In class this week we all got the opportunity to share our dissertation ideas, and receive feedback. I was really happy that we got to do this as it made me really focus on what I was wanting to include within my dissertation. I was also really excited to get feedback as I knew Daniel and Kyle would really help me narrow it down and allow me to see areas which I should definitely focus on.
Ewan - Dissertation Topic Presentation.pdf
After presenting my idea they did really like how I was talking about the impact of UX, although their initial response was that it was very broad, basically covering and writing about the entire course and everything that they teach!
They really liked the potential of just exploring emotional design. How design can shape behaviour. This is a topic they found might not be explored as much and would be really interesting and fun to cover.
Daniel mentioned a book he is reading Shikake: The Japanese Art of Shaping Behaviour Through Design. He believed this would be really interesting for me to read as it talks about how Naohiro Matsumura - renowned as the founder of the study of shikake, the Japanese word for "device"- has devised a new approach to design as astonishingly simple in its logic as it is sophisticated in its psychology.
For example:
Combining traditional Japanese aesthetics with the lessons of behavioural economics, Matsumura presents a tool kit for literally anyone who wants to create their own mindful designs and reveals how Shikake can help us address big challenges, including even climate change.
Kyle mentioned Don Norman’s books and even his ted talks could be really fascinating for me to read and explore in relation to this topic. His most famous book The Design of Everyday Things. This book explores that even the smartest among us can feel inept as we try to figure out the shower control in a hotel or attempt to navigate an unfamiliar television set or stove.
When The Design of Everyday Things was published in 1988, cognitive scientist Don Norman provocatively proposed that the fault lies not in ourselves, but in design that ignores the needs and psychology of people. This book is a powerful appeal for good design, and a reminder of how, and why, some products satisfy while others only disappoint.