Ice cream and cool tools fix everything

This past week has been kind of rough, since my crappy joints are hating the crazy weather and have rebelled. I delayed this post to give them a break from typing. Luckily, there are other fun things to keep my mind off it!

This week I'm:

• Listening to: Adele. I love 19, especially "My Same" and "Crazy for You". Her voice goes well with the fun beats, the piano, or on its own on the album. Have definitely been listening to this about once a day. :-) I've heard a few technocized versions of "Hometown Glory" in the Forever 21s of Chicagoland, but I think I like the original version best.

• Eating: maple ice cream. Considering how good this is, I'm surprised I've never seen this in an ice cream parlor. I even worked for Ben & Jerry's for a few months and never experienced anything maple. From now on I'll look harder! I think this flavor goes well with other fall foods (pumpkin, anyone??) and might be a nice change from all the cookies and pies we'll be eating soon. Although I've only tried maple and walnut ice cream, here's a recipe from the blog Erin's Food Files that looks delicious...

• Playing with: tools for women!! Whoever thought of this was a genius, mainly because few guys will want to steal a screwdriver covered with floral patterns. Also, I appreciate the gesture to redesign something almost always made for men but definitely used by women. However, making everything pink does NOT count as "designing for women", as some tool companies have done. If you want to hear more about that, check out Femme Den, a group that does consulting on redesigning for women without turning everything pink. I have a similar tool set as the one pictured below, given to me by my mom, a fellow woman engineer.

Kings, Cups, and Honey

It's been a rainy week in Chicago. Fall is still my favorite season here though - lots of colors and not too cold. :-)

This week I'm:

• Listening to: Kings of Convenience. According to their Wikipedia article they're from Norway. I've only experienced their album "Riots on an Empty Street" so far, but I'm excited to check out "Declaration of Dependence" sometime soon. This band falls into the category of quiet indie. My favorite songs so far are "I'm Rather Dance With You" and "Surprise Ice". Some of their songs have great lyrics that are funny but still kind of insightful. I love the harmony in the chorus on "Surprise Ice".

• Eating: Really Raw Honey. I tasted this honey at the Chicago Green Festival last year and haven't been the same since. I bought some on the spot, and got another (gigantic) jar last week. It's so thick and sweet, it's like spreading pure sugar on bread, only better. I highly recommend it even if you don't think honey is for you.

• Checking out: "I Am Not A Paper Cup..." coffee cups by DCI Products. I saw this at the Art Institute in Chicago, and initially thought it was a play on Magritte's "This Is Not A Pipe" painting. This cup actually isn't made of paper, however, but is porcelain and silicone. I think this design is pretty clever: taking something anyone would recognize as disposable and making it permanent.

Calexico, Macarons, Alexander McQueen

It's time to change things in this blog - yay! Much as I liked writing just about design last year, I realized over the summer many of my favorite conversations were about the small things that keep me going every day: the music I play on repeat while I do work, the junk food I sneak in between meals, the random item I spend hours looking at online... When I like something I tend to surround myself with it, but I love finding something new to keep around. So this blog is going to be about just that: my weekly addictions.

This week I'm....

• Listening to Calexico, a band I know very little about because it was recommended to me by a friend. So far I've only discovered their album Carried to Dust, and some stuff they've done with Iron and Wine. If you like mostly chill indie with a little salsa beat, this is for you. My favorite song on this album is "Man Made Lake" - I love how the song layers steady beats to grow in intensity. I also like the variety of the album, and am excited to discover more of their stuff.

• Eating macarons, and not the ones with coconut. I was turned onto these by the owners of Al's Deli, my favorite francophile deli in Chicagoland. These French desserts are two "cookies" filled with "paste"... I think the key ingredient is almond flour... let me just say they're fabulous beyond description. Especially the chocolate ones. Apparently these are becoming a big thing: I've also become addicted to Tastespotting, and they've recently featured several macaron recipes. Here's one for the mocha spice macarons in the picture. (image and recipe from the blog Baked in Birmingham!)
• Still checking out Alexander McQueen's 12 inch high-heeled shoes from New York Fashion Week. The New York Times had a fun article about shoes and what they do to us ladies, body and soul. But you have to admit these shoes are pretty cool to look at, no matter how impractical and painful to wear. I love the crazy shape and textures. High fashion is so much fun when it makes you debate the interesting things you could wear. (image from the NYT article - my favorite is the center!)

The Memphis Airport

Yay first post in a looong time...

Two weeks ago I got stuck at the Memphis airport alone for 10 hours. My flight landed on time, sat on the runway for 40 minutes, and I got off the plane 10 minutes before my next connection was supposed to leave... Even an Olympic sprinter would have missed it. And there are apparently few other people flying from Memphis to my hometown in South Carolina on a Monday morning, hence no other flights for the next 10 hours. This longer-than-normal airport experience gave me plenty of opportunities to figure out how airport design could be improved, even when the delays are still long and uncontrollable. These are my top three improvements, and were picked because many airports other than Memphis could do the same.

First of all, noise. I really wanted to take the 10 hour opportunity as some rare do-nothing-and-be-lazy time and read, but it was hard to find a quiet corner. I'm ok with other people on their cell phones, or random announcements telling so-and-so their plane is leaving. However, the TV screens blasting CNN at every gate are not ok. The announcers completely get rid of what could be a relaxing hour or two to yourself with a book and your iPod. And who decided I want to know about the news right then?? Why can't I choose when to find out what's going on? For some reason, TVs blasting the news seem to be very popular in US airports (Atlanta, Cincinnati have them too). The easy solution to this would be subtitles and an area for TV watchers. The other noise I'm not ok with is the "The threat level has been raised to orange." If you are trying to scare me, please just do it at the entrance and around security. At the gate, I'm already stuck inside and going nowhere no matter how high or low the threat level is. Plus, I think it's been at orange for quite awhile, so this doesn't add any new information and takes away from the announcements at the gates.

Second, food and tables. I had to search for something other than coffee at my end of the terminal and found exactly one suitable sandwich shop that would let me buy a meal and take it to sit where I would be comfortable while waiting for my flight. There were several smaller issues here: finding a meal I could take with me to a different location, finding a location to eat, and finding the food in the first place. Food courts are great, but sometimes I don't want to walk all the way out of the terminal to get food, nor do I just want coffee. The place I found was flooded with other people who also decided not to walk all the way back to the other end of the terminal. There was therefore nowhere to sit and eat leisurely with my computer. I think that a little more focus on food and its placement would change the airport experience considerably.

Third of all, free wireless. I feel a little weird listing this as my third improvement, but I'm a poor student, and free internet is a must. More importantly, I feel that there are enough travelers out there who get online to pass the time or do work, and how much does it really cost you to set up? I know plenty of people have iPhones, but I think this would be a great experience improvement for everyone with computers or both.

I actually picked these three options because my small hometown airport in Greenville SC does all three: there's little noise beyond what's needed for travel information, there's food in the main area between terminals and inside both (short) terminals, and there's free wireless. I even know a few people who go to the airport early to relax there when they're going to pick someone up. After reading so many papers about how waiting can be improved and even enjoyed (ahem, Disney), I really think airports have a lot of potential.

Umbrellas are Exciting!!

This quarter for one of my classes I worked on an umbrella borrowing service. They're just one of those things that you never have when you need and find yourself carrying around when it's sunny. Since I live in Chicago, a land where weather is everything but predictable, having an umbrella around when you actually need it (aka when the weather has snuck up on you) is apparently kind of a big deal.
So I never really thought that much about umbrellas before, but after looking at a gazillion umbrella images online, they're starting to get pretty interesting. (Sadly I've just discovered that if you Google "umbrella", the first three hits are about Rihanna, and not about everybody's favorite weather protection...) According to Wikipedia, umbrellas have been around more or less as long as civilization, and were originally used as protection from the sun rather than rain. This fact makes when you consider that it started out in Persia, Egypt, and Greece, decidedly more sunny places than Chicago. The oldest record of a collapsible umbrella is 21 AD, so for all you design students trying to improve on that design, good luck!!
The main way to create a cool umbrella these days seems to be the visual design and the shape. (I've now discovered that Rihanna has her own umbrella line with Totes! :-) ) My new favorite umbrella, if I needed one, would be this one from Totes because I like the pattern and the shape. Sadly, I usually chose my umbrella based on how likely I am to lose it... very likely.
Anyways, I'm now paying attention to umbrellas, and not just the kind on the radio. :-)

I Saw the Sign

This sign is found in the main library at my university. Built in the days of students riots, the library was specifically designed to be ridiculously confusing, as was the student center. While I'm all for preventing hordes of students swarming and taking down authority (... hmm, or am I...?) clearly this is a little too much. You know it's bad when you need a sign to show you where something as commonly found as an elevator is.
I'm not really sure how this could be improved beyond reconstructing the whole building. In a way it can be nice that the building is so convoluted: its always easy to find a quiet place to study that nobody else has found. It just might be hard to find your way out again...

Also, on a side note: as students we're really really good at ignoring all the 8 by 11" signs that are posted all over campus telling us to do a million random things. Luckily this guy is on a blank wall, otherwise nobody would ever notice.

Hypermobility and Life, Part 3

This past week I went back to the doctor about pain, numbness, fatigue, etc. and I was once again reminded by how frustrating it is to try and drag some kind of daily solution out of physicians. Grr. I'm doing a project on innovations in the US healthcare system, and I can say it definitely needs a few.

The last topic I wanted to cover on hypermobility before going back to rambling about other things that occupy my mind are fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Both of these often come with hypermobility (in fact, one of the first sites I ever visited about hypermobility was created by this girl who had all three). Since I'm lucky enough not to have either, or only have the fatigue part of CFS, I can't tell you much from personal experience. Here's two great resources, this one is for fibromyalgia, and this one for CFS.

All three syndromes have several overlapping symptoms, mainly involving joint pain. I've read other places that hypermobility and CFS together can also look like multiple sclerosis (MS), since chronic fatigue wears down your awareness and memory. Anyways, when in doubt there are plenty of tests for MS so it should be relatively easy to figure out.

I kind of want to use the end of this post for a feminist rant about how diseases that affect mainly women don't get enough attention, like this or breast cancer. That doesn't seem very fair though since there are men who get this too... I guess my real issue is the conversation between physicians and their patients. Doctors today seem pretty at diagnosing and not too bad at treating specific problems. Things that show up all over the body with a wide range of symptoms seem to throw people off. TV makes this look really cool and sexy with shows like House where the doc is on the clock to figure it out, but in reality there doesn't seem to be as much motivation, and the whole process goes more slowly. Hopefully with this project we'll find a way for general practitioners to communicate more easily with specialists, and for specialists to talk to each other, so that they share information instead of shuffling the patient around and letting them put the pieces together for themselves.

Hypermobility and Life, Part 2

This week I'm going to talk about the things you can do to deal with stretchy joints and the pain that often comes with it.

All sources I've ever found agree that's it's really important to build up muscle and to stay relatively fit, since strong muscles help hold your joints together. I think this is one of the few positive things I've found about hypermobility: I have plenty of motivation to stay in shape! Sadly, one good workout a week isn't going to cut it. The best way to stay strong is to go regularly, or about every other day. Here are some activities I usually do, and would recommend (keep in mind everyone is different and a slightly different combination of activities may work better for you!): 

1) Swimming: there is nothing like the feeling of achy joints floating weightless in water. I would recommend swimming if for nothing more than relief from gravity. Swimming is often recommended for people with joint issues because there's no strain on your joints and it exercises pretty much everything. If you are just starting, I would go for at least 20 minutes to half an hour, and try to keep moving through the water even if you aren't actually swimming. I now swim for half an hour and feel the same as with a typical workout afterwards.

2) Elliptical machine: like swimming, this is easier on your joints than running or biking. I like the ones where the arms move so that you have a minor workout for your arms at the same time.

3) Weights: As any guy trying to beef up will tell you, weight lifting is great for building muscle. However, DON'T push too hard. Physical therapists have said that it's better to do a lot of repetitions with a small amount of weight. If you aren't sure, I would start at the lowest weight possible and gradually work your way up.  For most women like me, 5-8 lbs will be all you need for arm exercises. 

4) Yoga and Pilates: I love both of these activities, but I would recommend pilates over yoga. Pilates forces you to strengthen your core and helps those lower back muscles (at least it did for me!). Yoga feels really good until you stretch too far - I actually had to stop because I would overstretch. As with weights, I would use caution with yoga.

5) Regular physical therapy exercises: Small exercises recommended by a physical therapist can help you target your weakest joints and reduce pain on a daily basis. Stretching out the worst areas carefully every morning can make the biggest different in daily life.

I'm not a big fan of painkillers for hypermobility, mainly because they haven't had much effect for me. I try to save them for the worst days when I'm not moving much anyways and they have the best chance of helping. Pretty much any anti-inflammatory seems to be ok, since the goal with these guys is to reduce inflammation around joints that haven't been moving properly. Some other things I've tried are:

1) Glucosamine: you can buy it at any drugstore where the vitamins are. After taking this regularly for a month, it helps a little. Some people have reported significant effects, but for me it was just somewhat better. The key is to take it regularly so it can accumulate in your system.

2) Honey: I tried this out of curiosity, and it has about the same effect as glucosamine after about the same amount of time. I put about 2 tablespoons in a cup of boiled water every morning.

3) Magnetic bracelets: these have actually worked surprisingly well. My muscles feel a little less tense and in pain when I wear these, and I'm able to spend more time typing at the computer without pain. 

3) Amber: wearing amber has no effect whatsoever, but it's a fun folk remedy.

4) Work rearrangement: If you spend a lot of time at a desk or on the computer, you will probably have to figure out the best configuration so that you aren't straining any joints or pinching nerves. There are plenty of ergonomic guides and products online to help you out. The two that make the most difference for me are a good desk chair (at a height where your screen is at eyelevel and your keyboard is across from your waist), and a foam pad for my wrists in front of the keyboard.

I hope to add other ideas to this list at some point... :-)

Next week I'll go through some things hypermobility can be paired with.

Hypermobility and Life, Part 1

A few years ago, I had a serious struggle with our current medical system: even though I was having a lot of pain and tingling in both arms, no doctor seemed to know what was going on, and I would be sent home with advice to take some Advil for a few weeks. I was referred from person to person, without gaining any knowledge about what was going on, and while losing confidence that doctors listen to their patients. Two years and 13 doctors, physical therapists, and specialists later, I finally found a rheumatologist who pointed me in the right direction: hypermobility syndrome. By this point, I had learned to check whatever a doctor told me against online resources, and see how the diagnosis matched up to the symptoms I had. This particular physician was right, but I've learned that with more complex medical conditions you may need a secondary information source besides your doctor: other people on the internet.

I am going to spend this post discussing what hypermobility is and include some links I found helpful. Hopefully this and the following posts will find other people looking for answers. I am not advising replacing your physician with your computer, but I'd like to spare somebody else the frustration I experienced. :-)

Hypermobility syndrome is a genetic condition characterized by flexible joints. On Wikipedia's page on hypermobility, you can find several images of what people with hypermobile joints can do. The two tests

 my doctor used were: placing your hands flat on the floor without bending your knees, and bending your hand 

back towards your arm such that there is less than 90 degrees between the back of your hand 

and the top of your arm with your elbow straight. These flexible joints come from a lack of collagen in the body, which is the glue that holds stuff together. While it sounds kind of cool to be so flexible, there are a LOT of other less cool symptoms that go along with hypermobility because collagen doesn't just work in joints, but also affects other parts of the body. Symptoms can include:

• Joint pain, numbness, and tingling
• Joints that dislocate easily
• Clicking or popping joints
• Stretchy skin that tears easily
• Flat feet
• Bruises that form easily
• Varicose vein formation, especially after severe bruising
• Headaches and/or migraines
• Temperomandibular Joint Syndrome, or TMJ
• Uterine prolapse
• Mitral valve prolapse

among others. Studies have also been done linking hypermobility syndrome to depression and anxiety disorders.

Hypermobility affects women more than men (up to 4 times more, depending on the source). This syndrome is the least extreme and most common version of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, in which joints and organs can be become stretchy to the point of no longer functioning. It has been my experience that almost any other random or odd medical issues you've been having can probably be connected to hypermobility because it has such widespread effects on the body.

If you are trying to find out more about hypermobility, I would recommend starting with the Wikipedia pages on Hypermobility and Ehlers-Danlos, then move to some of the links attached to this post, which are hypermobility resources. The Mayo Clinic website is great for general information, but for more detailed information beyond what Wikipedia provides you will probably have to look somewhere more specific.

The next posts will discuss other syndromes often connected with hypermobility, and what you can do to deal with hypermobility on a daily basis. 

Links: 

Wikipedia on Hypermobility

Wikipedia on Ehlers-Danlos

Hypermobility online resource, based in UK

Hypermobility online resource: created and run individually

Study connecting hypermobility and anxiety

Keywords: hypermobility, joint pain, chronic fatigue

Saved by the Audi A4

After an incredibly snowy road trip through Colorado with no real snow driving experience, I have new respect for the Audi A4 quattro and its ability to stay on the road. A friend and I spent the equivalent of 2 days of driving through snowy mountain passes behind trucks, past deer, between rock faces, over narrow bridges, and around other stranded drivers. Nobody living in the mountains in Colorado owns a sedan, unless it's a Subaru, or an Audi for those who want to spend a little more. How do I start explaining how glad we were this car made up for own cold-weather skills...

First of all, four wheel drive was absolutely essential. It was the main reason we took this car for the trip over a Honda Civic even though it gets worse gas mileage (plus, we looked way more badass, but we can pretend the mileage was the real reason...). 

Second, EPS or Electronic Stability Program played a huge role in my survival. Great for driving on dirt roads to the Grand Canyon, or for staying on the road in a whiteout with a 6% downgrade. I don't know enough about cars to know how this works, but the placebo effect at least was excellent: I was a much better driver with this option on.

Third, Anti-Lock Brakes literally kept us from crashing into the guard rail the one time the wheels actually lost contact during the trip. We stopped after skidding across one lane (about 20 feet) with me standing on the brakes. 

Steering, acceleration and braking were all pretty awesome and did not wear out my tensed muscles any further. My only complaint on this end: jerky acceleration at low speeds. You can forget smooth parallel parking and left turns with this baby, but if you are buying this for riding in town then clearly you do not deserve its full capability.

My one true complaint: who the heck made the seats all stiff and performance-like in any car you may be stuck in for 3 hours in a blizzard??? Even for a nice car you occasionally take on road trips, the lack of comfort is unacceptable. I may be driving a luxury sedan with high performance, but maybe I want some comfort so my butt isn't numb halfway over the mountain with no end in sight.

In summary, if I ever find myself living in Colorado and looking for a nice car, I will be purchasing a descendant of the Audi A4 quattro. 

You Are What You Own

Last Tuesday I attended a lecture given by John Zimmerman from Carnegie Mellon, discussing design and product attachment. He described objects as having a role in the owner's life: possessions are a way to explore a new role, or to help you meet your life goals. The main point was that people put emotion into their possessions and then use these possessions as a way of defining who they are. Right now I'm surrounded by the following brands: Apple, D&G, Old Navy, Bic. These things all say something about me: computer decorated with stickers and programs I like, fun designer glasses, comfy sweater, etc. However, when I bought these things none of them had much emotional meaning, and weren't really chosen to fulfill a role... On the other hand, my closet is full of old pairs of jeans that I can't bear to throw out because they're my favorites, and seem to be a defining part of my wardrobe. 

I think there are two times that you buy products to help fulfill a role: first, when you are assuming a new role and try to surround yourself with objects that will help you adjust to that role; and second, once you have adjusted to a new role and have identified objects you could use to perform that role better. In this case, products are helping you to fulfill a role, but not necessarily by helping you define the role: sometimes you already know the role and you just need a better accessory to go with it. And, to me, keeping products around due to built-up emotional attachment comes largely from experience, even though we usually have a strong initial reaction to something really new and interesting.

This is the first design lecture I've attended that focused heavily on the reflective goals a user has, rather than the behavioral and visceral aspects. While I don't totally agree with all the ideas in the lecture, it was fun to look at products from a broad, life-goal point of view.

The Guilty Wallet and Other "Green" Ideas

Thanks to a recommendation from a fellow student blogger, I recently checked out the Greener Gadgets Design Competition ( http://www.core77.com/greenergadgets/  ). The entries are definitely creative with good sustainability ideas, but some wander away from their "green gadget" label and end up in the "object-I-will-love-for-five-minutes-and-then-throw-out" category. Some of my favorite entries end up in this category, which brings me to question the value of the statement they try to make.

My first pick is the Guilty Wallet. It comes in 7 types for the

 7 Deadly Sins: greed, lust, pride, sloth, gluttony, wrath, and envy. The idea is that your wallet will prevent you from excessive spending and waste by guilting you out of a purchase, thereby preventing more stuff from ending up in the landfill. Of course, I want one (definitely Wrath or Sloth - they are so mean to the user!! :-) ). However, in the words of someone named Jamie who commented on the product: "The whole point of these wallets is to reduce consumerism, but they are designed for an audience of consumers! These are products that we don't need... we would buy them solely for the 'cool factor'. " How long would we really put up with a wallet that stabs your fingers when you try to get money out? It's a great conversation piece, and would prob

ably foster some philosophical discussion, but the likelihood of this product defeating its purpose and ending up in the landfill is pretty high.

My real choice for what I look for in a green product is something like Lightimus. This LED lamp charges using solar energy during the day and shines at night. The hourglass shape is supposed to keep you thinking about time, and using products in cycles. I love the statement AND the utility of this product: you can actually use this product as expected, as well as treasure it as an art piece. To me, this combination should be the real goal of this competition.

While these are fun examples of green (or almost green...) products, so-called sustainable products also have a dark side. How do you sort out the greenwashing from the real treehuggers when it comes to products? As sustainability slowly becomes the next thing all the cool kids are doing, more and more people will buy products for the label without checking whether there's any walk behind the talk. As one example, Wired Magazine has run a series of articles criticizing ZAP Electric Cars for utterly failing to deliver vehicles that work in spite of all their hype. One article included an interview with a businessman who quit his job to sell environmentally friendly ZAP vehicles, then had to close his dealership due to a lack of product to sell and support from the company. In his view, the company had essentially taken his money in the name of sustainability, but had failed to do much else.

I'm definitely all for environmentally-friendly products, especially when they're as interesting and creating as the ones submitted to the Greener Gadgets Competition, but I think some caution should be used before you give them your endorsement.

My Dancing Shoes

After writing a midterm paper about shoes, I've got them on the brain. There are definitely a couple pairs out there that I crave and can't afford, but my favorite footwear in the world is sitting in the closet waiting for warmer weather. My pair of Earth Footwear sandals is definitely the most comfortable thing I ever worn on my feet. The sole conforms exactly to the bottom of my foot and distributes the weight evenly. The heel is also lower than the rest of the foot, which forces me to stand up straighter. Plus I like the blue color (unlike the picture).

All love of shoes aside, what's the deal with comfort? Another comfort trend is desks, which constantly being modified to be nicer to the user, even after long hours of work. Both shoes and desks get a lot of use every day... so why wasn't comfort the top, or one of the top, design considerations? With shoes it's easy to understand: thin soles and high heels are so attractive, but inherently uncomfortable. Maybe if we're not walking too much, it's more fun to go with something pretty and deal with the blisters later. Plus most comfortable shoe companies don't start designing with me in mind: they have people with serious knee and back pain in mind, who probably aren't as picky about appearance as long as it makes their life a little less painful. My thought on desks is that they are designed for the things you put on them, rather than for you, so you have to add stuff to fix it for you. I always want plenty of space to spread out, easy access to computer cables, a place to stack notebooks... but after a few close calls with carpal tunnel, my desk also needs to let me type unhindered. The best way for me to fix the desk is to rearrange and buy a pad to rest my arms on, forcing me to fit to the desk. While it's not too hard to me to adjust myself to the desk, that system doesn't work for shoes.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like comfort needs to move higher up on the list. I refused to consider Earth shoes for a long time because their initial product looked terrible, but they're great. In order for comfort to move up on the list, appearance moved down. With desks, comfort was replaced by utility. While there's plenty to be said for a desk you can use and shoes you like, I'm all for thinking about comfort a little more and trying not to sacrifice other stuff when you do design for comfort. Comfort is like intuitive design for your body, and while we spend plenty of time trying to create intuitive interfaces and controls, we don't seem to spend as much on comfort. I also feel that much of human factors defines the limits of what humans can use without negative effects, but don't focus on the positive ones. I could just be going through my favorite shoe withdrawal, but I need a little comfort in design.

The Cuteness Factor

In interaction design, one of the real questions seems to be how to get people to interact with something repeatedly so that the designer can understand what to change. New objects are fun to play with once or twice, but if they don't capture your attention and don't work very well on top of that, interest dies out pretty quickly. Over the past few months I've come across three different examples of interaction design in test mode: U of BC's "Cat", Carnegie Mellon's "Snackbot", and the "Blubberbot" created by a participant on the Maker website. These three bots look nothing alike, and were built with completely different goals in mind. However, they have one thing in common: all of them are pretty darn cute.
The Cat was built to test out a participant's reaction through touch to changes in the Cat. The device is supposed to act like a cat, and use your emotions to create different reactions. The Snackbot delivered snacks and some minor conversation in a university building. The Blubberbot is a toy you build yourself that bumbles around and reacts to light sources, like your cellphone. All of these guys sound like they would be fun to play with (after reading the Blubberbot description, I so want one. It's a cute pet, and it can be left alone!), but is that really the point? The first two bots were built to test haptics and push the autonomy of robots. Is cuteness something you usually associate with those fields?
In psychology, there have been several studies done on people with a babyface, or a round face with large eyes. Compared to others, these people are perceived as more naive and trustworthy, and are more likely to be forgiven for a negative action (aka, some type of crime) if it's perceived as malicious. If you apply this cuteness thinking towards objects, maybe we're more likely to forgive mistakes in function if the object is cute. Instead of getting frustrated, and feeling that the device is not working just to annoy you, the user would be more forgiving ("Awww it ran into the wall again!"). Users of all three designs described the bot acting inappropriately, breaking down, and requiring heavy amounts of work to change one aspect. But everyone seemed to like working with them. It's great to try new things in design; I never thought that making them cute would make them easier to test...

A New Workspace

I could open this blog with some attempt at a profound discussion of what design is, and how it will revolutionize business, and why all those companies who aren't hiring designers really should be (pick me!). However, after reading one too many articles who define design as "intuition" or "creative thinking", I'll leave the definition part to somebody else and turn to a truly important example of design in practice: our student workspace. 

We have a great student office with an individual desk for everyone, a couch, walls covered with write boards, and the supremely important fridge and microwave without which we might never survive those all-nighters. All the elements for a great workspace were there, but our initial setup didn't fit how we would actually work. The couch was along one wall facing the desks, which took up most of the room. Any extra space was taken up by shelves, where we haphazardly stored books, magazines and leftover mockups. Project groups had no space to work, except to crowd around a few desks. Yesterday, after having a chat with our speaker Jodi Forlizzi while awkwardly standing by the fridge, it was clearly time for a change: the office had a clear need for individual and group workspace, as well as some organized storage. We moved the couch away from one wall and pushed one group of desks towards that corner, then found a coffee table-like piece of furniture that had been hiding behind the trashcans and created a group space. We reorganized the shelves to organize magazines by name so we could find them ("We get ID magazine?? Awesome!") and sorted out unnecessary prototypes from the actual learning tools ("What is this piece of cardboard with my name on it...?"). We put our design skills to work to make the room fit us.

While my ramblings about how happy I am with the new office arrangement may seem to have little to do with Jodi Forlizzi's lecture, there are some definite connections. Her talk began with a discussion of design research, and how it is different from scientific research. One of the key points that stood out for me was that scientific research is "true", and should give the same result every time. Design research, however, is about "identifying the real", and is completely subjective. Our initial office arrangement is probably perfect for someone, but didn't satisfy our group's real needs. And maybe further design research into our student habits will prove that our new workspace is still not the best design.

Perhaps design isn't so much about "creative thinking" as "creative doing"... We'll see how the office works out...