Taken from Iris’s CSCI 376 Website:
“DUE: Monday 2/5 @11:59pm. Before you start this assignment, make sure that you have already read Learning to See.
In this assignment, your objective is to train yourself to think about the design of things around you. Think carefully about how people interact with the physical or digital world. Is it good? Is it bad?
Sometimes these things are obvious, but other times, it turns out that we’ve adapted our behavior to bad design. For us, clumsy becomes normal (for example, Williams Glow or other web services that shall remain nameless). So take the time to look at interactions with a new eye. Are they really good? Are they really easy to use?
Assignment
- Find 1 example of good design and 1 example of bad design on Williams’ campus or website. Take pictures.
- For each design (good and bad), create a new page on your Github User Page.
- For each design’s page, explain why you chose this design. Include pictures to tell the story. Think about who uses this design, when they are using it, and why they are using it.
- Reflect on the design - what is it about this design that makes it good (or bad)? You might not necessarily be able to articulate this clearly at this point in the course… that’s okay! Try your best. Is it easy to use? Does it make people feel good?
Deliverables
- Post the link of each Page along with your name on the appropriate Slack channel. DO NOT READ any other student’s links until after class on Tuesday.
- Bring 1-page color printouts of both your good design and bad design to class. The printout should NOT include your name, or any information that indicates whether it is a good or bad design. It should simply include a single picture, or sequence of pictures showing the design. In class, we will try to guess whether each design is good/bad.”
Results: Good Design, Bad Design