Sara Taylor's NMD 342 Blog

Emotional Design Chapter 1 (Attractive Things Work Better) I have always been interested in the aesthetic qualities of design. Making something look organized, neat and pleasing to the eye has always been an activity I enjoy doing. In middle school, I would actively help students in poster projects just for the fun of pasting the information onto the poster in an attractive way. I did not, however, make the link that the aesthetic quality of the design directly correlates with the user’s success in using a device. The calming sensation that a pleasing design provides allows the user to relax and reduce anxiety when it comes to using said device, therefore making the process of learning how to use the device easier.  Humans have evolved over time to take sensory information and respond to it accordingly. We have the visceral level, which is an automatic, thoughtless response to a stimulus. The behavioral level involves actions that we can learn to repeat, and eventual we no lon...

Art of Interaction Design Chapter 1 & 2 These chapters discuss the overall confusion with the term interactive and attempt to alleviate said confusion by providing some definitions and non-examples of interactivity. They also discuss why we should be using interactivity in our designs. The author suggests that in order for something to be truly interactive, there must be two actors involved in the process of having an interaction. There are various degrees of interactivity that must involve some level of listening, thinking, speaking and no trading off, as in both actors must participate in the three categories on some form of equivalent level. In the terms of our creations for this class, this means that we must try and build interactive devices that can listen to what the user wants, think about how to execute what the user wants, and provide a response in hopes to meet the users' desires. Being this is an act for two people, we also must ensure that the user is willing t...

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