Thoughts on Interaction Design: Chapter 6

Chapter 6 starts out by explaining cultural norms pertaining to technology. The way we use technology whether it’s speaking loudly on the phone or spreading Internet memes, we are making cultural norms. In a somewhat recent culture shift, it has become acceptable to explore technology and to understand that it’s for everyone to use. Designer’s main focus though is the users usability of the design, although there’s more to design than that. Designers also have to look for a unusable solution for the given design problem based off of what people expect out of it and the given information. In the end it’s up to the designer’s philosophy and the client’s demands that challenge cultural norms. Through mass production, a designer’s design can be experienced by millions of people. This design can also have a meaningful impact on the user’s life without them knowing it. A design can also go through a delay be the public sees it. Even if the world’s views have changed, the product will still come out with its previous motive. The design is also diffused with all the other external influences on people, but it can still have an impact on larger decisions. The chapter also discussing rejecting usability because designers learn the basics and easy ways to solve problems but to accurately solve a user-centered process, one must have a complicated solution. Then the book mentions discursive design, which is perceived as design provoking public communication. This makes the design more social by constantly changing human behavior. Toward the end of the chapter, the book explains the positives and negatives of the “digital age” and how negative behavior has shifted through design. This is explained by how much we as a culture are dependent on technology to get through the day, complete simple tasks, and unfortunately decline in knowledge. Designers will still design things that might not be needed, and there will always be a job to do and a problem to solve.