Interacting With Designs

Journal Reflections on NM4210

2007-04-20T12:08:00.000+08:00

It was a great eye opening to learn about how we design product and services that is not just user centric but also having that user experience.
Pleasure, sociological, physiological, and psychological and Ideological Pleasures
I thought that by studying the four types of pleasure, sociological, physiological, and psychological and Ideological allows us to better understand and nail the kind of things that please the users during the process of using the product. By breaking down into needs and appreciation we could strike a balance between providing the required needs and the great experience of having some nice and easy enough to use services (depending on the target audience).

Ethnographic Study

This observational study include a non-intrusive method to observe, listen and watch how the ‘target audience’ dos certain things or react in a certain why. I am sure many have watched the IDEO success video, (although it was believe to be just an act for the sick of production, no one knows how true it is) the IDEOs experts, went into he supermarkets and observe how people in market make their purchase and make use of the baskets and trolleys. I guess it would be a good way to start will evaluating users’ needs and wants. Many of times we take things for granted things that may seem so apparent to us may be neglected and thus ethnographic study serves as an interesting method to sieve out things that may seem unimportant but it is actually a crucial aspect of users’ needs.

Types of Product –Visceral, Reflective and Behavioral

By categorizing these products, it could help us better market and brand them. For example, when selling a DSLR camera, one won’t market it as sleek and light weight held an event at a fashion week with the other entire cameras which are known as a fashion accessory. Likewise, you don’t market 3.2mega pixels sleek like a card camera to a professional photographer (unless he is buying for his sister).

As I apply this portion to my Kumon Interactive Portal, I feel that it is both a visceral and behavioral product. Especially for the younger kids, the visceral element is extremely important it is the first step to attract their attention. Next, the behavioral element applies more for the parents who accompany the children to surf the net. They are quite mindful about the amount of quality functions and education ability.

Berlyne’s model of aesthetics

Berlyne’s model is about achieving design that is simple enough to use yet novel enough to engross the user. It is extremely applicable to today’s trend. Everything is moving towards minimalistic and simple plain colors. Even for interior design simple design with plain colors and just a little touch of ‘complexity’ to show some contrast give the best comfort to the owner of the house. This works the same way, simple yet with a touch of novelty.
For the Kumon Interactive Website, this model is applied to its functions. It has to be simple enough to comprehend and use as the target group are children from age 7-12. These are the group whom most of their IT competency level is lower. However, we also include some new applications which are not so common among children’s website. They are encouraged to explore the novel applications by the aesthetic quality of the design-dynamic icon and colors of the rainbow.

Most Important Thing!

Design for the user not yourself

Reflections on High Fidelity Prototype

2007-04-20T00:26:00.000+08:00

At the end of the day, when the user gives you that smile, you know that you have nail it. (The great user experience!) It was a great challenge for able to accurately test the users for this product. It is for children, and some children usually want to agree with you rather than disagree, so they might just say " Yes Yes nice nice" but doesn't really have a comment on that. Therefore, I have to actually go more indepth to ask them what exactly is so nice about this webpage. One key thing to getting great insights from kids is getting ton know them first, their personality and character. If you are talking to an introvert, all you get is nodding of head. I actually speak to their parents to investigate how their responds could have been link to their personality, which could also affect the accurary of the test.

The older kids who are more expose to internet and have surf quite a few websites, beside those required by schools, are able to give better comments or rather more useful comments on the design and the functions.

One design element which we assumed and is proven true, (noone can get this wrong) they love bright colors, or anything that is colorful. They also prefer big text. They like more fancy text. We try to strike a balance between nice fonts and readable fonts. The page with big junk of text, we will cut down as much as possible and use text which are less fancy. The ones that require the child to key in, we allow more fanciful handwritten font, for that little touch of mischief.

We know we nail it, when the child says something like " you mean this is for real? I will love to use it !" or something like " huh .. I still want to play with it..."

Modifications After Reddy's Advice

2007-04-20T00:11:00.000+08:00

The old discussion room, we use this thinking that we need a fuctional page, since it appears that the aesthetic quality is more important, we decided to redesign the page and make it sync with our Kumon portal.
The new and refreshing look !
The old ChatRoom which is completely functional.
The new look, which is simple and friendly to use, specially catered to children.

2007-04-19T23:58:00.000+08:00

1st Design : After going through gthe high fidelity test, we realise that the design is too cluttered, some find that the text are too small. So we decided to reduce the amout of content according to which is most useful and relevant to the user. This way we could make the text bigger. We also change the color to a more brigher blue instead of this duller one.
2nd Design : This look is more welcoming and refreshing. Users felt that they could navigate better and straight away know which discussion topic to choose as the text are now big enough.

Designing the Content -Improvements to Fit User's Preferences and Needs

2007-04-19T23:52:00.000+08:00

Initially, the icons below are made up of only faces with different expressions, users may be unable to identify and recognise the different functions. It is true that the original idea was to let children explore and move their cursors over them. Over we could also improve the design such that remain its interesting design but at the same time give it some hints of what the icons below mean.
For this design, the icons below were redesign to include a personality for each face. Users were able to tell them apart and even remember each of their functions

Summary of High Fidelity Test

2007-04-19T23:46:00.000+08:00

High Fidelity User Experience

1. The discussion box should be more simple
2. The text for both discussion box and chat-room can be bigger
3. Girl want more beautiful font like curvy one (but readability problem, actually do they care?) Boy is fine with the font
4. Need an instruction page as Discussion box and chat-room is still quite a novel idea.
5. After taking Mr Reddy’s advice on changing the character of the icons below, they are better able to remember the categories of them.
6. They like the colors and the layout of the website pages.

Observation:

1. Boys and girls react differently to the aesthetic, boys care more about the functions and the overall experience
2. Girls look out for ‘beautiful’ pictures, bright and colorful, want more ‘happy’ element
3. As age increase they tend to be more critical about the overall design before that the younger kids tend to be easily satisfied as everything seems so interesting to them.

High Fidelity User Testing

2007-04-19T23:41:00.000+08:00

Girl Pri 4, she feels that the blue color was too dull, Oops children were not use to laptop reflections. After I adjust the screen to make it brighter, she still thinks that the color could be lighter and brighter. We have make that changes.

Discussion room words are now big enough and clearer, she finds it just nice =).
She is paying attention to every single details.
I want to test to make sure, my modification works. (from Mr Reddy's advice we should attach a certain character to each smiley icon so that user could remember what are the functions) After user has went through the entire website, I ask her without moving the cursor over the icon (which will show the title of the icon) to tell me what does each icon represents.... Guess what? She nailed it all. Although she could tell me the exact name for " Tuition Stuff " but at least she was able to tell me that it was relating to studies or test.
The satisfied user smile and happy to visit the website again =)

2007-04-19T23:33:00.000+08:00

Girl, pri four, she loves the fact that the face changes from sad to happy =)
She typed in the login name and password without any problem.
She was really reading it attentive..." you mean this is for real?" she asked
'I really like the graphics, very colorful, but I would like the face to be all smiling ..." Ok she is a very cheerful girl, we can't have all smiling face, cos that will be a bit confusing to differentiat between different functions, instead we make sure that all the facial expressions are positive and cute looking.

2007-04-19T23:21:00.000+08:00

Boy 12, was just engrossed in the website. " huh wa the face can turn one !!"
Shows him navigating the website. He was aware of what could be directed to another page and what it couldn't (static pictures).
Overall, he loves the colors and the graphics

More Paper Prototype

2007-04-19T23:09:00.000+08:00

The pri two girl was really fascinated with the website design
She loves the illustrations. She randomly picked the icons below.
She points at one of the icon, while I have to change the paper prototype manually to the page she wants.
Pri Four girl navigating around the page and tells me how she finds the designa and layout of the webpage
She points to another hyperlink which will take her to the " Academic" section.

Paper Prototype. Low Fidelity Testing

2007-04-19T22:17:00.000+08:00

User Testing –Kumon Portal

User Test Sample:
1. 5 children
2. Age: 7, 8, 9, 10, 12,
3. Middle class family
4. Have been using internet for at least a year
5. The primary one and two children usually have parental guidance
The user tend to follow the sequence of the tabs below (because the paper prototyped can’t simulate the experience of scrolling through the tabs)
Pri Two and below- Don’t understand the meaning of assessment (should change to e-homework?)
We should use more interesting and simple words- think about their legibility
Lower primary needs parents guidance
They want more games
They like the visuals
They will actually look through all the pages because they are fascinated with the visuals

Modifications: Changing the name to make children understand the fuctions better
Assessment – tuition stuff
Workbin- downloads
Gradebook- Quiz Scores
Personal- about me

Paper Prototype Testers

2007-04-19T00:58:00.000+08:00

These are the two kind souls who agreed to take photos with me.... Thank you =) Girls, the rest are too shy .. They are holding their favourite page, they love the interesting elements, colors and apples Wow!!! I get it, we have to use images that remind them of their fairtales and children stories....

Paper Prototype Part Two

2007-04-19T00:51:00.000+08:00

This is the Academic section, apparently the kids are not too sure what is the meaning of academic, especially those primary two and below (below 8 years old). So we change that to Quiz instead.

The games section, the kids love this a lot, they want more more more ....

I love this 'Make Friends' Section, not only me but the kids.... kids love to make friends. Our idea for this part is that the letter box will open to reveal letters and it will open up into a piece of paper with the text inside.

Paper Prototype

2007-04-19T00:45:00.000+08:00

The page will directly enters the Annoncement page, the most important thing they have to see.

Next it is up to the kids to navigate themselves.... As they click on the hyperlinks at the bottom, the head will turn and pop out
This is the ' Personal' page that link to emails and profile of the user..... After the fidelity test, we change it to ' About Me' becasue the kids practically don't know what so 'Personal' it is ... Oops

Help .. quite standard ... for formal layout for easy reading.

Chicken Stetches for Kumon Online Interactive Portal

2007-04-14T17:18:00.000+08:00

After researching and looking through the Kumon's marketing strategies and website we decided that we will reinforce the brand but adding more fun element to the Kumon Online Interactive Portal. The target audiences are children from age 7-13 which means that it has to be colorful and simple enough to use. Simple but still including novel elements to 'surprise' the kids so that they will attracted and stick their heads in front of the computers for hrs.

We modified the original Kumon's face ( a sad one,huh?!) into something more cheerful and playful. We are going to use different colors for the five different categories (hyperlinks) so that the children could recognise and familiarise themselves with it.

These are really very very rough sketches (or chicken sketches) so bare with me for a while....

Die Die MUST READ:User Research Smoke & Mirrors (Christopher Fahey, 2006)

2007-04-14T16:04:00.000+08:00

Lecture 10: User research smoke and mirror
From Part 2

Using of the eyetracking device use as empirical user interface test. I truly agree with Fahey’s opinion of “an eyetracker can tell you what people are looking at, but not necessarily what they are seeing (or why they are looking at it).” Applying this to our product (Kumon Online Portal for Students), this is especially true and tricky for testing children, because basically children they are fascinated with colors, colors seem to be the key attraction to them. Their attentions are captivated with seemly novel and interactive activity on the interface. But do they really understand what the message intend to deliver is really hard to tell from such eyetracking device. Interviews and surveys come useful in terms of testing whether the message get through to them and whether they find the product useful.

“Secondly, the results generated by an eyetracking study are, to a good UI designer, rarely surprising.” I would agree that that to an experience designer it won’t be surprising but in a sense isn’t he too idealistic to say that because to an experience designer almost everything will seem too simple and too mundane. Design is quite subjective. Especially a challenge when our target audience is the kids. The age gap, the generation gap and their ‘child’ languages are such wide different, not to compare it with our lifestyle and thinking now as an adult but comparing it with our childhood memories is already very different! In the past everything that is digital is like a revolutionized product. Kids go ‘wu and ars’ about it. Now kids are so expose to such interactive media and activities, it is not easy to complete with the giants of the industry!

I agree with Fahey that it is important that we do not misinterpret the results of the test. Because what might have been a great design may be altered or destroyed after we made changes to the so called badly interpreted results. For an example when one spend a long time looking at a online user-guide page, it ‘does not’ mean that it is extremely interesting, it could just mean that the product is extremely complex to use or that user-guide is extremely hard to comprehend.

This is a bad design website, people will spend long hrs staring at it, because of there are practically 4 columns of content.

Dealing with the ‘BOSS’

“So how does a designer or a design manager convince their boss that a good design decision is in fact a good design decision if the boss has no design instincts? What if the site won’t get redesigned at all unless the boss can be convinced that the current design stinks?” Ok for this I would want to agree with him, as a freelance designer I often have to do last minutes changes even at 2am in the morning just because the ‘boss’ thinks the design( may not be even the design, maybe just the content) does not match the one he/she has in mind. Many of times, some organizations think that ‘more’ is better, so they will squeeze (they want us to squeeze) as much info as possible in one page design (for print). When we try to convince them that it is cluttered they just simply say they don’t feel it that way. So they are assuming they are the target audience?

Forrester Persona Rooms

Summary of what is this persona rooms about: “Design personas help companies create a shared understanding of the most important attributes and goals of their most important users, enabling more focused, effective design of interfaces like Web sites and phone systems. Persona rooms recreate the living spaces of personas, providing a new, highly accessible level of insight for all stakeholders on the design team. The result is an environment that aligns everyone, from marketers and programmers to interactive and traditional agencies, behind a deeper understanding of the target customer.”

Firstly creating a persona room does not allow one to be like the person when entering the room. Understanding a persona through the place they live is does not deliver anything that could conclude how a persona uses a particular product or would want to have a particular function in that product. Many of times, a persona’s characteristics do not align with how his or her room would look like. The ability to create the correct persona room is already questionable? How about the experience of it? Does stepping into a brightly glittered and ‘blink blink’ , covered with pink and gold wall papers and life size dog picture handing on the way, with gold plated utensils makes you feel and behave like Paris Hilton? I bet not.

The IDEO Shopping Cart Legend

I have watched the IDEO video in my technopreneurship lecture, it seems almost like an idealistic production, everyone is the company seems so satisfied and passionate about their jobs. However I do not agree with Fahey that researching and all those observational studies are ‘bullshit’. Because personally through the course of this module and others I have done research of my users and targeted audience, and they have proved to be useful. Sometimes it informed us of the things we have not expected. For example the brand Abercrombie and Fitch you would have think that since this brand is already so famous that even the Microsoft word could spot the spelling mistakes once you spelled it incorrectly, it must be due to its successful marketing campaign – sex appeal. I would tell you that it would be in US but not in Singapore, where it still doesn’t have its retail shop here.

Singapore’s demand for A&F products are mainly from the online retail stores and a few stores in Orchard where people buy in bulk and sell it in their shops( although still doubtful about whether they are real, fake or defects). What make A&F really popular here are not the sexy ads, it is the word of mouth and really the ‘counterfeits’ you see in universities bazaars and pasa malam.

I have just attended a talk called the “Digital Light” the speaker Sean Cubitt, University of Melbourne mention about how the experience of reading a book a very simple act could be differentiated with the kind of books we are reading, not the content or the author of the book, but the tangible material of the book, the feel of the paper whether recycled or chemically bleached white, the touch of hard cover and the smell of the paper, a juxtaposition of the smell of chemicals, pulp and ink. I always thought that I am the only few minorities who are affected by such things, but as these words came from a professor, it must mean something right?

User Research Smoke & Mirrors, Part 5: Non-Scientific User Research isn’t a Bad Thing

I like how Fahey uses the analogy with an art (ART vs Web design). A web designer still need to do both qualitative and quantitative research to really teased out the important elements that make the user satisfied and achieve the intended aim. The user interacts directly with the webpage. There is no third party to help navigate the user around a webpage. The only helping might be the site-map, but if the user has to rely on that does it means that the webpage design has failed?

However, on the other hand, the art piece required a curator, many of times what is conveyed out of an art work is not really directly from an artist, (especially since most of them are dead) there is a curator who helps to interpret the art work, whether one like it or not, curator drove the interest to the art piece not the art piece itself. Just look at the Impressionist’s painting, why do people know about it? Because a curator thought that they are rubbish and had insulted the Art.

Ethnographic Study

2007-02-22T08:43:00.000+08:00

This week's post is about this observational studies we made about why are students in NUS not paying attention during lectures.

Our group ( Junhao, Yieng, Jialin) we concentrate on the observational method. Observe people in the lecture, with my super duper Acer webcam on my laptop. Thus, we are able to do a non-invasive observational, or discretely observe our subjects. Oops they sound like rats to me.

We are focusing on the CS3253 Management of IS lecture in LT34, cos of the amount of insights and the hilarious part of lecture, not because of a hilarious lecturer, rather how interesting things happened.

First, she started the lecture late, like 15mins, people are still walking or rather taking their own sweet time after 30mins of the lecture. Most of them are carrying their breakfast too! For the first 40mins of the lecture, the projector kept giving the lecturer a hard time. It kept turning off or went pitch dark. (no signal) She (the lecturer) called for the IT technician, seemed like a game, when he arrived the projector was fine.... (crippy huh? ... jus kidding).

Enough of the 'heavy' and 'dry' subject, the monotonone voice, nice cooling air-con and nice timing, everyone was falling asleep. Some tries to keep themselves awake by self-entertainment, chatting with friends, giggling at the back and corner of the LT, wipping out their source of life- breakfast like sandwiches, packets of milk and pastries, some rather work on other stuff with their laptops. So we feel that the technological advances with mobile devices have some what affected how we learn and how much we learn. With the affordability and availability of laptops, we can do other stuff 'behind the scenes'.

Time was 11am, the lecture continued. People got restless, moving around in their seats, doing some stretching while trying to stay awake. Some just gave up and drooled all over their lecture notes. Not only is she speaking at a monotone voice, the slides were not interesting, no pictures or videos, not interaction with the students. Worse, is 11am and there is still no break!

It is really hard to get participation in a large class, especially when there is no points given for participation. The technopreneurship modules in school of business ( previously under Engine school) relies a lot of class participation, so no method how big the class, people will 'fight' to have their voices heard.

Finally after 1hr 15mins, a break was given. Hurray!!!!! The students slowly make their way to toilets and the canteen to grab some food. They took longer than expected. The lecture should end by another 15mins or so at 11.45am. What is the point of giving a break now, since it is just another 15mins?

Our suggestions for improvement :

1. Give a break near the one hour mark
A limit to the attention span of the students.
2. Engage with the students in meaningful discussions
Instead of just throwing a question to them.
3. Give out small goodies to those who answer the questions
Encourage participation

4. Slides and presentation design
Less points on one slide
More pictures instead of all words
Use of multimedia teaching material

5. Leave blanks in lecture handouts (my personal favourite)
So that students have to pay attention to take notes.
This is exactly what is done by Dr Lim Sun Sun for her NM2209 module, she left blanks on her lecture notes ( usu the important points) so that students have to pay attention to every single details in the lecture.

Conclusion :

1. Nerds and those who really want to learn will pay attention no matter what ( at least they will put in an effort to stay awake, drink chicken essence and coffee)

2. LTs are too big to make teaching engaging ( and the class size)

4. Learnng experience can be enjoyable with the effort of the gave the information provider (lecturer) and the user ( students)
- students should come in on time
- students should try to participate when ask to
- students should not burn the mid-night oil the previous night, sleep earlier ( but this is really hard!!!!)

Review of Others' Presentations

I like the one about feng shui, serious I don't believe in that, but it is really hilarious! The part about the time of the rat, makes you sleepy and not concentrate. I have a question, I am born in year of rat, means I will be sleepy for my lectures???

I think feng shui makes things sound so complicated. It is by logic that if we plant more trees pr plants, it make the environment nicer, fresher and more regenerated. People feel more refresh to start a lecture. The path up to the LT, haha more like after walking for quite a distance people feel tired. ( I wonder if the group is really crapping?) These are really logical stuff and can be improved.

pls : will update on this part after everyone has finished their presentation ...

Who will wear a leapard print party dress?

2007-01-27T01:30:00.000+08:00

Product Given during NM4210 lec – Leopard print party dress

Customer Profile: Heidi, outgoing personnel in her early 30s. She lives in Paris, the city where the most renounced fashion designers showcase their works. She works in the fashion industry, a woman’s magazine editor who gives reviews of the latest fashion. An individual who, is daring in what she wears, willing to try new things and also create old pieces of garment into something that is up to date with her skillful hands. Believing in looking at her best every second, she stays on a healthy diet and does her regular yoga. Having the long and slim figure, almost anything will look nice on her.

1. Physio-pleasure: Many aspects of visceral level with some behavioral level.
Physcio appreciation: Her indulgence of yoga and spa during the weekends.
Physcio Needs: To stay in shape, do her regualer facials to that porcelain flawless skin as she is in the fashion business, thus is always good to look at her face.

2. Socio-pleasure: Both aspects from behavioral and reflective level.
Building up networks with editors, fashion designers, models and photographers. Networking is part of her social-life (need). She is enjoying singlehood, the freedom to hang out with anything she likes (appreciation).

3. Psycho-pleasure: Mostly behavioral level.
Need: Generates satisfaction from every issue of the fashion magazine published, having praises from her boss on her news-breaking fashion editorial.

4. Ideo-pleasure: Reflective level
Appreciation : The branded, designers’ products that she used, reflects on her professionalism and social status.

Phone that is most suitable to her: Nokia 7380

It is a sensual fusion of technology and fashion, the leather, shinning metallic surface and etched motifs accentuates the touch of elegance. The iconic slim and sleek design suits Heidi’s figure and style.

The reflective mirror is perfect for any woman who is always on the go and need something to check herself before giving that great first impression. The light-weight (Weight: 2.82 ounces Dimensions: 4.49 x 1.19 x 0.79 inches) is also a plus point to lighten the burden of the heavy leather Coach Bag that Heidi carries. (physio and ideo pleasures)

The 2 mega pixel camera (1200 x 1600 capture resolution, Up to 52 MB internal memory) is all Heidi needs to capture memorable moments with other party animals and nice fashion ideas she saw on the streets. (socio pleasures)

It also allows Heidi to listen to her favorite melody in itunes or FM radio (Apple iTools compatible - synchronization of photos, audio files, and video clips using Nokia Collector v1.0) , while traveling or waiting for her clients. (psycho pleasures~keeping herself up to trend in terms of music and news) Being in the fashion industries, it is important that the mobile phone is able to store all the contacts. This phone stores up to 1000 entries. (socio pleasures)

Overall the most important point is the aesthetic quality of this phone; it is a representation of Heidi’s status, a successful independent lady, who has the earning power and obvious someone who holds a strong fashion statement. (ideo pleasures)

Visceral Design - Cinderella slippers

2007-01-20T01:30:00.000+08:00

Only Paris Hilton can wear it
own collection
Slippery soles

Visceral Design - Cinderella slippers

‘How much could a pair of shoes cost? Well, the world’s most expensive pair of women’s shoes costs a cool $2 million!
The one-of-a-kind 4-inch stiletto sandals are studded with 565 platinum-set Kwiat diamonds (which include 55 carats of clear diamonds and one big 5-carat stone).
The ‘Cinderella slippers’ as Stuart Weitzman, the designer of the fantasy sandals, calls them, were worn by singer Alison Krauss (nominated for best song for the film Cold Mountain) at the 2004 Oscars ceremony.
The Stuart Weitzman-designed $2-million shoes on display in Beverly Hills, California.’

Taken from: http://www.luxury-gadgets.com/category/most-expensive/

The shoe I have chosen for the visceral category is this $2million dollars shoes. It looks luxurious, something that the upper class would want to have. Undergraduates like us will only drool and sign that we are not born rich. Even if it is given to us as a present, who is going to wear it?

Visceral: Cinderella like, elegant, demure and expensive

Behavior: Uncomfortable, hard like the crystal and pain in the ass

Reflective: Status symbol for upper class. Never or seldom have the opportunity for me to wear it, I am not some rich man’s daughter beside going to lectures, CCAs and hang out with friends at Vivo City where else can I go? If I wear this, I will probably get rob.

Beside this e.g that I haven taken off the web, I also own this pair of black formal flats, which to be is considered a visceral design. This one looks professional and elegant. I bought it because of the ribbon and because it is a just a little heel. However it is really not something you would want to wear for a long shopping trip. The sole is smoothened after just wearing it for three times, if it rains it will get really slippery.

Behavioral Design- My Reef Flip Flop

2007-01-19T19:17:00.000+08:00

top view -The sole of the flip flop

Behavioral Design- My Reef Flip Flop

I bought this from Korea and love it from the time I bought it. It is my favorite color too-green. In general it may not be a visceral design but because of the nice green patterns it immediately drew my attention when I first saw it at Myong Dong (Seoul), so it is a little of a visceral design for me.

Visceral: Not something to be show of in terms of its design and price. No crystal or anything expensive, just fabric and rubber.

Behavior: It feels really comfortable. I can walk with it for the whole day. It is ideal for any conditions, sunny, sandy or rainy. The sole is excellent, it provide secure grip and doesn’t wear out easily. The flip flop base is design to mound into the shape of the foot. Gives best support and comfort.

Reflective: Among the ‘slippers family’ it is considered quite expensive, it costs about $33 in Singapore. If what I am looking for it comfy, then this is the choice. Hmmm it reminds me of my Korea SEP!!! Tells people of my more casual and easy going style.

Reflective Design- i-xodus flats

2007-01-19T19:14:00.000+08:00

new
old and worn out
Reflective Design- i-xodus flats

This isn’t something that is comfortable initially. Only after about 5-6 times of wearing it, it became more seasoned and I could finally take off my handy plaster. This is quite an old pair of shoes, got this about 1.5 years ago. It is a present from Dad.

Visceral: It is pretty and demure looking (above there is a picture of when it is new and a ‘after 1.5 year later’ photo), but it is more luxurious, quite affordable. I find the design quite unique though, something I can show off.

Behavior: I love the combination of the materials used, although it is not as comfortable. This is made to look pretty not for running. (*laugh*)

Reflective: My Dad bought this for me, he chose this color because he said it gives a more youthful image, unlike brown (the other color) which is quite conservative. Yellow the third color is not suitable for my pale and fair skin. A substitute for heels, if you are wearing a skirt. It is quite me, because I always try to avoid ‘under dressed’ so this flat goes well with almost everything in my wardrobe and almost all kinds of functions (just a little worn out now). This represent a bit of my personality, I love green, like to be a bit different from others (the design is quite unique at the time I bought it). It is something I can run after the bus with, because it is really light-weight. It also reminds me of the horrible monsoon in Korea, the reason why it is so worn out now.

Bad Design - Capture User Experience

2007-01-13T16:18:00.000+08:00

Imagine one day you wake up to find the mobile phone which you have left it to charge overnight is still uncharged, because of the loose charging cable. In other words, the battery logo is red and you have to rush off in the morning to attend a 9am lecture. You have no time for it to re-charge. Will you feel frustrated or feel just like suing the mobile company (that is if you have the money and time to spare)?

The above situation has happened to me and my fellow friends who are loyal Sony Ericsson mobile users (I hope Sony Ericsson will not sue me for this, because I am really stating the fact!). The older Sony Ericsson phones, like the models K320i, J300i, K508i, K300i, K700i and many more are using this tilting charger, which you have to remove by tilting the plug upwards. Unlike the Nokia chargers, which is round and works just like any earphones plug for walkmans and ipods. The Sony Ericsson charger connector will come loose when you move the phone in an upward direction while charging. After several usages the connection will be seasoned and comes loose even much easily.

Personally I was frustrated every time the same thing happened. The most frustrating thing is when I have actually made sure that the charger was attached properly before I went to sleep, but only to realize that the charger came loose in the middle of the night because of whatever reasons. After some discussions with my brother, also a Sony Ericsson mobile user, we concluded that partly it is the gravitational pull and maybe the wind or air pressure (not going into any physics discussion). We try to place the mobile phone on a thick book or on a table so that the cable is connected such that is in- line with the charger connector port. However, this is still a no guarantee that it will be safely charge the next morning (maybe 85% higher chance).

Hoping that Sony Ericsson will come out with a better designed charger, I investigate further with two friends who have bought the newer ‘W’ series. This time the charger is bigger than the ‘K’ series but the same problem still occurs. Another insight that I got is that when the charger connector is loosed, the ear piece will also be loosely connected because they share the same connecting port. The ‘K’ series have a separate connecting port for the ear piece and charger. Many of the Sony Ericsson mobile users are switching to Nokia or Samsung. They still think that the conventional charger used by Nokia is the best.

Reflections

One biggest problem that Sony Ericsson has failed to identify is that the tilting technology of the charger is the main cause of the bad connecting problem. Another reason that causes the charger to become loose is because most users failed to use the technology the way it is intended by the designer. Many failed to realize that they have to tilt to remove the charger, they just pull it out. The pulling motion will damage the connecting point. Personally I only realized it after charging my phone for the third time; I read it from the menu that comes with the phone while reviewing some special functions of the phone. How many users read the product menu? Not many I assumed. Sony Ericsson can either focus their advertising efforts to educate the users about the tilting technology or change the charger design to one similar to Nokia.

2007-01-13T14:38:00.000+08:00

This is unlike my personal blog it is going to be more academic, I hope I will be careful with the use of English, no more Singlish. Just like Mr Brown show, I shal not touch on sensitive issues. Only design matters are allowed. ( I shall stop here before I get into my 'Singlishness')