Assignment 2

Review:
The article discusses design communication issues by using analogy of bath and its designer. The narrative postulate ‘his’ experience with the design of a bathtub, how it inspired and it captures the communicated ‘with him’ the user. The author starts by using a simple explanation how the design carries a message from the designer to the end-user. Furthermore, it states the design is a sophisticated process which the designer attempts to communicate to the end-user either physically or virtually. This communication process can be shown by the design to have been either accidental or intentional. Effective design is central to the process of communication which then ascertains if the product does address the requirements of the end-users.

The author depicts how the design consideration should adhere to product instrument and its configuration, designer’s role in a given context and how each instrument communicate with the end-user to guide the desire outcome. Illustrations from different scenario are used to show the importance of communication, e.g. the notorious BMW iDrive provided a perfect example of well thought out, logical and sensible but wrong tool. The example seeks to show logic and communication mismatch. The article suggest that concept of ‘user-centered design’ is critical for designers. Graphical User Interface (GUI) is used as an example on how they can aid design. The author uses the “story in the context’ as the ideal way designers can be engaged in a reasonable activity and make systems designs easier.

In summary this article describes the importance of effective communication between the designer and end-users. It outlays the intricate web of communication and the importance of interactive multimedia how is used for communication through establishing an interactivity platforms.


Critical analysis for the article:
• The importance and analysis of the subject matter:
The communication as argued is significantly important in the design field regardless of the context. It remains the common methodology bridging the gap between the designer thoughts and end-users needs. As elaborated it is critical to consider communication factor with each design projects. This would go long way in helping designers understand projects especially interactive projects.

• The objectivity of the author:
Given the articles is not academic it is therefore assumed to be based on the author observation and experiences. Little supporting evidence is used to validate claims. Thus this article is full of ‘I’ experiences therefore rendered subjective.

• Other experts' opinion:
Only two references (Rheinfrank & Evenson 1996) and (de Souza 2005) have been used.

Summary of the main points:
The following sub-headings used are the main points in direct quotes from the article.

 Designed affordances as communication.
"These are designed affordances, messages from designer to user, attracting attention to the set of desired possible actions. Under this new view of design, designed affordances are communication devices, specifying the designer’s intentions to the audience" (Norman 2004).

 Conceptual Models as Stories.
"A model is a story that puts the operation of the system into context: it weaves together all of the essential components, providing a framework, a context, and reasons for understanding" (Norman 2004).

 Communication & Context: Design as Story Telling.
"The story provides the context that makes the roles of the various accoutrements clear and distinct. Without the story, without the context, their purpose might not be discovered" (Norman 2004).

 Conceptual Models and User-centered design.
"Systems usually try to convey the actions that need to be taken at any point in a sequence. A major driving force in the development of graphical user interfaces - the GUI - was to make all possible commands visible, so at any point a person could discover what to do simply by looking through the set of possibilities." (Norman 2004).

Significance of the development of interactive multimedia:
Failure to communicate can lead to poor designs. Importantly so, in the development of interactive multimedia is critical to have robust communication between designers and end-users. Consequently, communication channels between the two should be harnessed. The articles author centers his argument on this notion. This according to the author would lead to better designs thus improve and develop interactive multimedia that meets users’ needs.

Jelinek J. & Slavik P. (2004) stated that "Model-Based User Interface Design (MBUID) approach employs various models to generate the user interface (UI). These models provide information not only on appropriate user interface designs but also on the necessary semantics for usable UI. The above authors concur with the concept of CONCEPTUAL MODELS & USER-CENTERED DESIGN" and the "Design as Story Telling" pointed out in the article.
 
Reference list:

1. Rheinfrank, J., & Evenson, S. (1996). Design Languages. In T. Winograd (Ed.), Bringing design to software (pp. 63-80). New York: Addison-Wesley, ACM Press.

2. de Souza, C. S. (2005). The Semiotic Engineering of Human Computer Interaction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

3. Jelinek, J. & Slavik, P. (2004). GUI Generation from Annotated Source Code. Proceeding of the TAMODIA 2004. Prague, Czech Republic. 129 – 136

4. Norman, D. (2004). Design as Communication. Retrieved at 25 August, 2011 url: http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/design_as_comun.html