What information can ethnographic tools give you to improve the interactivity of an online banking website?
Ethnographic tools can give loads of data that allow the designer to determine how to design specifically for the users of particular ethnic and geographic groups. This is beneficial because it reduces the risk of offending people in a particular group, which would be bad for business as you would be losing part of your intended users. With that said, things like symbols, colors, words, among other things can play a huge role in how a brand or product is perceived in different geographic and ethnic areas.
At what point is a design finished? What makes it a success? What is its purpose?
A design is never truly finished because things can always be improved. There is a point at which the designer needs to make a decision to either continue working, or consider it “finished.” In terms of dubbing it a success, it can be considered as such when it has solved the problem outlined in the beginning of the design process.
Identify a product family you use regularly (can be anything from technology to consumables except for coffee). How has its branding affected your use, relationship and experience with the product?
Even though it is extremely popular, the first thing that comes to mind is my reliance on Apple products. The integration between my phone, my laptop, my watch, and my camera all make for the perfect workflow with the products of theirs that I own, even if they aren’t the newest models. To clarify, I do not own an apple camera, besides the one on my phone of course, but apps and Bluetooth connection on the iPhone allows for easy connection and transferring of photos and other data that would be time consuming and clunky to do between different systems. Their branding has affected my use and experience with the products because it all has the same look, layout, and generally operates the same way. This makes me far more inclined to want to use Apple’s products compared to others because the seamless transition between devices. I would even go as far to say that using their devices feels more like using Apple as a company, not the device itself.