Design Excellence: Product Poster

Hey everyone, this is the product for my design excellence poster, it is the HP Envy all in one multifunctional printer.

All in all, I think the reason why this product was so popular was because of its compact and unique shape. Its modern, sleek and looks minimalistic and all these qualities of the form of the product add to the success of it on the market. The Envy's easy-to-use ergonomic touch screen was another reason why this product was so popular. People want to be able to connect with their products without much thought, and to do this, systems need to be created in which the users can easily find their way around. For example, this is exactly like Itunes and Apple, although their products are sleek and minimal, it is the user friendly system of Itunes, which makes their products so appealing.

David Kelley's Video: Human Centred Design

http://www.ted.com/talks/view/lang/eng//id/122

Critical Analysis of Video

This video talks about the way design has changed so that behaviours and personalities are now being included into the designs of all products. In this video, David Kelley talks about how with the introduction of human centred design, designers now have to rethink their whole marketing strategy and come up with new ways in order to communicate a design to the consumer. David stated that before human centred design became popular, 3D models and renderings were quite effective in conveying a designers idea of a product,  however with this new age comes new responsibilities for the designer. In order to communicate a products interaction in its environment, David Kelley says its much more beneficial if a actual functional prototype of the design was made and then tested in the environment it was created for. This, in effect, gives consumers a greater knowledge of the product as they can see in what ways it is being used and the purpose of the product. Knowing why a product is made and understanding its functions can play an important role in the subconscious minds of the consumer when they are purchasing a product. Don Norman's video on emotional design explains why behaviours and personalities are being included in the products design process, through the use of shape, colour and texture. 

In this video through the use of many examples David Kelley shows us how the development of human centred design greatly increases the ergonomics of a product through human interaction. Greater interaction with a product allows the user to understand the product and with understanding comes the desire to buy the product. For example, the Apple corporation understands completely the power of interaction and therefore has three quarters of their store dedicated to improving ergonomics between the user and the product, with the help of its employees.
In summary, human centred design is extremely popular in todays society as consumers need to be convinced why they need a certain product and designers need to convince consumers why theirs is the best product to buy. Designers who incorporate behaviours and personalities into their products ultimately benefit from their unique design process as they are more integrated in the business strategy of companies and therefore are more trusted.

Project 1: Experience Enrichment (Studio 1031)

Hey everyone, just thought i'd update my blog with my 3 concept posters all done and dusted. Although I havn't yet fully worked out how I plan to make the prototypes for each idea, I chose products that would make me use a number of different tools in the process, e.g. lathe, blue foam, laminating etc.

 Window Wiper for Glass

 Light/Dark Salt and Pepper Shakers

Ball pump


These concepts posters were not that hard to create, the only problem I had was deciding which of my ideas were ideal to actually keep.

Don Norman on 3 ways good design makes you happy | Video on TED.com

Don Norman on 3 ways good design makes you happy | Video on TED.com



Critical Analysis of Video

My understanding of Don Norman's blog is that he is changing his outlook towards product design in order to understand what can be defined as beauty. Should a product perhaps, be called beautiful because of the way it functions? or should a product only be called beautiful if its aesthetic quality is pleasing to the eye. What Don Norman is trying to find out is how emotions towards a product can greatly impact on the products success in the global market. If a product is fun and inviting rather than ugly and functional will it ultimately sell more products on the market? I believe it will, as Don Norman states during the video, subconscious emotional feelings play a massive role when analysing products and when he also states ‘I really have the feeling that pleasant things work better,’ we see that human emotions, whether it be fear, anger, happiness can be evoked through design and will ultimately contribute to the success or downfall of a product.

What was interesting to know is that experiments and tests have shown that, being even a little bit happy allows you to think outside the box and promotes creative thinking, whereas being anxious and fearful, due to a deadline, allows you to get your work done, but lacks the creative thinking that you would normally get while you were happy. The Visceral level of design is actually very important to understand as it explains human nature, e.g. what humans are naturally inclined to like, due to the colours, textures and sounds that represent individual feelings and emotions. The behavourial side of design is all about subconscious levels of thinking where you design a product that people automatically feel connected to and in a way feel like they have total control.

The third level of design is called the reflective level of design and although I did not understand Don Norman’s explanation completely I think it refers to designs that are especially designed ‘over the top’ so that people can feel part of something big and grand. For example, products like Hummers, Rolexes and Doc Martins create a sense of belonging to a particular group of people and we as humans want to show off that connection by buying these expensive products. Like Don Norman said, ‘people buy products for their image and not for the products themselves.’

All in all, this video is interesting because it explains the three levels of emotional design, visceral, behavioural and reflective and how they control our thinking on a sub-conscious level and allow us to choose the best product that’s right for us.  

Starting Semester 2 UNSW

Hey everyone, welcome back to my blog for 2011, had an awesome holidays and hope you had the same. Just letting you know that the blogs from now on will be for my Studio class in Industrial Design 1031.
Have a good semester everyone :)