Web, Mobile, and Interaction Design by Giles Colborne - Essay Example

? Designs Designs Question Giles Colborne is the of the book d as “Simple and Usable”. In this book, he describes how to come up with simple designs; he recommends the use of four strategies which include removing, hiding, organizing and displacing (Colborne, 2010). Giles Colborne uses the design of small and commonly used gadgets to explain how simplicity can be used in the design. The example of the bicycle design seemed exciting to me. At first, I thought that any new design of a bicycle, whether simple or complex, should include the gearing system; Giles challenged me when he said that a design of a bicycle can be made simple by removing the gearing system and the front wheel. My excitement was lowered when he said that the design might be simple to the one designing bicycle but complex and difficult to the one using it (Colborne, 2010). His example of design made me learn that I should consider the user anytime I choose to use simplicity in any design. In his explanation on how to use the simplicity he employs four designs of a remote control; these four designs make use of organizing, removing, hiding or displacing strategy. Looking at the four designs, I was fascinated by designs which used organizing, removing and displacing strategies. The organizing strategy is a strategy everyone employs at least once a day; we use it every day to make what we have usable, therefore, this strategy is familiar to everyone. The strategy of organizing does not need extra costs because it uses what is already available (Colborne, 2010); therefore, it is low on costs. In addition, since the components of the gadget have only been rearranged, the user will not have difficulties adjusting to the new design; he or she will only need to master the new positions of the components which are placed in positions that are convenient to the user. The design that uses the strategy of removing is also interesting, there are some things which might not be useful to the user and just as we get rid of things we do not need from our houses, we can also get rid of the components that are no longer useful in a gadget. This design is challenging because of its counterintuitive nature (Colborne, 2010). However, it is quite effective in terms of cost as it does not require extra materials. This design works with different applications; it has been used in designing of products, websites, as well as mobile applications. This design is also user-friendly; the user is not going to have too many components on the gadget, which are not important for the use of the gadget. The design that uses displacing is intriguing; the user does not need to operate all the components using the remote control, some components can be displaced from the remote control to the television screen (Colborne, 2010). With this design, the user has a remote control that is more easy to use because most times the user will be scrolling down the menu and stop worrying of what each button on the remote control means. I realized that this design has been applied in designing the radio changer; the button for selecting whether to play music using CD, FM radio, AUX or USB is only one, and the user scrolls down the menu on the screen to find his or her choice at the moment. This design makes the user feel as part of the system, and this helps him or her to know the operation of the system, and gives the user satisfaction while operating the gadget. Question 2 Isaacson in his book titled as “Steve Jobs” presents the biography of a computer revolutionist Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs’ life history is like a summary of good designs in the digital world; it describes the designs pioneered by Steve Jobs and their success, which led to the change of people’s lives and the way they do things. Through Apple, a company he headed, he was able to come up with designs such as Macintosh operating software, ipad, iPod, and iphone; with these designs the world was able to do things in a different way (Isaackson, 2011). Among his designs, iPad, iPod and iphone caught my particular attention, in my opinion, these designs connect creativity and technology; therefore, they define good designs. The continued improvement of each of these designs stirs up the need to improve computer technology even further. The iPod is a design which was started as a project by Steve Jobs; this project was focused on the creation of a tablet PC. The project became really exciting when it solved the problem of constructing an interface for a cell phone they had recommended. The project turned into something even more exciting when Jobs realized that if it worked on the phone, it could also be used on the tablet. Jobs assigned the project to two teams and the design that was developed had many applications that were useful to the user, especially in terms of entertainment. Now it is integrated with iTunes and auto-sync. The iPod allowed people to download music legally, and it had enough space of around 160GB for storage of up to 40,000 songs. I found the design fascinating and convenient because it saved people from the trouble of carrying too many CDs; the artists also benefited from this design, since more people could download their music directly from iTunes at a lower cost than buying original CDs from music stores (Isaackson, 2011). This design was convenient to the user since the user could entertain himself/herself anywhere without having to carry big music record players, radios and speakers. The user enjoyed capturing fun moments through videos and taking photos; thus, the design could be described as pretty compact; it is amazing how a small gadget like iPod could hold 25,000 photos and store video for 100 hours (Isaackson, 2011). The issue of gaming was also taken care of; the user could download games from iTunes, store or create one’s own games. This changed entertainment to suit the users’ needs all the time. Another design which made a mark in the digital world was the iphone; this was the first smart-phone with a rich graphical interface, mobile web browsing, touch-screen controls and email access, as well as media support in one handset (Isaackson, 2011). This design had a great impact in internet communication. The challenges faced by engineers in developing iphone caught my attention; I realized that one might make the basic components fail trying to develop the best design. For instance, in the development of iphone the prototype was a disaster; the battery could not be charged to full capacity, the phone dropped calls and data, applications were corrupted and sometimes unusable (Isaackson, 2011). What is amazing is that the team never gave up with the design despite the increasing number of problems. The result was a gadget that blew up the wireless industry; this gadget allowed internet browsing, internet access and the touch screen made the phone operate like a desktop. Another design which captured my attention is the last one developed by Steve Jobs before his death. This design was specifically for delivery of information, data products, market intelligence and important news and events in the aviation industry worldwide. The design made a huge impact on the aviation industry; it brought together buyers, as well as sellers, in the airline industry, it was designed with an application that searched the database of a flight company and displayed information about the availability of the airlines and routes (Isaackson, 2011). Ipad is also designed for reading, and this application has made the design which is adopted by most media houses for reading news, it is also used for games, playing music and watching movies. The design is the best; it has a built-in Wi-Fi and has a 3G access (Isaackson, 2011), this allows the user to stay online as long as he or she is within the 3G service area. This design also provides room for improvement, and now new models have been developed in the market with a smaller and lighter weight. The three designs of iPod, iphone and iPad are the best because they have utilized the computer technology and, together with the creativity employed by the designers, have stormed many industries, such as the wireless industry, moreover, it is still a highly used technology. Question 3 Mau is a designer who teaches and criticizes designs with an aim of shaping the world of design; according to him, the power of design has no bounds and is capable of bringing positive change to the whole world (Mau, 2004). Looking at the projects implemented by the Apple Company; it is evident that the designs have solved many problems, for example, portability of computer and entertainment gadgets, however, none of the designs has done all that a computer can do. The designs have just picked some of the tasks performed by the computer and refined them to perform effectively; a computer is something that was designed for years to come, though a lot has been done to make it perform all its tasks and still remain small like ipads, this goal has not been achieved yet. Designs like those of ipads and iphones perform some of the tasks that a computer performs perfectly; however, there are other tasks which cannot be performed better with these designs than with a laptop or desktop. This means that these designs cannot fully replace laptops and desktops, and as much as these designs have other applications they cannot perform all the tasks a laptop computer can perform. I admire the designers of Apple Company, and it will be a joy for me to work together with them to construct a design that would completely transform laptops and desktops into a small gadget that can perform effectively all tasks performed by a computer. This project should change the world of computers; students will not carry laptops to classrooms anymore because they will have a small gadget that can take notes in class, and still be more portable than a laptop. Students will still connect external devices, such as printers, to print their work. In today’s world space is of essence, and in conferences and court proceedings desktops can be displaced by the tablet computers with the tasks required to have been enabled and performed efficiently and effectively. Computer networking without wires would apply in this scenario. This project should be considered as a project that can change the world considering that the number of people with laptops in increasing, and the increasing use of desktops in offices. Companies who depend on virtual workers and virtual offices will find this design useful; the workers will work with the design effectively without any fear of missing any computer application. I am ready to collaborate with more designers around the world to make the design successful. What I have learnt The readings have taught me a lot about design; Giles Colborne’s book titled as “Simple and Usable” has taught me that design does not always mean starting from scratch. From him I learnt that a problem is a design of a simple or complex system and it can be solved using four strategies which include removing, hiding, organizing and displacing. These strategies are simple and cost effective because most of the materials used in the design are the ones used in the initial design. I’ve also realized that four strategies are the things we do to make things work in everyday life; therefore, they are not difficult to apply. I’ve also learnt from Giles Colborne that, when designing, one should make the design simple for the user; according to him, the design can be complex but the operation of the design should not be complex to the user. Isaackson’s book named “Steve Jobs Made Me Realize That When Designing, One Should Aim at Changing the Life of the People”. Looking at the products pioneered by Steve Jobs it becomes evident that they changed the way people did things and had a great impact on their lives. I can say that the success of a designed product is determined by how it has changed the lives of its users; for instance, the iPod design changed the entertainment industry, where people could download and save their favorite music using the iPod, this meant that carrying of CDs was not an option for anyone who had an iPod. Mau has made me realize that designs cannot be great without criticism; imagine the world where everything you make is received without criticism; I bet every new design would not have a refinement or a better version. Therefore, for a design to bring a positive change to the society it has to be continually criticized to shape it in a way that it will meet the needs and demands of the world. References Colborne, G. (2010). Simple and Usable: Web, Mobile, and Interaction Design. NC: New Riders. Isaackson, W. (2011). Steve Jobs. London: Little, Brown Book Group Limited. Mau, B. (2004). Massive Change. London: Phaidon. Read More