This week we listened to Introduction to Web Accessibility by M.A.W Consulting. In the video, the speaker explained the different forms that assistive technology can take and why it is important. The video focused on hardware devices that have been implemented or are beginning to become implemented.
Starting the video, the speaker dived into the different types of assistive technology that exist on Apple products. For those with disabilities such as dyslexia or visual impairment, the inverted screen color settings which reverse all colors on the screen may help them. Another feature is voiceover, where users can have what’s on the screen read to them. One of the simplest, yet most effective features, is the zoom function where those with visual impairments can zoom in and out of certain words on their screen as they are reading. This is something my grandpa could have used if he were still alive. He had severe cataracts and could barely see enough to walk. I feel that the display zoom and voiceover functions would have been especially helpful-particularly for the elderly. The most amazing feature that I noticed in the video was the hardware feature that allowed a girl to use switch features attached to her wheelchair to edit a video. After seeing how functional and-seemingly-user friendly it was, I was blown away. I had never imagined that someone who could not use their arms would be able to edit a video better than I ever could. People, including me, tend to make the assumption that disabled people are not smart or have no special skills, but this video clearly shows that with the right technology, they are the same and possibly better than able bodied people. With assistive technology coming so far, it is so exciting to see what will come in the future.
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This week we read How to Nudge People Into Getting Tested for the Coronavirus by Emily Anthes on The New York Times. The article talks about all the factors that go into convincing someone to carry through with doing something.
One aspect of this article talked about making things as easy as possible to convince someone to carry through with their actions. I feel that this is especially important when designing an app or website. There have been many times where I go on a website or app to do something and just give up halfway through because I found the process to be tedious, overwhelming, or just plain difficult. Specifically asking people if they want something-like asking patients if they want a COVID screening-ensures the maximum number of users as it puts the option directly in their face. Telling patients to plan is also another important aspect of getting people to follow through. It becomes obviously exponentially more difficult to carry through a plan that was never thought out. If anything, that idea would just leave the patient’s mind immediately upon leaving. Forcing someone to plan cuts down much of the later mental annoyance of following through and makes people feel that because they have already planned, they already started the process and may as well follow through with it. Simply asking someone how they plan to get to the office is as simple as a nudge needs to be. This planning should be simple and straightforward as it is just to allow people to have a mentally processed path that makes them aware of how easily achievable the plan/goal is. The subtleties of persuasion are very important in convincing people to do something and make them believe that it was always their own idea to do it. This week we watched How Dark Patterns Trick You Online on darkpatterns.org. This video was really interesting as it highlighted how much attention companies will pay to ensure maximization.
Dark patterns are something that I always noticed, but never knew there was a name for them. Dark patterns are specific features a company implements within their website or app to intentionally keep users or grow sales. Some examples would be using color to make you click a button to buy more moves or making it nearly impossible to close your account. With so many applications and brands out there, it’s easy to understand why companies would resort to using dark patterns to grow or maintain their audience or profit. The most recent example I noticed of dark patterns in my life was when I was trying to deactivate one of my Instagram accounts. I went all through the app looking for the button only to realize they required me to log in through a web browser and go through a series of tabs just to get there. I didn’t expect so many steps to deactivate an account as deactivating just means you will be temporarily gone and is not the same as deleting, but there was. It wasn’t difficult, but it was more difficult than it needed to be and mildly annoying to do-and I wasn’t even deleting my account. Out of curiosity, I googled how to delete an Instagram account as I wanted to see how it compared to temporary deactivation. Upon googling, the first tab that popped up was by Instagram titled Delete Your Account, only it wasn’t instructions on how to delete your account-it was instructions on how to deactivate it. This seems like a small ploy to get users to deactivate their account instead of deleting which increases the possibility of them returning and allows for Instagram to maintain their numbers. Communicate:
I really enjoy The Tampon Book case study as I find it to be fun and creative while being equally effective at serving its purpose. This book also made a real impact by generating signatures that resulted in German lawmakers to reevaluate the issue of excessive tampon tax. Many times, cute novelty items serve no purpose, but this one made a real world impact which I think is amazing. Along with the tampons, buyers receive a book about menstruation which is typically considered a taboo helping to normalize periods. The only thing I would consider is whether or not this is something a person would buy repeatedly. Once someone has the book, I’m not sure if they would repurchase it again just for the tampons. Facilitate: See Sound is absolutely amazing. It seems like something that should have already existed with it being so simple yet so complex. Using Youtube to solve their problem of not enough sound samples is so clever it almost seems obvious. After watching the video, I was astounded by how user-friendly it appears to be and how many practical applications it could have-this could also be applied to home security systems. Being deaf owned and operated is definitely a plus as it means that the people who are making and selling the product are the people who will actually use it therefore making the product trustworthy. Reinvent: Lumificare is a simple idea that fulfills a very specific need in a certain industry. I like that it was created by nurses for nurses as it means that the creators understand the needs and wants of their audience. Supplying under-resourced healthcare centers with lights for every light sold is very empathic and helps to give the buyer a false sense that they are doing something good. However, I do wonder if this idea can be considered inventive as it appears to just be a waterproof disinfectable light. But, using this product in places that lack resources and electricity can definitely be a game changer. This week we read How Tiktok Design Hooks You Up by Vitaly Dulenko. In the article, the author talks about the various methods being used to hook people on the app for as long as possible.
While I do believe giving Tiktok users tools to moderate their behavior may be helpful, I also feel that anyone who is addicted to the app will not use them. One tool Tiktok may offer is an hourly cumulative notification for users while on the app to notify them of how long they have been on the app. This would make users realize how many hours they are wasting and might make them realize they need a break. On the other hand, many users are likely to ignore these notifications. Personally, I will never charge my phone when I get the 20% battery notification and always wait until I am at 2% and have no other option but to charge it. I feel like users may act similarly to Tiktok if they put hourly notifications. One app I am completely addicted to is Instagram. I love it so much and can’t go an hour without checking it. My addiction started in high school and has only gotten worse since. Endless scrolling has definitely aided to my addiction as now there is nothing that tells me that I am “done.” However, there’s a big chance that even if endless scrolling did not exist, I would just go to the discover page and look at more posts. After that, I could look at reels and message my friends. If they all didn’t have endless scrolling, chances are high that I would just move on to another app. For me, social media is a distraction and I was going to get addicted to it no matter what anyone did. #1: Airbnb's Director of Experience, Katie Dill, tells us why Airbnb uses "stories" to design3/17/2021 This week, we listened to #1: Airbnb's Director of Experience, Katie Dill, tells us why Airbnb uses "stories" to design where Dill explains to her listeners how design looks and works both on and off the screen.
One thing that stood out to me in this video was when Dill was asked about adaptability at Airbnb. With a constantly changing, growing, and expanding field, Dill explained that the key to be adaptable is remembering what your core values are and then working around them. With Airbnb’s core being centered around culture, they have worked hard to make sure that everyone there is passionate about their mission and share their goals. This is a problem I could see myself having later, accidentally trying to be over-adaptive to the point where I have lost the original core essence of the project. This could be avoided by having a strong foundation that was laid out from the start like Airbnb has. Throughout the video, I found that Dill mentioned the importance of collaboration multiple times, especially between those from different fields. She talks about how that is the only way to learn and grow as a person and a team. Before going into design, I never saw the importance of collaboration in the real world. I had this mentality that it was “all for one and one for all,” but after a few years I realized that collaboration is the key to the discovery of knowledge and personal growth. This week, we read N.Y.’s vaccine websites weren’t working, so he built a new one for $50 by Sharon Otterman. In this article, they share the story of Huge Ma, a 31 year out AirBnb software engineer who just wanted to sign his mom up to get covid vaccinated. Upon searching online, he saw so many different sites to book appointments and found the availability process for all of them very confusing. He then decided to create his own site that would compare availability from different sites and post them on Twitter. The site only cost him $50. This goes to show that good ideas can spark at any time and don’t have to be costly. This is why we should always be receptive to challenges and ideas. Through constantly challenging the current problems at hand, we may be able to come up with a newer, easier, and cheaper way to go.
Doing this has also made vaccination appointments more easily accessible for elderly people. Many of the other vaccination sites use complicated technology to work and can leave many elders confused. With Ma’s site, vaccine appointments have become more user-friendly to book for the people they were originally intended for. This week we listened to Next Billion Users, an interview with Google UX worker Asif Baki. Next Billion Users is a Google project that focuses on the needs of people from upcoming countries around the world.
In the podcast, Baki talks about the “evangelization” of his team, how they came to be, and how they effectively evangelized. When the team first began, they had combined different types of people from different fields (ex: design, business operations, rpg) who all had a similar mindset and common goal to complete while building out a company strategy that could be utilized for future operations. One of the team members then went out and compiled a list of potential listeners for them to “evangelize” but, what came next was even more challenging. The team’s job now became to create a story so compelling that listeners would evangelize, or change their minds and get on board, with what the team was saying. This is where research comes in. Baki mentions that it is especially important at this stage that secondary research not be glossed over. At the end, the team put together a user centered story that also included the business aspect saying that if they focused on a specific type of user and a specific problem then the company would grow. I feel like that is something we fail to do at times. A lot of the times, I find myself trying to do projects or solve problems that are too vague. I really think that narrowing in on the topic and zeroing in on the problem would help me, and other problem solvers, have an easier time staying focused-a problem I also tend to have. Many times, I find myself going too far down a path and end up find solutions for problems that I didn’t need to be solving. This week, we read The Story of Spotify Personas by Spotify. This article takes its readers through Spotify’s process of creating personas.
Spotify’s process begins with identifying who they are designing their products for. Because Spotify’s products are music based, it may seem like they are designing for everyone. But, not everyone is the same. Many different types of people listen to music for different reasons, whether it be relaxation, boredom, studying, fitness, etc. Chances are, with all these different kinds of users, not everyone is satisfied. That’s when Spotify decided to come up with personas to better identify and understand their audience. The goals of using personas is to better understand their users so they can find out their individual needs and the problems that could be solved for users through using Spotify. With this knowledge, Spotify could then go on to make a more user centered design that caters to everyone, not just the majority. In phase 1, Spotify focused on where, why, and when people used their app. After gaining some insight, they used this insight to point Phase 2 in the direction of context-how people listen to music together. This phase sought to understand the subtle complexities of music listening at home, in the car, with kids, etc. Next, they had to figure out an unbiased accurate, yet abstract, way to depict their users as no two users were alike. To do this, they randomly selected genders, names and appearances and used 2D illustrations with brand colors. The next step was to share their work through an interactive website which made it easy for the team to add additional information or update the learnings. This week we watched "Just Enough Research" by Erika Hall. In the video, Hall gives valuable insight into practical research techniques and the value of research.
One part I completely agree with in the video is when Hall was talking about how people are almost scared to do research. Many times, people use excuses about time, money, and resources to explain why they cannot and will not do research before launching a product. A frequent excuse for not doing research is that “billionaire entrepreneurs have become successful without research so why should I need to do it.” Hall calls these people lazy and scared and gives a funny real life example about the founder of Colors. After raising 41 million dollars in start up revenue (more than the equivalent of what Facebook had for its time), the founder refused to do research. Only 30 minutes after launching the product did he realize that it was a broken bad idea. Many times, we are so driven by our confidence in our ideas and rush to make those ideas a reality, as if rushing would make the idea any better. Research is not just about research, but rather gaining a deeper understanding of your product, customer base, and market. It not only highly increases your chances of success, but almost gives you a sneak peek of what will happen after your product is launched. We can all agree that we would rather succeed than fail, so Hall questions why everyone is so skeptical about doing research in the first place. |