My UXD Principles and Concepts Notes – Week 3

I really enjoyed this week’s readings. I’ve always found work that studies how our brains operate fascinating and reading about how memory works has been no different. I constantly feel like I should be memorizing both of the books that we’re reading. I do plan on spending some time trying to memorize Norman’s section on Slips and Mistakes. Much of that language and the concepts it captures will be critical to effective design. Understanding the type of error and why it occurs, should help a designer anticipate problems and prevent them. All of it ties in perfectly with Johnson’s discussion of attention, creating memories, and recognition and recall. I mean, the fact that there’s a difference between recognition and recall in itself is wild. But understanding that recognition is instantaneous, and recall a focused effort to recreate a memory is not something I expected to learn from this course. So cool.

I also really liked Sherman’s lecture/presentation. I’ve never heard the phrase customer corridor before, and his explanation and following examples regarding onboarding a user were solid. I’ve found that reading the script alongside the video has helped me better retain the info. The Pattern Types he described are pervasive, yet I’m not sure that I’ve given them much consideration until now. Today I set up a Nintendo 2DS and immediately found myself thinking through the implications of their initial setup which uses a combination of modal and first-run callouts. One setup function in particular (signing in to your Nintendo ID) was troublesome. If you have issues signing in, the only recourse is to use the “back” button to navigate through 6 screens to return to the home screen. In that situation, the home button doesn’t work. Boo.

Finally, our first real test of what we’ve been learning was the Tiny Critique and Redesign assignment. Even though the rubric was clear on expectations, I still found the task challenging. We’ve covered a lot of ground in three weeks, so trying to pull concepts from 3 lectures, 5 chapters of one book, and 9 chapters of another book was daunting. It may have been necessary though because the prompt we were reviewing wasn’t specific to one section of study. I ended up taking issues with the language they used, the groupings they picked, and the buttons they choose. It was definitely a challenge, and I’m eager for feedback to see if I thought about everything appropriately.

As always, my Week 3 notes are here.