I find it super interesting how quickly AI has so seamlessly integrated itself into our daily lives. When it first became mainstream, I remember how people were shocked by how it was essentially uprooting their lives in so many beneficial ways, with prompts such as creating an optimized schedule for themselves given their necessary tasks for the day or building a recipe with the current ingredients in their house. Very harmless at first, but then transitioning into much more dramatic and system-altering.
In the next decade, we’ll see a shift in jobs and job responsibilities. A lot of lives we be automated and more streamlined than we have now; AI will be present in everything we do. I can’t say exactly how our lives might look in the next 10 years without being biased by how media has portrayed the future, but I can say that parts of our lives will be made much easier and others a lot harder.
Computer History Museum Post-Question
A Designer’s Responsibility
As designers, we are the voice of users–of the people. Companies often push for what is beneficial for the business/investors and often forget that there are actually people who will be using their product or service. We have seen it time and time again the backlash that companies face when selfish decisions are made: unhappy users and a loss of loyalty. One of the most recent examples this year is Adobe regarding their push for AI in their tools and their cancellation system, which they are now facing legal trouble for. The rise of AI only pushes us to uphold our morality and integrity as we navigate its growing influence in our daily lives.
There are social and ethical implications that we must consider as designers. While some decisions may be out of our control, it is important that our voice is still heard among the $$$ *money sounds*. Human connection is essential, and when that is lost, purpose and value is reduced to monetary terms. Everything that we create makes ripples in the system, making it important as ever that our considerations are guided with a commitment for the greater good.
Design Systems and Creativity?
Design systems provides a framework for creatives in a company to maintain consistency across all platforms and products. Moreover, they streamline design and development workflows. While these guidelines may be seen as stifling, I believe they can enhance creativity.
Design systems are meant to create consistency and a shared understanding among designers, not to enforce conformity. They guide rather than dictate, serving as a foundation with creativity with built on top. It can be seen as risky and unprofessional from a business standpoint if there is no design system, as they determine best practices, make workflows far simpler (“time is money”), and create uniformity within products, thus leaving room for creative innovation.
Ultimately, I believe it depends on your audience and intention when it comes to using a design system. However, before deciding whether you or a company should reference one, it’s essential to understand why design systems exist and to grasp their core purpose and functionality.
Web to UX Design
The invention of the computer and GUI transformed the landscape of electronic communication. Whereas previous interactions were solely text-based, primary interactions in digital spaces became visual. Analogous tools started to make their way into computers, and the creative potential of these machines attracted many artists and designers. The seemingly infinite opportunities that these machine offered ultimately became a means of expression for many creatives.
As these tools evolved, however, they were primarily geared toward productivity, with early design work relying on traditional print principles. The term “user-friendly” was still unheard of, but a few designers began to explore ways to enhance interaction. Desktop publishing and the rise of the Macintosh made designing faster and more versatile, making the Macintosh the go-to tool for professionals and non-professionals as it changed the patterns of production dependency.
This consideration for user interaction and usability is an example of the very necessary shift from web design to user experience design. Pure aesthetics or compiling type and visuals together a screen can make the user’s actions towards a goal equally as drawn-out if not more difficult. Thus the necessity for researching and learning about the user’s experience not only positively affects the user, but, from a business standpoint, differentiates your product from its competitors.
Technology and Responsibility
“Should governments, corporations or open source ventures be responsible for inventing new technology?” My first thought was that no one should bear sole responsibility over inventing new technologies. In the case of an individual entity driving the creation of new technologies, there is a concern of whether or not their motives are ethical and if their decisions are for the people. In the past, we have seen examples of a singular organization having too much authority (or are the only authority) over a project… and it typically results in harm to the public interest. Innovation and invention should be a collaborative effort, where one entity can monitor the other and play a supporting role. Governments, corporations, and open source can all contribute in their own way, but it is also up to the individuals in each of these organizations to advocate for humanity as technology continues to progress.
Design and AI: Swissnex Field Trip
The Swissnex exhibition introduced to me a very interesting and different perspective of AI. There’s a lot of controversy regarding AI art, but it was very interesting to hear them validate its use. For example, the hours upon hours of prompting and generating to get the desired outcome, as well as the very innovative projects that are a byproduct of that: the fire on white background, the old sculptural-esque piece, and the videos of using AI in our daily lives.
While I do think that the field trip was a cool experience, my views on AI and art still remain the same (using AI ≠ artist). It is one thing to use it to help with a process (typically for ideation or consolidation of thoughts), but to create a piece entirely with AI is a whole other story. Generative images pose a lot of interesting questions, but calling it “art” is where I would personally draw the line.
The Influence of the Xerox Star
At the time, the developing technologies surrounding Star were unique to the industry. Xerox elected to keep their creations proprietary to maintain a competitive advantage; however, many companies were able to develop alternative approaches to these technologies, which then became industry standards.
Regardless, the Xerox Star influenced the design of modern day computer systems. An example being Star’s object-oriented user interface, which is used in today’s operating systems such as MacOS, Unix, and Linux. The second being the use of a pointing device for quick pointing and selection, which affected usability and accessibility of the device. Lastly, the contribution and value of designers became even greater. Seeing as screen graphics created by programmers did not do well in the market, designers who could make good graphics that translated well with everyone became crucial.
The Value of the Gestalt Principles & Fitt’s Law
After reading about the Gestalt Principles, I was not only surprised by how these principles contributed to the user experience, but also by how I had been unconsciously incorporating these laws into my own design work. The fact that I have used these principles without realizing it shows how natural and important they are in design. For example, the Gestalt’s Law of Past Experiences states that past experiences shape our perception of visual elements. Given that, designers can make interfaces feel intuitive and allow for users to navigate the software easier. An example would be our understanding of colors and how they are used in real life vs. on apps/websites (like red and green). The Law of Similarity also affects how users perceive design elements, as they should also look similar or dissimilar depending on the intended purpose. For instance, the confirm and cancel button should not be next to each other (they could be though; however, I am unsure if that is considered good or bad design practice given that I have seen both) and should not be filled in with the same color.
As for Fitt’s Law that discusses the relationship between the distance and time of a target in relation to the success of an action, the types of menu designs particularly fascinated me because I recently noticed Pinterest transitioned from their familiar “long-press for pie menu” feature to a rectangular center menu. Being a long-time user, I was unhappy with the change; however, I now understand why it was necessary, as it affects movement and can be unintuitive for first-time users (and probably a bunch of other issues that they found through user testing).
Understanding why these laws exist is crucial for building designs that resonate with users and improve their experience. Now, with a clearer understanding of both Gestalt Principles and Fitt’s Law, I am able apply them more effectively and confidently to my work to create intuitive and user-friendly designs.
Lovelace & Gilbreth
Women in the tech have historically been underrepresented. Two of the most notable are Ada Lovelace and Lillian Gilbreth.
Ada Lovelace is an important figure in the history of computer science and interaction design because of her groundbreaking work with Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine in the mid-19th century. While the machine was never built, Ada’s notes on its design is what is considered one of the first algorithms, making her a pioneer in programming (aka the first computer programmer!). Moreover, her insights on how machines could interact with humans and their creativity (i.e. music) highlighted human-machine capabilities and laid the groundwork for modern-day interaction design.
Lillian Gilbreth is known as the first lady of engineering and is another significant figure in interaction design history. She studied how people interact in their environment and innovated redesigned work practices. Moreover, she redefined women’s work and designing for disabilities. Her work emphasized user-centered design, demonstrating how thoughtful design can improve functionality and experience.
Pinterest Icons & Mayan Pictographs
Pinterest icons and Mayan Pictographs are similar in the sense that they both use recognizable pictures of real-life objects to represent concepts, actions, or ideas. Pinterest icons are used to indicate different actions or navigation points that can take place on the app; moreover, they are relatively specific to that platform (e.g. “pin” and “board” icons). Mayan hieroglyphics are composed of pictographs, and the combination of images are used to convey syllables and words, which compose their writing system. Similar to Pinterest, life-like pictures are associated with certain meanings.
For both Pinterest and Mayan pictographs, users/readers must learn of their symbolic meaning. For example, Pinterest’s widely known “pin” icon signifies saving an item (“pinning”) to your board (aka save folder), or the heart icon to signify “liking” a post; these all require an understanding of modern digital symbols and real world physical actions. Mayan pictographs require cultural and linguistic context (animals, gods, religions) as the images represent very abstract ideas or objects. This is especially relevant as multiple images can be combined on each block.
Works Cited
Cartwright, Mark. “Maya Writing.” World History Encyclopedia, February 12, 2014. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/655/maya-writing/#references.