In the first chapter of the book” The Design of Everyday Things” by Donald Norman, we are introduced to the frustrations that the author has on everyday objects. Specifically, their ease of use, or in this case, the lack thereof. The concept of human-centered-design(HCD) is introduced, a philosophy where the human’s needs, capabilities and behavior on the forefront of design. Two concepts related to this that Norman also introduces are Affordances and Signifiers, meaning a design suggestion that helps with action and visual cues that guide the person to take an action respectively.
Within Interactive Media, as the name implies, interactivity is a crucial aspect. Numerous times when creating pieces, I rely on the user’s intuition for my interactive elements instead of making designs that would easily teach and guide the user on what to do. I believe within interactive media, there has to be a balance between the piece being intuitive, but also not taking away from the experience, eg. a button that is too out of place on interactive art piece.
There are a few designs that drive me crazy:
- USB A orientation, there is no easy way to differentiate the right way from the right way when plugging in a USB A port unless you’re looking right at the port. However, a fix has already been implemented through USB C.
- Laptop Trackpads. When you get a new laptop, there are no tutorials on how to use the trackpad. While it may seem silly to need a tutorial for a laptop trackpad, every computer brand includes different trackpad gestures and defaults to a different way of scrolling. An easy fix would be a quick guide during the setup of the computer and the option to choose which style of scrolling one prefers.
- TV remote. A new TV remote comes with way more buttons than most people use. The problem with that is that nobody really understands what half of the buttons do. A fix could be to either create a simpler remote, or have better labeling for the buttons.