Archive for the ‘Research’ Category

Save a Tree….Write a Blog

Posted in Design, Events, Personal, Random, Research, Technology, Uncategorized on 10/09/2008 03:29 pm by uxmelina

One large part of University that I don’t agreed with: Exams.

My main beef is due to the fact that they are really unlike anything you will ever do in the real world. I know I have only worked in “the real world” to a total of 2 years, but at each job, I have yet to EVER be placed in a traditional exam situation. Please comment if you have ever been stuck in a room with 100+ people, all solving the exact same problem, without the aid of a calculator, a textbook or the internet and told not to talk or make any noise, and doing it all in an extreme time crunch. It’s just not realist. I have thought up a few solutions, but that’s not the point to this post.

On Monday I did something more ridiculous then writing exams. I handed in my proposal for my design plan. This 20 page report detailed everything my partner and I will do to complete our 8 month project (I will post details on it soon). The funny part comes with HOW I handed it in.

Try to follow this,

The prof who was marking us (our awesome supervisor) was at a conference, to ensure we had it completed on time, she was emailed a copy. Then according to course requirements, 2 copies were left in her mailbox. This was so she could read, mark and return one copy to us and kept the 2nd copy for future reference. Now a 3rd hard copy was given to the prof running the course so he could also make sure everyone’s projects were approximately similar (since we all have different supervisors).

So, 60 pages of printing, 3 cover pages, 3 backing pages, 3 bindings and one email later we handed in our report. A report that will be read by exactly 2 people (until I post it on this blog). Does anyone else see the problem with this? Actually some people do, I read another blog about this a few weeks ago, but can’t seem to find the link.

Imagine if instead of hard copies the report was posted on website. Each prof (and anyone else) could give their feedback in the form of comments. Students would have a higher sense of accountability since the viewing audience would be higher. If the report was any good, other people could learn from it. Students wouldn’t spend all morning in printing labs and a few less trees would die. The report, in all it’s glory, could be accessible from anywhere. New media (like videos and links) could be added to actually enhance the report. Referencing would be so much easier and so much more accurate and verifiable. The list of benefits goes on and on.

Their are some drawbacks that need to be worked out. Sometimes inline comments are nice on reports and that’s not really supported with traditional comments. Also, I don’t really know how many profs would want to read hours and hours of reports online, some user research is required there.

How does this relate to design? Earlier in the term, when I was trying to think up something fun to research and redesign, a friend of mine (who is actually redesigning a tattoo gun) said to me “think of something that hasn’t changed for many years”. Likely, due to new improvements in technology, their is something that can be improved and enhanced that hasn’t been designed, exams and report submissions both fall into this category. This reminded me of the idea about TV viewing (a task that has reminded pretty static since its inception) and realized that it would be a fun topic to explore.

Please comment if you have used an alternative method to submit reports that is more efficient then my adventure on Monday. I am using Google sites for 2 of my courses as a method of content submission, but only in addition to, traditional methods. Also, our school has an online course distribution tool that allows us to submit electronic copies of papers, but is not used by all profs. So their has been some movement in the right direction.

Wow, way to over design!

Posted in Design, Random, Research on 09/17/2008 12:43 am by uxmelina

A fun part of being in 4th year, is job hunting. It’s fun to think of all the doors that could be taken, and realize that the hard work is paying off! So, in come the employers, each running their pitch about why we should apply to them, and of course, giving out free stuff! After 6 work terms, I’ve thought I have seen it all in “swag”. Things I have received in the past include: shirts, backpacks, travel mugs, pens, free food and sometimes booze, frisbees, hats, small tool kits, stress balls and the list goes on…..All beautifully branded with the company’s logo.

But today, I received what may be the most useless, over-designed item I have ever seen! Take a look at the picture and try to guess before reading on. Note: The Sharpie doesn’t have anything to do with it, other then to give you an idea of the size.

Guess what the silver thing is?
Guess what the silver thing is?

So what could it be? A marker? pen case? flash light?…NOPE!

Here is a video to show you how it works (Sorry about the bad quality, my camera isn’t great on video). The yellow papers are post-it notes only used the hide the company name, because I happen to think highly of this company, just not this product!

After seeing the device, I can only guess it’s used to clean monitors and key boards. As I sat, surprised and confused by this item, I thought to my over-optimistic-self “Ok, don’t judge it until you fully try it, maybe it rocks”. Well let me tell you it doesn’t.

Here is what’s wrong with it:

1. Affordence of Use: A quick poll of my friends, assures me that a large portion of people couldn’t guess what it is by just looking at it. Even touching it, without twisting, doesn’t give you any clues as to how it works or that you are suppose to twist it.

2. Awkward Manipulation: You can even see me screw it up in the short video. It takes a large amount of coordination to twist the long half, twist in back, switch your hand around and twist the lower half (the opposite way), and twist it back.

3. Actual Function: If it is suppose to be used for cleaning, the brush is too wide for a key board, and the wiper top is too small for large monitors. I felt like I was at a gas station trying to clean my windshield with a toothbrush!

4. Over Designed: This one is the most important. It has a plastic, rubber, and stainless steel body with mechanical interior parts and its utility could be replaced with a klennex, or if you want to get fancy a static free cloth!

Random fact: “Swag” is actually an accronym for “Stuff We All Get” <–I heard that on the radio, therefore it must be true!

Turns out, I’m a designer living it up in Silicon Valley….not a blogger.

Posted in Design, Personal, Research on 05/29/2008 12:38 am by uxmelina

So..as you can all see, it’s been over a month since my last post, and what a busy month it has been as I’ve moved myself across 3 time zones to Palo Alto. I have so many “OMG this would be a great thing to write about” topics in my head but no much time to do it. Don’t worry all the topics will make it here…eventually. If you follow me on twitter you would know this already, but I’ve meaning to post it here…….

I got published! I think their is a time at some point in every designers career that they realize people care about what they put together.  I’m not talking about people who “have to” care about you designed like the employer who is paying you, the consultant who hired you, the professor who is marking you. I’m talking about people who opt in to caring about your design because they see the value in it after it’s been designed. Maybe it’s the customers that buy the product because it’s easy to use or in my case the publisher that’s responsible for the “Publications” section that will be added to my resume. A conference paper that I co-authored with my design team for the memory prompting device for Alzheimer’s patients was published! We were pretty excited about it. You can check out the abstract here.

That’s all for now, sorry it’s not too interesting…I will post some stuff soon. I also want to get all the details up about the Disney project, and how much I’m enjoying living and working in Silicon Valley.

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