Rachel+MacKay

Tutorial #1

1. What I found the most unusual about Apple's business model in relation to the creation of the iPod were their relationships with other companies. Their success can be strongly linked to the many companies they do business with, through outsourcing of the parts required to make the iPod. Rather than have many adequate parts made by themselves and attempt to be a 'jack of all trades', they use other companies that are the best at what they do, to create the best product possible, such as batteries, sound, screen, memory, etc.. Apple's top business partners, PortalPlayer, Sony, Wolfson, Toshiba and Texas Instruments all provide the parts to make the iPod reliable, and furthermore, successful.

2. Jobs and Ive both combined the visions of their products and what they wanted from them to come up with the best products possible. They shared a common view of simplicity and user-friendliness for all users. This happened when Jobs came back to the company and re-established the core values of the company which cleared the path and allowed them to pursue their original goals of design and innovation. Their successful collaboration is evident through the release of all the innovative designs that followed their team after they began working together.

3. Something that makes Apple's Design Team unique and essential to their success is their unusual approach. They have a small group of people making all the big decisions, which allows them to spend more money where it counts without compromising the integrity of their products. It teaches them teamwork and the order of proper design, and not following what ever other company is trying to be successful. They take risks, and has so far paid off.

Tutorial #2

1. Physical Ergonomics - Physical ergonomics is concerned with human characteristics that relate to physical activity such as working postures, safety and health. Cognitive Ergonomics - Cognitive ergonomics is concerned with mental processes such as decision-making and human reliability. Organizational Ergonomics - Organizational ergonomics is concerned with optimizing organizational systems such as policies and processes.

2. Step Two: Advice. The proposed solutions included: 3. http://www.ergonomicresource.com/easygripmouse.html
 * 1) installing additional mirrors so that the truck’s operating arm can be viewed without body twisting at all times;
 * 2) training drivers in the safe use of the mirrors;
 * 3) positioning the joystick and other controls to promote an efficient and comfortable use of the arm and wrist eg with the hand forward of the body, with the wrist in a ‘neutral’ and not a bent posture;
 * 4) monitoring the changes to check if any other modifications or adjustments are required; and
 * 5) **installing an adjustable, motorized chair that moves up and down, side to side to accomodate the location of the controls and view of the operating arm with the body.**

Tutorial #3

1. Affordable 2. Reliable (functionality) 3. Realistic (practical) 4. User-friendly 5. Long lasting

Tutorial #4

Annie Leonard defines the system of materials economy as a very linear line of the way in which products are produced. She breaks it down into a five stage model, consisting of: extraction, production, distribution, consumption and disposal. She claims that this ‘textbook system’ appears to be fine, but it’s actually in a crisis because linear systems have trouble functioning on a finite planet. It fails to take into account the real life interactions between the pivotal stages, such as societies, cultures and the environment.

She claims that the chart is missing some of its biggest influencing factors. It does not include people. People live and work in the system, however, some have more say. For example the government, whose sole priority is to watch out for and take care of the people, as well as corporations, who contribute to what has been called our reason for existence, consuming. Leonard points out that we are cutting, mining and trashing so much that we are quickly running out of resources. We’re using more than our share of the world’s resources. For example, the United States is home to 5% of the population, but is using 30% of the worlds resources contributing 30% of the world’s waste. We would need 5 planets if everyone consumed the same amount the US did.

We have become a nation of consumers. 1% of things we run through the system is thrown out within 6 months. Stuart ship, resourcefulness and thrift were valued 50 years ago, however it doesn’t seem that way anymore. Companies implement ideas such as Planned obsolesce, which actually purposefully make things to be useless in a certain amount of time, so we throw them out and buy a new one. Not just plastic bags and mops anymore, but DVD players, BBQs and computers as well. They also engage in perceived obsolescence, which convinces us to throw away things that are perfectly useful by changing the way things look. Since the way we demonstrate our value is by contributing to our economy, we are caught up in an endless cycle of a work-watch-spend trend.

Tutorial #5

Bodystorming is a a design method where people translate abstract ideas and concepts into physical experiences. Bodystorming can be done in a variety of different ways like acting out the use of a product before its existence. This technique forces people to physically get involved and is considered more eye opening than brainstorming because it allows people insight to things one might not imagine in their head or on paper.

Tutorial #6

Enthusiast - Love and appreciate technology in aesthetic way. Difficulty in use adds to fun for these people. Once enough of these people have their hands on a product technology, one will say they can use it in their work in a practical way.

Professional - When the technology is further developed to help people do their work. For example, when one practically required a PhD to operate a camera, to the transfer to professional photographers, making personal photographs and portraits more common.

Consumer - Phase when the technology is developed far enough for common, everyday people to have access to and enjoy at a reasonable price. New revisions to consumer model make it very user friendly. For example, camera's becoming so common and ordinary they can be purchased in disposable form at a relatively low cost for the production of priceless memories.

Computers have undergone a similar experience.

Tutorial #7

Mat Hunter was able to determine that the most successful way to create a new, successful digital camera was to start at the beginning and map out the needs and causes of a digital camera. After that, his team then went on to create a User Experience Prototype, a more hands on approach to determining what it was that people sought in a camera, Rather than simply writing up a detailed report with instructions that would have had the same information.

Rikako Sakai was able to create a successful interaction design by developing Photo stitch through analyzing the human factors. She tested subjects and found that there were too many steps for users, and found that simple animations to illustrate the drag and drop, or the matching of photos together helped users successfully use the new version with greater ease.

A leading question is one that forces or implies a certain type of answer. It is easy to make this mistake not in the question, but in the choice of answers. A closed format question must supply answers that not only cover the whole range of responses, but that are also equally distributed throughout the range. All answers should be equally likely.

Hypothetical are based on conjecture and fantasy. This forces the respondent to give thought to something he may have never considered. This does not produce clear and consistent data representing real opinion.

Tutorial #8

Jan Chipchase, a human behaviour researcher for Nokia, goes about his job in an interesting, unusual manner. His job is to peer into the lives of others and determine what are contributing factors to owning, or in some cases, not owning a cell phone. He does this by placing himself in different parts of the world and interacting with the shrinking percentage of people who do not own cell phones. His job entails analyzing how people interact with others and their cell phones, trying to make Nokia's sales to these small percentages of people accurate.

His motivation and drive are to improve people's lives in third world countries. An essential attribute, when people can be displaced because of severe weather, are cell phone numbers. An example of this he uses is an advertisement for a prostitue. Although the identity being proposed was fake, the phone number had to be real. People in third world countries don't have things that ground people into place such as a SIN Number, address, etc. 8% more earnings for their fish because they could contact buyers. This process erradicates the middle man, using word of mouth and a network, not requiring someone to distribute something that's labour intensive, and therefore making more money. This is called inclusive capitalism, because it empowers citizens of third world countries to help themselves, as opposed to charitably lending aid that can only help for a limited amount of time.

To understand the aspects of any culture, it is necessary to be a participant in it, rather than an observer outside of it. Controls the modes of their production, enabling them the most money for the production of their labour. Nokia actually sees through Jan's documentation how people use their phones, and the things these people take into account that researchers in an office may not. A cell phone has the potential to be far superior than a computer in a third world country because landlines are more expensive, require massive maintenance and infrastructure, in places where droughts and monsoons take place. Additionally, a portable machine provides safety as well as privacy if one should need to ask a personal medical question through a text message as opposed to a single land line in a common home shared by a dozen people.

Tutorial #9

Bill Moggridge defines design as a collaborative process through the combination of the teams of people coming together and sharing ideas from every school of thought. Design is no longer limited to designers. He explains that the most successful teams have participants from different backgrounds that range from everything from brand labeling, marketing, engineering, business, etc. He demonstrates that it is important to involve the people that the products and services are designed for, and to break away from the want to design for ones self.

For example, IDO joined the American Red Cross to help them learn why people weren't giving blood, and what they could do to increase that number. Studies showed that people felt the centers were unorganized and non-sterile, making people not want to give blood. IDO then redesigned the carts, making everything modular. They ensured everything was, and appeared to be sterile. Participants also did not fel thanked, which IDO solved by taking a picture of each person that donated blood and asked them to write a paragraph about why they gave blood. This encouraged others, through documentation and testament to donate, humanizing it.

Also, technology is able to harness multimedia touch with human gesture. For example, the Tangible Earth, a 10 million to 1 scale of the planet, which shows information about the world such as past and present weather patterns, seismological patterns, air pollutants, surface temperatures, etc. This requires thousands of terabytes of information through rigorous data collection to be harnessed into an understandable interface. These visual stimuli have an effect on people, it shows them what is and what could happen if action isn't taken. Visuals are able to inform people much more effectively than letters and numbers on paper.

Link: www.ecolean.com

Ecolean successfully convinces consumers to use 'a lighter approach to packaging'. It uses 50 - 60% less materials than traditional cartons and containers, all of which are made from 100% recycled goods such as chalk and binders, and actually squeeze out nearly 100% of the product, as opposed to regular containers that, on average, throw away a deciletre of the product, saving space, energy, transport, and most importantly, the environment.

Good websites = designersaccord.com ido.com provoscous.com designinginteractions.com

Bruce Mau's theory of maintaining a stuardship of the environment protecting its sustainability. Over 100,000 people agree to be a part of designers accord, while networking. Causes visuals to have a impact on people -- show them what is and could happen if action isn't taken.

Tutorial #10

Favorite Designs

1. In Japan, there is a train called 500 Series Shinkansen Bullet Train. It travels at over 200 miles per hour (One of the fastest trains in the world). Just like the saying 'Art imitates life', they were able to take features of certain birds and implement them into the creation of this train to make it run faster and quieter. They inserted perforations into the sides of the train that closely resemble the feathers on an owl, which quiets the trains pantograph, the part of the train that connects to the overhead electrical wires. The train's other biomemitric design is found at the front, where it's nose is illongated and rounded, similar to that of a kingfisher's beak, which allows the bird to dive from the air into the water with a minimal amount of resistance.

2. Sound Foresight, a company based in England, have created a new type of walking cane called the UltraCane. This device, aimed and developed for the use of blind people, uses sonar technology, similar to that of bats. Bats, being blind, use the refraction of sounds to navigate their way through caves. Similar to that, this cane emits a sonar frequency within a certain distance, and if any of those frequencies refract and return, the cane alerts the user through the handle to make them aware that there is an object in their path, such as walls, signs, animals, people, etc.

3. Biosignal, an Australian company, have dealt with infections and bacteria for years. Due to the strength of modern antibiotics such as acideminophane and penicillin, bacteria has become more hardy and resistant over time, creating an uphill battle for health care professionals all over the world. However, Biosignal have come across and studied a type of seaweed that, through it's natural compounds, prevent bacteria from grouping on it. It develops a thin layer of film that inhibits the signal required for bacteria to thrive and communicate with one another. This type of technology can be used in products such as contact lenses, which would prevent strains of harmful bacteria from entering the body.

Tutorial #11

1. I define web accessibility as the intelligent design that allows people that are disabled or have special needs to navigate the internet with ease. Having products, applications or altered formats that meet those needs.

2. Companies benefit from having accessible websites through drawing a greater crowd and not limiting their customers strictly to those who are not disabled. It is also morally admirable, viewed as spending time and money to not discriminate against those who are differently abled. This is also good for customers, ranging from people who are deaf to those who have are impared with a slight color blindness, having an appropriate website to tend to all consumers' needs.

3. Yes, I think my website, blog and all Canadian websites should be accessible. In fact, I think it should be a law that every corporate website have have some type of accessible website, whether incorporated into their main page or having a secondary accessible one. I see it as a form of discrimination, only targeting people who are physically abled.

4. I would imagine the biggest challenge of having an accessible website would be incorporating every possibility of a disabled person's needs into something that is aesthetically pleasing. Taking into account sight and sound, and the varying degrees of inability between the two would be very difficult, time consuming, and expensive. Also making it aesthetically pleasing while dealing with these factors would be difficult.