Design Intelligence

Store

2007-11-27T18:25:00.000-08:00

1. The Buckle. They try to cater to hip urban teenagers/young adults.

2. a. Glass windows easy to see everything inside shoe racks on outside. Very bright.
b. Had a rock an roll music theme going on new. New music not old though
c. Almost all of the merchandise inside the the store is on tables. There are a few racks that hang coats. There is also shelfs on the wall but i think they are more for all the numerous jeans and employees then the consumers.

d. It was a wood floor with tile in certain places. well maintained.
e. There were a lot of signs that basically said like cool names on them. Like seth was not a name but a pair of pants they described and other signs with catchy phrases.
f. Cashier was in the middle of the store available on both sides. Very easy to locate.

3. Trys to give the image for very fashionable up to date clothes. They do not just have one type of clothing they have different brands and styles. They cater to a few different types of people to improve business.
4. When i was in there almost everyone i saw was picking something up from a table. It is a very interactive environment. Seems like everything in the store is asking to be picked up and felt.

5. I thought it was interesting they had no aisles with items on them. The other thing is since everything is on tables you have to problem locating something you are looking for because your able to see over everything.

Science of Shopping

2007-11-18T15:30:00.000-08:00

This article is entirely based on the premises of how a stores design influence shopping. Based on the information that you just read do you truly believe design influences your shopping habits? When shopping why do you choose certain stores and what is the reason these stores draw you in? When you shop do you usually know what you are going to buy and its a matter of finding it or rather are you browsing waiting for something to suck you in?

In response to Kelseys question. I feel that the design of a store can really influence a buyer, I am not saying it is going to influence the buyer who knows what they want but the shopper looking for something. All of the subtleties that are incorporated into design and layout of a store to affect the way people shop. The power of this apparent invisible marketing is strong.

In response to Kates question. I personally believe that I am not very influenced by this subtle marketing. When i shop I shop its usually because I know that i need something, this amounts to determination so my mind is not set on browsing but rather finding the item that i need. I am also the kind of person who likes to browse around and view all of his options before he buys something, meaning this placement of items does not really have an affect on me. Another factor that that I try to be frugal and not waste my money, having this thought in your head prevents from the marketing strategies used by companies.

Packaging Continued

2007-11-15T22:21:00.000-08:00

1. packing besides being appealing to the eye has many other purposes.
Protect product
Stackable
preserve product
hang up product of shelf
appear bigger
provide information about product
advertisements for other products
coupons

2. These articles predominately suggest that packing today is designed with to much excess. Basically this is the case because of all the trash from packing that ends up in the environment. Using only recycled good would help minimize the amount of trash ends up somewhere else. Another idea would be to cut back on packaging and use the least amount possible. In packaging there is generally an excessive among of paper and or plastic, cut back on these.

Packaging

2007-11-13T17:32:00.000-08:00

1. Packaging is extremely important in marketing. Packaging is arguably the most important aspect if marketing. Why? The appearance of the package is the first thing people see and determine whether they are interested in the product or not. Without history and reputation there are not many grounds to sell your product on except packaging. I almost always buy Tropicana Orange juice. The packaging on the Orange juice is very enticing showing a picture of a orange with a straw sticking in it. This packaging is very appealing to me.

2. Mountain Dew
Many Alcoholic drinks have very iconic packaging
Kraft

3. The more simplistic the packaging usually results in better usability. This is the dilemma of good packaging or usability. One thing that applies to a wide variety of products are the clear plastic packaging that is formed around a product. This is great packaging because it gives the consumer a direct picture of what their buying. On the other hand anyone who has tried to open one of these packages knows the difficulties of opening them. Its impossible to open then with out a sharp object, even they have a hard time. Then breaking the packaging before you can get to the product.

Webpages That Suck

2007-11-05T06:01:00.000-08:00

1. This reading relates to the concept of user focused very strongly. Essentially this article could be renamed usabilty flaws in designing a web page. In class we talk alot about designing products to meet the users specifications not the designers and this article basically says all of this information when regarding to a web page.

2. I thought the first point was very important that nobody cares about your web site they only care if it pertains to them. The heroin content section was also important by telling people they need to make there page enjoyable to read again and again.

3. I agree with all the points that the website shows. Here are a few more i think are important.

If you have large website a search function.
A good sidebar that lets you get to your place easily.
A fairly simple design nothing over the top that gets confusing.
Good organization

Intresting Design

2007-10-29T08:44:00.000-07:00

One Feature of design that i find interesting is ergonomics. Products come in many shapes and sizes and are used in a variety of ways, but have you ever just picked up a product that feels so right. This is the idea of ergonomics. Some products rely on ergonomics to make there product successful like controllers or any hand held product. Picking up to similar products and comparing them which one is chosen. More then likely the product that feels like an extension of the body. this is the basic idea of ergonomics.

Friday October 24

2007-10-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

The first blog I chose was Kelsey's.
1. What I read that caught my attention was how many products are created by designing them for another purpose.
2. I found the idea of cross-pollination very interesting and factual. Thinking about all the different products there are and then cross-checking them with each other. One notices all of the similarities between products and how they are similar and use a combination of technologies.
3. This news article brought it several ideas that we discuss in class. One of the things we talk about in class is evolutionary design and this article talks about that. It also talks about standardization how we bring ideas together to form a single product or in other words standardization of a product. Click Here

The second blog I chose was Spencers.

1. What attracted me was how we have had the discussion about PC mimicking Apple several times in our class and this article was almost made for our class.
2. How Dell is taking design steps in order to mimick or at least stay up to standard with the usability and design features that keeps everyone raving about Apple.
3. The two main topics this article talks about that we have disscussed in class would have to be usability and standardization. The first usabilty because Dell is trying to design there product with user friendliness in mind opposed to just a computer almost trying to make the computer a personal experience. The second standardization how Dell is following in the steps of Apple and trying to design a product that resembles basically the user friendliness apple incorporates into their products. Click here

Wednesday October 24 Design Webpage

2007-10-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

Great Design is Invisible.

An interesting property of great design is that it is taken for granted. It works so well that we forget that creative effort was involved to bring it about. Sometimes, like with the lowly spoon, the object is so simplistic that it seems obvious, and we disregard that at one point in history it wasn’t. Other times, like with the automobile, the object is so sophisticated yet easy-to-use that we’re blinded to the fact that millions and millions of human-hours went into getting it to this point. That’s a shame…every great design has a rich history. And every design has behind it a designer or designers who tried to make the world a better place by solving some problem or another.

Bad design is obvious because it hurts to use. It is awkward, difficult, and complex. In a great irony of the world, bad design is much easier to see than good design. It raps us on the head like a bully. Because of its success, great design is often invisible.

Click Here for Site

This is directly correlated to our class. We talk everyday about good design and bad design and distinguishing between the two. The best idea funneled out of this paragraph is the notion that good design is invisible. It is invisible the simpler and more user friendly something is the less we think about the design of that product.

Creating Passionate Users

2007-10-21T22:23:00.000-07:00

"Let's take the whole damn ad/marketing budget and move it over to product manuals and support. Let's put our money where our users are. If we're in it for the short term, then sure--it makes sense to do everything to get a new user, while doing as little as possible once we've got them. But if we're really in it for the long haul--for customer retention and loyal users--then shouldn't we be using all that graphic design and pro writing talent for the people we care about the most? Our users?" "Creating Passionate Users" Kathy Sierra
http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2006/08/why_marketing_s.html

I thought this passage was pretty relevant to design in the idea of creating manuals that are very easy and fun to use. With a manual like this it promotes knowledge in the head as well as gives the user great user friendliness. A manual is considered a part of the design and with a faulty manual it equals a faulty product. Why is this a faulty product? Well the product is only great if it is fully functional and without a good manual almost no product can meet its full potential.

Good Design

2007-10-11T08:48:00.000-07:00

A product that i believe achieves the status of good design would be the controls of a car. The main reason this is so well designed is standardization and natural mapping. Almost any car that you can get into you can pretty much right off the bat turn in on and go for a spin certain exceptions to apply to this some cars. The brake and gas have separate controls which makes them easy to distinguish as well as they have great feedback if one or the other is pressed. Also the natural mapping is great if you turn left thats the car goes not vice-versa. Although a turn signal up is right and down is left which does not imply natural mapping everyone knows this because of knowledge in the head so it provide no problem. You always know that to turn on the lights its either going to be on the left of the steering wheel on the dash or on the stem on the steering wheel. Also if you do cause an error its is usually not life threating as well as provides feedback that the wrong task took place. This is why i believe a cars basic controls are well designed and very easy to use. Now the dashboard and radio controls may be a whole separate problem.

Flaw of Design

2007-10-07T23:16:00.000-07:00

One product that i believe contains flaws is your standard dvd player. Take note there are many dvd players so need not all apply. The majority of dvd players come with remotes and with the remote are quite straight forward and easy to use. Now how many times have you lost the remote and tried to use the dvd player. It is painstakingly hard to make the dvd player do what you want now. You went from about 20 buttons to 4. Now you probably cant skip previews, no skipping chapters, if you can skip chapters that means you probably cant fast-forward or rewind now. As well as some other things. This is related to the reading in more then one way. First the designer intends that you will always have the remote and therefore does not really make the actual dvd player that user friendly only to an extent that it can still be used. Another one is price it is going to be more expensive to design this dvd player with multiple buttons and functions. Now this might now be the case for everyones dvd player but my house for instance has about 3 different dvd players and no remotes which makes for an adventure and time watching a video.

Egg Drop

2007-10-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

Egg Container

We kind of had a general idea of how our container was going to be designed but some of the minor details were more of a spur of the moment thing such as the Styrofoam that fit around the egg perfectly. Basically we had the egg wrapped in a tight Styrofoam container thats you can see to the left. After that we had it inside a cardboard box that was filled up with broken pieces of styrofoam to cushion the impact you can see this stage of the container on the right. then the final layer of protection involved the entire apparatus wrapped in balloons to provide friction in the air as well as cushion the impact. We never got to perform any tests on our container for two reasons lack of time and confidence.

Helplessness

2007-09-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed the short passage about Learned Helplessness. It was interesting to be because I know people who are like that. They believe they have no technological skills when in reality they no longer try because of previous experiences.

"It refers to the situation in which people experience failure at a task, often numerous times. As a result, they decide the task cant be done, at least not by them: they are helpless."
Page 42

Norman, Donald A. "The Design of Everyday Things"
New York: Basic Books, 1990

First Blog

2007-09-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

I don't really have a lot to say because this class just began, but from what I can see the class seems quite enjoyable and i think its heading in the direction that i like.