Interesting Post About Design

An overlooked product that is very well designed is the basketball. The basketball has become a cultural norm for us as a society. When one picks up a basketball, what does that person do with it? He dribbles it. That's what's so great about the design of the basketball. It's very easy to tell exactly what to do with it. Part of it is the cultural norm but part of it is also its design. It is round so dribbling it on any part of the ball causes it to bounce straight up. It also has grips throughout the ball so it's obvious that the person holds it in his hands. All in all, the basketball is an excellent product that has become a big part of American culture.

I chose Alex's blog for this post.
1. The thing that attracted me to the link on Alex's post was the author discussing the design of the spoon, which is very true in that it has an excellent design but it is really overlooked. I thought the author's idea that good design is taken for granted is very true.

2. Again, the idea of the spoon and how simple it is but so well designed was what was most interesting about his site. I liked how short the article was as well. Also, the author differentiates art from design, saying that design isn't timeless while art is.

3. The main point this author makes is that design is about the user. And that's exactly what Norman talked about throughout his book: that designers should do their best to make products easy for the user, not for themselves.

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Next, I chose Trey's blog

1. What attracted me to this one was the stapler. I think it's interesting to evaluate the design of simple, everyday products like the stapler, and this post was extremely interesting.

2. What's most interesting about this is how many pages the stapler can staple at once. The website said it could staple more than 25 pieces of paper, which is ridiculous. It has to be well-designed if it can do that many pages.

3. Again, it's talking about usability. This stapler obviously was designed with the user in mind. I mean, it staples more than 25 sheets at one time. It doesn't get much more usable than that.

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"The Redesigners often rely on emotional responses to aesthetics in justifying a redesign. You’ll typically hear statements like these:

It’s been 2 years since our last redesign.
Our current stuff just looks old.
A redesign would bring new traffic to the site."

"In direct contrast to the Redesigners, the Realigners cite strategic objectives and user needs as reasons to consider a site overhaul:

Market trends have shifted. Should our website be adjusted accordingly?
Our users’ needs have changed. Do we need to adapt?
We’ve added 3 new sections and a slew of new content to the site over the last 12 months. Are we presenting content as effectively as we can?
Our current website does little to convey the strength of our product offering.
Does our online presence enhance or devalue our overall brand perception?"

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/redesignrealign

The author to this article discusses the topic of redesigning vs. realigning. Redesigning, he says, has to do with improving aesthetics and realigning is improving usability. This is pertinent to our discussion because we talked extensively about the designers of products making unnecessary changes just for the sake of making a change. Making unnecessary changes actually complicates the products. This author says we should instead "realign," which is improving the usability of the product and making changes for legitimate reasons that help the user.

Truly passionate users will evangelize to others. The better users get at something, the better (higher res) the user experience. The better the user experience, the more likely they are to keep trying to get better. Nobody is passionate about something they completely suck at.Helping your users learn and (ultimately) kick ass is the best way to up the odds they'll become passionate.--http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/08/why_marketing_s.html





I love this part of Kathy Sierra's essays because I agree 100% that a good product will find a way to users if it is a good enough product through word of mouth. If one person falls in love with a product, he'll tell others about it, who'll also tell others about it. And, well designed products are the products that people become passionate about. So the point is that it is better for the company to spend more time creating a good design of a product to get loyal users instead of marketing a poorly designed, catchy product to get a lot of first-time users.

Well-designed product

I have a very handy alarm clock that is very well designed. It's silver, small, battery powered, and it's a clock that flips open and close like a cell phone. It is a very aesthetically-pleasing product because of its small size and sleek silver look. But it is also very well designed. Every feature of the alarm clock is visible and very easy to use. I remember how easy it was to figure out the first time I used this product. I'm going to just discuss the general visibility of all of the features of the alarm clock because that is definitely its biggest strength. It has 4 settings: the normal time, a setting to set the time, a setting that sets the date, and a setting that sets the alarm. You rotate between the 4 settings using a simple switch. There is a button that has month/hr on it and one with min/date on it to adjust the time and date on the clock. It also has the temperature, and a switch that rotates between alarm on and alarm off, which again is easy to use and self-explanatory. This alarm clock, I think, is very close to "the perfect product."

Washer

One product I think has a design flaw is the washer in the dorms. This is because it is confusing for a first-time user. Once you get used to the washer it's quite simple to use, but many college freshmen come to college not having done their wash. So, the washer should either make clearer instructions about how to start it or should simplify the starting process. What got me the first time was the twisting handle that has to be pulled to start the washer. But nowhere does it say that in order to twist the handle to get the proper setting, the handle has to be pushed in, then pulled to start. To solve this problem, their should be a starting button that you push to start the washer that is separate from the handle to pick your settings. So, the main problem is the visibility of the controls. It's not visibly clear how to start the washer. Obviously, the feedback is fine because you know it works if the washer starts up. But the main problem is definitely the visibility and just the unnecessary complication of the machine.

Egg drop

For the egg drop experiment, I was partners with Kate. We agreed to keep it simple because we figured the egg should be able to survive a two-story drop with supplies we already had. So, we brain-stormed ideas for padding, and we came up with many ideas, but ultimately decided on using pillows(it was Kate's idea). She also found a towel and an ice pack in her room that we figured would be nice padding for the egg. So, we went out and bought some eggs and tested our new invention out of Kate's window. It worked perfectly, the egg was intact and ready to go. So, we brought it to class on Wednesday, described it, and tested it. The egg survived the first two tests with the pillows still surrounding the egg. But, we made the mistake of trying to throw the egg out of the window with just an ice pack surrounding it, and the results were not pretty. The blue goo in the ice pack completely exploded and flew in every direction, but I don't think the chemicals contamined or poisoned anyone, which is a positive. All in all, it was a fun experience; we learned that the simplest design can sometimes lead to the best results.