Blog 4

One key point that makes me believe the user isn't always correct is the fact that in most applications only 20% of the entire thing is used, and the other 80% sits there cluttering and complicating the essentials. Sometimes this is because of the designers wanting to pump up there applications with as many features as possible, but it also has to do with users begging for more and more features that just aren't necessary in accordance with the primary task of a particular application. This takes me to the next topic, designers should not always provide new features just because a few users want them. You could take a very simple application and ruin it by filling it with nonsense that most people won't use to begin with. It's a waste of time as well as resources. The larger "user-centered" focus I believe that Hoekman advocates is 'simplicity'. Make a product or application that does a specific task, and focus on maximizing its performance. Focus on the essentials so the user can do what needs to be done and get on with life, without being further encumbered by the 80% of uselessness that gets put in most designs.

My final design for project 2 was pretty simple. But, it could have been further simplified by combining the start and stop button into one single button, which would be simply labeled "Start/Stop". Furthermore, instead of having the two buttons that increase and decrease speed, and the two buttons that increase and decrease the level of incline on the treadmill, I could merely remove them altogether, and replace them with a dial each. (Also, removing the incline options entirely could be another idea becuase most people dont use that anyways.) By making these changes, I've decreases the total number of objects on the interface that you can interact with down to three. But, the remaining objects are still sufficient in order to get the job done.

-Jordan Hines