Assignment 3: Emotion Design Probe

Task: Improving learning experience in Lecture Theatres (LTs)

When we were asked to improve the learning experience in LTs, the first thought that came to our mind was, what is it that is lacking in facilitating learning in LTs? We had to bear in mind that it was the experience of learning in LTs rather than learning itself. As such, we decided to conduct a few laddering interviews to obtain an objective view on the opinions of learning experience in LTs.

Here is what we got from the interviews:

• There was mention of the lighting in LTs. Some lecturers like to dim the lights in order for students who sit far back to view the projector properly
• There were quite a number of students who agreed that LT sizes are too big for the capacity of the module
• In addition to the size of the LT, students cannot be heard when asked to respond to questions
• There is very little interaction in lectures. It is basically lecturing in general while students either copy notes or tend to chat amongst themselves. Chatting amongst themselves can be quite distracting for others who intend to listen
• Some lectures require attendance to be taken. It can be quite tedious taking attendance as attendance sheets have to either be passed around or placed at the front of the LT. Sometimes students miss the attendance sheet as there is no proper sequence to passing it around.
  
• Most students are shy to speak up in lectures, unless they are asked to do so. This adds on to the problem of little interaction.
  
• Identifying students can be quite a hassle for lecturers as they have to identify through physical attributes of the students

The above are just some of the main concerns identified through our interviews. Based on these and introspection, we have suggested the following solution:

An LCD screen, tiny keyboard, with attached mini microphone

LCD screen, keyboard

• for notes that are uploaded at the last minute
• those who are unable to print notes can use the ones on the LCD screen for reference
• able to take down notes and send it to respective emails through the school Intranet for future reference
• able to take attendance by keying in your matriculation number (also consider a sensor pad - to scan the matriculation card instead)
  

Mini microphone, with flashing light

• more audible when one speaks up in lecture
• encourage interaction. instead of identifying a student through physical attributes, lecturer can choose whose names to call through the above mentioned attendance taking method (this is assuming that the system designed has the ability to send the required information to the lecturer's monitor in real time). once student A is picked, the lecturer can simply click on student A's name on his/her monitor and student A's microphone will light up, signifying participation.
• in addition, students can simply press a button when they want to speak up. this will grab the lecturer's attention
  

The above are solutions to the major points that we have identified. To issues like lighting and size of LTs, we think that this is up to the discretion of lecturers and the administration. For example, a default lighting can be set or made required in all LTs.

Assignment 2: Four Pleasure Analysis

User Profile

Imaginary Subject: Giselle, 24 years old, professional photographer living in Singapore

Giselle developed a keen interest in photography ever since she was in secondary school and went to Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, NAFA, upon completing her O Levels. At NAFA, Giselle took 3 years to complete her Diploma in Visual Communications, after which went on to pursue a Degree in Visual Communications with business. Giselle now owns her own photography business.

Giselle loves travelling. She loves taking pictures of the places she travels to. Today, Giselle is not only renowned for her photography skills but also for her travel books, which she is getting a huge commission for.

Not as fortunate in her love life, Giselle has been single for almost 3 years. She is a gorgeous looking woman, elegant and trendy but just not as lucky when it comes to love. Next to work, Giselle loves drinking at wine bar with her close bunch of friends best.

Giselle's lifestyle is pretty undemanding. She does not have to adhere to the 9 to 5 norm, gets to travel regularly with her astronomical income. She lives in a condominium with a penthouse which overlooks Singapore's harbour and gets to attend black tie parties and galas on a regular weekly basis. Giselle is proud of what she has achieved so far but is disappointed with her love life. She believes that there is a person for everyone and hers will come in due time.

Four Pleasure Analysis of Giselle:

Physio-pleasure
She has her own business and is in coherence with her interest. Her business is doing very well and she is able to afford her exorbitant lifestyle. Her life is undemanding and she gets to see the world regularly and earns a stable sideline commission from it.

Appreciation Pleasure - Her need to get out and see different cultures and document them down in photos

Need Pleasure - She needs to have her own business in order to be able to do what she wants (to travel and take photography not only as a business but also a passion).

Socio-pleasure
Giselle has a bunch of close friends whom she meets up with for drinks regularly. She gets to attend socialite parties to broaden her social circle.

Appreciation Pleasure - The ability to take time off each weekend to spend time with her friends. Without a stable love life, friends are very important to Giselle.

Need Pleasure - Socialite networking parties help keep her business and popularity going

Psycho-pleasure
Even though Giselle's lifestyle might be pretty undemanding, she struggles with loneliness due to the lack of a partner and also that her friends are mostly busy people, working 9 to 5 jobs. There are times when Giselle has to spend her weekends alone. In addition to this, Giselle mostly does her travels alone due to the lack of an available companion.

Appreciation Pleasure - Because of the lack of time, Giselle cherishes time spent with her friends and makes sure there is sufficient time for her to catch up with them.

Need Pleasure - There is nothing Giselle can do about her love life. She knows that love will come. She takes comfort in weekends spent alone. She takes this time to read her books, clean her house and even play the guitar once in a while. During her travels alone, Giselle makes sure she brings a souvenir back for each of her close friends.

Ideo-pleasure
Giselle is a sophisticated person. Perhaps due to her achievements in life, she feels uncomfortable owning things that she does not feel 100% for. She has inherently good taste, which itself speaks for her artistic achievements.

She is a very liberal person. This is perhaps due to the people whom she have met and have been gradually influenced by them. She does not hold any religious beliefs but do take pride in respecting other religions. She keeps herself in check by avoiding passing judgments on other people. She believes that everyone is their own person and has the right to exercise whatever they choose to believe in. Because of her liberal values, Giselle's friends find confidence in her whenever they have a problem.

Giselle has wanted to be a professional photographer since a very young age. Since then, she worked towards her aspiration, driven by passion rather than status. It can be considered an appreciation pleasure that Giselle has not only achieved what she feels most passionately for but has also been making a good income from it.

Product Benefit Specifications: (Handphone for Giselle)

Design:

Her phone should have not only a classy outlook but also one that is edgy.

The phone should also be compact and lightweight. A lightweight phone would be good for her travels.

Function:

Camera function for her phone would be an essential. It should have a good lens, the ability to zoom many times, and lighting and aperture settings should also be manually set. As a professional photographer, Giselle would want to carry a bulky camera out for drinking sessions. To have a phone with a good camera function would be perfect for her.

The storage capabilities of the phone should be big enough for Giselle to store photos, videos, contacts and messages. She would want to be able to store photos of her friends taken with her phone. In addition, she would also make videos of her friends for keepsake. As a business woman, Giselle is bound to have many contacts and messages coming in. A large storage coupled with organizer capabilities would be good for her.

Assignment 1: Products and Emotion

For this week's blog report, I have chosen the topic of handphones as my focus for behavioral, visceral and reflective designs. The revolution of handphones have been phenomenal, from simple to complicated, luxurious designs. The impact of improvement in handphone designs have somehow compromised the functionality of each generation. I have chosen three phones to use for comparison - Nokia 6510, LG Chocolate and Apple iPhone.

Nokia 6510 - Behavioral design


Nokia 6510 is one of my favourite phones. I have categorized it under a good behavioral design due to its functionality and easy usability. From the outlook of 6510 itself, it evident that a lot thought have been put into the mapping and design of the buttons. The buttons are designed in such a way that it has a flat surface, protruding only by a little, which makes it easy for pressing.

Because most of us use our thumbs when texting or when making a phone call, the squarish diamond shaped buttons kind of maps into the surface of our thumbs. These buttons are easier to press as compared to rounded ones.

One of the raving reviews of Nokia 6510 is it's durability and it's functionality. This phone provides all the basic functions we think a phone should have. Perhaps due to its lack of technology (3G, camera etc.), this phone doesn't hang or lag as much as phones nowadays. Texting has also proven to be smooth and fast. Unlike some phones nowadays, words only come out 1 of 2 seconds after you have keyed in the alphabets.

Furthermore, I personally don't think Nokia 6510 lacks in aesthetic appeal. For a simple, backward phone, it portrays a sleek, tough image. The best thing about its aesthetics is that it is light and compact. Therefore, Nokia 6510 makes a good example for behavioral design.

LG Chocolate - Visceral Design


The LG Chocolate phone is obviously a fashion accessory. With its good looks coupled with its touch screen capabilities (one of the first in the technology), the LG Chocolate creates an impression on the user.

At the time when this phone came out into the market, it became a must have for all trendy people. There were raving comments of its touch-sensitive buttons, it's sleek design and organizer capabilities. This makes the LG Chocolate an exciting phone to use.

However, this excitement only lasted for awhile. People became bored of it after some time. Some even began to complain about its touch-sensitive buttons being too sensitive - a brush of the finger usually sends unintended messages, makes unintended phonecalls etc. The excitement value began to decrease and not before long, the LG Chocolate was not so hot anymore.

Even so, the LG Chocolate makes a good example of a good visceral design, especially when we compare with technology that changes over time. Users tend to demand more from innovators because humans are adaptable creatures. In this technological age, not many of us are willing to settle down for a less than excellent phone, both in the aspects of design and function.

Apple iPhone - Reflective Design

This example provides the closest proximity there is to understand the aspect of reflective design.

The Apple iPhone is probably the most talked about product in the hand phone industry nowadays. In Singapore alone, anyone seen carrying the Apple iPhone is given the extra glance. The iPhone brings high esteem upon its users because, firstly, of it's sleek design (as are all Apple products), and secondly, for Asia countries, it is not yet sold in the Asian market.

In this technology age, there is more demand to mix creativity with technology. The more creative looking your product is, the more users are willing to pay for it. Considering this, it is important to note that the Apple iPhone is a pretty basic phone, in terms of today's technology. It lacks 3G capabilities and it's camera function is probably dated 5 years or more back. The big hoo-ha about the phone is the brand, the "pinching" technology, the full page web browsing and also the sensitive touch screens - all of which are first of their kind.

The Apple iPhone is a good example of a reflective design as it reflects not only on the user's status but also on his fashion sense - the Apple iPhone can up someone's "cool" factor by ten notches!

Conclusion

I do not think that it is possible to have all three aspects in a single technological product alone. A product that is high in its reflective aspect may not be as high in its behavioral aspect and vice versa. A product can possibly be high on two aspects at the same time but to be perfect in all three is, not impossible, but will most probably prove to be costly.

Assignment 0: Bad Design

(Ref: http://www.baddesigns.com/doors.html)

The picture shows two doors, and a walkway in between. The walkway connects Building One to Building Two. In order to get from one building to the other, one has to go through this walkway. There is a funny story behind this bad design, shared by one of the users from BadDesigns.com. The story behind this design goes like this:

In order to get to the walkway, one has to pull the first door. Upon reaching the second door, one has to push in order to get out of the walkway. Many of those who have been through the walkway have been trapped in between these two doors because they have assumed that both doors would require the same action - pulling instead of pushing. Pulling the first door and failing to pull the second door made them assume that the second door might be locked. Therefore, their first instinct was to go back to the first door and maybe take an alternative look. So reaching the first door again, they're first instinct was to pull the handle and it won't open! Now they're trapped between two doors.

The first thing that caught my attention was the design of the door handle. Pull handles are usually designed as it is in the picture. However, push handles are usually designed bigger, broader and flatter to facilitate the action of pushing. People usually automatically register what kind of action they are required to perform upon seeing different handle designs. The handle designs shown in the picture automatically registers pulling.

Secondly, it would be more helpful if PUSH and PULL labels were stuck next to the handles, if the handles were to be designed in such a way. Even though people generally don't read labels, they wouldn't panic as much when the doors refuse to budge. They will know that they have performed the wrong action.

Upon reading the story, users are definitely not to be blamed for being foolish and assuming that they're trapped in a walkway with doors that suddenly refuse to budge. Both doors at both ends of the walkway requires different actions - one to PULL and one to PUSH. Both doors work in opposite ways and this complicates users.