Thursday, February 25, 2010
Week 6 Reading Assignment
Chapter 10 talks a lot about basic likes and dislikes about a website. and alas, again find myself agreeing with this author. The ease of which one can navigate and use a website is highly important. I think of what websites I do this with and the first is map quest vs. google maps. I have used map quest for so long now and I understand exactly what to do every time I go there and I love the printable page button. I have to have a hard copy of directions with me anytime I don't know where I'm going. google maps just confuse me- although I thoroughly enjoy looking at the actual place from the image option google maps has :)
The thing that I agree with the most is have important information accessible, such as product prices. I can a recall trying to but a few of my business gifts online and I came across a few websites that did not clearly state the prices of the products displayed. I remember looking for the prices for a few seconds before deciding not to waste any more time on the website. That's so dumb. I mean seriously. Unless you have no hard time with money at all (which is hardly ever the case) you are ALWAYS going to need to list the price. I wonder how much business that site has lost due to this problem? .....
I think apologizing for not being able to make the user's experience easier is a fabulous idea. "We apologize for the inconvenience " It is nice to at least see that on a page.
Ultimately, I agree that usability tests are the best way to effectively test your wedsite design. :)
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Week 5 Reading Assignment
These two chapters discuss how a design team can tear itself apart, how to deal with that and the importance of usability testing. When it comes to working with other designers in a team- I can tell from a brief experience in my life that it can be pretty challenging. First and foremost, there is the description of roles. When starting a new company and the entrepreneurs hire the design team, there is the decision of role play. If the entrepreneurs do not have a well thought out proposal, all of a sudden you have a group of designers all confused about what the tasks are and the lack of organization can lead to even bigger disagreements.
As for usability testing, I did learn quite a bit from this chapter. I mean I knew before hand that when designing something that involves users, because it helps to get feedback on your progress from fresh eyes. But as I read through the chapter, it became more apparent to me that it is extremely important to keep a schedule of test users (not an overwhelming amount) for many solid reasons.
Once the team has the user feedback, then you have to make the decision about what to do with that feedback. Do you change everything? Of coarse not. You have to carefully decide what to take and pull from the feedback to get your message to be the most effective through your design.
:)
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Week 4 Reading Assignment
In this weeks reading assignment, The book covers why a homepage is so important and why it is probably the most crucial part of a website. Some of the things he covered I found to be pretty obvious and self explanatory, such as the basic concept of being able to look at a homepage and know exactly where you are and you need to be able to easily navigate and find out what information the site has to offer and if you can't - you be able to have access to a search bar that will help you find a specific search. I think that the four questions that a user typically asks are heavily important to remember when designing a successful homepage that will attract many users and make most of them return users.
This whole book is so funny so far. It makes it seem like it is so difficult to not over think a layout design. I guess for some it is difficult to remember to keep things simple and super basic. Instantaneously Apple comes to mind when you think; simple. neat. clean. This company has mastered the art of captivating the general public with their sleek and simplistic take on products and advertising. It consistently stays so basic and people LOVE it! The book is pretty much saying that humans are ultimately lazy and short of time to really play around and figure out what the exact thought process the designer had when putting a website together. They just want it to work for them as easily and as quickly as possible. With appeal attached to it of course. More often than not - people hate ugly. They want pretty, today, yesterday and everyday to come in the future. I feel like this concept is drilled into almost every childhood or teen years during the most influential stage of human development. Ultimately i am getting to the fact that understanding your audience is extremely important and this book is breaking down step by step, the way to do this on a very broad basis.
So overall - successful chapter. I have successfully ranted and blabbed. lol No but really - good chapter. :)
Thursday, February 4, 2010
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