Our first Principles of Usability class started with introductions. First we were introduced to the Syllabus. Don’t forget about the quiz every Thursday! Then some of us were reminded that we weren’t quite done paying for the semester we still had to purchase some books, a 1” three ring binder, post its, and some pens.
If you haven’t had a chance to get your books I found some quite cheap on Amazon…
After leaning about the class and each other we had to tell the WORLD! We created our first blog post. We had a little trouble with the blogging website, maybe it could have been a little more user friendly. And that brings me to our first discussion. Since the title of the class is Principles of Usability we talked a little about what the meaning of usability is. This brought up the user and how one may interact with designs. It should be easy for the user to navigate through a website or to follow directions. It is what creates good design. For example, I was wandering around Target between classes for a few grocery’s and it was not till I left that I noticed how easily I found everything. Maybe I didn’t notice because I was on the phone the whole time and trying to remember what coupons I had. So I guess that’s what its designed for, you can be careless and shop with ease.
We then chose a few items that we felt could be designed better- such as remote controls and gas pumps. The group that chose the gas pump said it was hard to handle, sometimes confusing, and could be made more convenient for the customer.
Principles of Usability 