Major studio first week assignment
- 1. MAJOR STUDIO ASSIGNMENT FOR WEEK 1 ASSINMENT 1 CVS/pharmacy self check-out experience a: Observe the line before standing in it. What do you see? Who do you see? What are the temporal aspects of the place and system? There were 6 self check-out machines in the store, and they were placed in a quite large space that may contain a lot of customers. But not too many customers used them (about 3 or 4 at one time), I'm not sure cause it was Sunday and the amount of customers in the store was not large. The machines were put low to have the disabilities available. A staff walked around available to provide assistance. Most of the customers who used self check-out line were relatively young people with a small number of merchandises. b: Go through the process of buying something c: Outline your experience and don't forget to add your emotional state each step of the way I went through the process for twice. The first attempt was with card paying and the second cash paying, to see if there's any difference between different paying methods. a. Scan item or select language (English or espanol) I think it should be more language choices cause it may help people who can not communicate with the assistants in English. So that they could check out
- 2. by themselves. b.Scan the ExtraCare card which provided in-store deals of some specific stuffs. c.Scan items and place them in bags. I didn't bring my bag so I used those in the store.There was a Scale under the bags, and when the merchandise on it was overweight to the weight the stuff itself, it would give a sound of alert. It made me a little embarrassed and nervous when it alerted because I put two stuffs in one bag and they were overweight. To avoid this situation, I needed to press the "Skip Bagging" button each time after I scanned each of my merchandize. d.Finish scanning and Pay. One could select paying methods. During the first attempt I used my card to pay the bill. I used my credit card but selected the choice of debit card by mistake. Then the paying process stopped and a staff came to me to provide help. I don't know much about how the machine works but I think it's necessary to call the assistant each time there's an error. Maybe just one more attempt is needed. And there is also a "Request Help" icon on the screen. During the second time, I tried to pay by cash. But before I insert all the cash into the machine, it broke down again. The staff came to me immediately and brought me to the checkout counter paying the rest of the bill. I found it took more time than going directly to the checkout counter. d: How many interfaces do you go through? And which, if any, are natural Technically, I went through three interfaces. The first interface showed language election.The second interface showed scan details. And the last was the finish interface. While in the second interface, it didn't go to another interface but a part of the it would change, which was the information of scanning and paying.
- 3. I believe the fist interface to choose a language is natural . e: List three opportunities you identify for design intervention 1.More language selections. 2.I don't know why it needs a Scale to weigh the merchandise. I think it is unnecessary. Is there anyone who can explain it ? 3.Allowing undo actions after some error. Cause the staff who manages those machines always has too much error to deal with. In some situations, the customers could make it by themselves. ASSINMENT 2 Sit somewhere “public” (subway car or platform, a park, a café, etc.) a. Observe who is there and what they are doing. Document this through images or writing. b. How could you improve what they are doing or where they are? c. List at least three potential improvements (preferably one for three different people) d. For each improvement, what information/data from the user would inform the specifics of your design? 1. In subway, I saw a girl standing there. She held the handrail with her right hand thumb up. her thumb was hurt and be covered by some band-aids in a
- 4. quite weird way. And sometimes she would blow at the wound to relieve some pain ( I think ). Band-aids are quite easy to use and be carried with. But it's quite embarrassing when it gets injured, such as the fingertip,which is difficult for band-aids to paste and will waste several pieces of band-aids. To this situation, I suggest that she could use bandage instead of band-aids. I also try to come up with an potential improvement on band-aids. That maybe they could be designed by different shapes and sizes to meet the specific needs according to the wounds. 2. In the classroom, a teacher used projector to show his processing. Then he wrote some information on the whiteboard which was behind the projection screen and with it still on. While there was images being projected, the information on the whiteboard could hardly be read. The normal way to solve this problem is turning on the lights each time he wants to use the whiteboard and turn off the projector. But I find that in many classrooms, the light switches are always close to the doors, but far from the whiteboard, and the lights on projectors are always shiny, which makes the use of whiteboard very inconvenient and presenters quite uncomfortable. So I suggest that may be we can make a function to the screen that as long as it is pulled, the projector will be stopped temporarily (just like the laptops' stand-by, which can resume quickly). And then, set a switch under the screen enable the presenters to control the light easier. Also, there are other approaches, such as setting the whiteboard beside the screen of the projector. But it will take up more space and be difficult to achieve in small rooms. 3.On the way home, I see a mother pushing a stroller. It is raining, and the stroller is covered with a transparent plastic sheet. The baby in the stroller looks uncomfortable. Maybe its hot and suffocating in it , like the raincoat. I think a solution to that is use some breathable materials to make the "seat" of
- 5. the stroller. All even make some vent on the seat. Another way I think about is when there is no strong wind, the rain drops are always coming towards people when they are walking. So in this case, a stroller in which baby is facing to the person who push it may help, and made of waterproof clothing together with a big shelter on it. Then when there is a strong wind, and rain drops will come from every direction. I'm considering about to design a kind of strollers which share the same principle with the convertibles. But I also strongly suggest to leave the stroller alone and just stay at home in that weather. ASSINMENT 3 For one day, document your everyday life through photographs (focus on context, as well as detail shots of your interactions with people, objects, etc.) a. Create a slideshow with 5 of these images b. For each image, add a question that you would be interested to tackle through design. For example, for a photo of my hands on a keyboard I may ask “What would happen to our daily communications if each day I woke up and keys were in a different order?” or “How could I transform the keyboard so that writing were more similar to handwriting?”
- 6. 1. How to design the power strip to make full use of the spots on it ?(As it shows in the image, the big adapter will always hog extra spots.) 2.Is there any key-ring which makes the keys easy to be found or observed ? ( I always forget where I have put my keys and wish they could have a cellphone)
- 7. 3. Is there any possibility for refrigerator to warn people that some food is going to be expired? 4.There are a lot of stuffs around us which we don't know the exact usage of them. (We met a girl before that was going to move and sold some stuffs which she bought but never used. And after we told her how to use a garlic press, she decided not to sell it.) So what if there is an app that when using it to scan the barcode or label of a stuff, it will show how to use this stuff exactly(by images or introduction)??
- 8. 5. Is science and technology make life easier or make people lazier? Do we gain more or lose more during the development ?