objects from home (Shaheer Zazai)

The item that I love is my Xbox 360 wireless controller. Before I got this console, I hated the fact dat I could sit back and relax to play the game, either the wire would be short or I wouldn't be able to find a comfortable spot to sit at in the range of the controller wire to play the game and I would end up sitting on the floor which is definately not comfortable.
Ever since I have got this console with the wireless controller, even though they say technology makes one lazy, its the by far the most convenient controller I have ever used, I tested the distance on the controller; I was standing outside my house on the street and I could use it and be able to control things by being so far, even though I wouldn't be playing by sitting outside, but I am giving that example just to give an idea of how well does it work from a distance.
With this controller I dont have to get up and turn on the console, I can just do it with the controller, and I can sit back and relax as far as I want and play without any intruption. Thanks to bluetooth!!!!

The item that I hate from my house hold is my computer table. I could not find an exact image of it but it is one of those tiny computer tables that has levels on it, everything in it is congested, there is not enough space to keep my things in and not enough room on the keyboard stand to keep the mouse too, and there is no specific space for the mouse itself. I have my subwoofer under the table and just to give you an idea of how small the space under the table is, ever since I have put my sub woofer there, there is no room for my feet. This computer table is what I consider the most badly designed table I have come across and I am always struggling with it.

I take a liking to my SanDisk Sansa e270 MP3 player other than the music it plays. It’s aesthetically pleasing. The visibility and mapping of the controls is very clear and easy to operate: the luminescent blue rotating control also mimics the display menu for easier maneuvering and the extra soft clicks makes for good feedback. The constraints made to the number of controls, is limited to 4 buttons capable of many functions, a rotating control for maneuvering, and a small power button, this limits the user from too many options making it very straight-forward. Like all gadgets this Sansa has its pros and cons but overall its interacting physical features are simple and easy to operate.

excercise 4: Love/Hate Item (Jeyson Lopez)

An Item i hate is the all around hard cover sketchbook I purchased back when I was in high school. It was a great item at the begingin, but as i began to sketch more and more well it simply fell a part. Also i hate the fact that since is like a book, one can not fold it when you're sitting on a classroom desk (the ones at the lecture halls). It It is pretty unconfortable to sketch in that situation. The sketchbook is not the greatest lets just say, compared to a ring sketchbook, it is definitely not a good item to purchase.

Now moving on, the item I like is my cheap alarm clock.
ok so thats not the picture of my actual alarm clock but its pretty similar. I forgot to get my digital camera from my brother so I couldn't take the picture of the actual items. ok so whats so good about this cheap clock? well lets beging by saying that since I'm not a morning person, well I attend to my early classes thanks to it. Possible the greatest thing about it is that it has been through hell and back and it still works like a champ. The poor thing is even held together by black tape. Yes it might seem pretty ghetto but hey it works.

Object that I love, object that I hate - Mihyung

Object that I love, object that I hate

The object that I love is my pencil sharpener. I bought it last year for my drawing class, It automatically sharpens the pencil when I put the tip of the pencil into the hole, so four AA sized batteries are needed. the case is made of plastic, with two different types: a solid blue plastic and a transparent plastic with a deep blue shade. This makes it easier for me to clean or dispose scraps of wood and lead since I can check the inside without opening it. The round edges of the sharpener and the compact size helps me to grip it comfortably. Moreover, there are two square rubber plates which also helps the sharpener to stay in place when it is operating.
I do not know how this object works, because I never opened the case under the actual sharpener (the white box under the cutter). However, I guess that there is a motor under the cutter which works with a button, and when I push a pencil through the hole, the pressure is sent to cutter and from cutter to the button underneath, and hence make the motor to spin.
I really like this pencil sharpener ever since I bought this, because it saves me a lot of time and gives a nice sharp end to the pencil. However, it gives some noise when it sharpens, so I can not use it during my classes or inside the library. I only use it at home when I am drafting or doing assignments.




The object I hate is my mechanical pencil. It is made out of plastic, and has three wooden watermelons on, and a slice of watermelon at the end. The pushbutton is on the upper side of the pencil and it makes it really bothers me whenever I try to push it. Also, when I press the pushbutton the lead comes out too much, or sometime too little. It is a really cute pencil, but I do not use it often unless I do not have any other ones.

Exercise 4: Love/Hate

Love:

Logitech G7 Cordless Mouse

I splurged on this mouse ($160) after using an old corded Microsoft mouse, for one main reason: I am on the computer for a good portion of the day, and therefore need comfortable peripherals to make it easier to use, and decrease my chances of developing some sort of horrible disease of the arm.



The first thing I like about the G7 is its ergonomic design; it fits perfectly in my hand, and I can use it for hours on end without any sort of complaint. In my opinion it is the closest to the pinnacle of ergonomic design that I have experienced thus far.

Secondly is the wireless range. When I'm sitting on my bed, which is far away from my desk where my computer resides, I can still easily use the mouse to control the computer to setup and watch a movie without any problems at all.

Thirdly is the ease of battery change... the G7 comes with 2 rechargeable batteries as well as a charging cradle that doubles as a transmitter. While I use one battery, the other one is fully charged, so when the one I am using runs out, I simply hit the eject button on the underside and it pops out; then I replace it with the fresh battery. It takes me roughly 3 seconds to do so, it's a great design.

Fourthly, the laser system it uses, combined with some sort of special polymer for the skid pads on the underside means it never snags on anything and it's extremely easy to maneuver, the response on screen is instantaneous and so precise... I can even hit a couple buttons on top of the mouse to switch sensitivity levels for detailed work or bigger stuff, depending on what I need. All in all it is in my opinion the perfect mouse.

The best hockey goal ever...(Love hate theme)

Addisons Love and Hate

I LOVE MY PADS!
These goalie pads are the best thing that ever happened to my goalie career so to speak. These TPS Xhale pads revolutionized how we look at goalie equipment. They were very expensive as you can see but they have been worth every penny. Not only are they the most durable goalie pads i have owned, but there is intense amounts of detail and technology. They feature insane protection from any shot or stick, including full back of leg protection, for times when you are in a funny position and stop it with an odd part. This does wonders because shots can and will break bones if not padded properly. The Xhales have the name they do because they breathe when the puck hits the shin area...notice all the little dots. When the puck hits it breathes and makes the puck drop right in front of you, which is a major help. The upper thigh protection is probably my favorite. when down in a butterfly stance, upper legs are exposed from the knee to about 6 inches above the knee, there padding wraps around the area and prevents MASSIVE F*&$ING charlie horses and contusions. They are also esthetically pleasing and match the rest of my equipment nicely.

I Hate


The Object i Hate is My hockey sticks. They are wildly expensive and break all the time. I have been a goalie for 14 years and have never had a season that i've had to buy less than 3 sticks. It seems as though the design of them hasn't been re-done in years. The sticks have two weak points. The meeting of the handle and the paddle, which is usually put together seperatly (aka not one peice) breaks with stress of say a person falling on you. As a goalie people will fall on you so maby sticks should withstand that. The bottom of the stick, where the puck hits also gets damage from water and slapshots and within a few weeks you have cracks that deem the stick un-usable in an official game. I am looking at a stick that did just that right now. Sticks need to be re-designed badly which is why i hate them.

Love & Hate

I like Drafting Table.

Reasons.
It provides one with plenty of space to work. Its functions work efficiently and effectively. One can easily raise, lower or tilt the table. The sliding rule provides one with an easy means of drawing straight horizontal lines, speeding up any process that require line to be created.

I dislike my Front Door.

Reasons.
It doesn't close properly. It has a silly mail slot that lets cold air in. Whenever I go to open it I am forced to wrestle with the lock. It leaves me stranded outside when I forget my key and it does nothing to stop the unwanted door-to-door salesmen and Jehovah's witnesses from waking me up in the morning.

Pictures to come...

Exercise 4 - Hate/Love

I hate my Gillete M3Power Razor Blade.

This was a stupid purchase to begin with, first of all I should say I hate disposable razor blades, especially when they cost $14. The things I hate are as follows;
Three blades. Who needs three blades to fly across their blade, one blade is just as efficient and in the end they are much less expensive to replace per blade. The second thing I truly dislike is this whole powered vibrator they shove in the handle, perhaps it is the fact that gillete owns duracell (who makes the batteries) or perhaps it is just the fact that other than a slight tingle the powered blades just vibrate and occasionally cut you. Last but not least I cannot stand the blades on their own, they are not sharp enough, lack proper lubrication (sensitive skin) and are terrible to clean. It's hard enough cleaning one bladed razors without slitting your fingers let alone three.

I love my cutting knife.

I stole this knife from my job at Molson's over the summer. It's simple, uses different types of blades depending on the job. It has a very strong handle and the grip is just soft enough to provide a nice tactile feel while cutting yet not so cushy as to allow extra movement of the knife. I think the knob is such a great way to change the cutting depth and also make sure the blades are in extra tight.

proximity, signal to noise ratio, and similarity

---------------------------------

Proximity: As elements become closer together they are perceived as more:
related, coherent, unified.

example 1: the same dots are used, but their proximity creates 2 lines

example 2: because the horizontal distance is greater than the vertical distance, it creates a visual effect of columns rather than rows, even when the elements are not identical

example 3: because the MTV logo and Europe music awards logo are connected/overlapped it is interpreted as sharing one or more common attributes; the other logos (sponsors) are proximal but non-contacting and interpreted as related but independent

signal-to-noise ration

signal-to-noise ration is the ratio of relevant to irrelevant information in a display. The highest possible signal-to-noise ration is desirable in design.
Maximizing signal means clearly communicating information with minimal degradation. signal degradation occurs when information is presented inefficiently: unclear writing, inappropriate graphs, or ambiguous icons and lables. Signal clarity is improved through simple and concise presentation of information.Minimizing noise means removing unnecessary elements, and minimizing the expression of necessary elements. it is important to realize that every unnecessary data item, graphic, line, or symbol steals attention away from relevant elements.

Similarity

Similarity is some degree of symmetry in either analogy and resemblance between two or more concepts or objects. The notion of similarity rests either on exact or approximate repetitions of patterns in the compared items.

The grouping resulting from similarity reduces complexity and reinforces the relatedness of design elements.

Example 1: This example is arranged horizontally and vertically by color and shape.

Example 2: Also a complex visual display can be created by color, shape, and size.

Similarity of color

results in the strongest grouping effect.

For example, when the number of color is small, it is the strongest.

Similarity of size is effective when the sizes of elements are clearly characterized from one another.
However, the similarity of the shape can be the weakest grouping strategy.

-------------------------------

Chunking is a principle that applies to the effective communication of information between human beings. It is particularly useful in the domain of written communication. It was first put forward in the 1950s by a Harvard psychologist named George A. Miller. He published a landmark journal article entitled "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two". Miller studied the short term memory. For example, how many numbers people could be reliably expected to remember a few minutes after having been told these numbers only once. The answer was: "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two".

Mimicry is one of several anti-predatory devices found in nature. Specifically it is a situation in which one species called the mimic resembles in color, form, and/or behavior another species called the model. In so doing, the mimic acquires some survival advantage.

A self-similar object is exactly or approximately similar to a part of itself, i.e., the whole has the same shape as one or more of the parts.
A curve is said to be self-similar if, for every piece of the curve, there is a smaller piece that is similar to it.

GROUP- Peter, Stefen, Syd, Terry

Gestalt Principles of Perception: The Law of Pragnanz

The Law of Pragnanz states: one has the tendency to perceive ambiguous images as being complete and simple rather than incomplete and complicated.

Basically the mind attempts to simplify everything. The minds spends cognitive energy on the process of reconfiguring data input into a simpler, storage friendly, more manageable format. If something is simple to begin with, the mind does not have to engage this extra process. For this reason apparently people remember simpler design elements better those complex. In design, simpler is better when functionality is in mind And for interest's evocation, sake one may engage the most complex of elemental configurations.



As in this image the mind likens the more complex configurations of train cars to a simpler arrangement of forms such as snakes or lines.



And of course in this example, (this isn't my room guys! Jeezies!), there is no element that visual differentiates its self from others. Here the mind struggles to collect a simple answer to what it sees so that it can data base it. At first I saw it, then i figured out that it was a messy boys room after my brain went through deducing the nature of several major and individual elements in the picture. eg the boy, the clothes, the window and curtain. It took a long time time to functionally convey the denoteable truths in the picture. In agreement with the laws of pragnanz, my brain then simplified and categorized the picture into messy room items, the boy himself, the window etc. The categories get less defines as ones eye would move through the picture.
If an image is unrecognizable, the brain will assign some form of meaning to it, some pattern easily recognizable. Possibly so that the same complex arrangement can be recognized again as the same image with out having to process all intricacies involved in the image. A pretty slick maneuver. For instance what do you see here? A ghost? What do you see first? Your brain then uses that clue to form conclusion about image?

Terry's Smokin Love/Hate Post

Product with a plus: Yamaha FG-412 SB 12-string acoustic

Although combersome, my 12 string occupies little more area in my apartment than a small child, and only speaks when spoken to. And it talks. With a full size body in industry standards, 6 extra strings offer the kind of gravitas a man looks for in his spokespersons' reverberations. For a twenty something guitar the intonation has stayed true with minor maintanance. The hot red and yellow "starburst"esque finish in combonation with the floral insignia adorned pic guard wield wild and dangerous AS spanish laments into the lone night sky. A vaquero's fingers become mine as this "product"'s earthly body opens to recieve and project the inner most quirksations of my sole.



Ok guys, we've all done it; you just move in to a new place and youve got to put up you're blinds in a hurry but they as a problem become monstrously out of proportion. And why, because of the confusing nature of design posessed by the crossbar receptacles on either end of the top of a given set of blinds. They require two screws not one each, too time consuming and complicated for the average lay person. As well they have three or four configurations to be installed in. Unless one feels like dropping out from OCAD and registering to the Springfield School of Blind Installation before March. 18, blinds pose a serious problem.
Perhaps, a snap in place, more universal type attatchment could be used where the bar and receptacle meet. So that the receptacle could be bent to any configuration to meet the mounting surface whether at ends to the cross bar or behind it. And with just one screw for each receptacle, installation anniety plomets without the blinds.

Terry's exercise 2

for the sake of completeness...

What I like and Dislike

So my favourite item is my ceramic hair straightener. This straightner makes your hair smooth and most importantly straight. The outer shell offers great grip and is made to ensure safety. The outer shell is made to resist heat and keep your hand from coming close to the heated surface inside. Ceramic is a ideal product, especially for straightening hair. It keeps your hair from becoming damaged and drying out. It is a great investment, especially if your not happy with the curly or wavy hair you've been given.
My least favourite thing would be COFFEE. It's terrible, not just because it's not good for you. It tastes terrible and leaves an awful stench in the mouth of the drinker. Well maybe because it physically makes me feel sick, i'm not sure. But i don't like it. It's boring, it doesn't even keep you up. Viewed as doing wonders, coffee even though disliked by (me) is one popular drink for the average man/woman. For me though, it's aweful.

objects that i love and hate.

an object that i love..... is the electric blanket!
because every night when I'm freezing to death
this electriv blanket warms me up :)
I can adjust the temperature
and also it has a timer. So I can set a time
when I want it to be off or on.
Moreover, it is my favourite object because
its size is big enough to warm up my whole body.
I just love it and I use it everyday every night :) !!!

The object that I hate is.... the computer.

The reason is
first of all, it makes my eyes tired quickly
and secondly, it's so addictive that I can't get away from it
once I turn it on.......:(
Seriously.. even if I don't have nothing to do
I just go surffing the Internet for a LONG time and so on...

I personally like computer because you can use it in many different ways
You can play games and also you can surf on the Internet
By using Internet, it is easier to access to many different things and you could also share information through Internet

The reason why i don;t like the sofa in my house is that because it is uncomfortable and during the wintertime, it gets cold

An object I love/Hate

My object is the Lomo Kompakt Automat Camera (LC-A). I have 2 models of this camera both the old model (LC-A) and the new model (LC-A+). The legendary lomo Kompakt Automat LC-A is a small, black, aromatic, robust, precise and fully automatic snapshot camera made in Russia. I’ve had this camera since 2003 and continue to take film photos since then.

The lc-a is designed to sit comfortably in your palm with a compact size. Affordances are very clear on this camera as you use your fingers on both hands to grip on the camera, and then use your index finger to click on the shutter. After each CLICK! of the shutter, your right thumb turns a stiff and prickly advance wheel to the next frame.



Lomography emphasizes casual, snapshot photography. The exposure setting and distant setting is located on the sides of the lens. The physical constraint is in an axes manner that made it’s very easy to use. The film counter on top of the camera is also made in a path manner, which counts the number of photos you have taken each time you advance the film.

At the back of the camera, I wish that there were a small window for the user to see what film is inside the camera. It would be a good mapping and more convenient for the users.

Unfortunately, the company has discontinued to produce the lomo Kompact LC-A model cameras in Russia due to high production cost. The same goes to film as fewer films are being produce these days.

An object I hate...



My object is the oldy ipod shuffle 512MB mp3 player. I purchased a powerbook that came with a free ipod shuffle. I’m excited because I’ve never owned an ipod before. What I found out are…

The ipod shuffle is designed to sit nicely in your hand. The affordances are clear as your thumb goes directly on the buttons (as you hold it) and moves comfortably. The compact size made it easy to carry around or carry it around your neck.

To play a song, it introduced a use of psychological constraints. It is clearly printed and easy to understand.

The cap that holds the USB connector part is poorly made. The mapping is poorly located because once the user took the cap off. It is tiny and easily lost.

The battery button is poorly represent. It came with a separate card that showed what each blinking light means. I had to keep this card in my wallet at first, as I couldn’t remember which is which. I hope Apple came up with a new way about displaying battery’s life. Better mapping of data might help.

Gestalt Principle Alignment and Common Fate

Gestalt Principle Alignment is the adjustment of an object in relation with other objects, and a static orientation of some objects (or set) in relation to others

Common fate is a Gestalt principle of organization holding that aspects of perceptual field that move or function in a similar manner will be perceived as a unit. The perceptual clumping phenomenon that groups similar moving objects together in a "gestalt" clump.

***see Elizibeth's post for closure

Adam, Addison, Elizibeth, and Joe

Joes favourite thing!

An item I love, is my guitar, honestly its my true creative outlet (aside form my art stuff). Its a Fender strat that I bought way back in the 9th grade, which would be about 6 years ago. For a guitar its extremely well designed and has great feel when playing. What makes the desgin great, is the fact that the weight is balanced equally throughout the guitar, instead of being extremely heavy in the base end and lighter towards the top of the neck.
My cellphone (which is outdated), basicly barely works, has foul reception and costs me a fortune. OH YA and it totaly doesnt have a camera in it....how lame am I?



cheers

Rice Cooker vs. Hair Dryer

The object I like is the rice cooker sitting on the kitchen counter. The reason is simple; it cooks delicious rice for me. Whitin 20 minutes, I can see hot instantly cooked rice on my dining table. It has also simple usability; you put rice and water at about 1:1.25 ratio, close the lid, lock it, and press "Cook"--it's simple as that!



I don't really like my hair dryer mostly because it's heavy and has a long neck, which makes it hard to use because I have to hold it far and my arm gets tired very easily. Also, the handle dosn't fold, which makes itself a bulky object that provides no portable use.

Exercise 4 - love/hate

Love Object: Cutting Mat

My cutting mat is awesome. Being green, it contrasts against white paper. It is self-healing, durable, double-sided, and has a grid of measurements on one side to help with straight cutting. The measurements include centimeters, inches, and 60 and 45 degree angles. The mat is 12 x 18” total, which is probably the only troublesome thing about it. Sometimes the mat is just not big enough for the cut I want to make; however the mat, with its small size, makes for easy storage.



Hate Object: Telephone

When I moved into my residence, they provided me with a phone. This phone has a few positive features, however they are counter-weighted by the negative. The phone has a base that I can’t afford to have sitting on my miniscule desk as I desperately need space. Both the receiver-to-phone and phone-to-wall cords are too short and make the phone user-unfriendly. Also, there was a cable provided (when plugged in the cord makes the phone base uneven), however no power cord. I cannot answer or receive call on it, nor even get a dial tone, thus this poorly designed phone is rendered COMPLETELY USELESS. It now sits in a box on a shelf taking up precious storage space.

Closure

Closure refers to the tendency to perceive a set of individual elements as a single, recognizable pattern, rather than multiple, individual patterns. The Gestalt principle states that humans have innate preference for simplicity, which makes them perceive things in their simplest forms possible. The above example shows that different elements are arranged in a way that creates a sense of closure, and therefore we perceive it as the obejct itself--fish.

"an argument's conclusion is another argument"
A walk with a million thoughts is a silent walk through a time that felt very paused, conversations with the surroundings and arguments with nature, but yet still it was a cold silent walk with a million thoughts branching abstractly in various directions with no conclusion.
The image used used one of my own photography pieces that portrays the thought process and the reason i used such a dark grey to incorporate the map I i was following is to show the time of the day it was and the bright dots at intersections are are to enhance the night effect by acting as street lights.

I know this is very late but due to medical reasons I have not been very up to date with my assingments.

It Works Now

Gestalt Principles of Perception

Here we go,

Gestalt principle: a collection of individual objects perceived as a whole; the perceived concept is greater than the sum of its parts.

**[Figure-ground]**
When you look at something you never see just the thing you look at; rather, you see it in relation to its surroundings. A word on this page is seen against the background of the paper. The page is seen against the background of your desk, and so on. In each case you distinguish between the figure or shape and the space surrounding it (called the background or ground). The Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin (1915, 1921) was the first to systematically investigate this phenomenon. He found that it was possible to see any well-marked area of the visual field as the figure, leaving the rest as the ground. In some instances, the figure and the ground may fluctuate.

In visual perception, figure-ground refers to humans' ability to separate elements based upon contrast. The principle of figure/ground is one of the most basic laws of perception and one that is used extensively to help artists and designers in composition of a 2D piece. In its basic sense, it refers to a cognitive ability to separate elements based upon contrast, that is, dark and light, black and white. Many times this definition is expanded from a simple perception based on contrast to include abstract concepts such as subject/background and positive/negative space.


**Good Visual perception example**


**Good figure/ground example**

**[Highlighting]**
Used to draw focus to text or a specific object; or To select an icon or group of icons or some part of a text document or image in order to perform an action, such as moving it, deleting it or copying it. To make an object on a display screen stand out by using bold, italics and underlining for the texts, use uppercase in short word sequences, adding different colours to the text or images, inversing texts and images or flashing an element between two states to attract attention.


**Good Highlight example**

**[Uniform connectedness]**
Elements that are connected by uniform visual properties are perceived as a whole; also, these connected elements are seen as more related than unconnected elements. This principle of uniform connectedness developed by S. E. Palmer & I. Rock in 1994 was investigated using 3 experiments.



Amy, Ofelia, Eric and Siva group

Syd Terry & Peter

So how are we doing these project/exercises? I figured I should start the discussion up here. I missed last class so I'm a bit lost. You can e-mail me at stefankupych@sympatico.ca or you can add me to MSN at someone_questionmark@hotmail.com

Hopefully we can pull something together, I'm out of town for the next two days so I won't be able to meet in person, I'm hoping you guys read this soon and can get a hold of me.

My Map, click the image to see the big pic.

Exercise 2

Sorry it took so long - I actually DID miss my bus thursday, so I wasn't able to get to a scanner - and then I forgot to do it with all my bizziness, so yeah, here it is, Exercise 2.
Thanks for your patience.

Three Exercises Due Next Week!

Hi Class:

There was a lot of material covered last week, and a number of Exercises were assigned. I’m sending you this message to ensure that we’re all on the same page.

Fei and I delivered lectures on Establishing Structure, Maps and Diagrams, Conveying Information, and Basic Interaction Principles. These lectures, as well as the previous week’s lecture on Ethnography, are now available on My Courses as Handouts.

I’ve added a number of readings to My Courses as well. The excerpts from Universal Principles of Design will be necessary to complete the Exercises.

Exercises Three, Four and Five have all been posted to the blog. You may have to scroll down to find them. PLEASE NOTE THAT THESE ARE ALL DUE AT THE START OF CLASS NEXT WEEK. There will be no further opportunities to submit exercises late. The exercises shouldn’t take more than 2 hours total. Exercise Three is to be done in your Project One group. I've provided you with an example for Exercise Four. And Exercise Five simply requires you to locate a toy and bring it to class next week.

Project One is due on Thursday, February 8 – make sure you’re making steady progress. Fei and I will have some time to speak with each group next week.

See you Thursday,

Jesse