Design Information Technology - Essay Example

? Design Colborne takes a deep study into simpli He identifies the advantages that come with simpli like quick acceptanceby the users. Simplicity gives users a warm and friendly usable look, unlike the complex designs that tend to lean on the experts easy to use base. In putting out simplicity, it also does not mean that all will have the better part of it. Hence, in designing a simple product, the designer will have to put in much effort. For in producing a simple product such as a web, all the functionalities must be included. To embed functionalities on a simple design would require more effort than in putting the functionalities regardless of simplicity of design. Simplicity is the factor of designing that made Kaplan and Braunstein the high sale in camcorder. People love simple, adaptable, and dependable products (Colborne, 2010). Most of the companies had concentrated on making their camcorders win sales by adding advanced features. This was in contrast to the flip, which was primitive, missing on some features with low resolution. A year later flip just increased its sales to a million units with a low market of 6 million units. This came in recognition by the company, which recognized how the camcorders had become complex and intimidating. On realizing the main objective of people, which was not to make films but take spontaneous events as they came. With the realization of the customer requirements, flip is set into simplicity. It ditched the non-essential features, leaving out no cable. It effected on flip-USB connector, giving it its name. The flip had few buttons, did not require a CD for its software for it was embedded in the camcorder itself. This was among the design example of simplicity that gained the market among others that existed such as the VW Beetle and Twitter. This brings out how simplicity finds a popular audience due to reliability, as well as, being easy to use. They leave the users attracted to them. Hence, they usually get many surprising ways. This is one of the most advanced technologies that has brought up creation of powerful yet simple products. In creating complexities, when one side fails it may cost more to change everything in a satisfying manner to the people. The US Motor industry based itself on building cars that were heavy, thirsty, and expensive and sold at a premium price when the company faced a weighty problem during the 2008 economic crash. As usual, not many wanted high expenses during the economic crash. When the company did its analysis, it found that in restructuring itself, it would have to invest more billions of dollars. Therefore, it recognized the advantage of simplicity having withstood changes with less cost unlike the complexities that would cost a lot more when changes arise. Thus, the designers must put into consideration only the features that people consider essential, especially when rough times come, adhering to changes that would cost a lot. To give more features would require more cost unlike simple designs, which entail fewer features hence lowering of the cost (Colborne, 2010). Simplicity does not mean it would be so for all users and manufacturers. A company, which had its networking and functionality upgraded, made the managers’ work simpler, but the salespeople complained. This proves that on designing a simple part a lot would have to be put into consideration. Companies which products seem simple to the users, designers, and manufacturers usually have it rough. Google, which is the largest and the simplest of all search engines, has the best engineers to do coding and math on the back end. Every year they set out to have the best in every of the fields they have. Employees work in the highest degree of professionalism to bring out what is acceptable by the users as simple. The one wheel bike may look very simple but prove to be an enormous challenge to ride. The Shaker and Panton chair both are simple but have a given uniqueness for their purpose. Therefore, in the design creation, we consider creating a unique and an out standing design. A classy design that remains known through time is what we should venture into. The simple design that we venture into should be something that is not a minimalist. Simplicity brings the view that we need to put in more effort in order for what we are creating to be known as simple. The quick step to designing is just by simply drawing the guidelines into simplicity of what we require. The guidelines should help us giving out a simple design (Colborne, 2010). The other way of giving simple design is by asking the mainstream users what they require that would work best for them. Through data, one can then set out designing the product in the most required manner. An image would give a passerby the kind of expectation from a given company. Setting out large pictures all over might not be environmental friendly and have a clear outline. A well-designed logo would attract a passerby to enquire what the product is all about. Jobs knew that a leading industrial design would work best. For the industrial design to be known, a well-designed logo would be required. The logo should entail simplicity for people to have a quick knowledge of what it is all about. The simple logo would make the design industry distinct from all other companies. When Steve Jobs went to the design conference having Italian style as its focus, his view on the Sony design changed to white and beautiful; not a black one. He came to relate industrial design to fine arts. A simple design but with an expressive spirit that emphasizes on rationality and functionality through employment of clean lines and forms, is the design that the Bauhaus preached of. Creating a simple design was not all that Jobs needed, he needed it to be sleek and easy to use. He made it clear the design was to be an obvious one to the people. The simple design also was not to embrace minimalism, but entail the features that the company set to put forward. The simple design through one of the workers made him think of creating the design to have portability feature. When designing the first Mac, they thought of having the keyboard separately and thin screen with high pixels to enable the machine acquire its simplicity. Designing the fonts was not just about them being beautiful; names were also to be considered. Jobs changed the names of the cities that were not well known to cities that were known, such as Georgia. To design the best product, simplicity has to be considered as the main factor. Hence, Sony’s Trinitron television designer, Esslinger had to be brought in. When Jobs met Esslinger, he learnt that Apple needed a born in America gene, which would entail a California global look, and an inspiration of Hollywood, music, rebellion and natural sex appeal. It was on the “form follows emotion” basis. It brought the taste of excellent design to be in existence. Esslinger’s design gained acceptance quickly by Jobs. For distinction, Jobs ensured that the hidden features were also to be made in a beautiful manner. Defining simplicity may not come out exceptionally well. It can only occur the product is created with the thought at hand, and criticized deeply to recognize how simple it should look. Jobs mostly had his employees refine on what they did until it looked simple and well designed. When they were designing the look of the Mac, the designers put it like a human head with the disc area at the bottom. They weighed many options, but not all marched the rectangular with curved edges that Jobs required. The engineers had to keep the trail of every part they made. Jobs would criticize the parts that did not rank to beauty. Through the criticism, the rectangular with curved edges was designed. The design took more experience, and every step they finished they would look at the previous design and not repeat the errors. At the end, differentiating the designs was not an easy task (Isaacson, 2011). To design the Mac, not only the logo was to be beautiful, but also the motherboard had to entail the beauty from the inside. Coming up with a new simple design has never been done before. It involves a lot of repetition, which perfects it due to the long record of criticism. It brought much experience on what is required to many. Uniqueness that gives the originality of a corporation may grant its acceptance to given areas. The corporation should give its main functionalities so that the simple design would entail the required data for its effective acceptance and avoid minimalism. To create a web presence, recognizing the key factors taken into consideration is a crucial step towards achieving it. The design of the web gives the first impression to every one when they enter a site. A good design of the web that entails simplicity and beauty would bring more attraction than a stuffy and disorganized web. Simplicity and beauty would not mean minimalism in the web. Hence, the web should have all the required information to satisfy the ones accessing it. Reaching the world may be simple but keeping readers always in touch depends on how well the site is updated for the viewers. It is a responsible act to keep a back up of the files of the site. It may be a measure to ensure that, incase the files disappear the web can be brought up as fast as possible. These can be defined into three determinants: Familiarity, Consistency, and Participation. References Colborne, G. (2010). Simple and Usable Web, Mobile and Interaction Design, Berkeley, CA: New Riders Isaacson, W. (2011). Steve Jobs, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY: Simon Schuster Mau, B. (2004). Massive Change, All Saints Street, London: Phaidon Press Limited Read More