Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Blog posts

1. In his post, Brandon does a great job of using what we've learned in class to question the devices around him. He mentions the poor mapping on both his remote control and microwave, something that Norman tells us is the hallmark of a bad design. Brandon also talks about the identically sized butons on his remote control, a poor use of shapes by the designer. It's incredibly useful to keep design principles in mind, so that you can recognize good and bad design.

2. I can relate to Alex' post. I've definately picked up products (controllers, etc.) that just immediately feel right. Ergonomics have such a strong influence on our outlook on a particular product. If a device eels comfortable and right, we'll be more willing and eager to learn how to operate it.

3. Robert's post brings up something that has been on my mind throughout this class. Before taking design intelligence, any time I ran into a product that I couldn't figure out, I simply worked harder to learn how to work it. Never would I consider that my problems were due to poor design, rather, I blamed my own incompetence. After all, I thought, it's a mass produced device designed by professionals; how could it be wrong? But throughout this class I've come to realize that bad design exists in a number of products, and that it's my responsiblity to discourage it, not cope with it.

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