This reading made me question more so the everyday designs that are prominent in our lives in terms of usability and understanding. I feel as if, the more modern and contemporary a design is, the less funcationality and even instructions behind it are. I mean, just as a real life example, when I go to Galleria mall, the bathroom was quite confusing to use. They had some new faucets, where they output water, soap, and also you can blow dry your hands. Of course, this is great in terms of efficiency and spacing, in order to have all you could need at your fingertips. But not only was it, a little odd to understand, it was also a bit inconsistent, as depending on where you put your hands, you could get splashed with water when you wanted to blow dry them, or soap when you wanted water. I applaud of course the ease of convience for it, but simply put, better labelling and also a bit of a larger design would be appreicated.
In terms of interactive media, I would agree with the three design concepts he presents and I’d go as far as to say that, more emphasis should be on the experience design. When I notice think about interactive media, it is paramount that interactivity is a key part of designing a enagaging and unique bit of media. But if I’m honest, most of the time, I feel a bit underwhelmed from the experience I get from most interactive designs, say in museums or art galleries. It’s not to say there is a lack of interactivity, but I’d argue that memorability of the given piece of interactive media matters a lot, especially if you want to be remembered. One person I can name who I’d say masters the experience is Scott Snibe’s Boundary Functions . You still interact but also take in the experience behind the art, and the actual meaning as well. Another place I’d say is places like TeamLab, where you truly are surrounded by this experience of art that I think you can lose yourself in it as easily as you can interact with it. Even theme parks like Super Nintendo World have a lot of interactive games, where you can feel challenged but also enjoy the experience.
To close off, I would say it matters a lot in how you frame the experience of interactivity. It needs to speak to our human emotion and to really provoke us to get the feeling of which the curator of that bit of media, was trying to convey.