Author: TBash

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.

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.