Another TED Tuesday
Dan Phillips creates houses out of almost anything he can find.
These houses are created out of found objects and recycled materials. Dan uses everything from hen’s eggs to Budweiser beer cans, to hand made two person tubs (good for recreation as well as washing). It was refreshing to watch a TED video in which the speaker came off as little more than a good-old boy done good. The TEDs are always informative, and sometimes funny, but usually they seem to take themselves all little too seriously. In my opinion, a little well-done humor can make your point much better than facts and testimonials about how great the work your doing is. All the TED videos have been good, but this went beyond to someplace that was easy to connect to, and to realize that if that can do it- we all should be able to. His personality made me want to ENJOY doing it as well, which is important.
Work, Work, Work
We had some time in class to work on our current project. I think it was the first time that I had ever seen an entire class there five minutes after the time class was supposed to end- it kind freaked me out a little bit. Are we all that dedicated, or simply that worried about getting it done on time?
Working on a collaborative project has many upsides, and some challenges as well. I’m used to working alone and being in charge of every detail of the concepting and creation. It’s nice to have other people to put in ideas, add their own creative spin, and to share the work load. The downside is that even with a group as amazing as ours it’s tough to depend on someone else, because you’re never quite sure if some freak bolt of accidental lightening is going strike down with the Wrath of God on one of your members right before the project is due. Overall though, the necessary experience of collaboration is one that we need to get used to (should we ever want to become employed), and in my case a great one that will end up with a much better project than I could have done on my own.
Our team’s KFC touch screen drive-thru is coming along quite nicely.
We started out with some pretty string research including interviews with a manager at the local DQ.
DQ Manager Stephanie
She informed us that their accounts for 85% of their business, and that the worst problem that they have is their speaker. Sometimes they get complaints that you can’t understand it.
We also interviewed a loyal drive-thru customer.
Drive-thru customer Chris (McLovin) Tripp
Chris uses the drive-thru at least once a day because he is salesman who does in-house appointments, so he travels a lot. Plus he is lazy and wouldn’t cook anyway. His major problem with the drive-thru is not being able to understand foreign accents through the speaker. He also does not like to wait in line.
We found some other drive through problems as well.
Crowded Drive-Thrus
Unusually Slow Vehicles
So we came up with some ways to deal with the problems.
Main Menu Screen
Chicken Style Choices
Pieces n' Sides
Still Working Stuff Out
Pretty much every group still had some issues to iron out in their projects. The thing that amazed my was how far everyone had come in just a week! Not only did every group have good work to show, but the creative ideas and concepts for solving the widely differentiated problems were truly inspirational.
With only a few hours left til the final project is due, everyone hang in there, don’t sweat the small stuff just yet, and remember break is only 8 hours and 42 minutes away!!
Also remember that while I do my own share of the last minute work- I’ve had “The Final Countdown” running through my head for about 2 days.
Principles of Usability 