Classmates Blogs

I really like reading Ezra's blog because he applied the design concept we have been talking about in class to his real life. He talked about how his dad fought him overing wearing a bike helmet vs. a hard-core skating helmet. Ezra didn't want to wear the bike helmet because it didn't look at cool as the skater one and they both provided the same protection. Its funny to read his blog because nobody wants to ever wear the dorky bike helmet. My question would be why do designers not all make the average "bike helmet" look more like a skating helmet? Why design a helmet that people prefer not to wear?

Another blog I liked was Kelsey's blog because she tied in marketing with design. I have always been interested in marketing, but I never realized that design was a part of the marketing process. I like the aspect of marketing and I might look more into it as a possible career for the future.

The last blog I really liked Kate's blog. I thought it was a great example of how design can be too complicated. The fact that the lights were difficult to find in the first place was one of many problems Kate and her family experienced while they spent the night in the hotel. Also, how you have to hit the light several times to make it brighter was interesting because how would you know to hit it more times. Most lights involve a simple switch or a twisty type knob that forces you to adjust the lights that way. I just think that her whole situation is a perfect reason why designers should strive to make products as simple as possible.

Ezra's Blog
Kelsey's Blog
Kate's Blog

Design is complicated

Until I walked into Design Intelligence for the first day of class, I had never realized that design was such a big issue. In the past, if a product was complicated to use, I would keep working at it until I understood how to use it. It never really bothered me because after I did find out how to use the product, I would never have to worry about it again. Now, when we talk about poorly designed items in class, I have a hard time agreeing with people about how bad those products are. I have come to realize that trying to figure out a product is such a small part of my life that there is more important things to worry about like what I'm going to eat for dinner that night or where I am going to go on Saturday night. To put it simply, design is complicated. Some products are going to be harder to figure out because the technology involved with them is complicated. That's unavoidable. Now there are products that Donald Norman, the author of The Design of Everday Things, talks about like doors and phones that should be simpler to use because they are not new to consumers and are used everyday. These are the instances where many consumers get angry because the door doesn't open immediately because they pushed/pulled the wrong side of the door. If you think about it though, is it really a big deal. It is not going to have any life-long effects on you and you will mostly likely forgot about it in the next minute. If not, it is something you can laugh about to yourself later on. Norman talks about how consumers blaim themselves when they use a product improperly, when they really shouldn't. I agree with that completely, but its not exactly the end of the world either. All in all, I do think that designers should make products as simple as possible, but if they are not perfect, then it shouldn't be that big of a deal either.

Classmates' Links

One article I looked at was on Naufal's blog. I was attracted to his article because the passage he chose dealt with the bad design of a product that everyone has probably run into at some point in their lives. It was about a little toy that didn't work until you pulled the tag out of the toy's tail region. After reading the article more in depth, I came to really like Naufal's article because it also gave ways to improve upon those poor designs. Naufal did a great job of relating many of the things we did in class to the article he chose. One major issue with this toy was the visibility of the tag. It was not in an easy place to discover and a consumer would probably think the toy was broken and return it.

http://www.baddesigns.com/toy.html

Another blog I looked at belonged to Kelsey. Her blog interested me because it talked about how many products designed for one purpose, end up doing better as something else. One example from her article that I thought was funny was how reinforced concrete came along. Apparently, a gardener was trying to make a stronger flower pot and it ended up being perfect for the future of concrete. This blog was overall very informative on the accidental design process or "cross-pollination" as they call it. I thought it was cool how many products that we use today were created on accident. This relates to our class because it talked about the design process as a whole. In class, we talk about many of the aspects of design that can make a great product, but this article hits on the issue of the actually development, before all the flaws are found.

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jun2007/id20070611_440529.htm?campaign_id=rss_innovate

How to Design the Perfect Product Article

The article, How to Design the Perfect Product, would be a great read for our class because it deals with everything we have been learning in the last couple of weeks. At first the article talks a little about some design aspects that help with learning why people design things. One part I thought was especially important was,
"Engineers are from Mars, designers are from Venus. Engineers tend to obsess over the details of getting products to work -- but they're uncomfortable with the critical questions that have to be answered before a new product ever gets to manufacturing. Who will buy it? What value will it add? Designers revel in those sloppier issues, but they tend to cower when confronted with problems related to craftsmanship, durability, and reliability. That results in product after product that fails on one dimension or the other -- or worse yet, both."
This part does a great job in explaining why a lot of products fail in the area of design. The main authors of this article are Craig Vogel, a designer, and Jonathan Cagan, an engineer, make products themselves so they have background in the area that they are talking about. Some other key points they have are making sure you merge technology and style to create a great product. Also creating a new value from an old standard, which means taking an old product and turning it into an even more effective one. Finally, as with the book we read in class, The Design of Everyday Things, this article also had seven attributes or "principles" that they can apply toward design. These attributes are 1) Emotion, 2) Aesthetics, 3) Product Identity, 4) Impact, 5) Ergonomics, 6) Core Technology, and 7) Quality. I think these are almost more important than the ones talked about in our book because they are more up to date.

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/60/chalktalk.html

Kathy Sierra Essays

One passage I thought was interesting in the set of Kathy Sierra essays we had to read for class was, "Yes, this is a big "duh", but orientation is everything. When you ask someone to create a manual, be sure they know who and what it's for. Be sure they know that the goal is not simply To Accurately Document The Thing, but to Help The User Kick Ass. This one shift in perspective could change a user's world."
I didn't exactly agree with everything she had to say about the manual in general because a product's manual is not the first thing I get excited about when I make a purchase. I understand that a few of the steps she mentions would be a great improvement to manuals, but its not going to bother me either way. As a user, I rarely look at a manual unless it is a really complex product, or if I am having a trouble shooting problem. Even in those situations, I can still find what I am looking for because of the index, which Kathy does mention as one of her steps. However, I do not feel the need to "kick ass" while I am reading a manual because it deals with very little of the product. If you think about it, do you really even know where most of the manuals are for products after you have set them up initially. After reading these essays, and mainly the last one, How to get Users to RTFM, I just believe she puts too much emphasis on such a little aspect of the product. I can't remember the last time I blamed a manual for being inefficient in giving me the information I need. Even though it would be nice to look at a manual that is designed like a brochure, from a business sense it makes sense not to make it full of pretty pictures that will keep the reader entertained because it is not the purpose of a manual. Contrary to Kathy's belief, a manuals purpose is to, "Accurately Document the Thing."

http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/09/how_to_get_user.html

Well-Designed Product

One product I think is particularly well-designed is my clock radio that I have owned for the past 7 years. Its a Zenith Clock Radio that looks very similar to the one at this link: http://www.amazon.com/Zenith-Z139S-Weather-Radio-Alarm/dp/B00004VXB3. One of my favorite features of this product is that it is easy to use because most of the buttons/switches on my radio have only one function. This makes it much easier to understand and I receive immediate feedback from the green LED screen on the front of the clock. If I do make a mistake, it is very easy to fix and all the buttons are labeled with what function they perform. Another cool feature that I enjoy about my radio is that I can record a message on my radio and use it as a wake-up message the next morning. Now I have been using this radio for a very long time so I am obviously going to think that it is pretty easy to use. But I believe even when I first bought my radio, it was relatively simple to use and did not take a lot of time to understand. For as complicated as other radios are, my Zenith radio is fairly easy to use and has never caused me any problems.

Product Design Flaws

I had a difficult time finding a product that has design flaws. I think this is mainly because when this book was written, most products had an issue with design flaws. In today's times though, I think companies try to think of the consumer more when designing their products, after all, this book was written almost twenty years ago. One product that I think has some design flaws is my binder. First of all, the binder clips break too easily. I have only had the binder for two weeks and already the bottom ring is already bent, and this seems to happen with many binders. Also, the pockets on the side of binder are too big for my papers. If I tip my binder too far toward the top, many of the papers fall out. I feel like it defeats the purpose of a binder. I know these are really small things, but the binder fails the main point of having something to hold your papers in.

Egg Drop Experiment

I really enjoyed the egg drop experiment we performed in class. When we originally sat in groups to discuss possible ideas for designing the casing, obviously a few of them were a little out there, but a few ideas would be great for the building of our container. Once I met with my partner, Alex, he fortunately had a good idea for combining a few of the ideas on the board with a cost efficient strategy. Our idea was to put our egg in a tight styrofoam casing, which we would then place in a shoe box filled with styrofoam pieces. After that, we taped the box and blew up a bunch of balloons. We then proceeded to fill a white garbage bag with our box and approximately 12 balloons. When we started the experiment, our casing did really well. After continually dropping the egg with less and less of our casing supporting it, we discovered that we put too much protective covering around our egg. Our basic styrofoam casing was strong enough to withstand the drop from a 3 story building. If we were to do this experiment in the future, I would like to have more restrictions put on the design of our casings, almost as if we were actually designing a product for production. I think this would add a bit of realism to the project because realistically, nobody would by a garbage bag full of balloons just to protect an egg.