Tuesday, 8 September

Week 3: Assessing User-Interaction 1/2

New Yorker article: "Why you hate Google's New Logo"

http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/why-you-hate-googles-new-logo?mbid=nl_090415_Daily&CNDID=36707067&spMailingID=8044040&spUserID=MTAyNDExMDQ4ODY0S0&spJobID=760464747&spReportId=NzYwNDY0NzQ3S0

Osborne 1 -- the first "portable" computer (circa 1982, $1,795, equivalent of $4,400 2014 dollars)

 
 8", 5 1/4", and 3 1/2" Floppies -- 5 1/4" double-sided had 1.2 mB capacity

Potential Quiz Question Review:

1. What is an “affordance”? What are the aspects of an affordance? Cite an example of an effective affordance from your own experience.

An affordance is a physical characteristic of an object or environment that affords the opportunity for the actor to perform an action. It can be used in design to make possible uses of the product immediately obvious.

An affordance is a property of the environment;

It is a relational property, which means it is determined by the relationship between the actor and environment;

According to Donald Norman, there are real affordances and perceived affordances.

2. What is a “constraint”? What are the aspects of a constraint? Cite an example of an effective constraint from your own experience.

A constraint is a consciously engineered part of an interactive experience that is designed to limit or influence user behavior. Constraints may protect the user against harm, or error, or they may be part of the “instruction” required to make sense of the experience.

There are two types of constraints:

Physical constraints, e.g. paths, axes, and barriers 

Psychological constraints, e.g. symbols, conventions, and mappings

3. What problems result from poorly designed constraints? Cite an example of a poorly designed constraint from your experience interacting with IT.

Poorly designed constraints could result frustration and dissatisfaction. If a legitimate action is denied or admonished for by constraints, user may feel frustrated and dissatisfied. The degree of constraint should also be proportional based on the intentions of design, for example, stronger constraints for more dangerous actions. A constraint failed to match the levels of harm, users may encounter a safety issue. If a constraint failed to match the levels of challenge, users may feel bored or frustrated.

4. Serif and Sans Serif fonts

Serifs have small decorative flourishes on the ends of some of the strokes. It is said that Serifs are easier to read in printed works. 

Sans Serifs do not have the small projecting features at the end of strokes. It is more modern, minimal. Sans Serifs has been said that are better on the web.

Dieter Rams and Sir Jony Ive on "What is Good Design?" (from Objectified)

Link to Rams Principles

https://www.vitsoe.com/gb/about/good-design

In-class Student Presentations:

Shankar: Group D: Quentin Brown, Ryan Brinkman, Daylie Burd
Shu-chuan: Group F: Jordan Cowper, Troy Fitzpatrick, Sonya Dugan
Danny: Group D: Scott Sirk, Rachel Reid, Noah O’Connor
Haodan: Group A: Adam Steinberg, Mackenzie Swain, Taylor Streeter
Yi: Group D: Margaret Jones, Christopher Kahn, Uzair Khan

Review Brief, Student Examples, Next Steps in Project Process

Group Meeting Times

Homework for Thursday, 10 September:

Continue work on Project 1