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

Interaction design includes many design elements and processes. It has been around for longer than the term has been recognized. Interaction design involves problem-solving, observation and analyzation of situations and human activity, communication between a user and a product, usability evaluation, process development, and the use of words and form to design interactions over time.

One of the most frustrating challenges the industry faces is identity recognition. Job descriptions for an interaction designer vary significantly in the skills a company requires. Is the company looking for an interaction designer or a web developer, interactive designer, multimedia designer, marketing professional, etc.? Repositioning the field to have its own identity and standards is one of the main goals of this book.

Interaction design is a human-focused creative process that designs a conversation between a user and a product. Interaction designers are “shapers of behavior.” It is evolving into its own very distinct field of design.

Interaction design draws its knowledge from cognitive psychology, information architecture, interactive design, product development, marketing, graphic design, design thinking, and the art world in general. It also draws its knowledge from both the analog and digital design processes.

1. What makes up interaction design?
The framework includes six core components, each building on the previous and each requiring a unique set of skills and tools. These components are named, Define, Discover, Synthesize, Construct, Refine & Reflect.

1a. what are some of the industry’s challenges?
Discovering hidden wants, needs and desires
Considering different perceptions and cultural norms
Attempting to to understand the wants & needs and to balance political requirements with implied end user demands and business goals

2. What is interaction design, how its evolving.
Interaction designers construct meaningful visualizations between individual components. The ultimate goal of the creation of these visualizations is to understand; by reframing ideas in new and interesting ways. Its evolving because the designers being aware.

2a. what fields does it draw knowledge from?
Graphic Design, Industrial Design. Also, using journey maps & ecosystem diagrams seem to help.

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

On page 22, the author describes six core components that are used in the process of Design. These core components are: define, discover, synthesize, construct, refine and reflect.

Some challenges in the industry include figuring out the always changing wants and needs of users. This is always prevalent in the design world, where the main focus is to keep a target audience. The chapter also states that is is very important to remain focused to find more detailed information while in the middle of a project.

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

Interaction design is design that is created with the idea that the user will interact with the technology and functions of the technology.

Interaction Design is evolving because designers are becoming very creative in how a product is designed, while still maintaining full functionality of the product. An example would be the many ways a chair looks. Interaction designers are discovering and creating different ways a simple chair can look, but still function as a comfortable seat.

In the book, it is stated frequently that Interaction Designers draw knowledge from Graphic Designers, Industrial Designers, and user interface developers. I believe that these fields are mentioned because they hand out knowledge about design, technology, and user experience.

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

Interaction design is a creative process focused on people, meaning that everything that is designed for interaction is based on how the people will interact with it. If it will be simple or complicated and how it can be improved upon. Some of the challenges this industry faces are that they don’t always know if the product will work but there are precautions in making sure the product does work and how to improve upon it.

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

Interaction design is taking an everyday thing and making it better without people realize it has been improved. Interaction design is evolving with the help of everything being digitalized. Designers are now able to see how things move and how things interact via a computer screen.

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

Ethnography is typically a research method that is an alternative to traditional laboratory research. Ethnographers study people, social groups, ethnic populations, etc. through observing, interviewing, survey, and analysis. Ethnography has been integrated into the design process “as a method of understanding people and problems associated with work.” This is exactly the information that the ethnographic tools can give you, problems with work and how to fix them. Through observing people using the banks website, interviewing people about their experience, surveying people’s experience and analyzing all this gathered data, valuable information is gathered about the interactivity. This information would include what aspects of the website are easy to use, which aspects are not, aspects that can be added or removed and much more. Altogether this would show how the website can be improved to make the experience better for the majority of users.

2) At what point is a design finished? What makes it a success? What is its purpose? (pp54-62)

The point in which a design is finished is different for every designer. I feel that a design is finished when the goal the designer has set out to accomplish is complete. This consists of the work being done to a level where the designer is comfortable calling it complete. A successful design is made of up many different things. The design has to meet the needs of the client or whoever this design is for. It needs to have a good concept and ample research used in the process. A design being simple and timeless while meeting its goal will also ensure success. The purpose of a design is to be a visual representation of the concept, research, and goals used in the creation of it. If a design can visually represent these things it will be finished and a success.

3) 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 is the Sensodyne family of products. The branding has effected my use by first of all getting me to purchase the product. I have sensitive teeth, so when I see the countless ads about how much these products can help sensitivity, it makes me want to use Sensodyne. This goes to effect my relationship because once I actually have the product, due to the effective branding, I begin to build a relationship with them built off of prolonged use. I think branding has effected my experience with the product by putting this image in my mind that it is really helping my teeth. The sensitivity of my teeth is still an ongoing issue and the toothpaste could be doing little to nothing at all. Regardless of this, all of the ads ensuring a decline in sensitivity make me believe it is doing something and makes want to keep using the product.

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

Interaction design is the process of creating systems, products, or anything is used by a person.  An interaction designer has to study the needs, thoughts, and actions of people in order to create an effective product or system that a user can actually interact with and hopefully achieve something by interacting with it.  This can be digital and non digital but more often today, interaction design is can be more heavily influential in digital design use.  The interaction design industry can often struggle with persuading others, whether it be the client or someone funding the project, about the importance of user testing and taking time to understand the user.  Large amounts of time can be put into observation, brainstorming, and testing.  In addition, a large issue of interaction design is the fact that every user can be completely different.  So products need to be designed for multiple different users to be able to interact with it successfully.  This can range anywhere from different physical needs to people understanding different cultural references.

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

Interaction design had a large start with the growing world of web design and was often considered in graphic design.  Interaction design has only grown since technology takes a larger effect on our daily lives.  How a user interacts with something has to be heavily considered at every step of designing something, especially because more design is turning into something we use on our handheld devices or on a computer.  So the way a user interacts with every button and screen has to be thought about.  Interaction design has to draw knowledge from different studies like in the field of psychology to understand how people think.  In addition, information design and different computer fields heavily influence interaction design.  Interaction design has to take influence from other fields in order to best understand the people they’re designing for.

1a. What are the goals of Apple’s website?

• The goal of apples website is to make the user experience effortless, use it without thinking, helping people work faster and more efficient, and make fewer mistakes.

1b. How does Apple’s website address the needs of a user who has just purchased   their first MacBook?

• Apples website uses user segmentation and is organized by categories (i.e Mac, iPhone, iPad) to help the user find what they are looking for in smaller groups. Apple also has a support category for more in depth help.

2a. What are the functional specifications of Facebook’s wall?

• The facebook wall shows your interests, things you “like”, certain friends/groups, and ads

2b.  If you are not on Facebook what are the specs for the signup page?

• the sign up page asks for your first and last name, email, password, phone number, date of birth, and gender.

3. What are four architectural approaches to information structure? Find one example of each.

1. hierarchical– Facebook, twitter, any social media that has advertisements, it always comes back to that social media site.
2. matrix– Clothing websites (i.e Forever 21), you can look by the size, color, price or specific product.
3. organic- Pinterest- sometimes you cant find the site where it came from
4. sequential- youtube

4a. What percentage of The Huffington Post index page is navigation, and what percentage is content

• not really sure about percentage but the navigation had 11 categories & 38 subcategories (content)

4b. What about Google, Wikipedia, and Etsy?

1. etsy- 8 navigation, 42 content
2. wiki- 5 navigation
3. google- 5 navigation

How does http://landor.com guide the readers’ eyes and focus their attention on what is important?

1. it has contrast to draw the readers eye and focus their attention
2. the layout
3. maintains uniformity

1a) Goals of Apple:

To acquire exceptionally good products and have a reliable service that comes at a price that best fits their customers and shareholders.

1b)Needs of users:

Apple uses “user segmentation”. By clicking on different options that Apple provides, the user finds what they are looking for fairly easy. And if not, there is a support page that will help them with the harder questions they might have.

1. Functional specifications of Facebooks wall:

When you first sign up for Facebook it gets you to pick some of your interests and gets you to find some friends so that it has an idea of what to show you on your news feed.

1. Specs for Facebook signup page:

Email/phone number, birthday, first/last name, password, and gender

4)Four architectural approaches

1: hierarchical

Facebook. There are ads and links all throughout Facebook but they all come back to Facebook

2: matrix

nike. The user can look through size, price, colour, and product

3: organic

inquisitive. The sight my Econ professor used, you could find information fairly easily but going back and forth between questions and the reading is difficult

4: sequential

youtube. Watching videos

1. Percentage of Huffington post:

It’s a lot to a little

1. http://landor.com

Always something to look at, lots of pictures

Question 1: The main goals of Apple’s Website are to 1) flaunt their newest products and make it very easy to learn more and purchase what they are displaying and 2) provide a support page, where new or returning customers are able to receive assistance with their products and have any questions answered.\

Question 2A: Facebook is a social media website, similar to Twitter. It is a way to stay connected with friends, family, and sometimes complete strangers by reading people’s posts or viewing posted pictures. Facebook’s wall is sorted by newest posts, pictures, and advertisements.

Question 2B: All that is required when signing up for Facebook is an email address, first and last name, birthday and gender.

Question 3: Four archiutectural approaches to information structure are: Hierarchical, Organic, Sequential and Matrix.

Hierarchical – something like a family tree or a mind map

Organic – Wikipedia

Sequential – A book

Matrix – Amazon

Question 4: Huffington Post’s index page is all navigation and a few links to other content. I’d say 98% navigation. Google index page is content with no navigation, Wikipedia is all content, Etsy is the only page that is about 50/50, content/ navigation

Question 5: First, Landor.com is a very simple layout. They use minimum distractions to allow the user the easiest navigation through their website. To help the user understand what is important, bright colors are used to catch the eye.

• 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)

Apple’s website, being a website with large amounts of information displayed in a clean and simple format, represents all that Apple is.  By thinking about the goals of any company and specifically analyzing Apple’s website, it’s safe to assume that making money as a company is a primary goal.  Their website advertises their newest products, giving information on everything the user will gain by purchasing one of their items.  In addition, Apple focuses heavily on brand identity.  Apple focuses on having a very forward thinking mindset, by always having the newest technology, but creating it in a way that feels very simple for everyone to use.

If a user were to purchase their first MacBook on Apple’s website, their needs can be extremely different than another user looking to purchase a Macbook.  Apple works to please many different users by advertising their simple design, user friendly nature, and customizable features.  By constantly having a simple design, users who are uncomfortable with technology and users who can adapt very quickly to technology can both use this item. Apple simplified the information that is displayed and places it in a hierarchical format.  This means that the farther the user scrolls down the main page dedicated to MacBooks, the user learns more specific information about their MacBooks.

• 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 and Prioritizing Requirements)

Functional specifications are used to help in the process of designing and developing a product.  In the case of websites, it helps programmers understand how something needs to be designed to reach an end goal.  Facebook, when one has an account with them, has a wall that is what the user sees immediately upon entering Facebook.  This wall is a place where the user sees all information posted in chronological order by people they follow or pages they like.  Some functional specifications that would have to be involved in programming that is having the newest posts go to the top of the page.

Facebook has a relatively open platform in the sense that many different forms of content can be uploaded.  Users can post articles from other websites, or upload videos, photos, or just blocks of information.  The content is all represented on the wall, the biggest organization method that I mentioned before, being time it was uploaded.  So the only content requirements are that there is something being posted and since the user is the one uploading it, the programmers simply have to create the space and ability to upload it.

Facebook also has to consider prioritizing their needs.  They want users to participate in sharing information on their platform to keep growing but they also rely on advertisements and large shareholders to financially maintain the company.  So a specific example would be that Facebook needs to reach an agreement where enough advertisements are placed on the platform to please their shareholders and financial needs but don’t place too many where it bothers the users, possibly deterring them from using the site.

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

The first form of information structure is hierarchical structure which generally gives different nodes relationships with each other where once an initial topic is selected, more specific topics become available or are connected to the current page.  An example for this form of structure is Robert Morris University’s website.  Upon entering the site, there are broad nodes available that once you select one them, you begin to funnel down into more specific nodes of information.

Another form of information structure is the matrix structure that allows users to sort through information or travel between different nodes using different categories.  This means that users with different needs can search through the same content to find what they are looking for.  The New York Times uses this as one of the forms of organization on their website.  Users are able to determine which category they want to be looking in, when the article was written, or search for keywords in an article.  Overall they use a hierarchical structure and matrix structure.

Organic structures don’t have a definitive pattern.  A lot of websites that use them are vague with their topics or maybe just beginning to explore a topic.  A website that somewhat uses an organic structure is Wikipedia.  Overall there isn’t a form of organization besides searching for a topic.  Within the different pages, other pages are connected to it through in page links or recommended pages based off of the topic you are reading.

Last, the sequential structure is a form similar to reading a book, where the user just goes through a one-line path of information.  After one page is reached, you simply move on to the next page.  A good example for this form of organization is the Boat Pennsylvania Course, where the user goes through online training to obtain their boating license.  Once the user starts the process, they simply go through the series of pages to learn the information and ultimately, if they pass, obtain their boating license.

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

The Huffington Post displays their top stories as well as breaks down different categories of stories.  Due to the fact that their main page is heavily dedicated to their newest stories, and the navigation is only set up by showing the different categories of stories, I would say that the navigation only takes up 20% of the page and the content takes up 80% of the page.

Google’s landing page is simply the google logo and forms of moving to other google pages.  I would have to say, since no content is displayed on google.com, that it is 100% navigation on the page.  As soon as the user searches for something on google, then the content begins to grow to more like 60% of the page.  But the navigation aspect of being able to travel between pages is still the main focus.

Wikipedia is also dominantly focused on navigation as it has such a wide variety of pages that it allows the user to find what they want to.  If the page begins where the user selects the language they want to read, then the navigation takes up 90% of the page and the content only takes up 10%.  When the user searches something, the ratios switch dramatically.  On these pages, the content takes up 95% of the page and the navigation is only 5% as the main form of navigation is to search for an article or begin clicking on random articles and then go to related articles.

Etsy, being an e-commerce website, focuses on helping users find items they want to purchase.  As soon as the user opens the website, they view a mix of options to search for specific items, or items that are extremely popular on the website at the time.  The navigation takes up roughly 30% of the page and the content takes up the other 70% of it.

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

The visual aspects of a website can help with the success of the website.  By leading the eye to certain elements of the website, it helps persuade people to go through certain parts of the website.  With the Landor website, the eye is immediately drawn to the statement on the landing page.  It describes the purpose/main goal of the company.  Landor uses strong contrast in size and color to draw the user into their site.  Within their navigation menu, their main topics are very bold while specific projects are placed in small text.  It’s a successful website for someone visiting it for the first time as well as someone who has see it before.  The bolded topics help give users a general overview of what Landor does.  The eye is immediately drawn to the large typography with the high black and white contrast.  In addition, Landor is depending heavily on imagery and simple colors of the website to draw the user in to something that looks interesting to them, with the hope that they will dive deeper and look at their work.