HPW Assignment 3
By Jacky Lococo and Julia LePoer
Learning about affordances and signifiers was an eye-opening lesson that changed how we observe the world. Since that class, we found ourselves noticing them all around us, especially with doors. Ironically our classroom is guarded by a set of doors with a single round knob that affords pulling open. However, this is a push door, so pulling just leaves the user feeling embarrassed. We don’t want our users to feel this way.
Human centered design, creating a product that fits humans abilities rather than forcing users to conform to a product’s ability, really stood out to us. With technological advancements and new forms of UI coming out daily, it can feel like we are not smart enough for our own devices. Recently, Jacky was using After Effects for an assignment and quickly became frustrated with the interface. Then she remembered what was taught in class and thought, “maybe this isn’t a reflection of my skills as a user, but a reflection of the designers.” We both want to make artifacts that don’t feel out of reach or frustrating for a user because of our own negative experiences.
We also appreciated how the topics in class shed light on what we experience as humans. This helped us gain more empathy for others and consider their unique experiences in the design process. What stuck out during Hahira Qazi’s lecture was having to define our own worldviews. Both of us were already aware of what a worldview was, and how it is defined by our inner perceptions and past experiences. Although we both knew about worldviews prior to class, it was interesting to see how it connects to design. This lesson gave us a stronger sense of empathy that we are hoping to apply and consider in our design processes.
We found the lecture on inclusivity especially interesting and relevant because of our personal interests, but also for Julia’s Environments project. Her AR tour should be accessible to everyone, so the charts shared in class helped her design the visual and auditory elements of her experience. We also latched onto the idea that universal design helps everyone, not just those with disabilities. For example, adding captions for the deaf community also helps people on a windy day who can’t hear the spoken information. Adopting a more open and inclusive mindset for design seems to be a major theme of class so far. We are learning that accessible design isn’t just a box to check, but a way of improving our work as a whole.
In terms of questions or topics we are struggling with, we have found that it’s unclear how communication designers can adopt concepts geared towards UI/UX or product design. Jacky is unsure how to implement affordances and signifiers into her current Communications assignments since it feels like most of the topics are related to projects done in products or environments. In this way, we are trying to grasp these larger ideas and examples without opportunities to use them in our own work.
