Final Post - Finally

By taking this module and doing this project, I've learnt that the process of user experience design isn't easy. This could be due to my background: I'm a computing student and solves problem from top down approach. In the case of user design, it isn't the way. My group's first discussion takes place at Toa Payoh McDonald's. We had a couple of ideas, very creative ones. Some ideas include the ultimate "da bao" which is food wrapped using bun skin. This is environmentally friendly and we thought it could be a good experience for users. We also have the customizable pizza, which allow users to mix and match. However, all these ideas have already 'implemented' or suggested the functional aspect of the user's needs. This means that we've come out with the solution before identifying user's real needs; we're just marketing a new product for the sake of marketing. Designing for user's needs is a relatively tough process, you'll have to observe users in everyday life in order to identify the 'need'.

After weeks of discussion, we even have the food portal idea, which may not be feasible because of the failure of many such portal. Finally we have the GITA application, which we observe from some students having problems with module planning for their courses.

I've also learnt from the weeks of lecture that users may not be looking for functional specifications when choosing a product. Given the example in class of the Apple iPod and Creative Zen, Creative offers much more features than the iPod but iPod remains the dominant MP3 player in the world. This is because of the user experience that the product give users. The iPod interface is more user friendly than Zen. The features in the iPod are the essential (and probably more) ones that users usually use. Users begin to develop a sense of satisfaction and achievement while using the iPod and begin to develop trust in the product. A feature-packed device tend to be more complicated in terms of usage and that is the main reason iPod is the prefered device.

In conclusion, this module is an eye-opener for problem solver like me because what I've learnt in my years of course are not applicable in this module. This module designs products that take users into consideration, i.e. their experience in using the product. There are the emotional factors that we need to consider when they're using it. Enough said, products have to be what users desire and not one that the manufacturer/creator desires.