<aside> 💡 Due: Friday, 9/16 @ 3PM

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LEARNING REFLECTION:

1. What did you know about this week’s topics before this week?

Before this week, I had some basic ideas regarding Usefulness and Usability, along with User-Generated Design, but I had never received any formal education on these topics. I would say that in general, a lot of the concepts we talked about in class are concepts I knew a little about from self-interest and research, but not much.

2. Comparing what you know now to what you knew before, name at least two

important things that you learned this week.

#1: If it’s life or death, choose Usefulness over Usability. Originally when this question was posed in class, my gut instinct was to go with Usability. After listening to other people argue for Usefulness over Usability—and after thinking more deeply about the question myself—I came to the same conclusion as Prof. Smith and the rest of the class: Usefulness is the way to go. I thought about how “user” and “usefulness” have the same root word, and how at the end of the day, our objective is to solve a problem / make the life of our user(s) easier. If what we’re creating isn’t useful, there’s simply no way to achieve this goal.

#2: You need to think about the whole experience of the user and empathize with them when designing [following UCD principles]. After Prof. Smith provided the IDEO case study of designing a toothbrush for kids, I had the exact same initial idea as the IDEO designers: create a shorter, colorful toothbrush (obviously). I loved learning about how this design did not meet the needs of the (users) kids because the designers missed the biggest problem: kids hold toothbrushes differently! Seeing how the designers innovated and came up with a new solution to this task was so fun and made me conceptualize how important it is to really visualize the product in the hands of our users. When you’re designing, you can’t just go with your gut instinct. It’s about the needs of user—always—and you can’t know what those are unless you’re envisioning their entire user experience.

3. How can you apply what you learned to your Semester Project or beyond? Put

differently, what rule(s) can you create for yourself so that you can benefit from

this knowledge later?

Rule #1: Prioritize usefulness over usability. When working on my Semester Project and future design initiatives, I’ll strive for excellent usefulness AND usability, as an ideal product excels across both fronts, but I’ll first nail the usefulness of the product. This will ensure that I deliver the most value to my users while saving on time and costs.

Rule #2: It’s User-Centered Design, not Designer-Centered Design. When working on my Semester Project and future design initiatives, I’ll remember my place, priority, and purpose (the 3 Ps!) in the design process. I am the designer. My priority is my user. My purpose is to create a product that enhances the lives of my users. It’s never about me or my needs and always about my users.

4. Describe what you know about next week’s topics in a sentence or two.

• The Final Project + How to Brainstorm
  • The Final Project is a group project that requires us to create a digital interface that enhances the lives of a specific user population. Our final design should address a need that our population faces that has no current existing solutions.
• Storyboarding
  • Storyboarding is used by designers to help map out the flow of users and the path they will follow when using a product? That’s my guess.

ACCOUNTABILITY QUESTIONS:

1. What tasks did you give yourself in last week’s answer to Accountability

Question #4?

Let’s imagine that last week I said that I will give myself the help I need to improve my learning experience by: