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By: Maisha Sarker (LTXD)
Recently, I have been reading “User Friendly – How the Hidden Rules of Design Are Changing the Way We Live, Work and Play” By Cliff Kuang with Robert Fabricant. As an educator endeavoring the realms of user experience design, I wanted to learn more about the design world’s history. With chapters ranging from “easy to use” and “easy to want” this book beautifully entails “the relationship between design, technology, and consumerism.” (Gutterman, Time). With what I’ve read so far, let me tell you about the significance of design, whom it pertains to, and why this matters to me.
Chapter Two: Industry
Chapter Two: Industry
This chapter discusses industrial design, specifically with its impact in the United States. Henry Dreyfuss, an American industrial designer, states that “by understanding someone else’s life – abashed, prideful, confused, curious – you could make their life better” (Kuang, 56). As designers, we must look towards the user’s problems, where they lack assistance, and how we can create a personalized experience. This element of design is what drew me into the field in the first place. As a teacher working in a paperless setting, I’ve come across different digital tools that have had positive and negative aspects to my student’s learning. I’ve generally focused on students’ issues from the content and curriculum perspective. However, I’ve come to realize many of the inconveniences and differences in learning experiences stem from technical, digital, and online learning too. I look at digital tools, websites, and media platforms from a whole different perspective now that I understand the importance of design and the changes through history. One of my top priorities as an educator and being in the field itself has been creating and providing educational resources that pave new learning experiences for students. I also hope to incorporate my own passions of fashion and beauty in doing so.
In her book's preface, Frederick expressed a love for housework and cooking but never seemed to "get anywhere" and lacked free time. Her goal was to change this for herself and assist other women.
Chapter two also entails a very interesting connection between industrial design, women, and consumer economy. Christine Frederick, a journalist for Ladies’ Home Journal and American home economist, brought attention to the voices of American women post the Great War. During this period in America, women had newly gained the right to vote yet were still yoked to the household, holding responsibilities and duties at a time before electrical appliances. Frederick, alongside her peers, proposed the solution for women’s limited opportunities outside the home: create more free time. “Women were on the leading edge of consumers using things they bought, using their dollars to demand their products to be more thoughtful” (Kuang, 64).
Kuang also explains how Frederick saw a way to connect women’s work to broader notions about modern progress. This included Frederick calling her readers to standardize how long each chore took, eg. cleaning the bathroom, 20 mins. Measuring the time of each chore connected towards the value of tools women bought and “what future conditions under which purchasing must be done” (Kuang, 64). Frederick also advocated for single-item-deep shelving to reduce unnecessary reaching and searching. Household devices and tools, in her view, fell into four categories: fuel savers, step savers, labor savers, and time savers. This was mind-blowing to me, and very empowering to read up on the significance of women in economics and the design of household tools.
Chapter Seven: Humanity
Chapter Seven: Humanity
In the later half of this book, we learn what it means to be “easy to want” and this chapter specifically focuses on the humanity of design. Understanding and embracing the human aspects of design creates emotionally and culturally responsive experiences, enriching the lives of users. Acknowledging the language variations, ethical implications, cultural differences, and other contextual factors is crucial in the empathetic approach to design.
There is a passage in this chapter that discusses the 2012 Microsoft corporate VP, Derrick Connell, and his experience in China. He noticed the difference in the way Chinese people held their phones, holding it aloft in front of their faces, like a makeup mirror. “Chinese were using their phones differently than almost anyone in the West, using voice as the main interface, letting speech recognition programs do their texting instead of tapping out themselves” (Kuang, 191). With further research, Connell learned that a vast majority of Chinese didn't grow up using desktop computers, drop-down menus, or web browsers.
The unique way Chinese users interacted with their phones served as an analog for how the rest of the world might come of age with technology, “without the shadow of a different era of user-friendliness, without climbing the same ladder of metaphors as previous generations” (Kuang, 193).
Where do you see cultural and emotional experiences in user design, and how does it affect you?
A few other chapters in this book include factors of trust, error, personalization, and empathy in design. I definitely recommend giving this book a read, and you will surely come across newfound knowledge of the word through user-friendly eyes. And with that said, I hope we all stay curious, inspired, and hopeful in our own footprints in user design! 🙂
Key Takeaways:
Key Takeaways:
Through this book, I’ve become aware of different historical aspects of design and am even more curious about the future products and systems of our world. I’ve also come to see how beautiful user design is, considering the great changes and impact that can be made through technology. Whether it be for educational purposes, consumerism, or economics, our design can form experiences that better the lives of others and bring innovative creation.
With our world of design and new creative possibilities emerging, how do you envision making your contribution? What aspirations do you hold for the future?
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