Assignment One

Products and emotion

Find 3 examples of visceral, behavioral and reflective design. (don’t mix products. E.g. If you choose PDA try to find 3 examples of PDAs which roughly falls under 3 attributes of emotion). Document your reflection on the emotional impact of these product.

For this assignment i turn to planners – books where we write our appointments and refer to for our schedules. It is portable and easy to reference, or even take down a quick note. For this reason there are many variety of planners today, varying from the inexpensive to the creative to the expensive, classy ones.

Visceral Design

Design Doma’s Soulmate ($40)

Behavioural	Not one to bring around on a professional trip, or the classroom – might be distracting
Reflective	not very professional, maybe just creative
Visceral	visually appealing, full of pictures, cover catches the eye, contents are rich and full of pictures, tastefully done

 

 

I chanced upon this notebook when i was walking around a neighbourhood shopping mall. It caught my attention immediately, and I like the style the images portray of the planner. I’m tempted to buy it and to use the planner. I have a feeling that i am going to enjoy using the planner as it is so visually appealing to me.

One of the interesting features of the planners that are of visceral design is that they can sell at a higher price than planners that designs behaviourally as consumers usually go for differentiated goods so as not to look ‘generic’ and kind of mass-produced. The consumer would be more willing to fork out more for a planner that is different than the rest to stand out. This planner is not very professional however – it would be a nice planner for an around-the-world-trip, but not one for the business conference annual.

 

Behavioural Design

U-Grade Management Planner (S$9)

Behavioural	Cheap, Simple and Practical, Disposable. White pages do not cluster the agenda of the week.
Reflective	Nothing impressive – one might not even bring this planner out as it looks mass-produced, “generic”
Visceral	black is black as can be

 

 

This is a planner that i found in a local bookstore. It is basic and simple, yet practical. It would be handy for the next semester’s rush of schedule I thought. However this would not be my first choice when i am looking for a planner – i would be looking for one that is more stylish and non-common, for similar value.

In behavioural products, quality for value usually over-rides all. The consumer would want a planner that does just what it is to do, and not be ripped off doing it. this planner is practical and visually uncluttered. It is the kind of planner for a busy person who can see at a glance her schedule without being distracted by the planner itself. This planner however might not be “class” enough for the average office worker or professional who might want something more ‘corporate’, as well as the average student who wants something else than generic products.

 

Reflective Design

LOUIS VUITTON Planner Agenda Notebook ($425)

Behavioural	Expensive, excellent workmanship, leather bound, durable
Reflective	Exclusive, Fashion statement, icon of fashion / success / class / wealth / character etc
Visceral	monogram canvas, not very exciting, emotional

 

 

While I was doing research on this assignment I overheard that my female friends are talking about this planner by Louis Vuitton. The name Louis Vuitton caught my ear and i was intrigued. A little search online found these images. While not very interesting (except for the monogram canvas) and special (except for the monogram canvas again) , I wonder what image I would portray if I possess this little item.

Products in this category are usually given the status by their brand or manufacturers. The possession of the planner simply grants a sense of class to the person who bought this planner. The purchaser (usually) does not buy the planner for its practical use, but for the brand itself. It is no wonder such products are able to command a high price despite being a simple planner.

 

 

Thoughts

I learnt that not everyone experiences the same experience – one can only recreate the environment that they think will re-enact the experience they hope the audience to have and hope for the best. A home-cooked meal might invoke homeyness and family values to one person who has had a happy home, and yet with a person who has never had a happy family might invoke a sense of jealousy and hatred. That is my interpretation anyway.-Jjack

 

Assignment Zero

Assignment 0: Bad design

• Find a bad design
• Capture user reaction
  • Their feelings towards the product
  • Lesson they learnt from the interaction
  • Their impression on brand
• Your reflection on the product and user reaction

So this is my submission for this assignment:

Introducing Nokia 5300

Nokia 5300 is a mobile phone that is designed for the music lover. For this reason, there are music buttons located at convenient places on the mobile phone, particularly on the right where there are three extra buttons to control music playback. There is the also speaker output that can beat out reasonably good music – perfect for irritating other commuters on the train system. Overall the phone looks good (really):

Initially i thought this would be a good design, but notice the earphone plug-in that is located close to the “previous” button on the mobile phone. The earphone plug-in is useful for private listening (and the radio), but when the earphone is plugged into the phone, a problem arises:

the ear-phone increases the width of the mobile phone and makes it difficult to put the mobile phone in the trouser’s pocket, especially if the pair of trousers are jeans material. the earphone also disconnects easily when pulled out of the pocket because it will catch onto the pocket.

Holding the phone is another problem. the “previous” button on the phone is also difficult to access with the ear phones plugged in:

as you can see, i am unable to press the “previous” button naturally with the index finger which should be the logical finger to press the button on the mobile phone. This is bad if i want to listen to a song again, because the design of the phone hinders me from doing so (conveniently anyway).

a second flaw in the design is the mobile phone’s speaker, which is located on the back of the mobile phone.

By putting the speaker on the back of the mobile phone, while listening to the music, one either has the choice of listening to muffled music (as the surface / hand holding the phone blocks out some sound), or turning the mobile phone on its back so one has clear music but no screen – hardly the intended idea of the phone.

Conclusion

The Nokia 5300 is a nice phone in general, but the well-meaning of the designers fall short when seemingly good design gets in the way of other features. Only by repeated use of products can users spot problems and improvements that often got overlooked.

Reference:
Nokia 5300 Official Website
http://www.nokia.com.sg/A4502093