Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Week 7 Log: Refinement

This refinement refers to the constraints of time, money, and resources. As well as knowledge. This chapter gets more in depth with how the process of design works. It starts with an idea a research. Then the work flow comes into play. The physical constrains, ie; materials, etc.. affect the process as well as the end product. Speaking in terms of physical controls, we deal with buttons, dials, switches, latches, and motors, ect... Digitally, we speak in terms of scroll bars, drop down menus, check boxes, ect... More advanced interfaces include, Voice, gesture, and presence. 
It can be very fun to design products or interfaces that use many or all of these elements. This chapter really got me thinking about project that I might want to work on in the future. 
Choosing the right elements to give the user the right feedback and affordance can be the creative part. But this can also give new uses for a product when a mistake is made during the design process. A mental model is great, but if a product does not do what we want it to do than the process can be a waste of time. Using research as well as storyboards, and web charts can be a clear way to get the process started. Once we decide to go in a certain direction, the design process starts. Employing all these design factors can make the process much faster and cleaner.

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