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Review #2: Tiptonic Single Page_Raven Larkin

Tiptonic’s colors are white, black, grey and orange. These colors give a sense of sophistication and professionalism, and also make it very easy to read the text on their single page. Scrolling further down the page, there is a dark grey grid with a texture on it, with orange and white text on top of it. This textured background makes the text and image easier to read, and makes the orange color pop a lot more. The bright text colors on top of the dark grey background is very easy on the eyes and looks professional.

The background changes from textured to a solid color of dark grey, orange, or white. The change in background is successful, professional, and easy on the eyes. If the user were to stare at a textured background for a period of time, the background will start to bother and hurt the eyes. It is a nice change to not stare at one color background for an entire page and instead have alternating colors and textured backgrounds.

Tiptonic’s single page navigates by scrolling from top to bottom. The single page also has clickable links to other webpages for the user. Color is one element that makes the website easy to read and scan over. The single webpage is unified, with the theme of the colors being white, black, grey and orange, and everything appears to work together and belong together, versus things randomly being placed on a webpage. The page is balanced in terms of how everything is placed into squares of information, and the colors are also balanced.

This webpage’s design is well done. The colors match and complement one another. For example, the grey complements the orange and makes it pop more and stand out to be easy seen and read. Nothing on the page blends in or gets lost, and everything pops out and is read easily. The design’s layout is successful, because it is all broken up into different squares to show a grid system, and makes the webpage appear more interesting instead of a webpage scrolling straight down in a single box of text and information.

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SMild Week 6 Reading

  • What information can ethnographic tools give you to improve the interactivity of an online banking website? (pp. 48-54)

I think ethnographic tools can be useful in determining who actually uses online banking and then building the website around the age and group of people who use it the most.  When I think about online banking I think of my parents using it and they are 50-60 years old so the website needs to be easily understandable for someone who is not that great with technology but still keeping everything completely safe.  I mean, this is a bank we are talking about.

  • At what point is a design finished? What makes it a success? What is its purpose? (pp. 54-62)

I think a designed is finished when all possible outcomes for the product have been tested and fixed.  It is finished when nothing else can be done to it or when the designer is truly happy with it.  That may have nothing to do with the book and I understand that designing is for the user experience but I think it is just as equally important for the designer to love what they have created.  Branding is what makes a product a success.  Its purpose is to get people to buy and think that it is something they need in their lives.

  • 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)

I use my iPhone 6 regularly.  Its branding makes me feel like, “look, I can afford an expensive phone.”  That sounds super shallow but I feel like that is how all Apple products leave people feeling.  My relationship is highly protective because it is an expensive phone and I got it for my birthday so I really careful to not drop it and always have a case on it.  I went from using an iPhone 4 to an iPhone 6 so I would say, yet again, the branding itself made me feel better because I am finally with the times.

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SMild Movie Response

I really agreed with Dieter Rams when he said that users act positively when things are understandable.  I feel that some people over design products because they want to make something new and out there but it is not going to do well if the people buying the product do not understand how to use it.  Some notes I wrote down about how the designers from the movie define design as “ways to improve the way people do things,” “are the things we are going making change?,” and “every object tells a story if you know how to read it.”  I think the one things that really struck me about design is make the people move, not the product. The whole movie kind of just blew my mind since I have not really sat down and just thought about design and how powerful it can be.

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Interaction Design Chapters 3/4/5

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.

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Week 6 Reading

What information can ethnographic tools give you to improve the interactivity of an online banking website? (pp. 48-54)

By understanding the habits and customs of a user, a bank can design its website to most quickly serve the greatest number of users. For example, the majority of visitors to a bank’s website will be looking for their personal account. They need to be able to get into it immediately. The rest of a bank’s visitors are probably either looking for information on the bank, or for a service the bank offers that solves a problem they have. Therefore, the site should also have helpful features that help users determine what products they need.

At what point is a design finished? What makes it a success? What is its purpose? (pp. 54-62)

Since a design exists in the context it is designed to be used in, and the context is always changing, no design for a given product category can be regarded as final. A successful design is one that seamlessly and elegantly integrates into the cultural context and solves a users needs in an intuitive manner.

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)

I recently bought a camera, and in the process of making the purchase decision, evaluated many variables and brands to choose one. Ultimately I went with a Pentax camera, because they were known as rugged, affordable, and played nicely with older lenses. The branding of being reliable gives me confidence that I can use the camera in most situations and not have to worry about it.

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Objectified Review

There are very few movies or documentaries that require a tremendous amount of thought and concentration while watching; However, Objectified is an exception. From the very beginning of the film, images and clips were shown that made the viewer think and the context had a profound impact on my views of design. There are many professionals that appeared in the documentary who had opinions on design and views of society that I had never heard before or thought of on my own. One of the first ideas the film mentioned was the fact that every object has a story behind it. Everything one uses on a day-to-day basis has been strategically designed, yet no one thinks about it. Maybe here or there someone ponders why a toilet looks like a toilet, or why a door looks like a door, but it is a rarity. In my opinion, the people shown in the flick have molded their minds to automatically think about these background stories and incorporate that knowledge into modern design. Because of this, effective designers know what people need or want before everyday people realize it. For example, a company designed a new handle for hedge clippers without anyone even bringing up the fact that they were hard to use. By having a grasp of the stories behind products you haven’t created, one can incorporate this knowledge into other products – ultimately improving performance by design without anyone noticing or thinking about the change.

Someone in the film stated that good design is “un-designed”. Allowing users to say, “well of course it is this way.” A person using said hedge clippers would assume that having notches in the grip for your thumbs would be an obvious feature, but at one point it was not. Some designer had to have an “ah-ha” moment and realize just how obvious that feature was, and eventually implement it.

Being inventive and ultramodern is an important aspect of design in general, but someone in the film mentioned that one of the hardest parts of design is removing what is unnecessary. Although having a lot of features can be attractive, it is not always user-friendly. The documentary emphasized this point a lot. It is all about the user, and that must be kept in mind at all times while designing. A good design should be unobtrusive, easy to use, self-effacing. A good design should have as little design as possible. I completely agree with this statement. When things don’t work properly, individuals automatically assume that they are too stupid to use the product, but it is the design that is actually stupid. Design is supposed to allow humans to interact subconsciously, while producing the expected result of some object.

Watching this film has really changed my view on everything I touch. I have begun thinking, “Why is that the way it is?” and, “Who decided that that looks ‘right’?.” Before watching Objectified, I had always thought of design as simply aesthetics. Much of design still pertains to aesthetics, but even more of it has to do with usability. I had always thought that much of those aspects of design were left to engineers, architects or inventors, but it dawned on me that we are all people, living in the same world, using similar products. Anyone from a plumber to a doctor to a pilot to a small child has insights to usability, but it is how you train your mind to acknowledge potential changes. Being a designer, the world is virtually in your hands.

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Reading Response #2

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

Interaction design is defined as the process of finding the issues of design through user testing and reviews. Many of the common challenges with interaction design come from a lack of understanding from clients. This means that it is up to the designers to help clients define their own needs and describe the end product accordingly.

 

2. What is interaction design, how its evolving. What fields does it draw knowledge from?

Interaction design is design focused on the user and how they are dynamically interacting with the piece. Interaction design draws from many types of art and beyond. While it is often made up from graphic, web, or game design, it also draws upon sociology and psychology to build compelling experiences.

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Reading Response #2_AWolfe

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

Interaction design is a process of creating and defining what the issues of design are through tests and getting user reviews. There are many steps that go along with this; define, discover, synthesize, construct, refine, and reflect.  Some challenges that the industry faces is that many people do not understand what interaction design is and therefor put a lot of strain and difficulties on those who work with it daily.  A lot of problems that occur are also a direct result of communication and resources, some might lack one or both of these.

2. What is interaction design, how its evolving. What fields does it draw knowledge from?

Interaction design is a user-oriented field of study that focuses on meaningful communication of media through cyclical and collaborative processes between people and technology.  In order to have a successful interactive designs, setting clearly defined goals, a strong purpose and intuitive screen interface.  It is evolving through the sociological and psychological field. These people study consumers use with certain products. How the encounter with it went, whether negative or positive.  It draws in knowledge mainly from sociology and psychology.

 

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ecarrington_Week 5 Reading

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

Interaction Design is the process of creating and defining what the issues of design are through testing and asking users. The steps may sound formal (Define, Construct, etc.) But it comes down to who you are solving a problem for, and whether or not your solution works. Through designing interactive products, the process of interaction design makes more sense. Consumers and clients alike do not understand what interaction design is, resulting in a lack of straightforward communication and limited resources. The client cannot know what they want unless they are shown what is possible.

  1. What is interaction design, how its evolving. What fields does it draw knowledge from?

Interaction design is creating for people and understanding the process in which people interact with digital products and environments. The fact that interaction is reliant on the consumer means sociology and/or psychology are applied to this activity. By anticipating what users will do, what errors they may encounter and the paths they take will enhance their overall experience. Social engineering is factored in as we naturalistically observe their interactions and act upon them.

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Keeping an Audience by Brandon Kreiser

While I was navigating my way through onepagelove.com I came across a fun and visually stunning site, easyrocketstudio.com. When I landed on the page I was immediately impressed by the animation and design  of the page. I was able to quickly pick up the information that was being presented, and within a matter of about three seconds I knew exactly what easyrocketstudio.com was all about. The main reason I did not return to onepagelove.com was because this information I was getting from easyrocketstudio.com was easy. I was able to gently scroll down the page and read the information while appreciating the art that accompanied it.

Easyrocketstutio.com is a site that sells e-sport services to any online sports, gaming, or betting companies, which means that the site is meant to target a specific niche. While the site is visually stunning, it is far from perfect. The site has quite a few grammatical errors. It has two language options, English and Russian, and the primary language is Russian. It’s most likely that these grammatical errors are translation errors. The only major coding issue can be found at the bottom of the page where some text is lost behind an image, an easy fix once the problem is identified.

One of the strongest elements of this web page is its use of artwork and visually interesting elements to guide the eye to different information.  “Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug states that websites need to have elements of visual hierarchy in order to organize information for the viewer (2014). The use of the graphic elements in easyrocketstutio.com help to establish a strong pattern of hierarchy that separates the general information from the details.

The separation of detailed information is another strong point of this web page. Krug mentioned that it is key for sites to refine information and make things as minimal as possible. The goal is for the user to get as much information as possible with little to no effort. This is accomplished by keeping information clear and concise, something easyrocketstutio.com executed very well.

One element that many one page sites fail to include is a navigation section that allows the user to travel to different areas of the page without endless scrolling. The sites that do have navigation tend to be less graphical and artistic and more structured. I thought that easyrocketstutio.com did a great job at keeping the navigation bar easy to find and simple to use without taking away from the stunning artwork of the page.

 

Easyrocketstutio.com is an engaging single page web site that utilizes many of the important elements of effective website construction. The most important areas it capitalizes on would be its effective use of graphic elements combined with concise information that is easy for the viewer to read. The web developers of easyrocketstutio.com did a good job at building a site that people won’t want to click away from, which after all, is the ultimate goal of commercial websites.

 

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Week 5 Reading

What makes up interaction design and what are some of the industry’s challenges?
Interaction design is a system of design that focuses on people by defining a problem, then investigating and designing based on the way people use things. Challenges for the industry would include a lack of understanding of the process or its importance. Because of this lack of understanding, designers are often not given the space, time, or resources to conduct proper research, and their input may not be taken if other specialists have different opinions.

What is interaction design, how it’s evolving. What fields does it draw knowledge from?
Interaction Design is a design philosophy that focuses on people. It is interesting in that it is actively evolving in both academic and business settings, with universities and companies making advances independently and jointly. It draws from more conventional, ‘fine art’ style design philosophies, as well as social sciences (e.g. sociology) and applied sciences like engineering.

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Review #2

On the site called Echo at echo-pr.co.uk, the concept that they pushed out to the general audience is very intriguing at first, but it can be very hard on the eyes for some or almost all viewers. First things first, the site starts off with the word ECHO in bold lettering but the texture is thin stripes running down from left to right through the text. The text itself is a light grey color that is put in that color only to showcase its idea behind the website which I will explain later on. It throws me off a bit not only with the stripes, but it is very hard on me to read such a contrasting color with a bunch of stripes running through the page. I get their idea behind it, but it creates such a distraction to the site that could potentially turn away clients/consumers.

Their website has a “switch” widget on the upper left hand side that turns the texture from black stripes with a white background, into white stripes with a black background. This idea is what they called their “switch-on” implementation of making an impact on the layout. The next page while scrolling down switches the text ECHO into diagonal type, which is very interesting in my opinion, then later on breaks off the lettering each time you scroll down.

Now the site’s design is very simple and basically bold with black and white textures and formed layout, but overall it connects in such a way that it flows directly from top to bottom without any contortion through navigation, layout, or scrolling sequences.It’s grid, although some images and text overflows through one another at times, is in a proper format and doesn’t throw off the set details behind the sites idea and design.

Overall, the grid used in the website’s design may be simplistic to a degree, but it controls it’s own layout and the colors and textures are primarily created through implementation of black and white. Although the colors may be simple, it all comes down to how the website portrays it’s usage to the colors.