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1.The most rewarding exercises was the egg drop because the egg survived the fall. Most of the readings were interesting, especially the readings about behavioral design, and about package design. The assignment that I found most challenging was the analysis of a retail store because I was not sure what to put in the powerpoint, and what to put in the spoken part of the presentation. Also I ended up walking several miles to get to the store (unfortunately farther than I thought it was) so I could not return to the store to take pictures or looks at aspects of the store over again.

2. In seminar this year I learned that products are designed based on combinations of visceral, behavioral and reflective design. Another thing that I learned is that when a product does not work the way I want or is complicated, that it is not necessarily me doing something wrong, that sometimes there is a problem with the way a product is designed.

3. In the future when buying products I will pay attention more to how products are designed. Just because a product is more expensive or looks complicated. does not necessarily make it designed better--most times the better design is simpler than other designs.

Behavioral Architecture

1. An example of architectural design that I consider an epic failure is the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in St.Paul/Minneapolis that collapsed last year due to wind and traffic.
Another (although not epic) failure is the kitchen at my house before it was remodeled. In the kitchen one could not open the oven and the refrigerator at the same time. Also the usable counter space was not in a convenient place for cooking.

2. Hick's Center is a building on Kalamazoo Campus that is very well designed. The style of the building matches(the type of brick and the general structure of the building) that of the other buildings on the campus. The glass section also gives it a modern look. Hicks is also an environmentally friendly building. It has many windows so that less electricity is used. Also the restrooms are low-water use. The entrance to Hicks is also viscerally attractive, with the multiple layers of floors all visible.

3. The current flaw in the current design process is that there is not enough communication between the users and the architects. This could be fixed by having the architects and the users meet before any building has begun and go over the plans. They could use computer programs in order to make it easier for the user to better understand what the architect is describing. They could also meet after the building is finished so that the user could evaluate how he or she likes different features of the building so that the architect could use this feedback to improve buildings that he or she designs in the future.

Wikipedia Page

Here is a link to my Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Hulbert

Ads, Fads & Consumer Culture

1."We each like to think we can resist advertising and it has no impact on us. This notion, which I will discuss in more detail in chapter 3, makes light of the power of advertising and helps us preserve our sense of autonomy and individuality. Others are brain-washed by ads, but no us, we think--as we find ourselves purchasing products we feel, somehow, we must have"
I think that this is interesting because I have heard people say exactly what Berger said. Even though an advertisement is not specifically targeted for us, it can still make us more likely to buy the product, just because we are then more familiar with the product.

2. Key points:
-Advertising works, but not always effectively or in ways that the advertising is expected to work
-Advertisers uses the psychological tendencies of humans to get responses from them(Pavlov's dog experiment)
-The media has a large influence on the cultural behavioral of people
-Advertisements are everywhere and they give people knowledge about many of the products that are on the market.

3. A psychological understanding is important with advertising because advertisers want the products their advertisements to be effective and the best way to do this is by knowing how people will perceive them and react to them. Then advertisements are made to get people to remember them and want to buy the products that they promote.

Fashion Design

1.The clothes people wear projects the image that they want to portray to others. The clothes you wears is one of the first things that someone new notices about you. reason fashion design is so reflective.

2.Fashion changes and evolves, instead of remaining static, because people are always trying to have the clothes that they wear fit their definition of cool and designers are always presenting them with new ideas of clothes to wear. People see new designs, through celebrities and commercials, and want to get them in order to have the popular styles and those styles then do become popular once enough people have bought them.

3.-Type of fabric(comfortable, durable)
-price of product reflects the intended buyer
-The garment has the proper 'fit'
-Does it fit a current style

1. "Make it simple and people won’t buy. Given a choice, they will take the item that does more. Features win over simplicity, even when people realize that it is accompanied by more complexity."

2.-"while at the store, I marveled at the advance complexities of all appliances, especially ones that once upon a time were quite simple: for example, toasters, refrigerators, and coffee makers, all of which had multiple control dials, multiple LCD displays, and a complexity that defied description."
-"Why such expensive toasters? Why all the buttons and controls on steering wheels and rear-view mirrors? Because they appear to add features that people want to have. They make a difference at the time of sale, which is when it matters most."
-"Would you pay more money for a washing machine with less controls? In the abstract, maybe. At the store? Probably not."

3. Simple well-designed products will sell better ultimately than complicated, many featured, products.

Downtown Kzoo

1.Evaluation:
Downtown Kalamazoo is not too large, so it is easy to walk (instead of driving) around most of the downtown, in fact it is easier for most people to walk because there are so many one way streets. The downtown had numerous banks, coffee shops, and beauty salons. There were also some disheveled people (most likely homeless) in downtown and that made it a little less pleasant for shoppers.
Burdick Street is very different than most of the rest of downtown. Burdick street is a much more comfortable shopping experience--it has less traffic, more benches, cleaner, more trees and flowers, and more shops. There were a lot of empty storefronts on Burdick Street which is bad for businesses around them, because there are fewer stores to attract them to the area and it makes the area feel more rundown.

2.Improvements:
- The sign that listed what stores were in the mall was very small and had I not known that there was a mall there I would have just thought it was another store. Therefore the sign should be larger and more colorful.
-Have more trash cans, and also have recycling bins with the trash cans
-There should be more variety in the types of shops in downtown (more than coffee shops, banks, and beauty salons).

3.

"Light attracts. The raunchiest block on Lexington (Fifty-seventh to Fifty-eighth, west side) was notable for its lighting effects. One store, Icarus, featured blinking strobe lights and neon. The effect was so chaotic one would think that the adjoining store owners would object. They did not."(Whyte, 86)

This passage is similar to a restaurant that I saw called Mangia Mangia. It did not have nearly as many as the one in the passage, however it did have lit sign and flashing light around the border of the sign; Mangia Mangia was the only store/restaurant on the street that I saw with flashing lights. It was not very distracting, but I know that it succeeded in catching my attention because it is the only restaurant that I saw for the first time that I still remember the name of.

Egg Container

All the materials for the package were found in Alex's and my dorm rooms. I had several boxes and packaging materials. After looking through the materials we decided to put the bubble wrap and paper towels under and around the egg in a medium sized box. We put the egg in a small paper cup and taped the cup to the bubble wrap. Then we covered the box with white paper with a picture of an egg with a parachute on one side of the box. To make the box land on the bottom (where the most padding was) we thought about attaching a balloon or a plastic bag to the top of the box. We ended up using a plastic bag, which also ended up working as a parachute. The package successfully protected the egg from a two and a three story fall from Dewing.

Alex's blog can be found here

November 6, 2009

1. Gibbs wrote about the way a city is designed in a more general, broad way than Whyte did. For example, Gibbs told about how a city should be designed with a generator and about the signs on stores to get people to come to the street and like it there; whereas Whyte told about how obstacles would cause people to slow down and then notice their store and that second story stores needed to have distracting signs. I find Gibbs' argument to be more convincing because if I were shopping in a downtown, I think that I would become annoyed with some of the ways that Whyte designed the city.

2. An urban area is particularly attractive if it has plants and some open grassy parks. I also like wide sidewalks, windows into stores or window displays, and places to eat outside that are clean and have shade. I am repelled by dirty streets, feeling unsafe, busy (with people or cars) streets and if there are too many similar stores near each other.

City-The Sensory Street

1.The author, Whyte, told about how a city street works--how people interact with the different aspects of stores from the outside. He says that people need to be slowed down while shopping so that they will pay attention to the stores.

2. Norman talks very much about the different aspects of design (visceral, behavioral and reflective) separately and gives examples of each. Whyte talked more about the best ways to get people to shop in a downtown and that was not always by designing them in a better way, ex: have signs used as barriers to obstruct the path of shoppers so that they have to slow down and look at stores more.

3.-Store need to have window displays, and they need to distract window shoppers.
-Doorways need to be open and congested
-a wide variety of stores on the street
-The size of the sidewalk is important
-the design needs to slow shoppers down-many times through physical obstructions
-stores on the second story especially need large distracting signs.
-trash cans are clean and have place for shoe tying

Main Street and the Mall

1.-There are not too many benches and they are not placed near each other
-Food and clothing stores not located near each other.
-The area in front of stores is not too distracting from the merchandise inside--fancy sidewalks, or too many plants.
-There is a 'generator' to attract business for itself and other related businesses.
-Trash cans and newspaper vending machines are a dark green color.
-Shops only have to attract someone's attention within 8 seconds
-Layout of stores is done with the principle that people will turn right in mind
-The stores have signs in front with the brands that are sold there, in addition to the name of the store

2. I agree with Gibbs' argument that "Main Street" should be a mall. If Main street were like a mall, then main street would be much easier to shop in. It would also be laid out in a way that was logical, so that shoppers would find shops with the most products that they are looking for, with the least trouble.

3. -There are free areas for parking that are located near the Main Street.
-There is some variety in the types of stores on the street (including restaurants).
-streets are not so busy with car traffic that it is hard for pedestrians to cross the road
-The Main street is clean
-There is some 'green space,' near main street--like a park or field; there should be at least trees or flowers along the street

Iconic Packaging

1.The packaging of a product is very important in the marketing of a product. If a product has good packaging, then it will be much more memorable and stand out more amongst its competitors. Packaging creates an image for the product and that influences who, and how likely on is to buy it.
I was influenced to buy some white t-shirts based on the design of the packaging, but not because the packaging was a memorable, colorful, or exciting design. I chose boxers with that package design because I could feel the shirts, and knew that they were what I wanted

2.Some products with iconic packaging are Quaker Oatmeal, Jif Peanut butter, iPod bags, and red bull.

3. Packaging should protect the product, but sometimes it is too hard to open--one time I cut my hand on hard-to-open plastic packaging. Some packaging makes the actual misleading how large or the quantity inside the package. The packaging can also can make it harder to display on shelves if it is large or oddly shaped.

Retail Analysis-Natural Health Center

1. I observed the Natural Health Center (4610 W Main St, Kalamazoo, MI 49006).
They market middle class people. Also more specifically to people that eat organic, vegetarian, and/or gluten free food. A majority of the people shopping there were middle aged (both men and women).It is similar to Whole Foods, Papa Joe's, and Trader Joe's, except at a less expensive price.

2. a. The store matches the other stores in the strip mall--green roof, glass front and written on the glass windows, in white , was what is sold in the store (natural skin care, natural groceries, supplements, etc.)

b. There were many people talking (louder than a typical grocery store), and soft music playing in the background.

c. Merchandise is displayed on white shelves, at the end of almost every row of shelves is a table at which samples were given out.

d. The floor consists of square white tiles, with red mats near the doors

e. There are green neon signs marking the different sections of the store (fresh produce, refrigerator, skin care, and vitamins)
Above each isle there is a hanging sign, written in chalk, listing the products found down that isle
Also there are autumn flags (pumpkins, leaves) hanging from the ceiling

f. The cashier area is at the front of the store, facing the entrance/exit. This set up causes a customer to have to turn immediately to the left when entering the store.

3.Natural Health Center tries to project the image of healthy living, all natural lifestyle

4. -At the end of most aisles there are samples of food to try.
- The fresh produce is on display so you can see and touch it

5. I was most interested in when you walked into the store it smelled of several spices, not the usual supermarket or grocery store smell (or lack of smell).

The Science of Shopping

1. The most important points from the article are that shoppers are predictable and because of this stores can then be changed so that they are sell the most products to the most people (by watching people in many stores on video cameras). People tend to walk to the right or on the right side of stores or isles.

2.I think that I am influenced by a stores design because the way in which it is designed changes how much of the store I see when looking for the things I had planned on buying. The atmosphere of a store also changes how I would shop in a store: if it is over the top with lighting, music and smells, I would not want to stay long or at all; whereas if a store were too bland, I would also not want to shop there for very long.

3.Analyzing a retail store:
-the store has an appropriate atmosphere (smell, sounds, lighting) for the products being sold and the image the store has.
-Important products are not put in the front of the store so that people move farther into the store
-That products that would appeal to people with similar interests be placed near each other

Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015

1. In class we learned that products should be designed so that it easy for its users to be able to tell the products purpose and how to use it and that products should be simple. This is similar to what Flanders said because he stressed that a webpage should be made with the user in mind ("The only reason my web site exists is to solve my customers' problems."), that when looking at a webpage it should be easy to tell the subject and that it should be easy to read (good contrast, not too many graphics). Also, we talked about having a product so that it is visible how to use it; this is similar to when Flanders talks about being sure not to have mystery meat navigation (a link with nothing telling you where it will take you).

2. The most important points are that a webpage should be designed for the viewers of the page, that the subject be easily distinguishable (within four seconds), that a website is generally made for its users to find out information quickly, the webpage should have interesting information, the webpage should be easy to read (use good fonts, contrast, and not too many distracting graphics), and the webpage is not too long.

3. Important factors of webpage design-
-It is easy to tell what the webpage is for
-It is easy to remember what the address is of the webpage
-uses appropriate themes for the content on the webpage (ex: informational page is not colorful with informal fonts)

Know it All -Wikipedia

1. Cindy Schiff's main points in the article is to explain how Wikipedia is run-- how entries are made/updated and some Wikipedia-vocabulary. She says Wikipedia has a huge number of entries, but that there are some that are unreliable and vandalized. The topics are unevenly distributed--there are much longer entries on popular topics than on some important historical topics.

2.

"Others involve ideological disagreements and escalate into intense edit wars. A number of the disputes on the English-language Wikipedia relate to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to religious issues. Almost as acrimonious are the battles waged over the entries on Macedonia, Danzig, the Armenian genocide, and Henry Ford. Ethnic feuds die hard: Was Copernicus Polish, German, or Prussian?...Is apple pie all-American? (The answer, at least for now, is no: “Apple trees did not even grow in America until the Europeans brought them over,” one user railed. He was seconded by another, who added, “Apple pie is very popular in the Netherlands too. Americans did not invent or introduce it to the Netherlands. You already plagiarized Santa Claus from our Saint Nicholas. Stop it!”)"

This passage is particularly effective because it provides a good example of the an ideological disagreement (as opposed to disagreements in facts). It clarifies what an ideological disagreement is in case it was not clear. Supporting detail also makes a passage more interesting and therefore a more memorable part of an article.

3. Wikipedia is much more accessible than Encyclopedia Britannica for most people--anyone with Internet can use Wikipedia, but only who own/have access to the Encyclopedia Britannica are able to use it. Wikipedia has a faster way of looking up information about topics than does Encyclopedia Britannica. When using Wikipedia one types the topic and then the computer retrieves it, but with Encyclopedia Britannica one has to find the correct volume and then look up the topic taking much longer than it would to do so on Wikipedia. Wikipedia also has a list of sources, that can be easily accessed, about each topic, whereas Encyclopedia Britannica does not.

Organization and Preparation Tips

1.Reynold's most important points
- when beginning a presentation do an outline and plan out the presentation before you start using PowerPoint
- the presentation is concise and explained simply
- the presentation should have good content, each fact should have a relevant point

2.I could apply his advice to my presentation by planning out the information in I plan on including and the order in which to include it, before I actually start making the PowerPoint. I will also not use too much information; I will only use the info that is relevant to the point that I am trying to make.

3.Presentation preparation needs to be designed to be interesting to the intended audience. A presentation needs have the right amount of facts (behavioral design) and the right amount of pictures and stories to keep it interesting (reflective design, visceral design). A presenter is in a sense trying to conduct a presentation in order to "sell" an idea in the same way that a designer creates a product that is the best, in order for it to sell well and used.

Emotional Design-2

1.

"Today this [cup holders] seems like an obvious necessity in an automobile, but it was not always thought so. Automobiles have been around roughly a century, but cup holders were not considered appropriate for their interiors until quite recently, and the innovation didn't come from the automobile manufactures--they resisted them."

I found this passage interesting because I was surprised that the car manufacturers would resist something like this even though it would be so simple to put in a few cup holders and it would make customers more likely to buy their cars.

2. These categories do seem useful, however other names would make the categories clearer. I think that a better name for visceral design would be better named intuitive design because as I understand visceral design it is when something is designed so that one almost instinctively wants the product. Behavioral Design could be called functional design because it is (for me) a clearer way of describing that type of design. Reflective design could be called emotional design because it is about how its design makes you feel-like reminding you of a memory or portraying a certain image which both deal with emotions.

3. A designer could decide what type of design (visceral, behavioral, or reflective) is more important for a particular product based on who the product is targeted for. If the product is for children the product would be much more visceral design. However, if the product (like a tool) is for a construction worker then almost only behavioral design would be used. Some products are more visceral, behavioral, or reflective based on how well it is designed and who the designers intended the product to be used by.

Emotional Design

1. Norman's key points: There are several types of designs that influence why one would want to buy a product, these are Visceral Design, Behavioral Design, and Reflective Design. Visceral Design is when one wants a product on an almost instinctive level and is based on how the product looks more than how well it works. "Behavioral Design is all about use. Appearance doesn't really matter...Performance does." Reflective Design is about how a product is seen, the image that it presents when seen by others.

2. This chapter deals more with different types of good design. These design types are Visceral, Behavioral, and Reflective. Whereas the earlier writing was more about examples of bad design and more in detail about behavioral design (even though it was not called behavioral design).

3. 1)Visceral Design-Macbook Pro- it is sleek and high tech. It has a unique design and has the Apple logo on the front of it (the logo is more reflective design because it presents an image).
2)Behavioral Design-my watch- it is straightforward in the settings to tell the date, time, works as an alarm clock, a stopwatch, and it is durable. The watchband is a rubbery material so that when I wear it running it is comfortable and easy to clean.
3)Reflective Design-a Kalamazoo College Frisbee- it shows that I go to Kalamazoo college and it is for a sport that I like to play a lot. This product has a reflective design for me because of memories that I have playing catch and ultimate frisbee with my friends

The Psychopathology of Everyday Things

1.

A good conceptual model allows us to predict the effects of our actions. Without a good model we operate by rote, blindly; we do operations as we were told to do them; we can't fully appreciate why, what effects to expect, or what to do if things go wrong. As long as things work properly, we can manage. When things go wrong, however, or when we come upon a novel situation, then we need a deeper understanding, a good model.
For everyday things, conceptual models need not be very complex. After all, scissors, pens, and light switches are pretty simple devices. There is no need to understand the underlying physics or chemistry of each device we own, simply the relationship between the controls and the outcomes. When the model presented to us is inadequate or wrong (or, worse, nonexistent), we can have difficulties. Let me tell you about my refrigerator.
(anecdote about refrigerator)

I found this passage interesting because I was very surprised that the designers of the refrigerator would include a picture of how it works that was completely wrong. It was wrong of the company to include this picture because it made the refrigerator look as though it was of higher quality (having two cooling units instead of just one) than it really was. It also would make it very hard for someone using those instructions to try to fix the refrigerator. Also over the summer I had a similar experience while using an air pump that was meant to be used on both bikes and soccer/basket balls that did not work like it looked it should. The pump for the bike side worked fine. When it came to change to the part to blow up the ball, it looked as though turning a knob would allow air to flow out of the other side, however it did not. Eventually I figured out that the needle had to be pulled out (using pliers) and attached to the same part of the pump as the where the air comes out to pump up a bike tire.

2. Norman's book continues to be influential 20 years later because it uses principles that are very well thought out and they apply to almost all products that are designed well. Even though there is more advanced technology now, the same basic concepts are still needed to make a product that is functional and easy to use.

3. -It is easily visible to see how the product works
-It has appropriate clues or labels
-The product has been tested by people who did not help design the product
-The instructions or diagrams are representative of how the product was actually made
-are there minimal buttons on the product, but enough so that it is not complicated to use (all buttons have an important purpose)
-buttons are placed in logical spots for easy use

The Design of Everyday Things

1. Norman's Key Points: For a product to be designed well, its functions need to be logical and visible. The product should have appropriate clues or labels to describe how to use the product. The product should be fixed or improved based on user feedback to perform tasks better or in the way it's users want. The author also said that as products are more advanced/have more functions that they need to be more carefully designed so that they do not become overly complicated and hard to use.
2. I have had difficulty using the television in Hicks center. It was designed so that the remote was needed to use most of the functions on the television. It was needed to change the input or the volume on the TV. Also the only buttons on the TV. were on the bottom of the screen and were very hard to read unless you were very close with good lighting. The usability problem did result from what Norman discussed. The technology made it harder to use and the aesthetics were made more important than being easily able to use it--the buttons on the TV. were hidden on the bottom so to keep the front smooth.
3. The designers of the iPod addressed the principles that Norman discusses in that they wanted someone to be able to pick up an iPod and be able to use it--it is intuitive. Also the number of buttons on the iPod is limited so that it is not too complicated. The designers used standard labels on all of the buttons to show what all the buttons do.

The Perfect Thing

1. They thought of what size the product needed to be and what other aspects they wanted in the product (how many songs the iPod would hold) and how much the parts would cost. then after they had the general parts they would be using they designed several trial designs for the iPod and chose the best one. Then the design developed as they continued to change the product or come up with more ideas until the product that would be mass produced had been made.

2. The factors that I would use to evaluate a "perfect thing" is if the "thing" works efficiently, is unique (or has some aspect that makes it more advanced than current products), has aesthetic appeal, and is not overly expensive.

3. The strengths of an iPod are that it is compact, durable, does not have a complicated design (is simple), portable, has a large display with high resolution, is ergonomic, and has very helpful and friendly employees in their stores to help you with any problems.
The weaknesses of an iPod are that is a limited battery life of about two years (the battery being so expensive it is not worth buying a new battery), more expensive than some other mp3 players, and songs cannot be transferred from one computer onto the iPod then to another easily.

Design Intelligence post 1

My name is Ben. I decided to go to Kalamazoo College after I had visited my brother here; he graduated last spring from Kalamazoo. I am most interested in the effectiveness and functionality part of design.