Here’s the first and most useful heuristic: user interfaces should always make visible the system status.
I really agree with this because when a system doesn’t show what it’s doing, I get confused or . I hate when I click something and I’m not sure if it worked, if I need to wait, or if something broke. Clear system status makes the experience way easier and reduces a lot of stress. It reminded me that even small UI choices affect whether users feel confident or lost when using something.
We’re here to test this system, not you, so anything that goes wrong is our fault, not yours. I’m going to give you some tasks to perform. I won’t be able to answer your questions during the test, because the goal is to see where people have difficulty, so we can make it easier. Do you have any questions before we begin?
I liked how this part because i think a lot of people, including me, tend to feel judged when we try something new in front of others. This kinda push the responsibility back onto us as designers, which I think is more fair and also encourages better feedback.
It also reminded me how easy it is to assume user are thing wrong but in reality, if they are confuse, the design and interface didnt not pass and failed. This is what I also talked about in my essay for informatics.
It’s important to remember that there is no “average user,” and so your choice of defaults will inevitably serve some people better than others. For example, if Google detects that a browser is in the United States, what language should it default too? Some might say English, but that prioritizes English-speaking people over others. But should it be Spanish? Or more dependent on a specific region?Or tied to a browser setting?
Professor Amy makes a really good point because it talks about how small design choices like default choice can even reinforce inequality. This made me relize that how much bias can be built into everyday interfaces like on the devices we use. Like my own parents; since they only speak vietnamese, a lot of american interfaces are english by default which makes it confuse to look for the language option. This also reminded me that inclusive design isn't just about accessibility for people with disabilities but also about making sure products work for people with different language and cultural.
Designers use prototypes to resolve these uncertainties, iterate on their design based on feedback, and converge toward a design that best addresses the problem.
This quote stuck out to me as it talks about prototyping as a tool over a step to a final product. Ko talks about prototypes help designers to answer question and reduce uncertainty. This also shifted how I view my projects instead of taking these prototype as steps towards to final, I will now treat it as a tool to to test ideas and get feedback. I wish to also take this mindset towards other things outside of design too.
The choice of words and phrases in a question is critical in expressing the meaning and intent of the question to the respondent and ensuring that all respondents interpret the question the same way. Even small wording differences can substantially affect the answers people provide.
This line stood me as this really shows how people can see and interpret language easily even when researcher think that they are being neutral. I remember in INFO 300 that research should be as neutral as possible. I also agree with this because, the small wording in a conversation can make a break a conversation and that also applies here. Overall, this whole reading helped me see that making question needs to consider ethical thoughs in it.
Create a short list of main comparison criteria before you start. You can always add more criteria if it makes sense. This will keep your research guided.
I think this makes an interesting point and also added another perspective. Usually when I do competitive analysis, I would usually come up with potential competition in my mind but never make an actual list of competition and comparison. Also the text mentioned that this will keep your research guided. This also added another perspective that you can use your comparison and competition to help you stay in your lane and I think that this also makes your solution go towards something that will solve a problem.
Critiques are two-way. It is not just one person providing critical feedback, but rather the designer articulating the rationale for their decisions (why they made the choices that they did) and the critic responding to those judgements. The critic might also provide their own counter-judgements to understand the designer’s rationale further.
I have to agree with professor Ko that good critique is a conversation over a single opinion. I've been in situations such as group project in my other INFO classes where people can simply say that that looks good or "I think you should fix that small..." without having proper reasoning. ALso the article mention the hamburger rule as it's not just about being nice, but about giving feedback that will help people or project grow. This reminded me that giving critical feedback is important and that also helping the other grow, Personally, I am very much open to critical feedback as long as the reasoning is good!
His point? Half of being creative is believing you can, because the ability is already in you.
I really like this point as it reminded me of my own hobbies and creativity. As a photographer when I first started taking photos, I would often compared myself with those who have much more experience even though I was very much a beginner or even felt like I wasn't creative enough. Although looking up to others is good to get more inspiration and learn, I think that I was doing it to the point where it was hurting me more then i was learning. Over time, I realized that creativity and finding my own 'presets' just took a lot of time and practive. The more I experience with different styles of photography and editing styles, I started developing my own visions and editing styles. This reading reflected and how creativity isn't talent but it's also about ability to see different things and express it which i can take forward with this class.
A persona is only useful if it’s valid. If these details are accurate with respect to the data from your research, then you can use personas as a tool for imagining how any of the design ideas might fit into a person’s life. If you just make someone up and their details aren’t grounded in someone’s reality, your persona will be useless, because what you’re imagining will be fantasy.
I like this idea and concept of personas that professor Amy is talking about. To me, this made reflected and think back how important a person with proper credential make up for valid data if that make sense. Or in other words, its easy for us to use data that makes up generic user instead of important 'personas'. I know that using relevant and important data / personas is important but this does change my perspective a bit as I though persoans was another approach but now, I see persoans as something that should be taken highly into consideration as evidence for design.
The problem is, once you really understand a problem, you realize that most problems are not solvable at all. They’re tangled webs of causality, which one might call “wicked” problems33 Coyne, R. (2005). Wicked problems revisited. Design Studies. . The best you can do is understand this complex causality and find opportunities to adjust, nudge, and tweak.
This is a really interesting way the approach a 'problem'. To me when I am approaching a problem weather that is at school, work or anywhere, I would often approach in bits similar such as breaking it down and knowing where to tackle first but as professor Amy said in this quote, "They're tangled webs of causality which one might call wicked". This kinda changed my perspective a bit on how problems are often far more interconnected and not organized. This gave me a new perspective because I now see that problems are not always getting from point A to B or even like breaking down steps like I mentioned. This challenged me that sometimes, design is accepting what it is and moving forward with it such as having small improvement instead of one big fix.
Seeking multiple perspectives on a problem (sometimes conflicting ones). There’s no better way to understand what’s actually happening in the world than to view it from as many other perspectives as you can.
I agree with professor Amy on this one. Usually when I do a group project or something creative and that it is geared towards multiple customers, I want to. seek as many perspective as possible. Not only that, but also being open to critical feedback and taking that forward and reapplying to your projects and design is important. Seeking multiple perspective can also give you a better idea or solution to what you want to get done or achieve.
One of the most common in the world today is human-centered design11 Bannon, L. (2011). Reimagining HCI: toward a more human-centered perspective. ACM interactions. (sometimes called user-centered design, but many people find the word “user” to be too limiting). In this paradigm, the idea is simple: before doing abduction, bricolage, synthesis, or any of these other lower level activities, first try to analyze the problem you are solving, then generate ideas, then test those ideas with the people who have the problem you are solving.
This one of they things that spoke out to me in this . At my internship this past summer, one of the key values that I learned is to work backwards and put the customer first or that the customer is always right. After learning that, I could not really approach a problem without having to work backwards. Similarly can be said about design and in this paragraph: instead of jumping into conclusions, and making solutions right away, we should put the customer, user or human first and work backwards that we can design and create solutions that actually matter!