What information can ethnographic tools give you to improve the interactivity of an online banking website? (pp. 48-54)
By using ethnographic tools, the designer can collect important information about their designs. As a designer, you inherently have bias towards your own thoughts and ideas based on how you perceive the design. An ethnographic study, watching a user utilize the online banking website, can expose flaws in the design that were a result of the designers bias. For example, the designer may not utilize the mobile check deposit feature very often, so he/she buried the feature inside of a menu. But when performing an ethnographic study, it is revealed that most users heavily use the mobile check deposit feature. After performing this study, the designer might find that the feature should be placed in a more prominent area of the website, where the user can more easily access it.
At what point is a design finished? What makes it a success? What is its purpose? (pp. 54-62)
After reading the assigned chapters in “Thoughts on Interaction Design,” I have come to realize that there is much more to design than aesthetics alone. Although aesthetics still plays a role in overall design, there are many more aspects and concepts a designer must keep in mind when creating.
In my opinion, a design is finished and purposeful when the designer:
- Creates an argument and effectively persuades users to agree
- Conscientiously decides what things should look like (Form and Function)
- Takes Semiotics into consideration
When a designer designs something it is critical that a rhetorical argument is made. All designs should prompt people to believe that the design is useful and also persuade users of a specific attitude. For example, the design of a cell phone may be prompting people to engage in technology because it is extremely useful. With this, the designer is also stating that, “This cell phone looks cool,” attempting to develop a specific attitude towards the phone. If the call phone looks cool, the user must be cool too.
Form and function must also be taken into account when designing. In today’s society, form no longer has to follow or even relate to function. Previously, function and form went hand-in-hand with design. With this new view, a designer has a new opportunity to convey a form to both emotional and social qualities instead of function alone.
Because of this the Semiotic Movement has begun. Words are embedded with semantic meaning and stand for other things. The text uses the example of a chair. The word chair is associated with the idea of sitting and the idea of the object that we sit on. A designer must consider if their design relates to what people may associate their product with, both attitudes and physical products.
In my opinion, a design is finished and serves its purpose when these principles have been extensively analyzed and executed. The purpose of the design is not only to please the eye, but to enrapture specific attitudes and ideas of the designers choosing. With this, a design is successful when this is accomplished. It is very difficult to predict what users will say or think about something, but based on research and observation, one can conclude generalities amongst the population. Design reaches way beyond aesthetics.
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)
For years I have used Herbal Essences hair care products. Branding has affected my long-time use. The text describes three key components to branding: honesty, mindfulness and sensory detail. In regards to honesty, the integrity to the consumer was brought up a few times. I feel that the company is being honest with me when speaking of their products. For example, when I see an Herbal Essences commercial on television showing voluptuous, shiny hair bouncing around the TV with a narrator saying your hair will smell delicious and stay clean for hours, I trust them. Because of my use, I know that what they are saying is true, and that the company is being honest with me.
Mindfulness has often been cited as the primary state of mind necessary to accomplish meditation, or an awareness of the present moment. When I use my shampoo and conditioner in the shower I do not meditate. I do, however, realize the familiar red raspberry smell as I put the product in my hair everyday. Because of this, when I shower at places other than my apartment, I do not feel clean. When I shower using hotel shampoos and conditioners, my hair doesn’t feel “normal”.
Because of the branding of Herbal Essences products, I have become loyal. At first I bought shampoo and conditioner, then I bought hair spray and without me noticing, Herbal Essences is the only hair care products I buy. Clearly, I have had positive experiences with their products developed into a loyal relationship.
