Assignment 1

I pick the principle of “Good design is innovative.”

I would like to talk about a trash can I got years ago. From distance, it looks just like a standard stainless steel trash can with a black lid, but if you walk close, and hover your hand on the top, the lid would quietly slide open. After 3 seconds or so, the lid closes back on smoothly as nothing happened.

A trash can with a lid is pretty common, but with a touchless sensor integrated within the lid, is something very innovative. From the day I purchased this trash can, I no longer need to use one hand to open the lid, while another hand has to tuck in the trash as fast as I can. I use to not able to throw trash with my both hands, now it is such a breeze, and I never need to touch the dirty trash can lid ever again!

After years of purchasing this trash can, I still enjoy its innovative design every day!

  

iOS App Design Principles

The principles talk about De-emphasize Settings. “Avoid including settings in your app if you can.” This is something I had not realized for my UI/UX design work. When I design a mobile app, I use to think giving user more options, especially letting a user set up the way they want to navigate within the app, is a good experience. I didn’t think the user would have to switch away from my app first in order to open the Setting feature.

What make the most important parts of good app design? From my work experience, I think the first 2 points are the most important principles: 1. Focus on the primary task; 2. Elevate the content that people care about.

People use a mobile app to achieve something or complete some task. How to help user to figure out the way to complete task quickly and efficiently will greatly impact user’s decisions. It’s about paying mindful attention to the ways people use mobile devices and understanding that the mobile experience is as unique as the user.