By studying the type of people are using your site it is much easier to predict their behaviors. In the case of a banking website ethnography is important because almost everyone uses a bank and many use the banks website to do different tasks. Using a persona and a made up story about that person may help lead to a problem in the site that you would have never thought even was a problem. Knowing that a 65 year old woman who has never used online banking will need more explanation than a 25 year old who is trying to save for retirement. designing for the state of mind that the user is in when using a site is just as important as the features on the site.
A design can not truly be finished in my opinion, there is always a problem that will arise, even if it doesn’t appear for years after the design is in effect. The reading talks about it being finished not when you meet your own goals, or when you like at all, instead the author considers the user the final call in a products completion. Does it work, is there more to do, am I satisfied. These are some of the questions the user will ask themselves, and after those questions they will decide the completion of the project.
I only buy levi’s pants. This sounds crazy considering they are just one of dozens of clothing companies available to me, but there’s a lot going into me wearing their pants. They are cheap in comparison to some brands but definitely expensive in my mind, so really I could just buy lee’s or arizona jeans, but I only buy levi’s. Branding is a very important factor in my buying, and I am somewhat aware of this, but I go along with it anyway. The commercials for the product are typically young people living life free of problems, throwing on a pair of jeans and going out on the town. Then the name and badges on the jeans are pure Americana, and pushes the authenticity of the pants. That’s the whole idea, the authenticity of your clothes, your actions, and your life. Plus they are comfortable and have a great minimalist logo.