Now Preening on Your Coffee Table
Sara Sprenkle, 2008/09/21 22:05
Read Now Preening on Your Coffee Table and write a comment that contains the following:
- On a scale of 0 to 9, your interest in this paper
- Summarize the three main ideas of the paper, briefly
- How does this paper relate to our class?
- At least one question for class discussion
Discussion
My interest in this paper is an 8. This article actually was fun to read because of the different little tidbits that are added, like the 2 month old baby dressed as a TiVo remote.
The three main points of this paper are that the great design of the TiVo remote was based on ease of use, paying attention to small details helped to build a lasting design, and that a well designed look and feel can stand the test of time.
This paper relates to our class since it desribes the design process. TiVo used user feedback to help improve the usability of the remote. They also used a lot of prototypes.
My question is why does the remote getting lost in the couch a question of design?
My interest in this paper was an 8. I was surprised by how much thought went into designing a remote (also, how do they fit 34 buttons on that thing!)
The three main ideas of this paper are 1)TiVo needed to create a new remote for a new device that would have a different role than previous remotes (more time spent in the users hand) and so it required a different design 2) To create this design they focused totally on the user through multiple prototypes taking into account color, shape, and feel 3) Testing was important over a diverse user group and feedback was essential to the final design.
Again, this paper relates to our class in that it shows a practical example of how the design process is implemented. I can understand why Nielsen liked it. TiVo wanted to innovate a remote, but had to make it “meet expectations” of previous remotes so they couldn't go too crazy. The “user was (definately) boss” as it was designed around the user experience. I'm not sure exactly how it “handled errors,” but “keeping it simple” was a key focus of the design process. Overall, they seemed to almost follow Neilsen's principles step-by-step.
I may or may not have been procrastinating and google “TiVo remote” and I saw they have a new series 3 version. It looks much more professional that they sort of “kiddie” version 1 and 2. I wondered their thought process on making the remote look more “high-tech”?
webpage with new remote:
https://www3.tivo.com/store/merchandise.do?WT.srch=1