Exercise 3.2 Personas – Davidson Young
Experiences – Davidson Young
Final Version
https://youtu.be/jT7wuHYnpFw
Proposals for Experience v2
I decided to focus on the experience in the Quad space at SJSU.
The first idea is to have themed seating areas for students and student organizations. Students are invited to relax, hang out with friends, or study.
The second idea is to display student creators through a large interactive display. Students are invited to view and react to their peers’ creativity.
Proposals for Experiences v1.5
- Mobile Refresher for the Homeless
- High-Density Dorms
- Modular Booths for the Quad
Exercise 3.1 Narratives – Davidson Young
Was broke and weary
But now with job and money
Ramen happiness
Geographies – Davidson
The exercise felt a bit disconcerting because I was in control but not in control at the same time. I started at my building door. It was a little confusing at first, crossing the street and back again. Then, I had to walk past a sad homeless person I always see in my neighborhood. He’s in a wheelchair with a suitcase. Then I walked through the back of the Safeway parking lot which smells awful.
Then the crazy thing happened. I kept crossing the busy street – not at the crosswalk! I kept telling myself don’t do it! But I did it three times!
Project 2: Mappings – Davidson Young
FINAL MAP
SJSU as a public and private space.
There is a significant number of homeless around the campus that impacts the student experience. For example, the library is a joint public and university space. Thus, homeless people hang out in the same space where students study. Some students feel threatened by their presence. At the same time, some students and professors are homeless and need food assistance themselves. I wanted to contrast this with the University’s effort to create student communities, activities, and engagement.
Design Choices:
I included images of students and homeless people because pictures are more visceral than icons and text. The images are within the blocks – a metaphor for being part of the landscape.
Blue and yellow are SJSU’s colors. Helvetica is one of it’s approved fonts for marketing.
I wanted to keep the base map as “real” as possible so I only made few alterations to it.
THE ORIGINAL FIVE FORCES
San Jose State University is a community of more than 35000 students, staff, and faculty members. It’s also part of the downtown San Jose community. Thus, there’s a blend of forces that impact its space and people.
Buildings in Decay
SJSU was founded in 1857. It’s compacted within a 19 square blocks in downtown San Jose which limits its growth and renewal. A number of buildings are in poor shape. Some lack proper heating and air conditioning. The map helps visualize the age of the buildings and how the SJSU has been built over the last century.
I decided to use the color spectrum to help visualize the age of the buildings. The oldest buildings are in red followed by red-orange and so on. This shows when and how the campus has grown in chucks or sections.
My first iteration included different texture gradation. However, I didn’t like how it looked visually and didn’t feel it was necessary to depict the decay of the buildings. Also, it wasn’t consistent with the rest of the design.
Public Space
A number of large apartment complexes have been built in downtown San Jose in the last decade. Unfortunately, there’s very little open space for people enjoy. Dog owners use SJSU as a “park” to exercise their dogs and allow them to relieve themselves. Also, street vendors selling snacks take advantage of the open campus and concentration of customers.
I decided to use metaphors of people and place them where I observed the activities taking place. Using black differentiates the metaphors from the other forces. Also, the people metaphors are in the act of walking. I added the grass element because dog walkers use that space. (I wanted to illustrate the dogs peeing but decided against it :).
Safety and Security
There have been a number of high profile incidents including a sexual predator and an assault that heightened the security risks on campus. Emergency call boxes and video surveillance help keep the space secure.
Downtown San Jose has a large homeless population who sometimes enter the space. Though not a threat – there’s a sense that homeless people are not welcomed on campus.
I used familiar metaphors for the call boxes (red = emergency) and video camera (blue = police). The circle around the video camera implies its visual range.
Student Community Spaces
SJSU is largely a commuter campus; most students live far off campus. There are spaces for students to congregate and meet with friends or clubs. The Student Union and 7th Street Avenue is the central location for student gatherings and activities.
I used metaphors for activities: pool, soccer, and juggling. I decided to use dots to convey concentration of students in areas where student congregate. The areas are supplemented with pictures of students in those areas. I used yellow for the dots because it’s one of SJSU’s colors.
Transportation
Besides cars, most students come to campus by foot, bicycle, or bus. Also, there are Zipcar stations and bicycles for rent.
I wanted to communicate important information on this map especially bus numbers and bike rack locations. Also, I leverage the principle of picture superiority effect by illustrating the buses and bikes.
Exercise 2.2 Architectures – Davidson Young
Project 2, Part 1 Mapping – Davidson Young
I choose an intersection at San Jose State University that has heavy foot traffic during school days except for Fridays. I decided to observe the forces affecting the campus from this starting point.
Community
SJSU focuses on connecting students to campus through student organizations and activities. They believe that engaged students are more likely to graduate. A few outside spaces make this possible including the 7th street quad where student organizations and campus services. At other locations, the peer advising group was hosting a barbeque and a student group was practicing Quidditch.
Defensible Space
SJSU is an urban campus without physical borders. There have been a number of high profile criminal acts in the last year including a sexual predator and attempted kidnapping. I noticed security cameras and emergency call stations to help keep the community safe.
Transportation
The primary modes of transportation on campus are cars, bus, foot, and bikes. Also, I noted skateboards, scooters, and Zipcar stations.
Decay and Renewal
A number of buildings at SJSU and the surrounding community are in decay. However, there is a large athletic facility being built and large Engineering facility will be built starting in 2019.
SJSU as a Public Space
The surrounding community uses the open space on campus to walk their dogs. Also, vendors with carts sell snacks to students.
Exercise 2.1: Informations – Davidson Young
The Raging Waters Map focuses on the activities and experience at the park. It conveys joy, excitement, and action to attract visitors.
Less is a bore
There’s so much going on. There’s so much to do at Raging Waters! The map turns basic objects like building into birthday cakes, roofs into a ticket, and an ice cream cone as a location marker.
Baby face bias
What a cute dragon! I want to ride the dragon’s tail!
Picture Superiority Effect
A picture is worth $25.40. It uses illustrations instead of words to communicate the activities that take place on the map.
Recognition over recall
The map uses familiar icons to communicate important information including first aid, handicap locations, and restrooms.
Movement
Again, the experience is center stage. The map conveys the action through movement in the illustrations.
CC Tennis: Davidson and Jeff
An Object Davidson Loves, an Object Davidson Hates
Object I Love
I love my electric kettle. I’ve had it for more than 5 years without any issues. It affords boiling water much quicker than a using a pot and the stove. The kettle has natural mapping. The button and the lid are located near each other. The on/off button includes semantic mapping with common metaphors of a circle for on and a vertical line for off.
The level of the water in kettle is visible. Also, the kettle provides feedback through sound. It whistle as the water starts to boil. Then the button audibly snaps back in place after the boiling is complete.
Object I Hate
I hate my Wacom drawing tablet. I bought it so I could draw on my computer. The tablet affords drawing but not well. Unfortunately, the mapping of the controls, touch the pen on the tablet, and the effect on the computer screen is not natural due to the distance. Also, the buttons on the tables do not have semantic mappings. The user’s palm creates friction against the tablet and doesn’t allow a smooth writing experience. I had to buy a glove to reduce the friction. The Wacom tablet is a great example of technology not being better than analog materials (pencil and paper).
These Are the Chairs in Davidson’s Life
My Home Office Chair
I found my office chair in our apartment complex’s rubbish (it sounds better than garbage) room. The previous owner moved out and left it behind. It replaced my old wooden Ikea chair. My office chair is comfortable. It’s cushioned and I can adjust the height. Also, it’s high back allows me to rest my head while watching time sucking YouTube videos. More importantly, it allows me to get in the zone to study or work.
Dining Area Stools
We have stools for our kitchen island/dining table. My wife often does work on the kitchen island. The stools can be adjusted based on the user’s height and comfort. The bright orange seat and chrome legs convey accessibility and fun. The stools also serve a social purpose. Our guests converge around the island for conversation and food.
Our Pune’e
The pune’e is a Hawaiian daybed. Hawaiians started putting beds in their living rooms for lounging or napping in the early 1900s. We got our a koa pune’e, a rare find, from a family that bought it when they lived on the islands. It makes us comfortable and rested. My wife and I hangout on the pune’e talking or cuddling with our dogs.
The Chairs in My Office
I have a Herman Miller office chair. I was surprised that a state University spent money for a Herman Miller chair while giving me a 7-year-old laptop.
It conveys functionality and comfort with its wheels, mesh back, adjustable arms, and height. It’s black communicating seriousness. The back height frames my body and conveys authority. It’s my throne. My subjects – I mean my guests sit in shorter, basic chairs that have medium height backs. They are inferior to my chair.
The Bus Seats
I had to take the bus this week because my bike is broken.
We attach socio-economic labels to buses and bus seats. Unfortunately, society often views buses as lower class. Only people that can’t afford a car ride buses. Inside the bus, some seats are designated for the handicap, elderly, and pregnant women.
The bus seats serve their function; they allow many users of different sizes and abilities. Also, it’s easy for users to come in and out of the seats. Unfortunately, comfort is secondary. Also, safety is a potential issue because they lack seatbelts and restraints.
Histories: Davidson Young
Beautiful and Practical Tiny Home
Sagrada Familia
Google Fit
Strategy: Flexibility Usability Tradeoff
The Flexibility Usability Tradeoff design principle is about the balance between having the many options or solutions and the functionality and simplicity of the design. Example of flexibility is the swiss army knife. It has scissors, bottle opener, knife, saw, file, and more. However, the flexibility comes at a cost of increased complexity and decreased usability. The small scissors aren’t usable for large cutting tasks.
Example: The Swiss army knife’s flexibility: it has scissors, bottle opener, knife, saw, file, and more. However, the flexibility comes at a cost of increased complexity and decreased usability. The small scissors aren’t usable for large cutting tasks.
“If an audience’s needs are clearly understood then designs should target those as efficiently as possible, whereas if they are less well understood then build greater flexibility and contingency into systems to ensure the widest possible set of applications.” From www.doctordisruption.com
Example found online: A Convertible Dress that allows the user to have multiples styles based on the occasion.
Example found in the real world: An all-in-one screwdriver that provides several options for heads. However, the tradeoff is the heads are not tightly secured to the pipe because it uses magnets to attach the two pieces.
Strategy: Framing
Framing is a technique typically used in advertising, marketing, and other forms of media to manipulate the way information is presented (Universal Design Principles). It’s a way to change or enhance people’s viewpoints. It’s often used in propaganda to sell or disparage an idea, belief, or system. For instance, prohibition campaigns in the early 1900s framed alcohol in negative terms in order to gain support for laws banning alcohol.
Negative framing effects the emotional region of the brain and more like to influence behavior.
Example:
Example found online: Anti-Hillary Poster.Opponents promoted anti Hillary Clinton images and news to disparage her candidacy during the 2016 Presidential election. This poster frames Hillary Clinton with the star of David and money. The poster aims to rile up racist Americans against her.
Example found in the real world: Chilean resistance posters found in a restaurant and community center. These posters remind viewers of the bloody coup that threw Chile into chaos. Images of an explosion, barb wires, and broken glass frames the narrative as a struggle against the violence to its citizens and leaders.
Strategy: Nudge
Nudge is a technique to lead people to take action that will result in a positive outcome. It’s generally something that people don’t do even though it’s good for them.
Universal Design Principles and Nudge (Thaler and Sunstein)) provide the methods for effective nudges: Defaults, Feedback, Incentives, Structured Choices, and Visible Goals.
People generally need nudges when there are difficult choices between benefits now and benefits later. For instance, people struggle to save for their retirement like using a 401k plan because it takes away access to their money. Companies often use a default contribution percentage to get employees to add to their 401k plan.
The example from Universal Design Principles is a fly graphic on a urinal. The fly acts as a target, reducing splash.
Example found online: These stairs in Japan encouraging people to use the stairs because it burns calories.
Example found in the real world: A sign encouraging dinners to eat vegan to save the planet.
Strategy: Scarcity
Scarcity is a strategy to increase desirability of products by indicating supply is limited or has a time constraint.
The Universal Design Principles states the following tactics that are applied to this principle: exclusive information, limited access, limited time, limited number, suddenness.
Example: Event at H&M has limited time to shop. Shoppers only have 15 minutes to grab what they want and can only pick two items per style.
Example found online: Pliney The Elder Beer is a craft beer that is available in limited quantity. The company doesn’t market the beer and doesn’t provide release dates. The scarcity causes consumers to hunt for the beer and make a purchase because they know that it will sell out quickly.
Example found in the real world: Safeway advertising items that are only on sale on a specific date. It was posted a couple of days before the sale to entice the customer to come back.
Strategy: Anti-affordance
Anti-affordance is the prevention of an action or interaction. (Norman, Design of Everyday Things). A window affords visibility. However, it’s anti-affordance results in birds flying against it.
Example
Anti-affordances are also deliberate designs that prevent undesirable actions.
Example found online: Park seats the prevents sleeping by having an arm in the middle.
Example found in the real world: A bench that prevents skateboarding by placing metal obstructions.
Strategy: Priming
Priming is a tactic to influence behavior through the use of a stimulus: image, sound, smell, touch, and taste.
Priming is a tactic to influence behavior through the use of a stimulus: image, sound, smell, touch, and taste.
Priming is a nonconscious form of human memory. It is primarily used in marketing to influence the consumer to make a purchase. Also, a brand can affect the consumer’s feelings and performance. For instance, research has shown that drivers that had Red Bull logos in their cars drove faster than drivers with logos not associated with performance.
Example: Gore-tex primes the consumer with images of rain and cold. The images trigger the consumer’s emotions and memory of being wet and cold. Thus, influencing the consumer to purchase a jacket.
Example found online: Zzzquil images on their Twitter profile associates the product with relaxation, calm, and sleep.
Example in the real world: Cinnabon leverages smell to entice mall visitors to purchase their product. They place their ovens in the front of the store and bake new buns every 30 minutes. It’s also rumored that they have fans to blow the smell farther from their store.
Strategy: Forgiveness
Forgiveness is a design principle that helps people prevent errors, minimize consequences, or allows them to correct their mistakes. It may include warnings, confirmations, help or assistance, safety nets, and a way to reverse the error.
Example: Road sign warning drivers that there are pedestrians are not paying attention to traffic.
Designing warnings in computer applications help prevent errors like downloading an unknown file or deleting a file forever. However, warnings should be limited because repeated warnings can lead to user annoyance and frustration. Allow users to opt out of warnings once they have learned the system.
Example found online: Google Apps provide a safety net for users by autosaving their work. Users don’t have to think about saving.
Affordances and constraints help prevent errors. For instance, the size of gasoline nozzles are constrained and regulated to match the size of the afuel tank opening in cars. This prevents users from putting diesel gasoline into their car that only takes unleaded gasoline.
Example found in the real world: MacBook plug. The plug is attached to the laptop with magnets. It unplugs easily if the user trips on the cord.
Forgiveness contributes to the happiness of users because it makes them feel secure and safe.