Chapters 3, 4, and 5

1. Ethnographic tools are used to determine how users experience a product and what can be improved upon. In the case of an online banking website, these tools could be used you can keep track of what features users are interacting with the most and which features they are having the most trouble with. It could also be used to predict some features that users might be looking for but don’t currently exist on the site.

2. In a way the design process is never truly done. It can always be improved upon with aspects being added or removed. However, a design process can be considered done once it is able to serve a user and offer a purposeful experience. Upon reaching that stage it can be sold and marketed.

3. A product family I use every day is drinks. I’ll usually reach for a water or a tea, but I will drink Gatorade if I am exercising or playing a sport. It has been branded as a drink to be consumed before, during, or after physical activity and I associate it with that type of experience.

Objectified Response

I agreed with pretty much everything the designers in “Objectified” had to say. They’ve spent their whole lives working in the design field so they are able to speak from experience and give a much better idea of what their lifestyle is actually like.
A few things stood out to me that changed how I thought about design. First of all, I never really thought about how almost everything I interact with on a daily basis went through a design process of some sort. Certain objects go through a more rigorous and thoughtful process, but even the most basic items had to be designed by someone at some point. Another thing that stood out to me was the idea of designing objects for “wearing in over wearing out.” The concept of creating items that improve over time and give the user more of an experience the longer they own it is intriguing. I don’t think this applies to everything though. Smartphones are incredibly difficult to design for “wearing in”. The technology is changing so fast, and unless you can constantly take the phone apart and continuously upgrade it on pace with the advances of technology you’re stuck buying a new device every few years to stay relevant.
Before watching the documentary I defined design as the “creation and construction of objects.” My definition after watching hasn’t changed that much but I think that there is more to it than simply coming up with an idea for something and making it. There is thought, observations, and testing that all factor into the creation of something.

Objectified Response

Ricky Petticord

Designing for New Media

2/27/16

Objectified Response

 

I found Hustwit’s film to be very compelling, as many of the statements and stories from designers across the globe resonated with my thoughts on design and how designers think. Dieter Rams’ points that “good design is innovative design, good design should make a product useful, good design is aesthetic design, good design is unobtrusive, good design is consistent, and good design is as little design as possible” echo my own thoughts on design in how I observe and purchase products, and how I conceive my own ideas.

The points towards the end of the film about designing sustainably piqued my interest because that is not something I typically think about when I think about design. This film brought a lot of things full circle in regards to assessing product the life cycle and sustainable practices in the business world, and how impeccable design can impact the consumer’s longevity assessment of a product.

I would define design as the art of assessing what people want to see, want to use, and the process of creating it. To me, design is materializing something that does not exist by harnessing creative energy and turning it into something functional that serves a purpose. I feel as though these thoughts fall in line with those of Marc Newson’s in the film; designers should always be designing for the future. I do not think that my definition of design has changed since watching the film; I feel that Objectified solidified my ideas and gave me a perspective of how to grow and implement them into my work as I move forward in my career.

Thoughts on Interaction Design Chapters 3, 4 & 5

What information can ethnographic tools give you to improve the interactivity of an online banking website?

Ethnographic tools can be used to improve the interactivity of an online banking website by providing the designer with information on things such as frequency of use, communication, and usability. If transaction history is buried deep within the site, but is the most used tool, ethnographic analysis could result in an updated layout featuring transaction history on the home page. These tools can also be used to determine if a new mobile deposit function is not communicating clearly to the customer, confusing them and minimizing the effectiveness of the product.

At what point is a design finished? What makes it a success? What is its purpose?

A design is finished when it creates a functional dialogue between a product, system, or service and a person. A successful design enhances the human experience, solves complicated problems, and resonates with an audience to create the highest value of a product for the user. A design’s purpose is to be interactive, desirable, and ultimately, user centered.

Identify a product family you use regularly. How has its branding effected your use, relationship, and experience with the product?

A product family I use regularly is EarthQuaker Devices, a guitar effect pedal company. I was first attracted to their pedals by visual aesthetic, and upon hearing an aural sample they perfectly matched with the functional features of device. EQD’s website is clean and easy to navigate, and unlike many other pedal companies, they create demo videos in house for each of their products upon release. Rather than sift through youtube watching self-indulgent guitar players “demo” a pedal, I know that I can rely on Earthquaker to create a visually pleasing, un-narrated video showcasing all of the pedal’s features the way I would if I was in a store. An EQD pedal’s knobs, jacks, and switches are laid out in an intuitive manner, creating modularity between their products and strengthening brand relationship. The company also stocks their pedals with small independent dealers, echoing their in-house demo philosophy and catering to users who avoid big-box stores such as Guitar Center.

 

Thoughts on Interaction Design Chapters 1 & 2

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

Interaction Design is made up of constructing a compelling argument and inviting the audience to experience the work; the creation of a dialogue between a person and a product, service, or system. Interaction Designers can be Usability Engineers, Visual Interface Designers, and Information Engineers. However, developing systems and interfaces does not make one an Interaction Designer. Interaction Designers need to be shapers of behavior who’s greatest challenge is to change the way that people behave through elegant and compelling design. While Interaction Designers were previously looked at as the “final step” in the surface level design of an engineering project, the field has taken on a new role in shaping the what, how, and why of industry.

What is Interaction Design, how is it evolving? What fields does it draw knowledge from?

Interaction design is defined in the text as “the creation of a meaningful relationship between a product and a person, identified and created through ethnographic and other user centered design methods.” Interaction Designers differentiate product offerings by working to make them physically beautiful and emotionally compelling. Interaction Design draws from and builds upon several disciplines; Industrial Design and Usability Engineering primarily influence the field, but an understanding  of cognitive psychology, web design, art, business and more all play a heavy role. As more and more Industrial Design and Usability Engineering jobs are being outsourced, the role of the Interaction Designer is becoming exceedingly important. Successful Interaction Design has become a strategic differentiator for businesses looking to elevate their products to a new level, and these designers will be best equipped to take on project management based on skills in culture, creativity, and relationships.

reading 3, 4, 5

  1. Ethnographic tools can be utilized by an online banking website to show the growth in interest in an account, where your money is going, and the cores in your account(s). A flow chart would help the account holder see where their money is moving and what it is going towards, which could then help that person save money and be more aware of what they are spending.
  2. In the text, it says design is an argument, “the argument has a subtle, nearly invisible, immediate effect on the audience.” Once that is achieved, and the design communicates clearly, it could be considered finished.
  3. A family of products I use very often would be Jeffree Star cosmetics makeup. This piece about integrity made me think of his brand: “integrity to materials requires a sense of respect for both the natural world and the human-made world.” This stuck out to me because he has made all of his makeup vegan, which is respect to the natural world, while also adapting to the makeup crazed culture of today. The cosmetic company is heavily branded with bright pink packaging, and very innovative colors in the makeup world. Jeffree Star, the owner, has really encompassed his brand by being very unique, very pink, and always experimenting with different colors in his own makeup. The branding by the packing and by Jeffree himself has led me to use makeup differently and more creatively.

Objectified

Tori Flick

Designing For New Media

Objectified

 

It is astonishing to think that from the moment you wake up, almost everything you interact with within your day has been designed, and has been designed specifically for a purpose. Even things you wouldn’t think to have any sort of relevance or significance such as a post-it note, someone designed a post-it note with a specific function in mind.

One thing one of the designers said that I did not 100% agree with was that no concerns for an individual person are to be taken. Details surrounded who they are were not to be accounted for, but instead the “extremes” must be taken into consideration and those extremes, whether it be something like slow and fast, those are the details that matter; everything in the middle are not as significant.

One of the designers spoke of the goal to redesign tools and objects to better fit the needs and functions of everyone, looking at things such as garden shears or even pliers and measuring how they feel and if there are any small details to improve upon. The goal is to redesign things, with people not always realizing that it has been redesigned for a specific reason. This surprised me in a good way, because out of all of the things I interact with daily I never stop to think about how it was intentionally crafted to meet a certain need or purpose.

A key point I was highly in agreeance with emphasized the importance of recognizing and noticing a product for its attributes and form, so that the inevitable design of the product makes sense, and is not just shapes and things, but instead, in a way seems undesigned because of how natural the form seems.

Another thing to consider in design is that not everything lasts forever, so what will become of your designed object once it has served its purpose and no longer functions to standard? Some products may be made with environmentally-friendly and biodegradable materials, whereas some products may have been built to last and will not be capable of doing the same. This must also be considered by the designer.

Design is comprehensibly just a search for form. The form of how something should look to still achieve the same effect and functionality needs to be understood fully and processed. Design cannot exist without a form of some sort being taken, so the priority then becomes what is the most sensible and constructive form to take? It depends object to object what form is necessary, and what form will work for everyone, not just the medium margin. If a handle of something is designed too thin and someone suffering from arthritis can’t use the handle, then a redesign must take place to include that “group” as well. Design is all inclusive, and specifically a practice to make the lives of everyone a little easier, even if the users themselves are unaware.

Chapters 3, 4, & 5

Ethnographic tools give developers guidelines for improving their technology and service. For example on an online banking website, ethnographic tools will observe the details and maintenance of their site, providing thorough analysis of any problem areas as well as an areas that in general could use improvement, just so that a user has a seamless experience trying to use their online banking.

 

Design is meant to be desirable and beautiful and elegant and appropriate. Almost everything we interact with in our day to day lives is the product of design. A design is never complete until the needs of both form and function are met. An object should meet its purpose, (eg: A chair should hold the weight of a sitting person) while simultaneously making the object easy and comfortable to use while looking aesthetically appealing.

 

My favorite cereal being Lucky Charms, I can only eat it at certain times or when I’m in the right mood because Lucky Charms has been branded as a fun and enjoyable cereal to eat for kids specifically that are “magically delicious.” By associating the cereal with fun, I tend to want to eat Lucky Charms if I am not quite in a good mood, with the goal that the cereal will cheer me up.

 

Thoughts on Interaction Design Ch.s 1&2 Response_DaneMoore

Interaction design is concerned with the observation of human behavior in every day life. Specifically, it is concerned in how people use the objects around them, and analyzing how people respond to what an object does. Using these observations, the interaction designer is to analyze how that object can be improved upon so that the user can easily understand how to use that object, and how that object can be more easily used in a higher degree.
Interaction design itself is the constant improvement of how an object can be used and better understood to users. This has led interaction design to make use of psycho-analysis in order to improve existing concepts and even add new attributes to that object to make it more user-friendly. Because of this, interaction designers also become information architects and psycho-social researchers, in that they have to order the information gathered from observing both individuals and society at large.

Chapters 3,4,5

Ethnographic tools can help with relating to users and give a qualitative description of human social condition. In terms of improving the interactivity of an online banking website, ethnographic tools can help to identify different possibilities and instances that a user and the online banking website will share. By predicting these instances, it is easier to prevent issues so that the experience over all is that much more beneficial. While ethnography isn’t so helpful for retail and to try and understand buying habits, it can be helpful for a bank who’s main purpose is to make money transfers, deposits, etc, easy and hassle free to keep the clientele.

Personally I feel that a design is never really finished. There are always improvements and advancements that could potentially be made. However these potential improvements only come with the passing of time and with new discoveries. So although it can technically be limitless you can see that your design is “finished” when it is in its most simple form and can fulfill its function.You can tell when it is a success only through testing it. You must have actual people and users attempt to use and understand your product/design. If they can figure it out with ease and will continue to look at it rather than throw it aside, then it can be measured as a success. It is important to test for comprehensibility to tell if the user fully gets the design. A designs purpose is to solve a problem, whether it be usability, aesthetic, but mainly it revolves around function.
A product family that I use regularly would be Bath and Body Works Shea Butter. Over all it’s branding is a pretty strong name, especially in my age group. While I love the product anyway and have loyalty to it because of it’s quality and amazing scents, it is also a common ground among a majority of girls in high school and college about who owns which kinds. Because it is popular among my demographic it has that much higher of an image and is displayed as that much better verses generic scented lotion.

DaneMoore_Objectified Response

I agree with the designers in that design can be improved upon, and that it must possess certain attributes. Certain attributes that one of the designer’s specificed that I agree with is that good design must be utilitarian, unobstructive, honest, and easy to understand. Some other statements that I agreed with is that graphic design is not fine arts. I myself wasn’t able to discern that until after one of the designers made that distinguishment on camera. Other statements that I agreed with is that design must be created in an appropriate environment where everything works well, is organized well, that elicits us to want to interact with the design, and should also elicit nostalgia in the user/viewer (one of the examples used in the film was “That’s the chair that dad always sat in”).

One other thing that I did not discern too well about design that I learned on the film is that design is something that will be mass-produced, and that new design doesn’t last. Even though I did have a basic understanding of such, I did not think about it as deeply as the film went into both subjects.

Because of this film, my definition of design has actually changed. Originally, I was still thinking about design as in the fine arts sense; design is a composition of harmonizing or disharmonizing elements that represent an idea. Though it does technically hold true even in the graphic design sense, it was still only a sliver of the definition as a whole, and my understanding of design has expanded greatly because of Objectify and the designer’s interviewed. After seeing the film, my new definition for design is the harmonization of elements that allow the user to easy access of the product functions and the ability to have the user learn about the product in a thoughtless manner.

Objectified Response

Most of the designers were of the opinion that design should always have a purpose, regardless of what type of design it is. I agree with this to an extent. I think that some kinds of design should always have a purpose. But I think there are times that it’s okay for design to simply be pretty. Things that are nice to look at but do not otherwise have a purpose are not necessarily pointless. It’s important to people to be exposed to visually appealing things. Sometimes just looking nice is a design’s purpose. Others may disagree with me about this, but whether we all admit it or not, we all enjoy things that look good. Many of the things we do in our everyday lives revolve around this desire for things to look nice. Everything from brushing our hair to cleaning our houses reflects this need for our lives to be visually pleasing.

The way the people in the video talk about design didn’t change the way I think about it too much. To me, design is something that either makes you think or makes you feel something. My opinion hasn’t changed since watching the video, but I do think it has made me aware of more types of design to include in that definition. I am so used to thinking of design as something that happens on screens and on paper, and the video was a nice reminder that design extends to things such as furniture and tools. Purpose is definitely more important in those types of design.

I think design’s level of purpose varies among different types of design.

Objectified

It was very interesting watching real interaction designers at work in “Objectified.” Prior to the movie, I never would have thought of furniture as a means of interaction, let alone something that takes intense design work. However, there was one comment made about a man who does not make uncomfortable seating, but very clearly made uncomfortable looking plastic chairs. Other than that main comment, I did not particularly disagree with any of the designers. They were extremely insightful on how everything needs to be functional, yet personal. Without a personal touch, the design becomes meaningless. I also found it intriguing how one of the designers had branded his own appearance. Usually when thinking of design work, a person will think of a designer’s personal style. This man made something totally different of that; once seeing him, the image of him will always remain in memory. The movie definitely opened my eyes to more of the possibilities of design. Design becomes a brand, a statement, a part of every day life, and eventually trash. As a beginning designer, I never once thought of my work one day ending up in a landfill, or crumpled up in a trash can to never be looked at again. It was mentioned that design should get better with age, and be able to handle wear, and I couldn’t agree more. I don’t want to see somebody just throw away something I worked my hardest on. Moving forward, that is something I plan to keep in mind and work on achieving. “Objectified” opened my eyes a bit more to the endless possibilities of design.

Chapters 3,4,& 5 Response

•What information can ethnographic tools give you to improve the interactivity of an online banking website?

Ethnographic tools can increase the overall experience of online banking. For instance, if you view the journey maps, then you can determine which pages are most frequently visited and create quick links, or even what information customers most frequently need help with and can introduce more interactive aspects to create an ease of usability. By introducing more online interactive services, you will be able to provide a richer banking experience to your customers.

•At what point is a design finished? What makes it a success? What is its purpose?

While a designer is never fully done or finished with a project, there is a point where it is ready to be released to the public and the market. There are almost always aspects of a design that can be improved upon, however, the purpose of design is to create a usable and enjoyable experience for the user. Once a product reaches a point of usability and enjoyable performance, it is finished.

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

A product family that I use on a daily basis is art supplies. Being a graphic designer and enjoying fine arts, I tend to naturally love sketching out everything I possibly can on the daily. I lean towards Prismacolor products and its branding has definitely affected that decision. Growing up I would use whatever I could get my hands on for my projects. However, Prismacolor has a very artistic and some could even say controlled chaos look about it. I love that because I am a mess when I am creating things and I can relate to their branding. Also, their products create a great experience, I have never had anything to complain about.

Objectified Response

Objectified, to give expression to (as an abstract notion, feeling, or ideal) in a form that can be experienced by others.  Giving expression to a form or product is exactly what interaction designers do, so it really intrigued me that this was the title of the film. As a designer, I was guilty of viewing design as “making things pretty.” But after watching this film, I realized that design is in every aspect of a persons’ life and daily interactions. For instance, I am typing on my computer right now, someone designed this computer and every aspect of this computer to make my experience enjoyable from touch to visuals to usability. I, also, did not realize how quickly I judge something, whether it be a product or someone’s clothing choices that day, I judge it immediately on if it looks simple to use or if I would purchase it. During the movie, they said that sometimes the more simple designs are better because they promote easy usability. I completely agree with that, but I also believe that the simpler designs in this culture promote a sleeker image and often times make people look like they are higher end, which is something people strive for today. For example, Jane Harrington, who’s a color styling manager in PPG Industries’ auto-paint unit, stated that the most popular car color for the last five years has been the color white. Why? Because it is simple, understated, and looks more expensive than other colors; a look that most people strive for in today’s society. Which brings us to a point in the movie where there was a statement about creating an environment that will make people FEEL good about themselves and their life. Here’s where it gets tricky, the film emphasizes “wearing in not wearing out,” which means you want people to feel good for just a short time while using your product, but you want them to feel better and better overtime while using your product. You want them to have emotional experiences, which relates to the psychological aspect of design. In essence, you do not even want your customers or users to think about the design at all. As Objectified put it, “design dissolving in behavior.” If users are truly enjoying their experiences, they will not be focusing on the design or what is wrong because they will be so focused on the task that they are completing with your design.  You need to create something that is easy to use and timeless so that your product doesn’t end up in a landfill, and if you know that it is just a temporary product you really have to think about what will happen when its time is done. I never really thought about the after, and this movie really made me think about the after. You can not just keep making and making and making with out thinking about the lasting effects of your product. The “what’s going to happen not the what’s happening.” So, as a whole, I learned a lot about the numerous aspects of design, the emphasis on experiences and sustainability, and the after effects of your product.