Her Code Got Humans on the Moon—And Invented Software Itself:
I have heard about Margaret Hamilton several times before, but I have never actually read her story until now. I find it so inspiring how she managed to defeat all the stereotypes and the stigmas around her working in the field and managed to not only create a successful code that would allow people to go to the moon but she was also able to detect an error no one else had found and when she was told that it would never happen, she still didn’t give up on it and found a short term solution, telling astronauts not to choose P01, and a long term solution, the actual solution that saved the Apollo 8 when the astronaut chose P01. I believe that more people should take a page from her book and be persistent and consistent with their software projects and not brush off minor mistakes. Up until this reading most readings were focused on design and creativity, but I like that this reading invites us to think about the technical aspect of coding and interactive media, Additionally it highlights the fact that minor errors should be taken care of or else they might turn into major catastrophes.
Emotion & Design: Attractive things work better:
I have always underestimated the process of design, I have always thought of it as something very easy to master, but once again I have been proven wrong. I did not realize how complex design actually is. Having to understand how the human mind works so that you can design a product that would make the person feel better about themselves in positive situations and not induce extra stress and anxiety in extreme situations is a skill that unfortunately not all designers possess. At several points throughout the reading, I found myself nodding and agreeing with the author, i found myself thinking back to scenarios where an object that is poorly designed would annoy me more than i am already annoyed and ruin my whole day just because it wouldn’t function the way i want it to, or when I’m having a good day and everything just seems to make sense and work perfectly fine. I realize now that it is not a coincidence but rather a thing that designers take into account when designing everyday things to ensure that humans are satisfied with the product. The author described the concept of affect in such a way that makes it so clear and easy to understand without over complicating it. The example of walking, dancing and jumping on a plank got me wondering how our gut feeling and intuition have such a strong influence on our thoughts and our decisions which makes it even harder for designers to predict our feelings at a certain point and tailor their products accordingly.