ASSIGNMENT 6.

DAY 1 – create a diary of when, why and what you use your mobile device for. Observe how others are using their mobile devices. What are the most common uses and where do you see these behaviors?

Day: 15 Sep (0700 – 2300)

1

I saw people using their phones EVERYWHERE and ALL THE TIME. Most commonly they were using it to:

  1. Communicate (Through Whatsapp, Telegram, SMS etc. )
  2. Gaming
  3. Watch videos (mainly tv dramas)
  4. Social Media (facebook, instagram, snapchat)

Majority of the people I observed were giving undivided attention to their phones. Those watching videos had their phones in landscape position and a ear piece plugged in. But everyone observed were very engaged and concentrated, seemingly clueless about what’s going on around them. What’s irritating was that they were still in this deep level of engagement with the phone even when they were walking – they would just walk in their own pace and not bother if they were in the way of other people.

I’m shocked to realize that the need and desire of being constantly engaged with the phone was so great. I’ve seen one person just scrolling the home page of his phone (probably because he had no internet connection). I’ve seen a few more others scrolling through Facebook at such great speed that you know they weren’t reading but just letting the Facebook posts pass them by.

DAY 2Do not use your phone, computer or electronic device for 24 hours. Create a diary documenting and describing the difference in your behavior patterns. How did you do the things you would normally do with your phone? What other alternative behaviors did you develop? What else did you notice about the difference in behavior?

1

The difference was that there were less distractions but also alot more inconvenience. But I realized the things I depended on my phone for could actually be replaced with alternatives. The internet was very dearly missed in this 24 hours. At the end of the day when I checked my phone and looked through the messages, there were ALOT of them. But only 2 -3 chats concerned me directly. I felt like I gave myself more attention through this experiment because I wasn’t distracting myself with my phone but had to face my bored thoughts and manage them. I also became way more observant and curious about the things around me.

READING: 

Good design of digital artifacts balances SPEED and USABILITY. It also takes into consideration the expectations and requirements from the user, societal laws and ideological considerations. It is also a continual and long term process. It is difficult to pinpoint if a given design (solution) is good in a short term as these designs should continually be worked on and pushed for greater outcome.

Since design is unique, ethical, aesthetical, political and ideological…

This statement that the author made allowed me to reflect on the true power of great design and the responsibility that a designer has. It is not easy to understand other’s peoples concerns and point of view and yet not compromise on my own values. It is increasingly difficult to come up with good design because things are changing constantly and also because it is extremely difficult to take into considerations all the other designs that will interact with my design and how it will work out. This is to say that users experience design not as isolated objects but they are experiencing it as they experience other designs as well.

To summarize, if design is all about people it brings us to a higher moral level because we’re no longer just consumed with ourselves, we want to better the lives of others.

Came across this video the other day. He shared about how design thinking changed with changes in the world. A few key things i picked up:

  1. Design is human centered even if it integrates technology and economics. (we understand culture and context before we have ideas)
  2. Prototypes speed up the process of innovation (putting our ideas out in the world helps us understand its strengths and weaknesses)
  3. Design thinking explores potential of participation (from profit driven to a place where people experiences are meaningful, productive and profitable)

And I’d like to suggest that if we take a different view of design, and focus less on the object and more on design thinking as an approach, that we actually might see the result in a bigger impact. In the case of design, that means balancing desirability, what humans need, with technical feasibility, and economic viability.

– Tim Brown