Objectified
One of the main statements that stood out to me was “Every object tells a story if you know how to read it.” This really stuck with me because designers go through so many variations of their objects until they get it correct. If you look at an object and think about what possible variations there could have been its like you’re reading the history of the object. Take a desk. How big? How tall? Curved or square edges? How thick? Is it adjustable? Whats it made out of? All of these plus so many other questions should go through the designers head when trying to design a product.
“That’s what we’re really always looking for whenever we design, ways we can improve the way people do things without them even knowing or thinking about it.” This has made me think about how subtle some changes in design are, since the film I have already been noticing improvements in the products I use everyday. The changes would make my day to day life better.
I would define design as “anything created to visually, physically, or emotionally enhance your day to day experience through life.” After watching this documentary I feel that my eyes have opened to see so much more physical objects that are designed to change my experience every day. A desk isn’t just a desk anymore, it could be a table, a bed, a shelf, a bench, the possibilities are unlimited. I never thought about repurposing these everyday objects for anything but what they are already used for.
Adapt. Conform. Co-Opt. Exploit. React. Respond. Signal.
Reading Response 2
What makes up interaction design and what are some of the industry’s challenges?
Interaction design is made up of 6 main components:User control, Responsiveness, Real-Time Interactions, Connectedness, Personalization, and Playfulness. A human interacting with a phone, a dog interacting with a water fountain, etc. Some industry challenges are: What hasn’t been done successfully already, that can make a users day to day life better? What can be done to enhance the users experience?
What is interaction design, how its evolving. What fields does it draw knowledge from?
Interaction design is the enabling of communication through media using technology. With enhancements in technology interaction design is evolving. With the use of sensors, switches, and much more designers are able to create unique objects that could change lives. Interaction design can be involved in any field, anywhere in the world. Interaction design has such a broad spectrum of applicable use. In a way an electric toothbrush is interactive design.
Elements of the User Experience
- 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? (pp. 41-56)
- Apples website is designed to let the user learn about their products and purchase them. It also creates a brand for the company. They’ve had the same nav bar set up for years. The content of the buttons and design aspect may have changed but the actual bar has been the same.
- It addresses the needs by offering informational help, how to’s and video tutorials.
- What are the functional specifications of Facebook’s wall?
- Facebooks wall
- What are four architectural approaches to information structure? Find one example of each. (pp. 94-106)
- Hierarchical-Facebook
- Matrix-Amazon
- Organic-Wikipedia
- Sequential-Amazon Checkout
- What percentage of The Huffington Post index page is navigation, and what percentage is content? What about Google, Wikipedia, and Etsy? (pp. 116-134)
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The Huffington Post index page is mainly content. I would say that approximately 80% of the page consists of content, while only 20% is navigation. The main content includes posted articles.
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Google consists of primarily navigation, I would say approximately 98% navigation. The only content I would say is the logo or the google doodle that swaps out when they have something special.
- Wikipedia I would say is about 65% content and 35% navigation. They have thousands of pages linking to different sites that explain more and more about the individual words you click.
- Etsy is similiar to Wikipedia. I think that Etsy has about 75% content and 25% navigation.
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- How does http://www.landor.com guide the readers’ eyes and focus their attention on what is important? (pp. 144-155 )
- It fades out the lesser important stuff and keeps the more prominent promoted stuff in full color towards the center of the page.