Important lessons learnt:
1) I am not the user.
2) To understand user experience requires enlightenment which one must experience. O_O.
I think this module has challenged me and broadened my way of looking at a user problem, by attempting to look from the different perspectives of the user. Because the subject matter “user experience” is so elusive, it had caused a certain amount of hair-pulling. But thankfully, the several assignments did manage to inch me closer towards understanding the whole elephant (as in the case of the blind men with the elephant 
).
Bad design
I think this warm-up assignment was very interesting because good designs are really so so hard to pinpoint, but once you talk about bad designs, there is a floodgate of them waiting. Makes us wonder how designers design sometimes. But it is always easier to pinpoint the blaring design flaws in other people’s designs of course…
Emotional design
Donald Norman’s view on emotional design helps to put into perspective the way people perceive and feel towards certain designs. This is one important factor to consider when considering the “appeal” that the product is aiming for. However, the nitty-gritty details of what makes a design behavioral, visceral or reflective, will also depend on the users own background, which brings us to the…
Four pleasure analysis
Here creating a persona based on a particular product that my group chose, it was fun to use the four-pleasures to create a persona that would likely purchase that funky pair of platform wedge shoes. Through understanding the physio-pleasure, socio-pleasure, psycho-pleasure and ideo-pleasures of the person, a more holistic view of a potential user is created, and well, this is just one of the ways to get deep into the psyche of our important users… also, there are other techniques like..
Laddering
Even though in my laddering example that I did in class “Becoz 1 is greater than ¼” led to some hilarious answer, essentially there must be more direction when asking users questions in order to drill right down to one of the main issues that concern them the most.
Nightmare ethnographic assignment
This was really an eye-opener assignment because it felt like anything goes. But what was refreshing was the many different perspectives that fellow classmates came up with in such a short time, and each painted a different picture on how to improve the LT experience. Some may or may not work, but essentially I feel that this is how user experience research usually is, subjective and often based on gut-feeling and some common sense. There are so many techniques, but I think if something works, it works. If it doesn’t, keep changing until it does!
Final assignment – Module Wiki
Zooming in on our final project, my team consisting of Amirul, Warren, Yvonne, Xiaofen and I, decided to focus on something close to the hearts of NUS students – the CORS system. By attempting to make the whole process of checking module information integrated, we had hoped to elevate the already stressful period of bidding for modules by making the experience a tad better. Thus introducing the Module Wiki, which would help students make a better informed choice of modules to choose, based on feedback garnered from students who had previously taken those modules.
Of course along the way, we realised that almost everyone had something different to say about improving the bidding experience, which is the beauty of qualitative user research. But I think finally, based on whatever time, resource, talent constraints, we have come up with our very own version of an improved bidding experience.
The Final Prototype!
Visit: cors.darguel.net
Alas, this is my final module to bid adieu to in my final semester ever in NUS!
To my dearest teammates, thanks for all the memories and hilarious times together! =)
Thanx Mr Reddy for all your “enlightening” stories and snazzy slides effects!
The rest of the folks continuing in NM… have fun!
