In this article, the authors discuss how defining “good design” is quite difficult and can be argued from many different perspectives. Nonetheless, the basis and foundation that good design is built on is the same in the sense that it has to be inclusive (an awareness of disabilities and marginalized identities), be fairly intuitive, and has to satisfy the user’s needs. One of the points they raise towards the end that I really like is that making a client happy is not sufficient and all-encompassing. I’ve never really thought about it in this perspective because as a UX designer I’m so focused on the user/customer that I failed to see the cultural, social, economic implications of my designs. We have to take a step back and look at how the user branches off and is connected to a greater network of people. Moreover, they state that design is just as much aesthetics as it is psychological. In my second year of university, I learned about Gestalt Principles and it helped me understand what they were saying in this article more thoroughly. There is a specific way that our brain processes design on a device, environment, and/or service and we have to understand how people think in order to create a design that is effective (provides affordances, tackles pain points) and appealing to the user. I only truly understood what IxD was this year and as a result of my fascination, I joined the Interaction Design Foundation (side note: I highly recommend their lessons because of how enjoyable/fun they make them https://www.interaction-design.org/invite?r=rebecca-yilma). The picture I posted above gives a visual representation of how IxD is a part of UX and is actually an interdisciplinary field. Here’s a post I shared with IDF back in July (my own words) : “The potential benefits of taking a user-centered approach to design is that it allows the designer to go in the shoes of the user (who will hopefully become a customer) and enhance the efficiency and enjoyability through their eyes. Moreover, most of the problems that are associated with user-satisfaction could be eliminated right at the core with this kind of mindset. When a user likes a device or service they are more likely to use it, purchase more items from the same company, and even recommend it to family and friends. When we design in a way that almost revolves around the user this, in turn, helps with the business’s profitability. With everything that we curate, we are not just doing it so it can sit there and be forgotten, the end goal is so that someone can use it. Taking this into consideration, it would only benefit us to take a user-centered approach in every step of the product life cycle to ensure that we make things intuitive. In my first year of university, I took a UX class and my prof. taught us to make “user personas” to think of the potential users, designing around my target markets needs made it easier for me to retain the attention of users and helped me make their lives easier. Lastly, making designs off of assumptions will increase the chances of you going back to the drawing boards, the user-centered design will give you insights into the desirability of a product/service/device.” 

In this reading, Jan Chipchase illustrates how the things we carry around with us and our digital presence says something about who we are as people. Personally, I always have 3 essentials on me at all times. To help me remember before I leave my door in the morning I number each one off and I’ll quickly say to myself do I have “1,2,3” every morning. This just lets me know that there are three things and I may not remember what they are for that day, but I remember the number 3 and say to myself “do I have these items” ( I may add a number the night before depending on the day planned). My environment/location is a leading factor for what determines “my 3”. For instance, back home in Toronto, it would be my phone (calls/text, apple pay, applications), Blistex, and Presto bus card (at least one member of my family is always home so keys are not critical). Whereas here in Singapore, I need my phone, charger + international adapter, camera gimbal( I vlog), a watch, residence key fob, hand sanitizer, and cash. The reason I need so many more things in Singapore is usually because of how inconvenient it is to return to my hall to get something. I live 11 flights of stairs up in a building with no elevator, so it’s easier to carry a backpack and just stuff all the “maybe’s” in. 

He also explains the notion of “range of distribution” which to me simply means how clung onto your assets you are. The story of Meili from Shanghai made me realize that I am quite opposite to her. I often leave laptop, wallet, keys out on a public table and I’ll get up and go get something elsewhere without worrying too much about it. In fact, all four years of my high school career I never locked my locker, it was more convenient that way and I had a lot of trust for everybody. With that being said, I acknowledge that this is not the best thing to do in let’s say a mall but something like a school, hospital, church… I usually don’t overthink it. 

Furthermore, he mentions how storing everything on our digital devices has made things a lot easier for us. The things on our iCloud, external hardrirves and memory cards are a part of us and tell apart of our story. I’ve had my hard drive for 3 years now and on it, I have stored 5 years worth of memories and they mean everything to me. On it, I carry photos of my friends and family, videos from weddings, concerts, the first day of school and many more. “Snapchat Memories” is something that I truly appreciate because you can take a 10sec video of your day and store it in the app to save space on your phone. About a year ago my mother lost her phone and she was very sad not because of the physical phone but because that meant she lost years of photos. Luckily, I had set up a google drive/photos account when she purchased her phone so all the photos she had been taking on her Samsung she retrieved on her iPad upon downloading the app. Things like this make me realize how much these technological advancements have helped make our lives so much easier. 

I also agree with his last statement on how fortunate we are to travel and constantly teach ourselves about life lessons this world has to offer through immersing yourself into different cultures. I came to Singapore because I knew little to nothing about Asia and I knew I didn’t want to live my life missing out on the whole eastern side of the world. Technology has helped me with this process because it allowed me to research about what life here is like so I can prepare, it has also given me a platform to share my experience via YouTube. Not to mention, I can communicate with my family that live in over 10 cities around the world through 1 Viber group-chat. 

Youtube video by Adobe Creative Cloud this reminded me of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ryqgevnIN4

There’s a famous saying in UX/UI design and usability engineering that goes “don’t listen to what people say, watch what they do” and my prof at UW used to always repeat this to us. I am now starting to understand the implications of this after pairing it with the work of Jan Chipchase. In chapter 5 he outlines a variety of concepts such as community trust, social norms, and even cross-cultural similarities/differences. When designing applications or interactive environments I often do exactly what Chipchase was denoting to throughout the article — that is to do field studies and take into consideration unique factors that apply to a group of people. Some of the places that he observes and extracts information from is chain restaurants/companies, hairdressers, the airport, and the inner streets of cities. I like how he mentioned the importance of sensory exploration. Sometimes we as designers forget that all 5 senses are important for good design ideation, not only what you see.

When I first arrived in Singapore I was overwhelmed by the number of regulatory signs that are at every corner of the country. I’m originally from Toronto, Canada, and we have restrictive laws but definitely not as many as I’ve seen here. For instance, while traveling on the MRT I’ve seen “no eating, and drinking” signs… which spacial designers then have to take into consideration so that they don’t place vending machines on-site near the trains. Whereas in Toronto this law does not apply so adding a vending machine wouldn’t be a bad idea, people would actually really appreciate it. Another example would be Wrigley’s Excel Gum, which is very well known in Canada but since there are laws around gum here in Singapore it wouldn’t be profitable nor legal for companies like them to expand to Singapore. Furthermore, we can even see a lot about Singapore’s culture through their bathroom system. In Toronto, you can find gender-neutral bathrooms in public malls and universities. In the span of 4 months, I have not seen one gender-neutral bathroom (not any that I can recall). In Toronto, they are constantly aiming to be an inclusive city — whether it be religion, disabilities, or sexual orientations. The same goes for Singapore but not at the level of seriousness of inclusion that I see in Toronto. Last but not least, Chipchase got me thinking about the level of trust in Singapore and I have to say it is quite high. I absolutely love the feeling of walking home at night or even crossing the street in broad daylight and not feeling like I’m going to die. I get the sense that this level of trust starts with respect, people here just respect all walks of life and are more mindful about preserving life.