[Sigia-l] Do Make Me Think!

[malahat at telus.net]

ah what a good topic : travel websites!!... there is not one that has not
frustrated me. do the designers of most of these sites do any scenario based
design? there is a ton of methods to envision future use... and they are not
really that hard or expensive.... but most technology based computer science
bent designers dont know them...or care for them..










Quoting Dave Chiu <dave at d4v3.net>:

> > doesn't that place the "blame" on someone else if  it doesn't work?
> 
> I don't think it does. As Tufte's been saying for a long time,  
> designers have a responsibility to present information faithfully,  
> accurately, and truthfully. (I'm paraphrasing)
> 
> Ultimately, your decision to buy or not to buy a particular airfare  
> is your decision, not mine as a designer of the web site. However, my  
> design does affect how you come about making that decision. And I  
> think that one of the major ways design can influence decision-making  
> is by providing context. (Think of Tufte's sparklines.)
> 
> Context implies added levels of complexity, either in the amount of  
> information a designer must process when creating a design that  
> compresses that information, or in the amount of information that an  
> end user must manage. And I think we all have a natural tendency to  
> shy away from complexity, a la the "don't make me think" theme: that  
> is, it can just as easily be applied to designers as to consumers.
> 
> To wit, the following quote from Donald Norman (which I happened to  
> run across quite by accident on Tufte's site):
> 
> Technology is not neutral. Technology has properties--affordances-- 
> that make it easier to do some activities, harder to do others: The  
> easier ones get done, the harder ones neglected. Each has its  
> constraints, preconditions, and side effects that impose requirements  
> and changes on the things with which it interacts, be they other  
> technology, people, or human society at large. Finally, each  
> technology poses a mind-set, a way of thinking about it and the  
> activities to which it is relevant, a mind-set that soon pervades  
> those touched by it, often unwittingly, often unwillingly. The more  
> successful and widespread the technology, the greater its impact upon  
> the thought patterns of those who use it, and consequently, the  
> greater its impact upon all of society. Technology is not neutral, it  
> dominates.
> 
> Norman, Donald A., Things that Make Us Smart, Perseus Books, 1993, p.  
> 243
> 
> I think the more pertinent question that arises out of all of this  
> is: does everyone have to become an expert at everything, or can  
> context provide enough information to make individuals temporary  
> experts and able to make the best decision possible at a given moment  
> in time? More specifically, are we talking about know-how that's  
> permanent, or something akin to "on-demand" know-how? (Of course, "on- 
> demand" know-how, if used often enough, will have some teaching  
> effects.)
> 
> Taken to an extreme, I'm really not interested in becoming a  
> carpenter to assemble IKEA furniture, a broker to trade shares, or a  
> travel agent to book a flight. But I do want to know enough to make  
> the best decision I can in a given situation at a given time, and the  
> service or product which best enables me to do so will get my  
> business. Consider the newspaper which provides only a stock's most  
> recent price quote versus an online trading service which provides  
> news, the trading ranges for the last 50 days, trend analysis, etc.
> 
> Clearly, it's easy to simply list the current stock price, difficult  
> to provide context and its attendant complexity.
> 
> I think Will makes a good point about accountability, which I think  
> is related to responsibility.
> 
> Dave
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