The techniques used by the Eames, Gerstner, and Sutnar seem to be in different fields, but they have a lot in common. For example, the Eames couple will do a lot of brainstorming before the actual designing, they will draw connections between each element they have listed out. I find it just like the “task flow” and “design story” I learned in my IXD foundation class. The Eames will also test their design repeatedly, taking every failure as a valuable experience. These are also very similar to Sutnar’s theory. He claims that “the designer must think first, work later”.
When it comes to design thinking, Dreyfuss plays a big roll in this. He has a strong belief that the design must meet the basic requirements of the human body. He believes that the most efficient machine is the machine adapted to the human. The book “The Measure of Man: Human Factors in Design” published by him is the first study of human body size from the perspective of industrial design, scientifically considering people’s comfort and work efficiency. Dreyfuss Helped to establish an ergonomic system as an essential tool for designers and opened up a new era of anthropometrics in ergonomics. It makes me think about a book I read in class called “How Design Makes The World” by Scott Berkun. In Chapter 14, it mentioned that he said we must know whom we are designing for. Furthermore, he also said, “When the point of contact between product and people becomes a point of friction, then the designer has failed.” This shows that we are human beings, not a list of data information; it is an important point to consider when designing.
Dreyfuss’s theory also reminds me of what I learned in my prototyping class. When we are doing the mouse design project, I learned how important and convenient ergonomics is for humans. This may be why we learned how to do persona first and then studied how to do research; then convert ideas into many sketches; at the end, test our models over and over again. It is Just like The Eames’s theory of design. These design strategies and techniques have become the core of our current interaction design, and we are all taking up their legacies.
Excellent analysis and making analogies to the things you are learning about in your various classes!
I like how you connect Dreyfuss’s theories with your prototying class. Its important to see the view of past designers in our coursework.
I hadn’t considered a task flow as an example for what Charles and Ray Eames were doing, but I like the way you put them together! I also feel the mouse project from prototyping was memorable for me too. Especially this semester, ergonomics seems to be a big theme in my coursework. (also I have the ergonimic chair alllll the way to the right in your image. It’s honesly so good, it replaced a chair I bought from amazon hoping to save money..)