Feedback

In design we are always concerned about feedback. It tells us how well our design looks or how well it works. Donald Norman says that feedback is "sending back to the user information about what action has actually been done, what result has been accomplished" (Norman, 2002). Feedback can be verbal or it can be physical. Verbal feedback would be someone telling you how it worked. Physical feedback would be either a motion or sound when you try to do an action.

Feedback is the best way to let a person know that they did something correctly or incorrectly. If they don't have feedback they are left sitting there waiting and wondering. Have you ever tried to open an application on your computer and nothing happens. You wait for a few seconds then try it again. Still, if nothing happens you start to wonder if you computer froze or if you did something wrong.

"The absence of sound can mean an absence of information, and if feedback from an action is expected to come from sound, silence can lead to problems."  

-Donald Norman (Norman, 2002)

This week we have been testing our calculator designs. It has given me a lot of really good feedback. Since it is not a working model if the user does something and it is not how I designed it to work  I have to just sit there and they are left wondering why it didn't work. It has been a good chance to see how the feedback of my design is crucial to having a well designed piece and also I get verbal feedback from the person testing my design.

Citations:

Norman, Donald A. "The Psychopathology of Everyday Things." The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic, 2002. N. page 27

Norman, Donald A. "Knowing what to do." The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Basic, 2002. N. page 27 

What do I do for a designers resume?

When you are applying for a job my employers and company's will ask for a resume. A resume is a brief introduction about yourself. A resume shows your skills, education and experience. It all lists previous employers and references. If a potential employer likes what they see on a resume they might call you in for an interview.

Being able to design and write a good resume is extremely important. But for us as designers I think its a little more important because it is a way to showcase our use of alignment, typography and creativity. We have more opportunities to showcase a little of our skills in our resume. If your resume is designed well it will get their attention but it can't stop there. If the resume looks great but there is spelling errors or other errors it is a huge turn off for employers.

"a resume is a document used by persons to present their backgrounds and skills"

-Wikipedia.com

For a designers resume I need to make sure that it has all the important information, education, experience, specific skills, and previous employment. I also need to make sure the resume reflects my personality and style. It is a chance to showcase our abilities and have it reflect what we like. Since we are designing it for ourselves we do not have to please a client. But at the same time it needs to still be professional. We can't get carried away and make it flashy and hard to read. The point of a resume is for a employer to quickly look through all the information and get a rough idea if you are right for the company.

What is my Educational Responsibility?

          "Education is not something you're given, but something you must steal." 

-Andy Rutledge Design Professionalism: Preparation for Professionalism

Going through school I have learned a lot of things, but probably the most important thing I've learned is that first quote from Andy Rutledge. If all we are doing at school is simply getting a diploma we are wasting our time. I have been guilty of this myself a few times. I have always known it is important to go to college and get a degree. But the longer I have been in school the more I've learned that it is more than just getting to graduation. The teachers can only teach us the tip of the iceberg, it is our responsibility to discover the rest.

We have all had those assignments where we moan and groan over having to do it but if we step back and take in the whole picture there is more to the assignment then just busy work. An easy example is writing blog posts for our readings. Sure, our teacher wants us to read the readings and this is an easy way to track that we actually did it, but there is more to it. He wants us to be able to write and be able to write well. The purpose of this blog is for future employers to be able to come and look at it and see our work as well as our writing abilities. We may be designers but like every profession you need to be able to communicate verbally and in writing. 

So I guess to answer my question, "what is my educational responsibility?", my responsibility is to take more out of school then just what is taught in the classroom. We can all make excuses for having too much going on and being to busy but that will just hurt ourselves. We have to compete with other students who are going the extra mile when we start looking for a job and when we are working in the industry. 

Conventions

Breaking away from the norm

What is a convention? According to dictionary.com a convention is "a rule, method, or practice established by usage." We live in a society now where we expect things a certain way. When something is different it throws us out of our comfort zone and we get confused. It also makes us stop and consciously think about what we are trying to do. One convention that I grew accustomed to is using a computer. My whole life I had used PCs and the exit button was always in the top right hand of the screen. No matter what type of computer we had, Dell, HP etc it was always in the same spot. But when I got my first MAC that was not the case. It threw me for a loop the first time I used one. Now I have become used to it and don't have to think about it anymore.

Donald Norman says that "Some constraints rely upon accepted cultural conventions, even if they do not affect the physical or semantic operation of the device." I thought it was interesting how he explained that some constraints are dependent on our cultural conventions. Each cultural has their own way of doing things and certain rules you have to follow. One example he pointed out was that lights are physically interchangeable but because of our cultural constraints they have to be placed in certain places. Red means stop so it goes in the back, white or yellow are head lights so they go in front, and blue is police so it goes on top.

Thinking about conventions they are pretty similar to conceptual models. Last week I talked about doors and the conceptual models that those are. We expect them to work a certain way by using hinges, a knob of some kind, a frame to hold it, and a wall blocking us from where were trying to get to. We have learned how to use doors from experience and we don't have to think about how to use them because we see the visual cues. Donald Norman says,

"the mind is a wonderful organ of understanding- we are always trying to find meaning in the events around us."

Us as designers have a big responsibility to design things in a way that will not only be esthetically pleasing but will also make sense on how to use it. It is always frustrating when you get something that looks really cool but you have no clue how to use it. Conventions are general rules on how things should be and when we break away from those often times the design could fail. So the question to ask is when do you break the rules of how things typically work?

Doors

In our class we separated into groups and went and observed peoples interaction with doors. It is not something we generally stop to think about but it turned out to be quite interesting. We noticed that people will almost always go for a door if its open or partially open rather than opening a completely shut door. We also noticed that most people went for the right door rather than the left door and we guessed this is because they are right handed. The times we noticed this changed was when the were talking or texting on their phone. Then they would use their other hand or their body to open the door. We also noticed if a handle isn't in the spot they would expect it to be it made them pause for a minute and think about it. Opening a door isn't something we generally think about until something happens we weren't planning on. I also thought it was interesting when we talked about how much we interact with things during the day and we never think about it. We have learned from experience how to use certain things and we don't consciously think about them anymore. If we had to consciously think about everything we interact with it would make for a very long boring day. This was a pretty interesting experience because it is something I would have never thought to do and I thought it was going to be pretty boring when we first got the assignment. We actually got a lot of good insight about interaction in general and it was kind of fun to watch people and how they all are a little different in their interactions.

A door is a great example of a conceptual model. A conceptual model is a way for us predict the effects of our actions. With a door when we see a handle that is a straight bar we know to push. We can see weather the hinges are on the right or left and that tells us which side to push from. If the door is glass we can see the handle on the other side of the door and that gives us another clue to how this door. From these visual cues we know that if we push on the right side of the door the door will open. But what happens when the door doesn't open? We stop and look at it again and wonder what we did wrong. I really liked Donald Normans quote from his book The Design of Everyday Things. He says,

 "when people have trouble with something is isn't their fault- it's the fault of the design."

Feedback is the way we know if our efforts worked or failed. If we try to open a door and it doesn't move that is our feedback. A design fails when it does not provide feedback. Feedback is vital for a good design whether its a noise, movement, vibration or light. Without feedback we sit and wonder if it actually worked or should we try again.

What is a professional?

A professional is more than just an employee or business owner. They are more than someone who has training or a degree in an area. You do not become a professional just from getting your degree. In my case when I graduate I will have a BFA-Graphic Design degree. But that does not mean I'm a professional. Anyone can go to school and take classes and pass them and get their degree. This doesn't mean they are a professional.
A professional is more concerned about their work and making the client happy then they about just getting the job done and getting a paycheck. A student can even be a professional. If we strive to really learn and not just jump through the hopes and really learn something and make good relations and do good work we can be a professional.
I liked in the reading how it pointed out that a professional looks at someone they are doing work for as a client and not a customer. I think a client is more valued and important than a customer. Both of them you provide a service to but you value a client more and you work with a client and you want to please them.
I also liked how Andy Rutledge pointed out that you are not a professional if you aren't dealing with the client directly. If there is always someone relaying the information to you you can't really get to know the client and their wants and needs.