Product Creation For All: Assignment 2

The Design of Everyday Things: Chapter 2

"Well, in a while it won't matter. There won't be any films, just video-tape." (51)

      Despite the fact that this book is ridiculously out-date (look at the quotation above about VHS), this book is still very much applicable to this world with Blu-ray DVDs instead of VHS. In this chapter, "The Psychology of Everyday Actions," Norman relates the psychology behind our everyday actions to the design of products.  Norman states, "psychologists  love errors and misconceptions, for they give important clues about the organization and operation of our minds" (36). In a similar way, customer's errors and mistakes help designers to understand the success and failures of the product. Whenever I cannot use the product, I would always blame it on the environment or myself for being stupid instead of thinking about the actual problem of the product's design. I also would reward my intelligence for using the product well and swiftly instead of thinking about how well someone designed the product to allow me to do so. Thus, Norman's emphasis on the design of products gave me a whole new perspective for different objects I see in my everyday life. I now am much more careful and analytical about every object I see and appreciate/despise the wisdom/stupidity behind the products. 

Based on what I learned from this Chapter, I would like to talk about the infamous Multi-Function Devices (MFD aka printers/copiers) in Wellesley College:

Norman first talks about the Seven Stages behind our actions, which are:

1. Forming the Goal
2. Forming the Intention
3. Specifying an action
4. Executing the action
5. Perceiving the State of the World
6. Interpreting the State of the World
7. Evaluating the outcome

Based on these seven stages, Norman then proposes questions/tasks for Designers, "The Seven Stages of Action as Design Aids," which are:

1. Determine the Function of the Device
2. Tell what Actions are Possible
3. Tell if System is in Desired State
4. Determine Mapping from Intention to Physical Movement
5. Determine Mapping from System State to Interpretation
6. Perform the Action
7. Tell what State the System is in

Basing on these seven stages, I would like to analyse the interaction between MFDs and people in Wellesley College. 

• Determining the Function of the Device: Although it may look a bit more complex than the normal desktop printer, because people are used to seeing large-scale printers, people can easily determine that the MFD's are printing and copying. 
• Telling what Actions are Possible: Printing and copying functions are quite conspicuous; however, the system is way too complex for people to figure out what other actions are possible in one glance or without reading the user manual
• Telling if System is in Desired State: The printer makes sure the screen shows that all qued jobs are released; however, the screen does not show which jobs are completed. 
• Determining Mapping from Intention to Physical Movement: The buttons are visible for printing and typing; however, the touchpad part of the screen is not clearly explained. 
• Determining Mapping from System State to Interpretation: There are too many buttons and not clear state-indicator for users to understand the system state. 
• Performing the Action: MFD successfully does its job of printing and copying swiftly and eco-friendly (all prints are double-sided, which is a big part of Wellesley's "Paper Cut" movement). Also the log-in system allows user to print using any computer in Wellesley College. 
• Telling what State the System is in: The printer does not clearly show its state as the main page of the screen is always showing either a personal page of queued jobs or log-in screen. It does not show rather the printer is printing or copying. The printer seems to be always ON as well. 

Evaluation of the Printer's Effectiveness and Problems:

- What is Effective?

The printer is effective in its sense that it clearly shows its printing and copying function. It performs its printing job swiftly and eco-friendly. The printers successfully receive jobs from a secure personal account from any computer in Wellesley college. 

- What is Problematic? 

The Printer however has too many buttons and the touch pad part of the main screen is unclear and difficult use. Thus, it is difficult to determine what actions are possible in the device. The printer also does not successfully show what state the system is in nor if the jobs are completed or not. 

Needs Assessment:

1. Observe: I have observed students using the printers in both the Clapp Library and Lulu Campus Center. Surprisingly people were able to use the printer much more quickly than they complain how long it takes. However, the lines in the library was quite long, and students printing out one page were experiencing frustration. Many girls had trouble using the touch screen to log-in and to check if their print jobs are all properly printed out.
2. Ask: I had asked my roommate Galen Chuang about her experience with using the MFD as she needs to print out a lot of readings from the library. Moreover, in contrast to group interviews individual interview with my roommate was much more practical time-wise. I was able to get in-depth feedback from my roommate as we are close and as she was able to be honest with me. However, if I had done group interview to busy, intelligent Wellesley students, they probably would have avoided giving me feedbacks about what they could NOT do (and they probably refused my interview request as they are all busy doing homework). My roommate shared with me a similar experience to what I have observed. She first could not figure out how to log-in, but thought it was relatively straightforward afterwards. She also thought it took way too long for a single-page print jobs. 
3. Try: I definitely had difficulties logging in and I was very confused which page to go to release my queued jobs. I was very frustrated to see other people struggle and take my precious time waiting for them as well. I just got really impatient with waiting 10minutes for a single page. 

Mind Map for MFD

<Solutions>

Brainstorm

Using Pugh Chart

Two Best Ideas:

1. Since the reason Wellesley changed the printers is for paper-cut, I thought eco-friendliness is a very important category. Thus, my first selected idea is to get rid of printers and distribute ipads. It will be costly, but by making the school to have a deal with Apple, massive distribution of the Ipad for academic use should not be as costly or difficult as developing a whole new technology. Moreover, people will never need to print out anything, which totally eliminates the rigorous printing process through MFD in addition to saving papers. The only rate and effort problem will the time it takes for people to get used to the technical skills required to use an Ipad. 

2. Second idea is simple, but it will definitely cut down the time it requires to use the MFD. To be honest, MFD does not really made any difference in an eco-friendliness sense from having desktop printers connected to each computers. People use the desktop printer to print from MFD usually; thus, simply having for desktop printers connected to the computers will make no difference. There will be less long lines and it will be straightforward to use. It is also more realistic and cheaper than the ipad idea, but more effective than using MFD.