cute kitties.
   
3. They are a hierarchical structure, matrix structure, organic structures, and sequential structures. An example of a hierarchical structure would be BBC news or really any news website. Once you click on one article it will give you options for more you might like and also allows you to search for articles. An example of a matrix structure would be Amazon, where users have the ability to search for items in a certain size or price range, it can accommodate lots of different users needs at once. An example of an organic structure might be the Instagram Explore page. It allows you to look at posts that you otherwise wouldn’t see and it has a flow to it that you can basically stumble upon a thread of posts and like and not really know how you got there. Not to say you couldn’t get back out, but it is always changing so finding the same post twice is difficult. An example for sequential structure is simply everyday life. What people do everyday is considered a sequential structure.
   
4. The Huffington Post’s home page mostly consists of navigation ,probably anywhere from 85-95%, where the actual content is probably 5-10%. This is because everything is a link on the home page to actual content. The only real content your getting on the home page is the titles of the articles and the small description of it. For google, it depends on whether the user has searched for something or not. If not, then it would be 99% navigation because in a sense that is why google exists. If someone has searched for something, then I would say it’s more like 90% navigation because it shows you “sneak-peaks” of the content the link has to offer. As for Etsy, it would be 85% navigation and 15% content. Solely because it does explain about the website on the home page. It also gives good descriptions of the products it displays on the index page.
5. They have excellently simple and straightforward design. It is very good at guiding the eye of the user the interactive moment of scrolling, the movement of the design, and the colors, creating an simple and efficient user experience that makes the user and myself want to explore more. The simple colors and easy typeface make it easy for the user to understand what they will click on and where to go next.

1. The goals of Apple’s website is to have the sleek, simple aesthetic they are known for and be usable by almost everyone. This website addresses the needs of someone who just bought their first Macbook by making the different types of products the first thing you see on the page. After choosing the product you see the list of every product of that type on a new page. After selecting your product, you are given information on the product. This is very easy to navigate even for new users and gets them to the information they need.
2. Facebook’s wall includes a search bar, notifications, and access to your profile at the top; a friends list to the right; various shortcuts to the left; and posts, a place to post from and ads in the center.

The main goal of Apple’s website is, like almost all businesses’ main goal, to make money. This is evidenced by the site’s structure, which emphasizes their products beneficial features and makes it convenient to purchase them. The website also has a secondary goal of postpurchase support, offered in its support section. A user who has just purchased a MacBook can find helpful information regarding troubleshooting and efficiency in this section, but might get confused and head over to the Mac section of the website first, which contains no support and only promotional material.

Facebook’s login page has the functional specifications expected of any login page. Firstly, it includes a login tab at the top for users who already have an account, prompting the user for an Email or Phone number and Password. The tab also has a “Forgot account?” link for recovery. For new users, the page also has a complete sign up section, which requires Name, Phone / Email, Password, Birthday, and Sex. This section also includes Terms and Policy links, and a link to create an account for a non-personal entity such as a business. This page also includes options for different languages, and a plethora of links to other pages such as Instagram, Help, Create an Ad, and Games.

The four architectural approaches to information structure are hierarchical, matrix, sequential, and organic. An example of a hierarchical website would be a messageboard or forum, where subforums exist by category, and different threads exist underneath subforums. An example of a matrix structure would be an online shopping site such as Amazon, where items exist under multiple categories and navigation reaches out in multiple directions; while the site conceptually has a hierarchical structure, related and recommended items as well as multicategorical listings give Amazon a matrix architecture. Examples of organic websites are difficult to find – Since most websites are designed to make money and help users, an organic structure is often impractical from a functional standpoint. Organic sites are generally experimental or for entertainment value, or in some cases accidentally organic because of poor design. An example of an organic interaction would be a text adventure. In a text adventure, you can generally only navigate to those nodes that are immediately adjacent to yours – there is no hierarchy including a home button or categories. It’s an organic progression through the maze of the game. An example of a sequential system is just about any payment processing system – the one for Amazon, for example. Once you’ve proceeded to checkout, you’re on rails until the end.

Huffington Post’s index page is nearly 90% content as far as screen space goes – the majority of the space is taken up by the flagship story of the day. However, clicking on the hamburger menu at the top left flips this completely, bringing out a navigation menu that takes up nearly the whole screen depending on resolution. Google’s index page, functionally, is 100% navigation. If you take into consideration the Google Logo, and the occasional Google Doodle, this drops to around 60% – 80% navigation. Google is a search engine, and is designed to be mostly navigation. While the average Wikipedia page is almost entirely content, the index page is mostly navigation, giving language options and a search bar above the fold, with links to external sites below. Etsy’s index page has a modest navigation bar at the top, however the rest of the page is both content and navigation at once – small snippets of content that navigate to larger individual pages of that content.

The first thing you see on Landor’s landing page is what seems to be their mission statement, large, contrasting, left justified, and relatively alone. Besides the unintrusive navigation at the top and the background image, it’s the only thing above the fold. The user needs to scroll down or click on the nav to see any other content besides this statement. Scrolling down presents the user with a list of recent news articles and works, each of which takes up their own page despite being nothing but headlines and brief descriptions. Clicking on the nav / hamburger menu occupies the entire screen with uncluttered navigation – categories such as Work and About Us are presented left justified in large font and is the first thing the eye catches, whereas links to individual projects are presented right justified in small font.

Chapter six is probably the most thought-provoking chapter of this book so far, however; I did love the reference to Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” in chapter five.

Kolko asks, “Can you make it through one day—still completing your major goals for the day—without utilizing digital technology?” My answer would be not if it involves a work day. My job is 100% based on digital technology. I have been sent home because of power outages that made me unable to do my work. I might be able to wake up using an old alarm clock that runs on batteries, I would be able to get my morning caffeine without power and digital tech, but I wouldn’t be able to make it to work because my car uses digital tech. My day without tech would have to be on the weekend. I could go on a campout…

In response to Kolko’s exercise on comparing upbringing: I was born in the mid-seventies, so I do remember growing up without most of the digital tech that I use now. The biggest complaint that I can remember my mom having with me as a child was that I was inept at reading an analog clock. I grew up with digital readouts. Today, I have two kids, born in the early 2000s, that have been “connected” since birth. My biggest gripe with them is that they don’t use the dictionary. My son asked me tonight how to spell a word, and I told him to sound it out or look it up in the dictionary. He immediately grabbed his tablet and Googled it.

As far as the education levels mentioned in this chapter, I can proudly say that both of my children (for now) are at least three years ahead of their grade-level for reading and both are advanced in math. This may be because I highly encourage reading and learning. I have been an avid reader since I was a child, an activity my mother greatly encouraged. I have passed this love of reading on to my kids by reading to them from the moment they were born and encouraging them to read whatever interests them. My daughter will read just about anything with fantasy, and my son loves historical stuff.

Ethnographic tools give us information about what people do and why they do it. Using contextual inquiry we can find out how users are using the product and where they are having problems. We can ask questions while the product is being used in its usual place of use. We can use focus groups to gather information from users who are all talking about the product together. This may give us insight into what people might think would be useful features to include that we may not have considered. We can use competitive product analysis to supplement the previous types of research. Using just this form of tool on its own can be detrimental because it uses the assumption the competitor’s product already has the best features. We can then put our research into process flow and ecosystem diagrams and journey maps to help us decide how to best organize the banking website and make it user-friendly.

A design is finished when the end user is done using it. It is successful when the user considers the “conversation” finished. The purpose of the conversation of design is to help the user use a product or complete a task.

One product family that I use regularly comes from Proctor and Gamble, though I didn’t realize that they were all P&G products until I looked them up. I use P&G’s fabric care products – Tide, Bounce, and Downy for my laundry. I use Tide because my husband prefers that brand. He has sensitive skin and has never had any trouble with Tide laundry detergent. I use Bounce and Downy because they are each available in dye and scent free versions. I am not really sure how the branding has affected my use, relationship and experiences with these products, but I know that they consistently give me good results with my laundry because I never hear any complaints from my family about itchy skin and the clothes all look, feel, and smell clean. I have not attempted to change brands out of fear that my family will start complaining about skin issues. If it works, don’t change it.

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

Interaction design is made up of the “creation of a dialogue between a person and a product, service or system.” It is designing products, services, and systems to fit with the behaviour of the every day person. This is done through research, analysis, surveying, interviewing and observing. All of this is put together to ensure the best quality item is produced for the end user. Some of the industry’s challenges are figuring out a way to “understand the problem space.” This is because interaction designers are rarely given a blank slate to work off of but instead have to redesign existing products or services to find ways to make it more consumer friendly. It is this designing for the consumer that produces the greatest challenge and is something interaction designers are faced with every day.

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

Interaction design is a “creative process focused on a people.” It is designing for behaviour and creating a design “that assists the viewer in not only experiencing a particular emotion but also in truly understanding the content.” Interaction design is evolving even though it is still recognized as a new field. This is because people have been designing interactions for centuries! Technology involving computing and communication has increased in speed, function, and capability and decreased in size and cost. This means that more consumer products can be found to contain some form of digitization. With this digitization comes the increased complexity of the user experience, and therefore Interaction designers are tasked with easing the suffering of the end users. Interaction designs draws knowledge from the field of cognitive psychology with regard to “cognition, memory, and perception.” It also draws from art as it “encompasses aesthetics and emotion.”

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

Ethnographic tools such as ecosystem diagrams and journey maps help show the pathways that users will take through different systems or how they’ll interact with an item that is part of a larger ecosystem.  In terms of a banking website, a journey map can help predict the manner in which users would navigate through the site.  This would test the layout of the site with the hopes that everything is laid out appropriately so the user can achieve their personal goals on the online banking website.  For example, if the user wants to be able to deposit money into their bank account through the website, a journey map would show the general assumed steps a user would take to achieve this.  This obviously can be tested in user testing to a get a good understanding of what the average user would do when faced with the website.  In addition, the ecosystems diagram would show how one user would interact with a large system of products and systems.  So maybe a user uses a credit card, which is part of the ecosystem of this bank.  An ecosystem diagram could show how everything connects and see where a user might need to go if they were having a problem with their card.  This is just one example, as the ecosystem diagram shows all the possible ways a user could interact with a system without taking into account the steps needed to achieve tasks.

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

A design is completed when the consumer finally gets the chance to interact with it.  In reality it could never be finished because ideas can always be revisited and done differently.  But the success of a design is heavily determined by the user.  If a user gains a connection with an item and holds on to it and spreads the word about it, it’s a successful design.  Anymore, design’s purpose is about the connection one feels towards something.  Designers are more worried about people’s feelings and emotions because that helps with the longevity of use of an item or system.    Good design generally holds a long impact, instead of being items that people interact with and then move on quickly.

• 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)

A product family that I use regularly would be bath and body works items such as sprays, room fragrances, candles, hand soap, etc.  The branding of those products as well as the store in general is a very exciting as well as luxurious feeling.  The items are relatively affordable but the appearance of them feel extremely homey and chic.  They create multiple collections to go with different seasons so it’s always an exciting thing to switch out fragrances and scents of their products throughout the year to match the season.  Due to the inexpensive nature of their products, it adds some excitement and almost feels more high class being able to switch out scents depending on the season.  It’s an experience that I’ve always enjoyed and I know that friends have as well.  It’s something that I appreciate the visual appearance of them.

What information can ethnographic tools give you to improve the interactivity of an online banking website?
• By creating a process flow diagram, an interaction designer has formed an intimate understanding of the possible logical outcomes of use within a system. Also, by using an ecosystem diagram helps describe various touch points in a visual manner. Lastly, a journey map helps show a broad sequence of interactions. The journey map describes the sequence the user goes through and as they encounter various facets of the ecosystem diagram; used to hypothesize how a product will be acquired, installed, learned, used and upgraded or discarded.

At what point is a design finished? What makes it a success? What is its purpose? (pp. 54-62)
• A design is finished when the product managers or product owners find themselves in charge of development, but the designer continues to examine form and material. The product design, development, sales and marketing make it a success.

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)
• Apple- Iphones. The branding has effected my use because it makes me want to buy more products since it’s a well known company and has good quality products. My relationship with the Iphone is that I use it daily. My experience with apple is that you know what youre getting when you buy their product.

What information can ethnographic tools give you to improve the interactivity of an online banking website? (pp. 48-54)
Ethnographic tools are very important to designers trying to find out why the users do what they do by completely immersing themselves in the user’s mind. For a banking website this could be effective in order to find out why a user takes a certain path to get somewhere on their website. Instead of finding what the user wants in banking, it would find why they want to maybe deposit or make a transaction.

At what point is a design finished? What makes it a success? What is its purpose? (pp. 54-62)
When finishing a design it is important to go through a process of synthesis, creation and refinement. These three steps represent the idea of finding a solution, creating variations, and refining them to find the best one. A success of the refinement phase is determined if the designer looks and finds that it has solved the problem efficiently and simply. Success also means that it stands up to critics of the user field while going through testing. It is also important for success to continually focus of the purpose of the design. It can be very easy to stray of the mark when you are brainstorming ideas, but is necessary to hone the solution to the problem in order to succeed.

Identify a product family you use regularly (can be anything from technology to consumables except for coffee). How has its branding affect your use, relationship and experience with the product? (pp. 78-84)
Gatorade is a product I use that branding has most certainly affected my relationship with the product. To start Gatorade is known to push marketing as the best sports drink, that replenish lost electrolytes. This alone has got myself to almost always have a Gatorade when I play sports. Their bottle is known to be slightly thicker than most bottles making it feel sturdier and that is shown in commercials always having the bottle slammed down. This makes it feel like you need a bottle of this when you are involved in any sort of activity to replenish what was lost. Overall Gatorade is known around the world as a sports drink and even though it may not be the healthiest one out there it is known as the most popular one that tastes good.

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