Design » People First Design

Information: Windows Is Always Present-To-Hand

Critique, Design, Opinion, Uncategorized No Responses »

Apr 282011

Fair warning: Light-hearted sarcasm and Heidegger ahead

I recently purchased a desktop PC and opted for Windows 7 – and after only 2 system crashes, 2 reinstalls, and a BIOS change to the boot order so the computer wouldn’t try to boot from the USB wireless adapter – I have been merrily chugging along on my new Windows 7 adventure.

And apparently Windows wants to make sure that I don’t ever make any kind of mistake on my adventure, EVER. On this adventure they will monitor every single thing I do, and give me constant feedback about every tiny change that happens to the system while I use the computer. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing the first time I unplugged my earphones:

People are not to blame for bad privacy decisions

Critique, Design, Human-Centered, Opinion 4 Responses »

May 152010

We are at a point in history where technology is forcing us to re-evaluate our understanding of privacy. However, too often the conversation looks like this, which was taken from the comments section of an article about Facebook:

“If you really don’t want to share….DONT PUT IT ON THE NET!”

I am not a technological determinist, but we are crazy if we don’t realize that there is a lot of pressure to put things on the Internet. And we can’t just blame people for being uninformed. People do it because they don’t feel like they have much of a choice due to the impending social pressures of being “on Facebook.” Of course they do have a choice, just like how we have a choice not to fill out every single field when we create one of our hundreds of profiles in the digital sphere. But there are a lot of people who happily fill out every single field, unknowingly giving away lots of information that they don’t have to, because that is what the interface is telling them that it wants. Of course we should try to inform ourselves about these things, but we can’t really expect every person to become “Facebook literate.” Continue reading »

Facebook needs human-centered design

Advice, Critique, Design, Human-Centered, Opinion No Responses »

May 132010

The most recent user uproar against Facebook and its increasingly cryptic privacy settings spurred the New York Times to collect questions from concerned users and posed them to Elliot Schrage, vice president for public policy at Facebook. He responded quite eloquently in this recent article, but unsurprisingly his words have done little to calm the masses.

It has taken me a long time to figure out what I think about Facebook, and I have read enough articles to make me yearn for a nice 20-page End User License Agreement. In this post I will respond to the Schrage article from my perspective as a human-centered designer, in the hopes of shining a light on why Facebook never seems to get it right.

For many people, Facebook represents the way they define their lives, and I mean that to be as profound as it sounds. Because of this, Facebook should seek to cultivate a better understanding of society and culture – Facebook as a social space in 2010 is a far cry from its origins in 2003′s Facemash. I may be wrong, but it seems that Facebook understands people and culture with all the nuance of a 19 year-old Mark Zuckerberg illegally accessing student information and photos in order to evaluate students based on if they were “good-looking.” Continue reading »

Capstone Presentation Video

Capstone, Design, Games, Projects No Responses »

May 132010

I recently finished my Master’s Capstone presentation and will be adding it to my portfolio when I get the chance. In the meantime I have made a video of the final presentation available. There is an introduction by Marty Siegel followed by my presentation and some follow up questions.

Also, here is the poster for my final design:

WoW Capture: HCI/d Master's Capstone

Random stuff I found on Sticky Notes

Design, Human-Centered, Opinion, Reflection No Responses »

Apr 212010

I recently went through a bunch of notes I found on my computer. All of them look to be the beginnings of blog posts, but I thought it would might be fun to throw them all together in one blog post and expand up on them later. (And then I can delete them from my computer!) Anyway here they go in no particular order: Continue reading »

How do you improve or update your knowledge on user experience design?

Advice, Design, Design Philosophy, Opinion No Responses »

Apr 212010

Someone asked that question on LinkedIn in the User Experience group. The author of the question also went on to say:

“Some people read books, some write or share their experience or thoughts on blogs or by simply reading some famous author’s blogs to upgrade their knowledge. Share your most preferred blogs or books to improve and update latest trends on User experience.”

This is a common question to find on LinkedIn or on forums like IXDA. However, I typically find that these are the wrong kind of questions to ask, especially since the question is concerned with “the latest trends.” Also, responders almost always view user experience or interaction design as web design, software usability, or graphic design (a dilemma that isn’t likely to go away anytime soon). Indeed it does include these things, but I feel to do it well one must take a broader perspective of what it means to design technology. In any case, I thought my response to this question was decent, so I decided to re-work it here. Continue reading »

Design Thinkers, Design Keepers, and Design Baggage

Design, Design Philosophy, Opinion, Reflection No Responses »

Mar 112010

I was going to write a post today about the ways in which design is being discussed, viewed, and used by individuals and organizations. My colleague, Matty Snyder, and I have spent a lot of time discussing this and alas, he beat me to it and wrote it better than I could have. Check it out.

My Thoughts on "Thoughts on Thoughts on Interaction Design"

Design Philosophy, Human-Centered, Readings 2 Responses »

Jan 242010

J. Ambrose Little just posted recently about reading Jon Kolko’s Thoughts on Interaction Design. While I am new to this whole design thing, I have previously posted about my uneasiness with the claim that we design behavior.
Continue reading »

Critical Analysis Pre-Writing

Critique, Design, Games, Human-Centered, Projects No Responses »

Dec 062009

In this post, I am attempting to make some sense of my argument for a paper I am planning to write. For this paper I am doing a critical analysis of World of Warcraft’s FigurePrints service.

In making my thoughts and assumptions explicit, I have very strong opinions about how World of Warcraft favors certain playstyles over others. I feel that the design and “loudest” player groups have created a game culture that favors ambition, aggressiveness, and a focus on certain achievements over others. (Warning: The following sentence might be highly subjective or half-baked). High level or “epic/elite” activities, raiding, or player vs. player are seen as “better” than any-level activities like exploration, pet collection, or crafting. While these any-level activities are not seen as unimportant, they don’t have near the prestige of the other activities, and are often treated as a means to an end. Continue reading »

Potatoes and Design Thinking

Design, Reflection 1 Response »

Oct 112009

So I went into Penn Station yesterday with a buddy (Matt) to have some lunch. When we sat down, I noticed the numerous metal bins of potatoes stacked up next to the fryers. If you have ever been to a Penn Station, you know that the fries are fresh cut. Anyway, I thought it was interesting that while my friend Matt was talking to me, my mind shut him out for about 15 seconds while I stared at those potatoes. Here is what happened inside my head during those 15 seconds: Continue reading »

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