Ankit Khare's design blog

Feeback from users

2008-10-29T13:37:00.001-07:00

A designer should aways be in touch with user's feedback ... not only in the when the design is naive but also when the design is mature and well established. Sites like http://www.ideastorm.com/ do this really well. Infact i think after the initial idea is established ... the design should be left open and developed based on the feedback/ideas of the users.

User centered design vs. Design

2008-09-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

I think there is a lot of difference between User Centered design (UCD) and normal design. In UCD the user is the driver of the design, the needs of the user, his behavior, his problems are the core of the design. UCDs are focussed to address problems faced by the majority of the people and not towards the specific problem that the designer thinks exists.

For instance think about the CHI design problem. The issue is centered around "Act local", now if i were not a UCD person i would just think and brainstrom a list of problems, which in reality might not be a problem at all. I would get personal and bring out a problem statement based on my assumptions which are based on my experiences.

Whereas if i were a UCD person i would know that his is my problem space and talk to the users who are a part of the problem and try to solve a problem that a majority of users are currently facing.

Example:

Problem of Homelessness -

1. Non-UCD person : "I think that homeless people need access to internet that they can use to access information related to Social security, transportation, shelters, etc. "

Now here i am assuming a problem or making up a problem. Do homeless people really need internet ? Is the stuff they might be looking for on the internet at all ?

2. UCD person: Talks to homeless people, volunteers, etc. Does the user research and then designs a solution.

In a nutshell - it is really important to validate and verify the problem through user research and then attack the problem. Don't assume a problem and start solving it.

I am not a Bot

2008-08-01T22:48:00.000-07:00

I used Kayak.com so much that the site thought i was a BOT and cut me off :P

2008-07-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

10 tips related for career development- (came out from a career sesstion at Intuit - Molotsi, Hugh)

1. Lead Change
2. Time management
3. Get out of the comfort zone
4. Value feedback
5. Be Boundary less
6. Be decisive
7. Live the culture of reviews
8. Take commitment seriously
9. Use Business acumen
10. Nurture your relationships

Sliding Navigation

2008-07-18T10:14:00.001-07:00

Sliding Navigation, Clever :)

http://www.visualcase.com/tutorials/use-case-diagram.htm

First principles of design

2008-07-10T15:19:00.000-07:00

http://www.asktog.com/basics/firstPrinciples.html#learnability

User friendly visual error messages

2008-06-10T12:00:00.001-07:00

Design Triptych

2008-06-05T09:12:00.001-07:00

Useful. Usable. Desirable.

http://www.noisebetweenstations.com/personal/weblogs/tinderbox/design/process/usableus.shtml

Simple rules of usability

2008-04-10T08:37:00.000-07:00

keyboards (hardware) should fit the shape and size of fingers (body)
navigation and coding (software) should matching the way people think (mind)
coloured screen images (software) should suit the optical properties of the eyes (body)
keyboard layouts (hardware) should be easy to remember (mind).

semantic differential

2008-02-27T19:28:00.001-08:00

How non HCI job sites are

2008-02-13T17:03:00.000-08:00

Many of the job site are so non User centered. They should function in such a way that ... ask me what i am looking for.. like :

1. Are you an international student
2. Are you looking for a job/internship
3. Which office do you want to work in
4. What are the domains one is interested in - like Software engineering, Usability ....

After these values are filled .. a filter should be applied and the results can be shown. I am least interested in know that the CA office needs a new accountant .. i dont want to see that on the home page !!!

Jobs sites/career pages have too many jobs and many of them are irrelevant. They have to be human centered.

Some really interesting designs

2008-01-19T21:43:00.001-08:00

Hurdles a designer faces

2007-12-18T17:32:00.000-08:00

This is marty's blog

Erik Stolterman and I have been thinking about the issue of turning non-designers into designers (that would be you!). We see our students moving through three transitions:

(I) Pre-emergence
(II) Transitional
(III) Designerly Thinking

Characteristic of each of these transitions is a penetration of barriers. Rather than progression along a smooth continuum, students penetrate these (intellectual, practical, psychological and social) barriers in a step-like function.

I’d like to share these barriers with you and get your comments (David Royer and Sindhia Thirumaran contributed to the list as well). Perhaps you have additional barriers to suggest, or ones to eliminate or modify.

Barriers (numerals in parentheses indicate the transitional stage(s) where the barrier occurs)

Design definitions. Naïve designers’ conception of HCI/d includes mostly graphic design and interface design; experienced designers also include interaction design, experience design, emotional design, and systems design. (I)
Best solution. Naïve designers hold onto the belief that there is a best solution; experienced designers believe there exist many solutions and judged by critical criteria and presented through a design argument or explanation. (I)
Technology-centered vs. human-centered. Naïve designers focus on the technology; experienced designers study human behavior, motivation and need. It’s very difficult to “let go” of gadgets and things; there’s an over-fascination with techno-fetishism among naïve designers. (I, II)
Me and we. Naïve designers defend their own designs; experienced designers look to their team for inspiration and solutions. (I, II)
User research. Naïve designers underplay the role of user research; they know what people want. Tools such as personas are resisted rather than embraced naturally in the design process. Experienced designers do not make assumptions about human desires and motivations; they study it instead. (I, II)
IT domination. Naïve designers tend to overemphasize efficiency, effectiveness, scalability; experienced designers include experience and emotion. (II)
Idea loyalty. Naïve designers hold onto a single idea; experienced designers engage in systematic exploration of multiple ideas. (II)
Algorithm / design paradox. Naïve designers expect to memorize algorithmic solutions to problems; experienced designers learn to deal with ill-structured problems, seemingly paradoxical situations and design thinking. (II, III)
Critique culture. Naïve designers worry about school grades; experienced designers welcome critique. (II, III)
Notebook. Naïve designers sketch for a particular project; experienced designers sketch continuously, deriving inspiration from all contexts. (II, III)
Role. Naïve designers are learning what they do and how to do it; experienced designers begin to defend the position of design in a multi-person development team made up of designers and non-designers. (II, III)
Research and philosophy. Naïve designers find solutions in the HCI literature; experienced designers explore philosophical foundations of design as well. (III)
Reflective designer. Naïve designers spend little to no time reflecting on how they are designing versus experienced designers who can look at themselves “out of body” as they design. (III)
Omnipresence. Naïve designers see design embedded in objects; experienced designers see systems that affect designs and designs that affect systems. (III)
External / internal. Naïve designers find external answers to design problems; experienced designers begin to look internally and introspectively for inspiration and resolution. (III)

List of imaginative products

2007-12-18T17:31:00.000-08:00

WiiMote

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asY_I8y6C0M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_ytdW6Ys2A

Screen Technology

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jLmwjN4wwE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waeH2sQVmao

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msmLIApZuA8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BK7qfpvod2w&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffzNCOp2wm8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0xptspGpkc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Px2uJKU0w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt0uow79Llw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARqWuVRq87Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UOY4kG_CGA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzlZkm_PYI0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8BHygfvuoA

Material

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd99gyE4jCk

Visual

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPSULuDJj3I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thQ_e_qy5kQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnuPC7Cxxno

Interactive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6izXII54Qc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPwaUp4gepU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yI34-EhX63Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbwe-A-TyBg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkKLLhlWm0E

Mechanic & Engineering

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTfZTwCkw9E

Smart Home & Mobile

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7QN_sW9T4g

http://www.youtube.com/watc

Blog posts from HCI-I (Marty's class) - Brainstorming techniques

2007-12-18T17:27:00.000-08:00

Brainstorming
No criticism.
No limitations
Let it flow (rip)
Get lots of ideas
Write or sketch
Use time pressure as a tool for you
Brainstorm in different settings
Build off of other people’s ideas
Go in a different direction
Ask Qs.
Take the opposite of what you have
Play with inspiring object
(Play music)
Brainstorm about brainstorming
Attach ideas to x (x = any random object, idea)
Split the team physically to different planes, corners, rooms.

Coming up with concepts from this brainstorm
A way of getting to other ideas is go from 1 to 1′, i.e. take an original idea and transform it slightly. What’s on the other side? What if we add a bulge of some sort? New opening for a coke can? How about 1”, or 1”’?

Come up with 10 ideas, then 10 variations on the theme = 100 ideas!

Take the 100 ideas, mentally do a Venn diagram, find the commonalities, make sure your working concepts use them!

Reflection of Marty's class

2007-12-02T21:11:00.000-08:00

We are officially done or almost done with marty’s class. I wanted to reflect on the most important things that I learnt in the class.

To start off , the biggest thing to me was learning “How to think rather than What to think”. The process of thinking can be channelized and can be made more productive using a few techniques. Also how group thinking works was a big learning experience for me.

Then, Finding design patterns in objects, methods, processes in life was super interesting. I loved the way we started with looking into Light switches, Tea bags, Thermostats and ended up with Music

Next, Seeing multimedia content in the class. From Snow white to “Freedom is coming” … what a way to begin. This made me come to class early (atleast most of the times).

I cannot not comment on the 7 themes and the principles framework. I think they are strong guiding forces. Personally i use the principles framework and add a new attribute to it called the “Goals”, this is little different from the vision and mission statement.

Overall, i think this was a brilliant course .. and i am so glad we are ending it on a high note. Too bad this is the only course you teach marty …

A designer better works solo

2007-11-27T08:36:00.001-08:00

I have a strong feeling that designers work better solo. When alone one does not waste time in meetings (which i think are alternative to work) and explaining things to others. Maya lin was a single person, so was Leonardo da Vinci ... but unfortunately todays management does not allow people to work solo.
The other fact is also that working solo, one does what he likes and can discontinue at any point of time, One need not do anything for the sake of it.

An tweak should not drive the concept

2007-11-27T08:24:00.000-08:00

It is really easy to like an idea so much that letting go of it becomes really tough. The concept should not evolve around the idea. The idea should just be an attribute of the concept. People like the small features(the tweaks and the twigs) of their ideas so much that base the entire concept across the idea. E.g. Our project for CHI 2008 is to help the homeless, and our concept of building a digital library some how is driven too much by the fact that we like seeing the Digital version of the library, where one can navigate around the books like one does across library racks. I agree that this is a nice idea but should not be the driver of the concept.

Another similar example could be creating an e book that looks very similar to the actual book. Where flipping of pages can be possible instead of scrolling.

The first post

2007-11-07T15:11:00.001-08:00

Hello world,

This is Ankit khare (AK) ... i am a student at Indiana univ. studying HCI/d. This is my first post and i an seriously going to blog about design :)