Blog 12 and 13

Before I took this course, I had never really had any experience "playing the whole game." I never fully understood how everything fit together as part of a big picture, but rather just focused on the specific tasks at hand. This course has really changed the way I think about designing something, both as a technical designer and in my work in fine arts. Before I took this course, I had never had experience with every part of the whole game, and learning every stage of the process has taught me to think about problems in a different way than I had previously been thinking about them.

What really interested me this semester was the distinction between an artist and a designer. This is something that we discusses in this course, but I also discussed it in my current graphic design course. I had never really understood the distinction, and considered myself an artist. As these two courses progressed this semester, I feel I have a good understanding of what makes a good designer, rather than focusing on being an artist. While I still love art and creating it, I think from now on I will focus my work on being a good designer, rather than pleasing myself. This is something that I never thought I would have gotten from this class, but it is so very relevant to what I'm trying to do in school.

Blog 12&13

I learned about the whole game of design. More specifically I took away how to better approach a design task and develop a very useful object by playing the whole game. Another thing I took away from the class was not only how to create good design but exactly what it was. I always kind of knew what it was just from using objects that were better designed but there were never any set definitions to determine what made an object be considered good design. Now that I know what the 7 principles are I can apply them to my work to have a better end result.



-Emily Harder

Blog 12 and 13

I have learned a lot from this class. I have learned about the extensive process of design, which I originally had thought wasn’t as complicated. The game of design involves many thoughts and practices which include, the ideas, research, sketching, insights, concepts, users, target markets, prototyping, usability testing, iteration, strategy, predispositions, time, capital (money), and countless people on the team: designers, the users, programmers, the executives of companies, etc. The biggest thing that I’m taking away from this class would be how to work in teams. We were challenged to open ourselves out of our comfort zones and to collaborate with team members to complete a project and to make decisions. We all have different ideas, opinions, and views about how things should be done, but in teams we have to come to one decision, while listening to each other. I also will take away the realization that all these ideas I have about potential projects and designs can become a reality if I play the game right.

Ryan Pickard Blog 12 & 13

Coming into this class I had no idea what to expect, but now I understand the concepts of design and the steps it takes to create a technology. The whole game was a great explain for teaching people how to design a technology. I thought design was this complicated process, but by using "the whole game" aspect it made it easier.

I know now that when designing a technology you want to focus more on the user and not so much on the technology. As well as reiteration being a key factor for HCI. To improve your design you just lay everything on the table at the beginning and sketch it out and then start making changes. After this class I will be able to use the whole game for multiple things and not just design.

Blog 12 & 13

There are a lot of things that I've learned from this course. I had no idea that there was a game to even begin with. The main things that I learned is that design involves a process with a lot of iterations and the focus should always focus on the user. I also thought that designers would just come up with a good idea and try to make it to a final product. But in actuality, the first design sketch will most likely be completely transformed by the end of the last design. The class has been very interesting and I'm almost positive that I will always remember the steps to "the game" which will help me out later on when working to design things for users.

Blog 12 and 13

I learned that all aspects of the design process embrace multiple perspectives which makes playing the whole game difficult at first.  Throughout the semester we've worked with techniques for making design obvious, and I've found that most important perspective to keep in mind is the needs of the end-users.  Technology and all the little features you can add to a design do not make it more effective.  Less is more, which I personally find as a good mantra to apply to other matters in life.  Also, no design is ever complete and rarely is there a design that succeeds on its first trial.  Iteration is important, as small changes over time in a process are more manageable and cost effective.  Conducting tests on design concepts and prototypes is very important. Bloopers late in the game are expensive.  Overall, I feel more confident in myself after this course. I know I've gained teamwork and time management skills, some business knowledge, and an understanding of a various design frameworks.  I wasn't worried about the class in the beginning or that enthused, but I'm happy it turned out to be more rewarding than I initially thought it was going to be.  

Blog #12 & #13

I really was clueless when I began this course. I knew where I wanted to end up, but not so much how to actually achieve that end goal. I took this route, or class rather, after many suggestions from friends that this would be a great start in the right direction. I was incredibly nervous because ultimately my whole future depended on how I understood the class and the concepts. If I couldn't do well in this class then I'd pretty well have to change my expected profession. I want to design cell phones and now with this class I'm off in the direction I should be.

The biggest thing I've learnt in this class is to open my mind up and think about different points of views and aspects that I normally wouldn't. When I design something it's not so much why I want or need it, but why others want or need it. I've learned that just because a concept may be easy for me to grasp doesn't necessarily mean it's that easy for others and vice versa. I can definitely say that the most important thing I've taken away from this class is a more open mind and more consideration for others needs and wants. This is really nice to take away because an open mind and thoughtfulness is something that can help me analyze situations in everyday life, not just the classroom.

Weeks 12 and 13 Blog Assignments

If you do this one it's worth DOUBLE points, 15 for each week, 30 points total!

And because it's being posted late, you'll have until Monday night, April 19th, to write your answer.

The last chapter of our book encourages us to “get in the game.” Read the chapter; it will take 20 minutes (at most), and it’s good reading.

So here’s what I’m curious to know: When you began this course, most of you had no clue about the “whole game” of HCI Design.

What have you learned? What are you taking away from this course?

Blog 11

Kaizen relates to the theme of continual redesign. It is the continuous improvement of all aspects of a design. Reaching perfection is impossible yet every designer should strive to get as close to it as possible. With each and every little improvement one gets a step closer even though it is an unattainable goal.

One of the concepts generated by our team for project 6 is to make the waiting in line experience enjoyable and healthy at the same time. One of our ideas is to put a piano staircase that plays music as one steps on it which involves physical movement.

By implementing Kaizen we would keep improving the staircase and its features repeatedly. One improvement we could make would be to give results of the participants' distance or calories burnt during the activity to show them what they have accomplished without even realizing it. Moreover, we could also give them discounts for a healthy foods at Disneyland.

Blog 11

1. define kaizen in your own words; relate it to one of the seven themes.

It's like a concept of iteration, thinking about the design again and again until getting a good result. In terms of the 7 themes, I would say it relates to Continuous Redesign.

2. describe a project #6 concept before you apply the technique of kaizen.

Our team works on designing a restaurant. One of our concepts is giving people opportunity to cook foods that they will eat, but virtually. It could take children's attention and entertain them. It is hard to make children eat in restaurant, but in this way, it could be easy.

3. describe the revised concept after you apply the technique of kaizen.

After applying the technique of kaizen, I would revise the concept a little. Just making children do the entertainment would be hard, so disney characters could be in the screen and make children follow that. It will be very entertaining for children to follow what disney characters do and eat the food what children had made on the screen.

Blog #11

The term kaizen means constant redesign. This definition also directly relates it to the fifth design theme of "Good design entails continual redesign." This process is constantly editing and improving concepts to continue making them even easier to use and understand. One concept that my group has thought of while pursuing the restaurant side of things is keeping families entertained and active while they wait for their meals. We decided that the best idea was to incorporate activities or games into the actual table that the families were sitting at. One side would be used for the activities and the other for eating. Once the families were done waiting on their food they could flip the top of the table over onto the flat surface used for eating. A revised idea of the "table top concept" could be that instead of just the table top being used for activities the legs of the table, chairs, and controllers could be included to maybe open up a variety of games like racing and motion controlled games that may be similar to Wii games.

Blog 11

I would describe kaizen as part of the design process which involves continuous iteration and redesign. The fifth theme describes that good designs come from constant re-designs and being able to go back and reevaluate your design. Rarely is a design considered a good design on the first attempt. Over time a good design will begin to appear.

For project 6 my group has been able to come up with many concepts for a bar in Disney World. One in particular had too much packed into one place. It looked like an arcade and bar. On one side it had a place for arcade games and also a dance floor.

A revised concept of this would eliminate either the dance floor or the arcade games. I think having both, particularly in the same area could be too much activity. I would rather focus on one and integrate it into our bar.

Blog #11

1. Kaizen is the concept of using iteration to create a functional, perfected project more efficiently. It relates the 5th theme of good design: Continual redesign. Essentially, Kaizen is a part of this theme, as it uses iteration to start producing a better product from the start.


2. To integrate health and fitness concepts into queues, we decided to partially replace lines with a Mickey Mouse pager which would alert guests when to return to the attraction. By limiting the amount of time guests would stand in line, they could roam the parks, getting exercise while waiting.


3. A possible addition to the pager would be a mile counter, tracking how far the guests have traveled while waiting in line. We also felt some sort of reward system for walking a certain distance would help encourage exercise while in the park.

Blog 11

Kaizen is constant improvement, which relates to the theme of continual redesign.   They both entail iteration.  In project six, before kaizen, one of our first concepts for the standing in line issue was some type of mobile phone distraction.  However, the client needs us to address health and wellness in some way.  After kaizen, we decided it was important to reduce wait times in line and refine the total experience of an amusement park.  our next concept involves user-friendly devices and incentives to free people from lines to enjoy the time they've paid for and to motivate movement around the park.

Blog 11

1. Kaizen means going over your design again and again, constantly improving the design by little bit to change it in big ways. Kaizen is very much like the theme of "Good design entails continual redesign". Kaizen is about iterating over your design to improve it and the theme says good design requires continual redesign.

2. Our team had an idea to create a line that would be a structured theme. The line would have built in hills and stair cases. The line would make people burn more calories in the process of walking through the line without really noticing it.

3. A revised concept would be to add in signs that would advise healthy choices to the people in the line. The signs would show the people healthy choices that they could make everyday to make people healthier. The signs would tell people that while people were in the line they had burned so many calories, show how many more steps they would need at the end of the line, and tell simple ways to make people healthier.

Blog #11

1. Kaizen is simply the process of designing, and then redesigning a product or use. This process needs to be done repeatedly to create the best possible design. The design will never be perfect, but slowly but surely the design will continue to get better and better. Kaizen most closely relates to good design being the result of continual redesign. Both concepts call for iteration in the redesign part of the design process.

2. For project 6, my team is addressing the waiting in line issue. One of our concepts we generated was having a sort of scavenger hunt that the guest participate as they make their way around the park. Since the rides are scattered through out the course, we decided we could create a park scavenger hunt to promote walking around the whole park. Customers would have to snap a picture of something related to disney when they reached the destination. This would address the health and wellness of the customers, while making sure they walk the whole park seeing all Disney has to offer.

3. Of course people are not going to want to do the scavenger hunt for nothing. So we needed to implement some kind of reward system, maybe a discounted ticket price next visit or maybe even a tshirt. We also thought about how there was nothing stopping customers from posting the pictures online for everyone to use. So we needed to have rules about what needs to be in the picture. We decided to make it where a person in the group needs to be in the pictures and they need to be present at the end to receive the reward.

Blog 11

Kaizen changes this for the better and progressively advances an improvement. It includes constant redesign for simplification. It is improving something through iteration to reach a better design.

One idea was for customers to perform games while waiting in line for a restaurant. They more games they play, the less of a discount they would get on their food.

After implementing Kaizen to our project, we realized that wouldn't sound very appealing to customers who have been walking all day and just want food. We decided to form a discount package for customers. The more they walk with their pedometer, the more of a discount they would get on their food. Discounts would be higher for the healthier food on the menu.

Megan Resig

Blog 11 - Greg Starr

1. Kaizen is the process of steadily building up a design piece by piece and making it better over time since nothing is ever built 100% the first time around.

2. For project 6 my group is tackling the restaurant problem. One of the concepts that our group has is an integrated system that utilizes a bunch of touch screens that look similar to what has already been introduces to the market. (ie. back button, drop down menus, etc.)

3. After applying some Kaizen to our original concept, one of the ideas that my group has come up with is to use e-ink instead of just a standard touch screen. It would give our design a fresh new look instead of the same old boring one that we've seen a million times.

Jaclyn Duket Blog 11

Kaizen is the idea of constantly improving something. It involved focusing on smaller tasks of improvement, rather than the whole task, to improve the overall quality of something. This approach allows you to not worry about minor set backs along the way and to focus on each task in terms of the big picture. I think Kaizen can be related to the 5th theme: good design entails continual redesign. The idea of Kaizen can be applied to this theme by thinking about redesign in steps. A designer should focus on improving specific aspects of a design to improve the whole design, rather than only thinking about the final product.

A concept my team has discussed is making the task of waiting in lines part of the whole Disney experience. By this, we are thinking that people (mainly children) will be given the opportunity to solve some kind of mystery or story during their movement through the line.

We could apply the idea of Kaizen to our design by thinking about each part of the line experience (when it's the best and worst times, when a group has just moved up a few steps, etc.) This would allow us to focus on fixing smaller aspects of our design that we might not have otherwise thought about. Perhaps we could also use the idea of Kaizen to think about our concept as just a small piece of the Disney experience as a whole. This would allow us to keep in mind that we are designing for Disney, and if our concept doesn't reflect Disney, then it is not successful.

Ryan Pickard Blog #11

1. Kaizen is the ability to constantly improve a design. If you design something just to put something out in the public that is okay because Kaizen allows you to improve that design on a daily basis and also enables you to see the reaction from the public and make more changes accordingly.

2. For project 6 our group picked the lines for the rides. We first started to think of ideas to solve the line situation but they seemed to get to technical and very costly so we stepped back and started to think simple. One idea we had was to put tandem bikes at the major rides and in order for someone to move the family has to pedal.

3. We then made some changes to that and didn't make is so difficult and made it more like a ride waiting for another ride by putting monitors on the bikes and having races with Disney characters vs the families. This will keep the patrons mind off of waiting in lines and keep them entertained and give them a little exercise as well.