What information can ethnographic tools give you to improve the interactivity of an online banking website? (pp. 48-54)
Ethnographic tools are very important to designers trying to find out why the users do what they do by completely immersing themselves in the user’s mind. For a banking website this could be effective in order to find out why a user takes a certain path to get somewhere on their website. Instead of finding what the user wants in banking, it would find why they want to maybe deposit or make a transaction.
At what point is a design finished? What makes it a success? What is its purpose? (pp. 54-62)
When finishing a design it is important to go through a process of synthesis, creation and refinement. These three steps represent the idea of finding a solution, creating variations, and refining them to find the best one. A success of the refinement phase is determined if the designer looks and finds that it has solved the problem efficiently and simply. Success also means that it stands up to critics of the user field while going through testing. It is also important for success to continually focus of the purpose of the design. It can be very easy to stray of the mark when you are brainstorming ideas, but is necessary to hone the solution to the problem in order to succeed.
Identify a product family you use regularly (can be anything from technology to consumables except for coffee). How has its branding affect your use, relationship and experience with the product? (pp. 78-84)
Gatorade is a product I use that branding has most certainly affected my relationship with the product. To start Gatorade is known to push marketing as the best sports drink, that replenish lost electrolytes. This alone has got myself to almost always have a Gatorade when I play sports. Their bottle is known to be slightly thicker than most bottles making it feel sturdier and that is shown in commercials always having the bottle slammed down. This makes it feel like you need a bottle of this when you are involved in any sort of activity to replenish what was lost. Overall Gatorade is known around the world as a sports drink and even though it may not be the healthiest one out there it is known as the most popular one that tastes good.