GCOM 360

Week 8 Critical Analysis

 

Discuss how each of the 5 Design Decision Styles were used or referenced in the IDEO Shopping Cart Project story?

 

1. Unintended Design

On the second day of the IDEO shopping cart design process, one member came up with an idea of a “privacy blind”. He gave an example of “a privacy blind, like when you buy six cases of condoms.”^[1]

As Spool said, “the team focuses on the act of development and deployment without any consideration of what will happen when people try to use it.”^[2] This team member forgot about how users would react to this design. Even if the customer put six cases of condoms under the privacy blind, eventually he would still have to take them out and put them on a conveyor belt where everyone could see what he was buying.

 

2. Self Design

Self Design style is more or less practiced throughout the whole design process, as a shopping cart is something everyone would use in daily life.

As Spool put it, “decisions from the Self Design style are informed by the team members own use of the design.”^[2] The team members all somewhat took reference from their own life experiences with a shopping cart, and wanted to design a shopping cart that they would love to use themselves.

 

3. Genius Design

During the research phase of the design process, the team members were divided into groups. One group went to ask for advice from an expert who had an insightful experience with shopping carts. The expert’s experience with plastic shopping carts gave them a good reference for choosing the proper materials.

As Spool said, “the Genius Design style looks to the vast previous experience of the team members… Genius design works well with very experienced team members.”^[2] The design team taking the advice from a shopping cart expert is an example of implementation of the Genius Design style.

 

4. Activity-Focused Design

The shopping cart design project was carried out in a heavy Activity-focused Design style. Team member did all kinds of activities: researching, brainstorming, team discussion, etc.

As Spool explained that, “Teams using the Activity-Focused style will plan and execute research looking at the users’ activities.”^[2] For example, during the researching phase, one member proposed that the shopping cart seat should be redesigned according to the shopping cart injury reports he had read.

 

5. User-Focused Design

When team members split into groups, Jane Fulton Suri went to grocery store to observe how customers use shopping carts. She noticed that, “people don’t like to let go of the cart.”^[1] Later this observation was transformed into more comfortable handles on the new shopping cart design.

As Spool said, User-Focused Design “is necessary if the team is looking to create an excellent experience overall.”

 

Which of the 5 styles played the most important role in the design process in the video, and why?

Activity-Focused Design and User-Focused Design played the most important roles in the design process in the video. The teams conducted a lot of research beforehand to ensure every team member understood what problems they needed to solve in order to design a shopping cart that could provide a better user experience. After that, they conducted intense trial and error activities within the lab to iterate the design. These two high-end design styles ensured the final shopping cart met the requirements both functionally and aesthetically, while at the same time giving an excellent user experience.

 

References

1. “5 Design Decision Styles. What’s Yours?”. Jared M. Spool. Jan 21, 2009.
2. “ABC Nightline – IDEO Shopping Cart”. Youtube Video.

 

GCOM 360

Week 7 Critical Analysis

 

What does writing have to do with design?

 Writing is an essential part of the creative process. As Busse explained, “From the proposal to the brief, from research to the content in our projects, and of course the rationales behind client presentations and case studies are all glued together firmly with writing. “^[1] In order to make clients understand why such design is created and how it is going to help their business grow, we need to communicate the ideas and designs with them in words, both in verbal and written language.

The designers who are both competent in writing and designing are more likely to win a client’s trust and confidence. The competition in design industry is fierce. Multiple designers compete for one job, so designers with sloppy writing wouldn’t stand a good chance. As Busse said, “If you ever come across as an incompetent writer, your client will immediately judge you and doubt your expertise in other areas—regardless of how pretty your design work is.”^[1]

 When working with other copywriters and editors, their writing styles can help designers drive relevant and corresponding designs. As Lapetino further explained that, “You can use a piece’s writing style as a guide that will inform your design choices… You can capture some of these emotions and sensations with the time-tested tools of design (color, layout, rhythm, gestalt, harmony) while simultaneously supporting the writing.”^[2] By working side by side with other teammates, designers play an important role in outputting a cohesive and compelling project to their clients.

 As a web designer, carefully choosing correct words for the content is vital for creating an engaging user experience. Anthony gave an example on words used for links, “Instead of focusing on the interface and its content, ‘click here’ diverts their attention to the user and their mouse. Not to mention, you can also make them feel dumb by suggesting that they don’t know what a link is or how to use a mouse.”^[3] It is our job to optimize user experience and pay attention to all the details visually or literally on a web design project.

Additionally, how content is presented on digital devices is evolving everyday. When McGrane talked about future content strategy, she mentioned that, “Think about all the presentation information built into our content to describe how it should be styled. It needs to be somehow stripped out for audio interfaces… Speech is going to change everything. It’s an example of why adaptive content is so important. ”^[4] Good writing and design help deliver good content, so in order to stay on top of industry trends, we need to be good content creators.

 

References

1. “If you don’t think you need to write good, then you’re an idiot”. Mark Busse. Oct 26, 2012.
2. “10 Strategies to Help Designers Conquer a Fear of Writing”. Tim Lapetino. Jan 11, 2013.
3. “Why Your Links Should Never Say ‘Click Here’”. Anthony. Jun 20, 2012.
4. “Karen McGrane on the future of content strategy”. Creative Bloq Staff. Sep 13, 2013.

GCOM 360

Week 6 Critical Analysis

 

How can the work done behind-the-scenes to ‘design’ information affect the visual design the user interacts with?

 Article Pair selected: Information Vs Technical Architecture; Creating a Successful Information Experience for Your Users.

 

1. Information Architecture affects the navigation and layout of applications

As Thurow said about things she cared about when it comes to information architecture, “Where will primary navigation be placed? … If a page doesn’t contain secondary navigation, what will the layout of the page be?”^[1] Navigation and layout are important elements of applications, because they determine how the information is organized and where it’s displayed. Layout alone is the foundation of where the visual elements can be placed, for example where to put images. Information architecture provides guidance for effective navigation and layout.

 

2. Information Architecture affects application component styles

Thurow said that, “As an information architect and usability professional, I have to consider the failure rate of different menus (fly-out menus are more error prone than drop-down menus), the paradox of choice, and the technology used to access content.”^[1] In her example, fly-out menus and drop-down menus are menus of different styles. These two different types of menus have different SEO impact, thus it leaves the information architect and technical architect to decide which menu style to use for the business goals of the application. But for users, fly-out menus and drop-down menus give different visual experiences.

 

3. Information Architecture pulls all the components of the application together, including the visual components.

Lior said that, “A good information experience pulls all the components of the application together so that users can successfully and confidently move through an application.”^[2] Information architecture is user-focused, which builds the information structure and guides users to use the application successfully. In one of the examples Lior talked about, she said that, “In the example below, you can see that by combining information and visuals you can create an effective message with very little text.”^[2] By properly integrating graphical prompts and accurate notes, users understand the instructions faster and easier. In this case, good information architecture makes best use of visual elements and provides a better user experience for the application.

 

References

1. “Information Vs Technical Architecture”. Shari Thurow. Sep 2, 2011.
2. “Creating a Successful Information Experience for Your Users”. Linda Newman Lior. May 9, 2013.

GCOM 360

Week 5 Critical Analysis

 

How does User Experience (UX) Design differ from what we traditionally call Web Design? Why is each important?

 

 

The Differences Between Them Are:

 

1. Web design is static and product-focused, while UX design is interactive and user-focused.

Web design focuses on the visual appearance of a website. Web designers use content hierarchy, color theory, typography, and diagrams to create appealing web pages. It’s more about the brand and the product itself.

While on the other hand, UX design is beyond web design. Fredheim said, “UX takes other aspects into consideration as well, such as emotional, hedonic, aesthetic, affective and experiential variables.”^[1] UX is more like customer service. UX designers take on different methods to create an enjoyable experience for users. It’s user-focused.

 

2. Web design and UX design require different skills.

Web design requires proficiency and good command of graphic design, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

UX design is a design process. It requires a deep understanding of human behavior and psychology. Bowles explained this user-centered design process, “Research. Immerse yourself in your users’ worlds to understand what they do and why they do it. Sketch ideas that address these learned needs. Prototype the most promising ideas to evaluate them more accurately. Iterate through testing, repeating steps as required.”^[2]

 

Each of Them Is Important Because:

 

1. Web design makes the foundation of UX design.

It starts from the client’s need to create a website, a static website which might meet the basic needs of the client. But in order to bring out the best results for the client, UX design comes in and plays an important role in creating a better user experience and customer-business relationship.

 

2. UX design provides guidelines for web design.

As Weinschenk Ph.D. suggested in her article about UX design, “Make the information easy to scan. Use headers and short blocks of info or text. People can’t multi-task. The research is very clear on this, so don’t expect them to. People prefer short line lengths, but they read better with longer ones!”^[3] Good UX design rules like these help web designers create user-friendly layout and content hierarchy for websites.

 

References

1. “Why User Experience Cannot Be Designed”. Helge Fredheim. Mar 15, 2011.
2. “Looking Beyond User-Centered Design”. Cennydd Bowles. Feb 1, 2013.
3. “The Psychologist’s View of UX Design”. Susan Weinschenk, Ph.D. May 19, 2010.

GCOM 360

Week 4 Critical Analysis

 

In what ways is design effective in improving the online and mobile experience?

 

1. Design is effective in helping users find useful information more easily.

Good websites and mobile apps are built with user-centric principles in mind.

Designers arrange the content and layout hierarchy intentionally to properly suit users’ reading habits. Friedman says in his article about design principles of good websites, “Users don’t read, they scan. Analyzing a web page, users search for some fixed points or anchors, which would guide them through the content of the page.”^[1] It is because “the human eye is a highly non-linear device and web-users can instantly recognize edges, patterns and motions,”^[1]. Good content and layout hierarchy can guide users to grasp useful information more efficiently.

 

2. Design is effective in making a product easy to understand.

 

Creative Bloq Staff talked about this in their article Dieter Rams’ 10 Principles of Good Web Design: “For example, if you have a web shop, the goal is to sell, so make your design as clear as you can, carefully tailoring the experience of displaying the products and the way the visitor checks out. At its best, a website must be self-explanatory.”^[2] Self-explanatory products are the result of good design. Thoughtful and intentional design decisions are made beforehand to make a website or mobile app more easy to understand.

 

3. Design is effective in creating a both rewarding and fun experience.

Creative Bloq Staff says, “The job of the designer is to hide the fact that it is just a list and make it an interesting experience that is both rewarding and fun.”^[3] All websites and mobile apps are basically making lists that help to meet users’ goals. Good designs can add different spices to these lists to make the experiences fun and enjoyable, yet still keep these websites and mobile apps highly usable and accessible to users. Lists are boring. But lists with interactive buttons, eye-catching typography, and decorative elements are fun.

 

4. Design is effective in meeting users’ needs.

Some websites are now designed with an “approach of guiding users with visually appealing 1-2-3-done-steps, large buttons with visual effects etc.”^[1], and as Friedman mentions, “such guidelines are extremely effective as they lead the visitors through the site content in a very simple and user-friendly way.”^[1] Websites designed in a simple 1-2-3-done-steps way can effectively reduce users’ cognitive load and anxiety, making it simpler for them to meet their needs.

Before building websites and mobile apps, design teams do an enormous amount of research to create “Personas, User Scenarios, Experience maps”^[4] for understanding their users. Besides that, design teams also “conduct usability testing sessions between each major iteration”^[4] to see how users interact with the product, and how they can help to improve the experience for their users. This thorough researching and testing makes sure the users are well understood, and the needs will be met in a pleasant way.

 

References

1. “10 Principles Of Good Website Design”. Vitaly Friedman. Jan 31, 2008.
2. “Dieter Rams’ 10 principles of good web design”. Creative Bloq Staff. Mar 26, 2014.
3. “16 killer design tips for creating mobile apps”. Creative Bloq Staff. Jan 08, 2015.
4. “7 tips to create awesome mobile app designs”. Jerry Cao. Jul 1, 2015.

GCOM 360

Week 3 Critical Analysis

 

• Describe the professional design process (Be sure to mention all major stages, as well as the roles involved).

 In A Model of The Creative Process poster, it says that, “The creative process is classically described (Wallas, 1926) as Preparation Incubation Illumination Verification”. ^[1]

1. The first design process stage is Preparation. The role involved in preparation is Explorer.

It is when the explorer of a design team sets a specific objective, takes time to collect relevant information, and looks for ideas to explore the possibilities for project development.

2. The second design process stage is Incubation. The role involved in incubation is Artist.

Charlie explained, “It’s during this phase that your conscious and subconscious minds are working on the idea, making new connections, separating out unnecessary ideas, and grabbing for other ideas.”^[2] Just like he said, in this stage the artist is combing through all the information collected in the earlier stage, linking ideas together, and trying to make sense of it all.

3. The third design process stage is Illumination. The role involved in illumination is Artist.

The illumination stage is the “Eureka Moment” when a great idea or solution occurs in the artist’s mind that could lead the team to achieving the objective.

4. The last design process stage is Verification. The role involved in verification is Critic.

It is the stage when the design team reviews all the work they’ve done and uses critical thinking to analyze if anything else can be modified or improved to better suit the target audience’s needs.

 

• Why is having a process essential?

 Firstly, having a creative process is helpful in executing an idea and bringing it to life. By following a well-documented process, it gives us a sense of order. Therefore, we are more likely to be kept away from the distractions of busy lives, staying focused and on track with our goals.

Secondly, as mentioned in A Model of The Creative Process, “The creative process is not just iterative; it’s also recursive. It plays out ‘in the large’ and ‘in the small’—in defining the broadest goals and concepts and refining the smallest details. It branches like a tree, and each choice has ramifications, which may not be known in advance.”^[1] The iterative and recursive properties of the creative process ensure improved and augmented final results. Each successive verification is one step closer to perfection; ultimately it will create a product that satisfies target users and benefits the business client the most.

 

• Where do you feel you might best fit into the process, i.e., which roles you’re best suited for now, or would like to know more about and grow into?

 I might fit best into the incubation and illumination stages. I’ve been doing designs with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator for several years, so I have some experience with implementing ideas and presenting them visually. Along with what I’m learning in the GCOM 360 UI design class, I will be doing well in “Choosing the Style of the Interface”^[3] and “Choosing and Creating the Preview Form”^[3] if I go into the UI development industry in the future.

I’d like to know more about “Style Validation”^[3] so that I can improve my verbal skills when communicating with customers, in order to make modifications and adjustments more efficiently to the UI design, and be a better team player.

 

References

1. “A Model of The Creative Process”. Dubberly Design Office. Mar 20, 2009.
2. “The 4 Steps of the Creative Process”. Charlie Gilkey. Sep 29, 2008.
3. “User Interface Development Flow. 8-step Process”. Django Stars. May 31, 2017.

 

GCOM 360

Week 2 Critical Analysis

What are some of the Pros and Cons of using a Content Management System (CMS)?

Pros:

1. CMS is user-friendly.

Saric concludes, “Simple and easy to use with all the basic features and services included for free.”^[1] Some CMSs like WordPress.com come with many basic and free features to start, require no coding knowledge, and are easy to set up.

2. Every user can find a CMS that fits their needs.

There are abundant platforms and plans to choose from in the CMS market. Many popular CMS platforms have their unique target customer groups, like WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Shopify, etc. In terms of plans, take WordPress.com for example, which offers 4 plans: a free plan, personal plan, premium plan, and business plan. These options give users more flexibility, allowing them to expand and upgrade their websites.

3. The CMS community support is solid.

CMSs have been around in the market for over 20 years, and there are hundreds of millions of active CMS users around the world. The online and offline resources are so plentiful, that almost anyone can make the most of using CMS.

 Cons:

1. CMS doesn’t do well with portability.

Butler says, “Two websites built upon the same platform could be speaking very different languages when it comes to their underlying code. From the point of view of one developer trying to make sense of another’s code, true portability is a myth.”^[2] There are many different ways to achieve the same results in terms of writing codes. Thus it is not convenient for another developer to take over a job efficiently and simply write over the codes that were originally written by someone else. This could end up wasting the second developer’s time and the website owner’s money.

2. WYSIWYG Editors on most CMSs are still flawed.

Andrew commented, “In most CMS implementations, you don’t see what you get on the web anyway, what you see is a text area replaced by a box with a bunch of buttons at the top and you can see what your changes will look like in the context of that box – not on the site you are managing.”^[3] Users can’t immediately see the final display results while they are editing their posts in WYSIWYG Editors, therefore they cannot adjust the posts accordingly to meet their ideal expectations in real time.

References

1. “WordPress.com vs WordPress.org: What’s The Difference Between Them?”. Marko Saric. August 27, 2018.
2. “It’s About the Developer, Not the CMS”. Christopher Butler. August 30, 2011.
3. “Your WYSIWYG Editor sucks”. Rachel Andrew. July 27, 2011.