Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Stovetop/ Oven Redesign



Types of stovetops

-Fire Burners

-Electric Burners

-Electric Coil Burners

Where are the controls located for your burners?

Is this convenient?

Are they confusing to read/ tell which control belongs to each burner?

How could it be made easier to read for visually impaired, etc?

How much counter space do you have?

How does the amount of counter space you have affect your cooking process and safety?

How do you accommodate for more space/ less space?

Is your oven/ stovetop level?

How often do you use your stovetop?

What safety precautions do you use?

Do you have a working fire extinguisher/ fire alarm?

· Detachable Remote Control

· Emergency Shut off

· Touchpad in separate Location

· Pull-out Counter

· Storage bins/ Roll away bins

· Oven Mitts

· Eye Sensor/ Voice Command

· Not all have fans/ good lighting

· Level

· Lid over fire top creates vacuum

Design:

· Flat surface electric burners

· Grid Formation

· Electric temperature set for oven

· Built in overheat sensor

· No stick surface

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Log 3 (2)

"Don't Be So Quick To Embrace Your Own Ignorance" would make a good motivational speech if it were longer. It's pretty insightful and true what the message is though, that people need to not be so self-deprecative about things that they aren't knowledgeable about. Anyone can learn anything if they put forth the effort. The fact that we are marketed to as "dummies" plays a big role in why we put ourselves down about being ignorant about certain topics. But if we actually went out to learn about what we strive to learn about then we would at least be able to know something the topic. Another fact is that everyone learns differently, I myself am more of a visual learner and learn better from visual cues and images. When people know what type of learner they are, it becomes easier for them to learn about topics, making them less ignorant about the topic.

Log 3 (1)

The post called "Olympic Inspiration" is meant to inspire its reader about not giving up. Giving up is too easy to do. Even though John Dane had failed before, and grew to be older than the average person trying out for the Olympics, he didn't give up. One reason why he was able to continue is because he had the support and companionship of his son-in-law. When at first you don't succeed, it is important to keep working at your skills so that you can become better and maybe even learn to succeed. This is relevant to me because I myself have faced struggles, which I've wanted to give up on, but worked hard to become better. During freshman year of high school I took Geometry and Chemistry, which are by no way my forte. The material and concepts within the class were hard to grasp no matter how much I studied or tried to do the work and as a result my grades suffered. It got to the point where I began to just feel hopeless but I had support from my teachers who really made me feel as though they cared primarily about me learning the material and secondly about me receiving a good grade. I eventually began to understand the material as time went on thanks to the support of my teachers and was able to pass my courses.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Log 2 (2)


An interface device which I often interact with is a Fostex MR-8, digital 8-track recording device. When I first bought the machine, it was very confusing to me. The instruction manual however explains everything in detail. The fact that the layout is neatly organized and labeled with numbers as well as colors adds to the ease of use with the interface. The numbers signify the levels of volume or the level of an effect. The slider knobs also control the volume of a specific track, as noted by notches (lines) next to each slider. The recorder itself allows for multiple tracks to be recorded at once, multitasking by recording sound information to whichever track you select it to record to. Ways of recording include an internal microphone which allows for the recording of all sounds, increasing the ease of use of the machine, seeing that you don't have to purchase other tools for it to be usable. Tools like a microphone, guitar, bass, or keyboard can however be plugged in, in order to get better quality of recording. This interface is very important to me because of the ease of which I can use it as an outlet for recording my own music, as well as the ease of editing without any other source. This is a good interface when it is used properly, know how to use it.

Log 2 (1)

The focus of the chapter reading was the use of every day objects being dependent upon the quality of their design. The quality of an objects design does often affect its use, although not necessarily its functionality. This was also a topic of discussion in my RSMP class the other day when we discussed how poorly designed older stoves are (the controls being located passed the burners on the unit as to promote the user of the stove to burn themselves). When considering the design of an object, its usage should be somewhat intuitive if its going to be able to be easily used by a mass public. The more simplistic the design, the easier it will be able to be used by a public, thus making it a practical design. When the author discusses their testing out of a new computer for instance, the design was hard to understand at first and lead to the loss of data if the "return" key was pressed in place of the "enter" key and vice versa. The author then pointed out the fact that the designer said this was not a real issue seeing that this was the first instance of complaint about the design, blaming the author. People often do blame themselves when using a product because of the faulty design, although it may not be their fault. The point of a good design is that it is easily usable by the public with little to no design issues which confuse the public, making it a good interactive device and easily usable interface.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Log 1 (2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzGljuievpM
I wanted to get a better idea of some interfaces out there so i used two of the greatest tools at my disposal, google and youtube, to really see how different interfaces worked. I found this video to be very interesting because of the fact that it's an interface designed to mix reality with a virtual aspect to it which added to its uniqueness to me. Although I couldn't relate the content of the video to my own life, I'm fascinated about the processes that the creator went through in order to create such an interface module. Even though it's not what I wanna do with my life I would be interested in being able to design such an interface or at least experience using one.
I think that this is a good interface because it appears to be easy to use from the eye of someone who doesn't know too much about the device itself. I think this interface, when programmed, could be used for exploring the interaction of objects in a virtual sense by using real objects which interact in the virtual interface. For instance, how two opposing forces (chemicals, magnets, etc.) could possibly interact. What could enhance the understanding of such an interface would be the use of it as well as the explanation of how it works from its designer, both on the inside as well as how to actually use it on the outside.

Log 1 (1)

After much reading about affordances, I finally began to understand the separate concepts of affordances according to Norman and Gibson and both of their importances when it comes to designing concepts and actual conceptual models. After realizing that the word affordance could more easily be replaced by "as is" I was able to understand the way in which things work. In thought, these affordances could actually be relatable to my own life. An example of this being that a guitar is an affordance for creating music, but could also be used for holding a door open and all of the various actions and capabilities that are connected with it. "The affordances of the environment are what it offers the individual, what it provides or furnishes, either good or bad." In relation to my own life, I could also connect the ideas of affordances to interfaces that I myself interact with such as the release trigger on my camera. My camera affords me to capture moments and concepts which helps to build ideas off of, which then connects to design. The reading itself was informative while also being difficult but taught me about connections to interface design.