Module 2

This module was a great section on understanding the life cycles and how these designs are impacted by end users. There are quite a few challenges present when trying to design an application for an end user as its often quite difficult to design the perfect application to fit all their needs successfully. More times than not time constraints and budgeting are killer set backs to design implementation and can lead to poor results while other times developers implement more than what is really required and the application becomes to complicated for what the end user really needed. Conducting the proper research for what the end user really needs is critical for implementing the proper design to fit their needs and also consider how they will be interacting with the application to try and make it as easy as possible to utilize and less confusing.

This module helped show me how to better link developers and users together in order to complete the proper application for best use, and how a few simple steps that are often overlooked can really be the difference maker when it comes to a great design and something that can't even be used due its poor implementation. What might seem simple to the developer can often be something the end user is clueless about and thus leads to confusion when interacting with the application, and the best way to avoid this is to research the end users capabilities and skill levels before you actually begin the design.

Norman 1

After reading the first three chapters in Norman's book "The Design of Everyday Things" I actually had to laugh, not because the material itself was funny but the truth behind it. So many items we come in contact with every single day are designed in a manner that has really no practical use without having someone show you its intended use, or do some serious research on the item yourself. I can think of 1 group of designed products we see everyday and still find many of them impossible to understand and that's Street Signs. Last year I was traveling to Vermont for Thanksgiving and some of the street signs up there are truly mind boggling. For instance this one http://www.ricesigns.com/pictures/around.jpg which if you have never seen before you wouldn't have a clue as to what it means (Drive Around). this one is my personal favorite i found searching the web for more confusing signs http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/presentations/seasonal/previewimages/signs4.jpg and another confusing sign here http://www.ichizen.com/goat/goat_traffic/images/2004_08_26_DSCN7611.jpg and there are many more you could look up and laugh at, but you can get the idea from these few examples.
What really made this funny for me is many people who design these things are government workers, which are highly educated, and yet make some of the most rediculous signs.