Week 2A- Jan. 27

Today in class, we video chatted with Helen Tran, the designer who wrote the article, The Future of UI and the Dream of the 90s on medium.com. We were able to post questions to ask her on Google Moderator, and then vote up any questions that should be asked first. Overall it was a good experience getting to hear from a person who is set into their field and their experiences. She gave helpful advice to us, especially anyone willing to become a User Interaction designer.

Next, we took some notes on the different types of Applications on cell phones. it was very interesting to learn how many categories of apps there are out there. They include: Mobile apps, mobile web apps, hybrid phone apps, mobile web sites, information apps, mobile utility apps, lifestyle apps, mobile game apps, and augmented reality apps.

We then met our "team mates" for the first project, which is the Mobile Design project. We all then went into the middle room where we discussed with each other certain problems that we or our family and friends may have, then narrowed them down to one. The room was then split into 4 groups, with two teams in each group. We then brainstormed solutions to our chosen problems by putting post-it notes on the white board for each team.

Homework:
- using google docs, each team should come up with 10 app ideas based on the post-it notes brainstorming session

Week 1- Outside of Class

This week outside of class, I read the assigned readings from the first class. In Mobile First, it basically discussed the growing trend of internet applications on phones and smartphones. The author pointed out the many capabilities and constraints of creating an application for your website, which I found to be very interesting. A capability that he mentioned was that since people are using their cell phones more often and have them almost all the time on them, that an application is alot more convenient than getting on a desktop computer. Another capability is the fact that mobile devices are a lot cheaper than buying a desktop, and many people use their mobile devices as their main source of accessing the internet. I enjoyed the fact that he said to embrace your constraints, such as the smaller screen size, which allows you to focus on what the user really wants to access on your website, but negative constraints such as spotty internet connection at times are a problem.

The article on medium.com by Helen Tran discussed her opinions on the fact that emotions should be included in interactions and animations in order to better engage the user and make them feel like there is somebody on the other side of the design.

Week 1B- Jan. 22

Today in class, we went over the syllabus and student info form, then filled out the student info form and submitted it through email. We also learned about what exactly experience and interactive design is by viewing a slideshow that discussed UX and UI, which is User experience and User Interaction and the growing fields in which make up the components of creating a website or application on phones. I found this part of class to be rather interesting, because I am amazed at the variety of people in different fields of design that contribute to creating a successful website. We learned the meaning of User-Centered Design, which is a user interface design process that gives extensive attention to the needs, wants, and limitations of the user.

For homework, we were told to purchase the book, Interdisciplinary Interaction Design by Pannafino, read the Part 1 (Chapters 1-3) of the Mobile First PDF book, and read the article, The Future of UI and the Dream of the 90s on medium.com. We were also instructed to create a blog for this class and sign up for Lynda.com, which is a site that features instructional videos that will be used for this class.