3.3 Speculations

Arc: Collapse
Terrain: Childhood
Object: Festival
Mood: Shock

Exercise 3.2 – Personas – Jennifer Du

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I mapped my route around my apartment, which is generally quiet. I am surrounded by apartment complexes, a public storage unit and the USPS. Since I am usually at home on off hours, it isn’t too busy.

As I continue walking down the street and get into the busier intersections, I will start to hear louder sounds (honking, cars) and smells (foods/restaurants/sewer/trash). There will be groups of pedestrians that walk in droves, usually timed with a metro stop. These people walk together in a cluster and eventually disperse as they walk pass each intersection. Since commercial buildings and businesses are 2-3 blocks from my apartment, I will be walking north, toward a crowded space, voices/shouts/laughter are other sounds that I hear.  Visually, I’ll also see lines for entering/exiting cars in parking and lines for people looking to eat at tasty restaurants.

Sawtelle Restaurants

My Apartment

My Office

I was visiting Taipei and didn’t have a complete itinerary. Turns out, all I needed was this map! It gave me all the relevant information, without consulting the internet and I had the best time!

• Good Continuation: The routes are perceived as moving north/south or east/west. The lines show movement and smooth integration with other elements for easy, visual guidance.
• Color: 8 distinct colors represent the different routes. Each line is separated clearly. For transfers or intersections, the color is mixed together.
• Proximity: The map shows all the stops and routes. The list of attractions is shown to the exterior of the map routes, but a dotted line connects the attraction list to appropriate route, showing the relationship through proximity and color.
• Legibility: Each route shares popular attractions which are very legible. Contrasting colors, size and text blocks draw the user out of the map route and into colored boxes to think about attractions.
• Consistency: The 8 routes are all labeled in the same size, type and even orientation of the text (horizontal/vertical). These elements show that all routes are equal, with one not more prominent than the other. They all look like they are part of a system.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxVqEWvVtYP1SXQ4Z1hZZ3hXT1U

Office Chair. I use this chair the most and I hardly ever lean back to use the backrest. Most of the time I lean forward to type and focus on the monitor.

Conference Room Chair. I definitely use the backrest in this chair – for eye contact and to listen. In this environment, the focus is less on monitors and more on interation and conversation. This chair is comfortable and very mobile.

Car Seat. With a short commute, I am not in this seat long. The headrest is my favorite. That back is supportive but not very comfortable. Sometimes, I’ll add lumbar support cushion.

Yoga Wheel & Mat. As a yoga teacher, when I’m on my mat, I am more attentive to how my body feels. I can lean against the wheel to stretch my back. I can sit on top of the wheel to stay balanced. I can sit with the wheel in my mid back to stretch my thoracic spine. Lastly, I can sit on the mat, with or without the support of the wall.

Loves: Hydroflask Water Bottle – 18 oz

I love the size – good reminder for me to know how many glasses to drink a day. It also fits perfectly in my car cup holder.  The affordance of the lid and handle is visible,  adjustable to accommodate when the user’s need.  The round shape of the lid illustrates a turning glide to open and close. The buttons on the handle and the handle grip show rotation. There is also a physical constraint so the user knows the limits of how far the handle can extend.

The two features I appreciate the most is the exterior design and functionality. The double walled vacuum interior keeps my water cool all day long. The exterior design is sturdy to protect the bottle from drops. I dropped it a few times and have only seen a few scratches and marks. The color is still vibrant and minimal.

Hates: Apple EarPods

The affordance of the earpods is shaped to fit into the ear. There is also a label on each earpod denoting which ear the pod can accommodate – a physical constraint. However, as a frequent podcast and audiobook listener, the shape of the earpod becomes very uncomfortable, a literal pain point, after 30 minutes of use. Despite being shaped specifically for an ear!

The functionality of the remote is visible and useful. however physical constraints for user error are not visible. I find that when I’m typing while using earpods, my arms and other desk supplies accidentally increase the volume on the remote, causing a breakdown. I’ll yank off the earpods immediately before locating the source for the sudden volume change.

The long earpod cord is too flexible in form. I have to spend a few seconds untangling the cords and wrapping them a certain way to reduce the tangles my next use. The few seconds it takes to sort out the tangles adds up!