Author Archives: Brooke

The Couch

The couch is a standard household item. We use it for so many different things; sitting, sleeping, relaxing, watching television, reading a book, talking to people, eating dinner. A lot of thought goes into purchasing a new couch and when we do we hope it lasts forever. The couch can provide people with many different memories and feelings. Couches can say a lot about someone’s personality. There are so many different styles of couches. They can range from sleek modernist couches to old lumpy futons.

When choosing a couch, the primary function that a person is looking for is comfort. Can I sit on this couch for a long period of time and without getting uncomfortable? If the answer is yes then you have chosen the right couch. The dimensions of a couch and the material it is made out of can affect the comfort level. It needs to be long enough that you can lay down and wide enough that you don’t feel like you are sliding off. Wooden armrests look nice but aren’t ideal for resting your head on (a very common practice). As I have stated many times before, practicality should over ride aesthetics. A couch is meant to epitomize comfort. It is an object that you sit down on after a long day.

 

In the end there isn’t  a one size fits all couch design. In fact, there isn’t a one size fits all anything. However, this week I am going to work on creating my own couch design. Couches may seem very simple and this is true, but there are many things to consider when designing a couch. How large should it be? How many people should it hold? What type of functions should it have? I have already started listing what I want this couch to have and I am going to begin designing it soon.

 

The Couch

The couch is a standard household item. We use it for so many different things; sitting, sleeping, relaxing, watching television, reading a book, talking to people, eating dinner. A lot of thought goes into purchasing a new couch and when we do we hope it lasts forever. The couch can provide people with many different memories and feelings. Couches can say a lot about someone’s personality. There are so many different styles of couches. They can range from sleek modernist couches to old lumpy futons.

When choosing a couch, the primary function that a person is looking for is comfort. Can I sit on this couch for a long period of time and without getting uncomfortable? If the answer is yes then you have chosen the right couch. The dimensions of a couch and the material it is made out of can affect the comfort level. It needs to be long enough that you can lay down and wide enough that you don’t feel like you are sliding off. Wooden armrests look nice but aren’t ideal for resting your head on (a very common practice). As I have stated many times before, practicality should over ride aesthetics. A couch is meant to epitomize comfort. It is an object that you sit down on after a long day.

 

In the end there isn’t  a one size fits all couch design. In fact, there isn’t a one size fits all anything. However, this week I am going to work on creating my own couch design. Couches may seem very simple and this is true, but there are many things to consider when designing a couch. How large should it be? How many people should it hold? What type of functions should it have? I have already started listing what I want this couch to have and I am going to begin designing it soon.

 

The Couch

The couch is a standard household item. We use it for so many different things; sitting, sleeping, relaxing, watching television, reading a book, talking to people, eating dinner. A lot of thought goes into purchasing a new couch and when we do we hope it lasts forever. The couch can provide people with many different memories and feelings. Couches can say a lot about someone’s personality. There are so many different styles of couches. They can range from sleek modernist couches to old lumpy futons.

When choosing a couch, the primary function that a person is looking for is comfort. Can I sit on this couch for a long period of time and without getting uncomfortable? If the answer is yes then you have chosen the right couch. The dimensions of a couch and the material it is made out of can affect the comfort level. It needs to be long enough that you can lay down and wide enough that you don’t feel like you are sliding off. Wooden armrests look nice but aren’t ideal for resting your head on (a very common practice). As I have stated many times before, practicality should over ride aesthetics. A couch is meant to epitomize comfort. It is an object that you sit down on after a long day.

 

In the end there isn’t  a one size fits all couch design. In fact, there isn’t a one size fits all anything. However, this week I am going to work on creating my own couch design. Couches may seem very simple and this is true, but there are many things to consider when designing a couch. How large should it be? How many people should it hold? What type of functions should it have? I have already started listing what I want this couch to have and I am going to begin designing it soon.

 

The Couch

The couch is a standard household item. We use it for so many different things; sitting, sleeping, relaxing, watching television, reading a book, talking to people, eating dinner. A lot of thought goes into purchasing a new couch and when we do we hope it lasts forever. The couch can provide people with many different memories and feelings. Couches can say a lot about someone’s personality. There are so many different styles of couches. They can range from sleek modernist couches to old lumpy futons.

When choosing a couch, the primary function that a person is looking for is comfort. Can I sit on this couch for a long period of time and without getting uncomfortable? If the answer is yes then you have chosen the right couch. The dimensions of a couch and the material it is made out of can affect the comfort level. It needs to be long enough that you can lay down and wide enough that you don’t feel like you are sliding off. Wooden armrests look nice but aren’t ideal for resting your head on (a very common practice). As I have stated many times before, practicality should over ride aesthetics. A couch is meant to epitomize comfort. It is an object that you sit down on after a long day.

 

In the end there isn’t  a one size fits all couch design. In fact, there isn’t a one size fits all anything. However, this week I am going to work on creating my own couch design. Couches may seem very simple and this is true, but there are many things to consider when designing a couch. How large should it be? How many people should it hold? What type of functions should it have? I have already started listing what I want this couch to have and I am going to begin designing it soon.

 

Being in a Usability Study

Over the course of the weekend I participated in a usability study for T-Mobile. Although I am not at liberty to discuss the details of the study I can tell you what I learned from it. Usability testing is something that companies will do in order to see what parts of a design work well and what parts don’t. This method of testing is important. However, many companies don’t do it. In fact, T-Mobile doesn’t do it very much itself. It doesn’t even have a usability department, it has to hire outside contractors to get their testing done. The reason most companies don’t do usability testing is because it takes a while to do. You have to find people, schedule appointments and conduct the research. Once research is conducted it takes time to find correlations between information provided. Most of the research done is qualitative not quantitative.  So this can slow down the process as well.

 

Usability testing is a very important method that should be utilized more often. Although most designers are competent in their method of design it is still important to have your products put through tests to make sure it’s not too difficult to use. This is just another method that designers should consider. If you are not sure how to design for the user, have your products tested. Usability testing is also a good way to learn new things about how people interact with their surroundings. The information that you gather from one test can be used to help design something else. It helps make designing easier and products less complicated for the user.

 

Being in a Usability Study

Over the course of the weekend I participated in a usability study for T-Mobile. Although I am not at liberty to discuss the details of the study I can tell you what I learned from it. Usability testing is something that companies will do in order to see what parts of a design work well and what parts don’t. This method of testing is important. However, many companies don’t do it. In fact, T-Mobile doesn’t do it very much itself. It doesn’t even have a usability department, it has to hire outside contractors to get their testing done. The reason most companies don’t do usability testing is because it takes a while to do. You have to find people, schedule appointments and conduct the research. Once research is conducted it takes time to find correlations between information provided. Most of the research done is qualitative not quantitative.  So this can slow down the process as well.

 

Usability testing is a very important method that should be utilized more often. Although most designers are competent in their method of design it is still important to have your products put through tests to make sure it’s not too difficult to use. This is just another method that designers should consider. If you are not sure how to design for the user, have your products tested. Usability testing is also a good way to learn new things about how people interact with their surroundings. The information that you gather from one test can be used to help design something else. It helps make designing easier and products less complicated for the user.

 

Being in a Usability Study

Over the course of the weekend I participated in a usability study for T-Mobile. Although I am not at liberty to discuss the details of the study I can tell you what I learned from it. Usability testing is something that companies will do in order to see what parts of a design work well and what parts don’t. This method of testing is important. However, many companies don’t do it. In fact, T-Mobile doesn’t do it very much itself. It doesn’t even have a usability department, it has to hire outside contractors to get their testing done. The reason most companies don’t do usability testing is because it takes a while to do. You have to find people, schedule appointments and conduct the research. Once research is conducted it takes time to find correlations between information provided. Most of the research done is qualitative not quantitative.  So this can slow down the process as well.

 

Usability testing is a very important method that should be utilized more often. Although most designers are competent in their method of design it is still important to have your products put through tests to make sure it’s not too difficult to use. This is just another method that designers should consider. If you are not sure how to design for the user, have your products tested. Usability testing is also a good way to learn new things about how people interact with their surroundings. The information that you gather from one test can be used to help design something else. It helps make designing easier and products less complicated for the user.

 

Being in a Usability Study

Over the course of the weekend I participated in a usability study for T-Mobile. Although I am not at liberty to discuss the details of the study I can tell you what I learned from it. Usability testing is something that companies will do in order to see what parts of a design work well and what parts don’t. This method of testing is important. However, many companies don’t do it. In fact, T-Mobile doesn’t do it very much itself. It doesn’t even have a usability department, it has to hire outside contractors to get their testing done. The reason most companies don’t do usability testing is because it takes a while to do. You have to find people, schedule appointments and conduct the research. Once research is conducted it takes time to find correlations between information provided. Most of the research done is qualitative not quantitative.  So this can slow down the process as well.

 

Usability testing is a very important method that should be utilized more often. Although most designers are competent in their method of design it is still important to have your products put through tests to make sure it’s not too difficult to use. This is just another method that designers should consider. If you are not sure how to design for the user, have your products tested. Usability testing is also a good way to learn new things about how people interact with their surroundings. The information that you gather from one test can be used to help design something else. It helps make designing easier and products less complicated for the user.

 

Being in a Usability Study

Over the course of the weekend I participated in a usability study for T-Mobile. Although I am not at liberty to discuss the details of the study I can tell you what I learned from it. Usability testing is something that companies will do in order to see what parts of a design work well and what parts don’t. This method of testing is important. However, many companies don’t do it. In fact, T-Mobile doesn’t do it very much itself. It doesn’t even have a usability department, it has to hire outside contractors to get their testing done. The reason most companies don’t do usability testing is because it takes a while to do. You have to find people, schedule appointments and conduct the research. Once research is conducted it takes time to find correlations between information provided. Most of the research done is qualitative not quantitative.  So this can slow down the process as well.

 

Usability testing is a very important method that should be utilized more often. Although most designers are competent in their method of design it is still important to have your products put through tests to make sure it’s not too difficult to use. This is just another method that designers should consider. If you are not sure how to design for the user, have your products tested. Usability testing is also a good way to learn new things about how people interact with their surroundings. The information that you gather from one test can be used to help design something else. It helps make designing easier and products less complicated for the user.

 

Being in a Usability Study

Over the course of the weekend I participated in a usability study for T-Mobile. Although I am not at liberty to discuss the details of the study I can tell you what I learned from it. Usability testing is something that companies will do in order to see what parts of a design work well and what parts don’t. This method of testing is important. However, many companies don’t do it. In fact, T-Mobile doesn’t do it very much itself. It doesn’t even have a usability department, it has to hire outside contractors to get their testing done. The reason most companies don’t do usability testing is because it takes a while to do. You have to find people, schedule appointments and conduct the research. Once research is conducted it takes time to find correlations between information provided. Most of the research done is qualitative not quantitative.  So this can slow down the process as well.

 

Usability testing is a very important method that should be utilized more often. Although most designers are competent in their method of design it is still important to have your products put through tests to make sure it’s not too difficult to use. This is just another method that designers should consider. If you are not sure how to design for the user, have your products tested. Usability testing is also a good way to learn new things about how people interact with their surroundings. The information that you gather from one test can be used to help design something else. It helps make designing easier and products less complicated for the user.