HCI = Human Computer Interaction
HCI is basically human interacting with computers; how they work with computers, how they utilized it. Beginning with the machine and the user is always the human. It's all about human in the end.
Then, what's the purpose to invent and reinvent? Why do we keep inventing and reinventing?
The answer is just pretty simple, actually. It's because of evolution. Things and environment around will keep changing and changing and that is why we need to keep inventing and reinventing to keep up to date to the current user need. Although there are some good designs, it doesn't necessary mean that there cannot be another design of the same thing. When someone invented something, the user will also invent a way to go against the original idea of the design. If we are stuck on one and only design, then there won't be any other various kind of designs. Not all design fits and suits everyone. Everybody is different so is their preference. That is the purpose ot
Design?
Designer Richard Seymour said design is "making things better for people." Why is that? Well because design focus first and foremost on people, the human being, the end user. Whatever you design, it's all for the people and on the people. For example, look at the things around you. There are so many kind of things, so many different designs come in various size and shapes. Who uses it? Isn't it you and the people around you? But, you don't just see one specific design, don't you? Like I said earlier, different people have different preferences.
Translating Design?
The hard part of translating a design is to get your idea becoming real. You may have all sorts of different ideas and imagined it to be this way and that but the outcome of the real product may be different from what you imagine. How nice if you can just think and the idea just pop out of your head like that? Then there won't be much problem or hassle to deal with the design, right? Sadly, the real world doesn't work like that.
Good Design is all about making other designer feel like idiots because that design wasn't theirs.
Using Design
- Design and the user = The designer always design for the user but sometimes it doesn't really work according to how the designer wants it to work because the user might have a different perception of it and they tend to go against the design.
- Design and creativity = Design may not mean creativity. Being able to design a certain product does not make you creative as being creative doesn't mean that you're able to create a good design. A good design must have both the beauty and usability. For example, if a certain product have a lot of features and it's functions are so good but there is no beauty in it, the product will not be appealing to the customers and therefore you can't get the product to sell. Like wise when a product have beauty but not functional, the customers will not buy it as well. When a product does not get off the shelf, it's a design failure.
- Design and business = Business also plays an important part of the design process. For example when you design a certain product but in order to get it to sell, you need to find some business like marketing and advertising companies to promote and sell your product.
Goal
- To develop a tool to help designers match applicable design techniques to a range of "target behaviors"
- This will be applied to guiding more sustainable product use.
- Doesn't just apply to computers or screen based products. It applies to everything around you.
Being human = Having human values
