Assignment Week 6

Day 1 – 13/9/2016 – Log of HP usage

 

0752am – Check phone battery and to reply Whatsapp messages. Batt requires recharge. Charge

0911am – Checks phone battery and put it aside

0954am – Has some questions and sent a text message to friend for assistance. Puts away

1009am – Replied to couple of text messages. Put them away

1032am – Decided to kill some time and look at Instagram updates in the train. Read some articles on Reddit

1124am – Sent a text message to a friend asking her whereabouts

1431pm – Took a peek for any notifications and battery’s remaining charge

1458pm – Checked Instagram updates

1543pm – Checked battery’s remaining charge. Left it to charge

1821pm – Took it off power supply. Read some manga

1900pm – Replied to couple of text messages

2211pm – Look at some posts on Snapchat and watch some Youtube videos and phone left untouched till next day

 

The first obvious sightings of mobile devices are usually in public spaces. Specifically in public transport when there is time to kill. Most common things to see on the screen would be replying of text messages, checking of social media or watching videos. The next common spaces would be eating areas and waiting areas. Mobile devices are taken out to kill time and reduce their sense of awkwardness while being in a public space.

 

Day 2 – No use of digital and mobile devices

I decided to attempt this exercise on the day that I would be staying at home thinking that it would be easier as I was determined to finish up on all the hands on work that I have remaining. When I was about to begin, I had to stress to myself thinking what was on the priority list. I usually keep track of my to-do lists in the main page of my phone as a reminder for datelines and which has more priority over the other. As most of my other works are kept digitally, I couldn’t refer to any.

In the midst of doing work, I decided to take a break and a usual practice of mine is to look at some Youtube videos before getting back to work and I remembered about this exercise. Not knowing what to do, I laid down on my bed and took a nap. It was torturous for a whole day not being connected to the internet. But what I realised was that, I was more inclined to more physical activities like going out for a short walk and etc to relax my mind instead of staring at the screens of my devices during every break I had.

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This week’s reading is  CH 1 from Jonas Löwgren and Erik Stolterman, Thoughtful Interaction Design, providing insights on the overview in interaction design.

A designer should constantly be questioning and be reflective on the design issue. An issue addressed should never have an immediate solution as this defeats the design process. As mentioned in the reading, the design process is always ongoing and is impossible to predict the design work. Designers should always be creating new conditions for design and produce different patterns of thinking and acting. Most importantly, we should always be improving and exercising thoughtful design.
Thoughtful design should be empathetic and not be overly focused on the brief and the criteria set by the clients. As designers, there is a need to weigh every elements involved in a particular project which includes the designer, the resource and the situation. When the need arise to tackle uncertainty and involves great risks, a designer should be considerate about his choices and decisions and to hold responsibility for the outcome.

It also mention that aesthetics should not be neglected and underestimated despite the chaos of all the design process. Aesthetics also has a role in impacting the experience as a whole. Being a designer, we hold the power to influence how we shape the outlook of the world we live in. Aesthetics is also essential on how the outcome is approached depending on how tacit the designer crafted it. A good design should be tacit and appropriate in its first impression by a user.

The reading also never specifically narrow down to the kind of design field applicable from this written knowledge. It also mention that it intends to provide design perspective for readers to widen their views and reflect on the implications. To extract the essence of understanding from this reading makes it easier without readers being judgemental on the content reference. 

 

Qn 1. When attempting to challenge the unknown and taking on big risks, do we draw a line somewhere in this venture or allow it run wild?
Qn 2. Every designer has different design process, what would be the best method to share and cultivate our different approaches as a learning process?

Week 5 Assignment

This weeks reading Ch. 4 from Chipchase Hidden in Plain Sight looks into the mind set of how people interact with their belongings and how it changes their behaviors.

One of the things I found interesting was the range of distribution as a tool to conduct user study as well as the space around it. It would certainly be a useful technique in future observations as it widens the understanding of a certain user from how they perceive themselves to the way they perceive a certain space based on risks and conveniences.

The next point I found highly fascinating  is the Mesh system.  With all the access to the things we need without having to have ownership would certainly be a future I really look forward to. Let’s say in the future where every HDB apartments would not be allowed to have a kitchen built and as replacement, a common kitchen would be installed along every corridors. It would encourage social interactions with the neighbors, minimize food wastage through sharing of food. It could even increase sustainability towards the environment as the products or space shared would have an increase in its usage rather than being left to rust or disintegrate while unused.

Also, there could be a possibility in reducing crime rates and achieving social equilibrium as nobody owns anything but yet everyone has everything that they need. However, the enforcement for maintenance and sustenance has to be high for such a system to be achieved.
Qn 1: Would our ethical values be altered with an increase of availability of the Mesh system or would it be taken for granted?

Qn 2: With the aid of digitization and quick accessibility in point of reflection, how would we react with the circumstance of a network disruption?

 

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Example of an ubiquitous service:

The concept of Airbnb is in short an ubiquitous accommodation. It is a service of allowing mutual sharing of homes by a host to a visiting stranger from overseas coming over as vacation or etc.  It provides further options and experience for accommodation to the guests instead of being tied down to staying in hotels and etc.

 

Example 2: Ikea Augmented Furnitures