Exercise 3: Design in Daily Life
The design of a product is essential to the survival of the product. It is sometimes easy to overlook how design actually plays key roles in human behavior and culture. In this case study I will be breaking down some products that are good and badly UX designed and their impacts.
What makes a good design?
- A good design is Innovative
- Makes the product useful
- Aesthetically pleasing
- Makes product understandable
- A good design is neutral
- A good design is honest
- Long Lasting
- A good design is through to the last detail
- Environmentally friendly
- As little as design as possible
Best Designed Products
Simon
Simon launched in 1978 originally manufactured and distributed by Milton Bradley, and later by Hasbro. The device has four colored buttons, each producing a particular tone when it is pressed or activated by the device. A computerized Simon says game that gets faster the better you get at the game became an instant classic. This product is simply designed with bright colored buttons on a slick black background, it’s simple use makes this product both enjoyable and addicting to play.
Yelp
Yelp was founded in 2004 by two former PayPal employees. Yelp is service that allows consumers to leave reviews on local businesses. When using the app on your phone the app uses google map to pinpoint current location, allowing you to search and providing a list of frequently searched options. The layout being simple and easy to read you can quickly get all the info you need, including hours, menus, directions, top reviews and tips. After sticking around for 16 years this company is now worth 3.5 billion dollars.
Anyone who has ever used the internet knows about Google. Arguably the most popular search engine ever created Google was launched in September 1998. First launched as a search engine but due to it rapid growth Google branched out to make a chain of products; Google Docs, Gmail and Google Maps to name a few. Google’s design is simple with bright accents, it’s mechanics are easy for the user to handle making the experience fast and efficient.
Bad Designed Products
Netflix (Auto Play)
Netflix is the mother of all streaming platforms. Netflix provides both original content, and shows and movies from other networks. One big flaw in Netflix’s online portal is the auto play feature when you hover your mouse over the content you wish to read more info about. First it’s annoying because the sudden noise will startle you, and secondly it means the designers have made huge assumptions about the users’ desires.
Apple (Storage Management System)
Almost everyone who has iPhone has seen this annoying message when opening your camera to capture a moment you don’t want to forget. This message pops up when your storage data is full on your phone, causing the camera screen to blur and become unusable. To make matters worse the system doesn't even tell you how many pictures or how much space to free up in order to use your camera again. This feature is poorly designed because it leaves the user confused and waste time by trying to figure out how to access their camera.
Slack
Slack is a messaging app used to communicate with other professionals. Since joining IronHack I have been introduced to this product and at first it is a bit confusing. The lack of communication on the page makes it hard to understand the flow of the app/website. I also would miss messages sent to me because I found out that by default notifications of Slack turn off in the evening time.
Impact
while completing my research I noticed certain elements in designs that would play a crucial role in the survival of product in the market. The easier and simpler the design of the product the more it drew attention and made the product more enjoyable. However when instruction is unclear it may cause frustration to the user and make them not want to use the product.