Tag: design

Response: Interactive Environment and Experience Design

Timothy Nohe’s presentation on Interactive Environment and Experience Design was unlike any other guest speakers’. It was interesting to listen to him share his experiences in his works and installations. His experiences also made me understand that to make an installation successful, you need more than just a designer, but a team of people from different fields of expertise.

Besides the usual slides that were presented, Timothy also brought along his interactive project to class and allowed us to interact with it. There was a mixer-like equipment connected to a screen and to activate the screen, it was through the means of connecting different jacks to different ports. Every different port connected, it will then produce a one-off pattern on the screen as well as to me, a very ‘sci-fi’ tone. I was very intrigued by the infinite possibilities one could have with this set up and I was actually very interested by the technicalities behind the project.

The project that he showed us in class made me know how advanced technology really is, similar to the Future World field trip. Another take away from his presentation was the minute factors that we tend to overlook when we work on our projects, such as weather-proofing our projects, maintenance issues, and also to ensure that our work does not fail under the heavy interaction from the public.

Trip To Future World @ ArtScience Museum

The trip to Future World by TeamLab at the ArtScience Museum was certainly enriching as it was my first time going for the exhibition. Upon entering the exhibition, I was greeted with an immersive experience through 4D projections and it was definitely eye-opening. I felt like I was being brought into another dimension with the combinations of light and sound.

Moving on to other exhibits, what fascinated me the most would be Sketch Town. TeamLab made use of several technologies which I was really interested in. There were paper with outlines of a car and a house printed on it and the public could use the crayons provided to express their creativity on it. Its just like childhood all over again for me. After which, we could actually scan our drawings and it will be brought in to the huge display of a town, almost in an instant.

Just when I thought that was the end of the experience of this section, I was told that I can use the same drawing I created, scan it, and it would be printed out as a cut-out template and be formed into a 3D model. From 2D to digital and to 3D, this process is to me, the freshest and the most interesting interaction I had in the exhibition.

This trip to the exhibition was an eye-opening experience for me, and through this experience, it would aid me in conceptualizing for the iLight project with a wider perspective as I am aware of the technologies that could actually be implemented into the project, such as incorporating sounds and converting intangible pieces to memorable souvenirs.

Response on: The Design Of Everyday Things – Don Norman

Chapter 1

From the first chapter of the book, I could understand a few of the key points the author is trying to bring across. Firstly, would be the experience of handling a door, having the typical “push/pull” problem. We all have encountered this problem in our lives, pushing a pull door, vice versa. Even though design itself have advanced a great deal, I feel that this problem has not really been solved, in a way, where there are people still pushing a pull door, up till today.

This brings me to the next point. Us as being human, are used to getting things to work through the method of trial and error. However, this trial and error method would mean that a design was not well-thought of and hence needing the user to encounter difficulty in using the product and learning from it.

The differentiation of Design Specializations was something new to me as it clearly allows me to understand the differences between the three design specializations when it could be easily mistaken for one another. When compared to HCD, it also gave me a clearer picture on what all these mean and how they relate to each other in terms of user experience. Beside understanding these differences, I benefitted from the examples given throughout the chapter and the dialogue between the student and mentor. Simple examples allowed me to understand confusing terms in regards to signifiers and allowance.

While it was insightful and enriching to me as I read the first chapter of the book, however, I would like to ask:

  • How is experience design different from ergonomics? Or are they the same?
  • Leading from first question: If I carefully design my products with human ergonomics and fulfil the needs of the target user, does it also mean that I have given a positive user experience?