Month: February 2018

Very often, people did would categories design together with art and did not knowing what are the difference between them. Kim Goodwin pointed out that,

In order for design to be design and not art, it must serve human needs and goals.

Design has a purpose when we designed for product which will help human to improved their life. Whereas art is an expression or application of human creative skill and imagination also, an end product that reflects the inner vision of the artist. This kept me thinking that will there be  a combination of both art and design? The designer can craft a ceramic to fulfilled its purpose such as a candle light holder but aesthetically expressive and unique created through creative skills?  I also agreed with Kim that design is a broad term which are very difficult to define exactly what is it.

Interestingly design involved learning about human senses, cognition and ergonomics, focuses or understanding to create a good design that solves the problems. It would help the designer to build on its details while designing for a problem. Designers also design beyond just its function but the aesthetics which are also important human goals.

Kim introduce us with the Goal Directed Design that provide a fundamental premise to design a successful product is to focus on achieving goals. It touch on the design of a product’s behavior, visual form and physical form. This method provides a framework for designers to help keeping them on track but not a set of rules and constraints.

I do agreed focusing on Goal-Orientation Design would be effective in many ways. As during design process will involved many people from different backgrounds. This method would reduce conflict and increase effective communication and efficiency. Also based on the process it provide concrete based to work on to strengthen the ideas.

Kim pointed out that not all organisation are able to take the full advantage of design strategic values which I agreed as well. There are unforeseen circumstances such as the culture in the company, relationship between the employers and the decision makers. Each department play a significants roles which will affect the outcome of the design. It also takes time to practise this method as an individuals or in organisation.

From this, I wonder how company like Cooper manage their work load in the reality as the process are really long. In reality design companies might neglect or skip some steps such as research or framework definition part due to client’s deadline or pressure.

Lastly, Goal-Directed Design are very important which most of the time are neglected by designers. It allows us to learn and understand the product better and allow us to stay on track. Yet, I feel it was not a rule to follow strictly but during certain circumstances designer should be flexible by knowing what to be scarifies and working within the given condition and timeline.

In this reading, Löwgren discussed about what is good and bad design, if a fast and efficient digital artifact is not a good design if its not intuitive or easily understand by the users. Also if it did not meet the basic function of user’s need are also impractical.

Working with design means that you continuously need to define and redefine what you think of as good design. It is a never-ending process of thoughtful reflections.

Löwgren pointed out that designers need to think what is good design in order to improve her design ability. As a designer, we need to know that the world is changing people’s needs and wants are also constantly  changing. What we design 5 years back might not be effective for todays’s society because many context and things have changed. With constant redefining and reflection will help designers to improve her design ability.

I though of the Nikon DSLR screen interface design and its functionality. The older version was shown in a complicated design filled with numbers, which might cause confusion for the beginners. This prevents the users to learn and also will affect the product usability.

However, in recent years they have changed their interface design to a more prominent to bring focus to the important and commonly used settings by using icons.

These changes can help the user to understand better this complicated device to create better experience. By using icons to focus on the important and design them neatly to reduce confusion. Some cameras also added touch screens to align with the current technology, as most of us are using touch screen phones to make it more convenient.

A good thoughtful design has to understand the design process, design ability, the designed product and design as part of a larger context. Being reflective helps to examine the purpose, outcomes and benefits of doing it in different ways. Also Löwgren pointed out that even professional design is a result of conscious action of a designer does not mean that all properties and characteristics are intentional design decision. This reflected the imperfection within the product or design that happens out of what the designer expected. We also need to take into consideration that the designer has a bigger picture to consider for the design and constrains she might face to produce an effective and balance design.

 

One of the thoughtful interaction design I felt was POSB/DBS mobile application. It was really simple and clear to use as compare to OCBC app. They even designed quicklinks like “slide and hold to peek” your account balance to provide connivence for user to check their account. The designer also uses bold fonts to create the contrast within the app to increase readability. It also uses simple terms and icon to help user understand more about the functions. Overall there were lots of thought put in to create this clean and clear design where the user can easily navigate around.