Reading 2

Ambiguity as a Resource for Design

This article is talking about the benefits of ambiguity in your design and how it can lead to more thought or unexpected results. Ambiguity is often the first thing we try to stamp out of any interface, the user should know exactly how to use it and what to do with minimal confusion. If an interface is ambiguous it is hard to use and bad. However in art ambiguity is often what provides the creative depth that makes it so engaging, my grandmother was an artist and she would often talk about how if you were just painting objects you were making art but you were not creating Art. Without ambiguity the piece turns into more of a display as opposed to a piece of art that draws the viewer in. I think adding ambiguity to some things like the slogan bench is an interesting way of transforming very basic things into a more artistic expression is more effective as opposed to just putting up signs because it causes the user to actually think about the piece as opposed to mentally tune it out like a billboard. While designing for ambiguity certainly wouldn't work in all cases, I believe that it is an excellent tool for provoking thought or at least drawing people in similar to the ludic design from the other article.

Reflective Design

The reflective design article presented some interesting ways that we can reflect on the assumptions we make about interaction and design. It discussed several main methods for breaking out of the cultural assumptions we frequently fall into with our designs. The first was value-sensitive design which strives to promote values often left behind in technology, the example given was privacy and informed consent. The second was to design critically, almost satirically, purposefully subverting the existing conventions in order to break people out of their ruts and prompt discussion and reflect. Finally, my favorite, ludic design is a focus on changing the values and goals of the technology to promote curiosity through interaction and engagement thus have a more playful sense of design. The case study of the Virtual Intimate Object was a really interesting case study with a remarkably simple idea for the amount and level of personal interaction it was meant to convey. From the analysis it seems like the researchers were successful in their design but also provided some interesting reflection especially in the responses that were skeptical or critical of study which showed that no matter how innocent the project there are always ways for people to interpret them in a negative light.