Blog 14

How is it the end of the semester already? Time flies by too fast. I really enjoyed this class and I think it is truly different then any course I have taken so far. Often my bad habits will go unnoticed until Marty introduced the notion of slow change. I, as Marty, am not the best at getting into the gym as much as I should, but I know that if I make it a habit to go as often as I can, change can happen. This change may take time, but it will pay off someday. The notion of slow change is realistic. Also, I feel as though I have a good idea of how to play the game. Let the games begin!

Blog 14

Marty dedicating himself to working out in order to start craving exercise helped inspire me in my quest to quit craving cigarettes.  I realized how much of my day is centered around that next cig and how lame that is.  I'm thirty days or so without one now and its nice to know that I really never needed them.   I learned from this class that you can do pretty much anything if you put your mind to it.

Blog 6 -fill in

On Wufoo they use many error handling techniques. Right from the sign in they made it very easy to join and very easy to navigate their page. They showed a clear layout of their 6 types of accounts and it was very easy to use. Making a form was very straight-forward. The layout of their tools made it very easy to see your options and it got the user to immediately start using the website and didn't waste time on teaching them how. They also did a good job of not using modal objects. You have an unlimited options when editing forms and reports. This was a very easy to use site that turned beginners into intermediates quickly.

Blog 14

I have truly enjoyed this class, probably more than any class I have taken thus far. Everything from the way the class is structured, all my peers, all the help we get from people who are experienced in HCI, and of course you have been excellent Marty! I have learned so much in this class, it has actually changed the way I think about design and the people who design products. I now apply the concepts learned in this class, to my everyday thinking process. The material I have learned in this class will truly follow me for the rest of my life.

Blog 9 "fill-in" - Greg Starr

Chapter 7 talks a lot about designing for uniformity, consistency, and meaning. This relates to Theme 4 and "ease of learning" because in order to achieve what we want out of theme 4, we have to keep these things in mind. In order to make a design easy to use, it has to maintain a uniform look that is consistent.

One website that I think does this very well is Google.com. The opening search is one of the most simple designs i can think of on the web. And all the searches performed after the initial look the exact same. The search bar is on top with the results located below in the order of relevance to the search.

Compare Google.com to the likes of Yahoo! or MSN and see the difference

Blog 14

In an academic setting, especially in a 300/400 level course, it is easy to forget the basics in lieu of more interesting but complicated topics and concepts. What I like most about this class is that we learn about ideas that are simple, yet extremely important. Ideas like good group behavior, basic design principles, how to work on a team etc. These simple concepts are also something we can take to just about every venture or anything we do in the future. Oftentimes I've read about complaints of college graduates coming into the workplace lacking basic skills such as these, and I'm glad that there is at least one class that addresses these issues.

I also think this class is taught in a radically different way, which I think is refreshing. To show up to a class which has music playing in the first minutes, with free music and magic points, is very refreshing compared to some of my other courses. Especially when going to a big research university can make you feel like just a number, it's good that I have a class than can be a bit more real.

Blog 14 - Greg Starr

Ok to be completely honest, I hate this class. NOT because of the material or Marty's teaching style, but because everywhere I look, I'm reevaluating the design or whatever is in front of me. I;m thinking, hey this is can improved vastly.

So really I don't hate this class (that was a joke) but it has definitely got me thinking about how the world is designed around me. I'm still trying to figure out how I fit into the whole grand scheme of things but it's slowly starting to piece itself together. I do find myself taking a bit more risks, knowing that if I fail, I can plug myself back into the design game and play again. The game doesn't end.

This class has been an EXCELLENT experience Marty!

Blog 14

I feel that I300 has been one of the most useful classes I have taken at IU. It taught me a lot about working in groups, being responsible, having to iterate, and also how business works these days. The class gave me a lot of insight as to everything that happens when a product is released. Which is something I never really thought of before.

I would definitely say that the class changed the way I think in many ways, mainly to do with technology and how things are designed. My favorite part of the class was Project 6. It was a great hands on experience of having to work in a team and think things out.

I will be spending the entire summer in Colorado as a camp counselor and plan to think about everything I want to do in my life and intend to use Kaizen on myself.

Thank you for the excellent class Marty, it was a truly enjoyable experience.

Blog 14

In an academic setting, especially in a 300/400 level course, it is easy to forget the basics in lieu of more interesting but complicated topics and concepts. What I like most about this class is that we learn about ideas that are simple, yet extremely important. Ideas like good group behavior, basic design principles, how to work on a team etc. These simple concepts are also something we can take to just about every venture or anything we do in the future. Oftentimes I've read about complaints of college graduates coming into the workplace lacking basic skills such as these, and I'm glad that there is at least one class that addresses these issues.

I also think this class is taught in a radically different way, which I think is refreshing. To show up to a class which has music playing in the first minutes, with free music and magic points, is very refreshing compared to some of my other courses. Especially when going to a big research university can make you feel like just a number, it's good that I have a class than can be a bit more real.

Blog #14 - Chad Fox

I feel that I300 has taught me too learn in a new way. I like that the course is taught in a way that breaks the norms of a typical college course. In my opinion, I300 is a success because of the combination of a its laid-back, flexible, and responsive student-centered lectures, its less stressful exams, and its continual group work. Considering that I had absolutely no knowledge or experience in HCI design when starting this course, I feel that I truly learned how to play the whole game by having an easygoing and interesting lecture, in addition to group projects where I could take a hands-on approach to the course concepts. Instead of learning by attending a boring lecture, then having to study all the slides and take a stressful exam that made up a large percentage of my course grade, I300 actually taught me the material in way that I enjoyed. By designing the lectures to introduce students to the concepts and then having these concepts reinforced through group work, I300 has taught me to learn in a new, fun, and successful way that differs from the traditional course style of teaching/learning.

Blog 14

During this class I’ve discovered strengths within myself that I didn’t know existed, and I was able to realize these by taking risks. This class has pushed us to trust our teammates (who we may or may not have known very well) and to open up our vulnerabilities to others. We have been pushed to think outside the box and to broaden our minds to think about others (users) rather than ourselves (designers). This class has really made me enjoy putting myself into others’ shoes to discover their needs and wants, and it has challenged me to put aside my personal desires and thoughts about how things should be done and to consider everyone else’s (in my team and with my users). I have enjoyed working with my teammates and I think their friendship is something important I’m taking away from this class. I’ve found people I can work with in a professional setting, and the same people I can look forward to seeing in class.

Blog 14

This class has been enjoyable in the way that we have looked at the design of pretty much everything. Since the class began, I can't help but look at some things that are in the world and wonder what people were thinking when the designed that particular object or website or application. This semester has really taught me the value of iteration. All semester iteration has been constantly said to be the key to good work, and every time the rule was followed a better project came out of it. This class has taught me much not just in the design applications but the design of the world.

Blog 14 Ryan Pickard

For myself i love taking risk and not going by a schedule so everything that I did and learned in this class was interesting and intriguing. the fact that we had to listen to other people and combine ideas together to get one design was a risky task, but it was fun. I usually don't like to do things more than once and i hate repeating myself, but i had to do that in this class and get over it and just suck it up. I learned that if you go over your work more than once it only betters your final product and i will try my best to continue doing that in everything i do. This class just didn't teach me about the "whole game" it taught me ways of life and tools to complete task and get by in today's society.

Blog #14

I have always considered myself kind of a risk taker. I like to get my adrenaline pumping so I enjoy the fastest roller coasters or even find myself climbing over railings on cliffs so I can get a better view. But if in terms of this class, I would say I have learned to take risk by trusting other people. Since there is no one right idea then you have to bring to the table a bunch of ideas to find that just right mixture of them all. And its not that I'm not a group project kind of person. I actually enjoy group projects, its just that I've learned that ideas are like clay and can be molded throughout the design processes to create the final product. I've always felt like an idea was a finished piece of art and couldn't be iterated on. As for slow change, I've played sports and a couple of musical instruments, which both require slow change if you ever think you're going to be decent. Practice makes perfect, right?

Blog #14

This class definitely helped me to take risks and learn in new ways. I really always thought that if you put in 110% then you'd get a perfect product, whatever that may be, but now I know that sometimes, even after you've put in 110%, it's not perfect and there isn't anything you can do about it except keep trying. The course really helped me to learn from others instead of directly out of a textbook or only the professor. The partners I've had in the projects have all taught me something that I may not have ever learnt, whether that was a perspective that I wouldn't have caught onto or an actual approach to a problem.

As for the risks, well these projects were all about risks. Create something, it gets shot down (even though you thought it was really cool, of course you're biased), create something else, that concept gets tweaked and renamed, and so on. As part of the risk taking process it's also made me more confident and detached. I did think that a comment like "I don't think your design is very good" was more of a personal attack and now those same words translate out to be "Come on, you don't want to embarrass yourself, now do you?", for it to be more of a "Hey, I'm watching out for you." from your partner instead of a "I'm just a fame hog in disguise."

I'm not sure what the next iteration of the game will hold for me, but I'm always up for some good change. I'm also not sure about taking from the planet, but hopefully one day soon? Summertime is warm so hopefully I can focus on the new and healthy by getting out more since it'll be warm and since most are my "bad habits" are technology related like texting, social networking, and email maybe if I'm out of the house more and enjoying the weather I won't be so inclined to focus on those habits...as much.

Blog 14

Well, first, I guess I never really thought about how playing the whole game could be applied to my actual life and how I live it, so that's the first thing I am taking away from this course. If I look at MY life as the design, that would mean that I'm the user. Perhaps I spend too much time worrying about people that are not the user, which is one design flaw. If I want my life, the design, to be an effective one, I suppose I aught to fix who I'm designing for. I can't really do much with my life/design to help others, unless I manage to fix some core problems of it. Not to say that I think I'm the most important thing or that it's all about me, but what am I really capable of doing with this ineffective design?

Second, this course has taught me that no matter how much I focus on something or how much effort I put into something, that it's not going to be perfect and I am going to have to make some trade-offs. Whether this is in my school, work, or social life, I'm just going to have to accept that some things are just more important than others, and I can't change that. Thanks for taking the time to really help us understand how these things can apply to more than just HCI Design.

Week 14 Blog Assignment

Designing Your Life

That’s the topic of this blog assignment. We spent an entire semester talking about human-computer interaction design; you know, designing the obvious. And perhaps you’ve learned something along the way; not just the intellectual skills, not just the things you learn in order to pass a course, get the grade, but real things — the things that are truly important. Slow Change. Not twitter, not IM, not your cell phone — not the high school-like chatter that occupies so many of our conversations: "she said …; he said …" Really, who cares? WTF does it really matter? I’m talking instead about Slow Change. Important stuff. Life stuff.

Did this class teach you to take a risk? To learn in a new way? Did it make you think that on the next iteration of “playing the [design] game” you might actually change something about yourself? When will you stop taking from the planet and give something back instead? What are you planning to do to minimize bad habits and focus on the new and healthy?

I realize this note is a bit strange. Hey, it’s the last blog note! Let’s mess it up a little bit. Give me something interesting to read this week. It’s just between you and me. No one is watching. Have fun. The deadline is the last day of class. An easy 15 points.

Blog 12 and 13

In I300, I have learned that additional features are not always the best thing for an application or design. Additional features are normally thought of as the way to create a good product but this class has showed that products can be better if they are left alone and not added to because they make it easier for users to make.

Blog 12 and 13

When I first began this, I had no idea what HCI Design was; I just heard of HCI from the pass informatics class, and it seemed fun and great subject to know and learn about. Through this course, even though it's not done yet, I have learned that Design is not that someone can do by himself. There are many processes to produce a product with some designs. So far we are doing the project 6.4; and I truly feel that teamwork is the most significant thing to have in designing process. I will never regret that I took this course, and things I learned in this course would be very helpful for my future job - mostly team projects.

Blog 12 and 13

Coming into I300 I had no idea what was to be expected. I knew that it was a HCI design course, but wasn't even quite sure what that meant. It is a required course for Informatics majors and I can understand now of its importance.

The design process is truly like playing a game. All of the pieces fit together to complete one design which often times may take a variety of steps to complete. I've learned to focus on the task at hand and the end user not just what the computer is capable of doing. I can't forget as the title of our book suggests: design the obvious. This course has been both challenging and fun.