Jobs Well Done
Student experience 16th October 2015
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer – that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” Steve Jobs, 2003
CREDIT WHERE CREDIT’S DUE
First, let it be heard, I’m not a fan of Steve Jobs. My disliking comes down to the way he did business, his arrogance, and his turtle neck jumpers.
But, what I will give him, is that he knew how to design a product. You don’t need me to tell you how he revolutionised, or even created, industries. He achieved this by taking product design to the next level.
The quote above explains how he was so good at this. “Design is how it works.” So how do you define ‘how it works’? Functionality? Performance? No, user experience. By prioritising how a person will actually use a product, you can make the first steps in understanding how the product should be designed.
As an engineer, I’ve already fallen into the trap of thinking about the tech first. Thinking about what sensors to use, whether it should be wired or wireless, and how I could use some pretty LEDs.
In the last few days, I’ve started playing with a few sensors to use in the product. It’s no surprise that I’ve jumped into the hardware side of the project, but perhaps, in light of Steve Jobs’ wise words, I should be designing the product with the end user completely in mind.
Queue quote number two:
“You have to start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology.” Steve Jobs, 1997
Thanks, Steve. With this in mind, I conducted the first stage of consultation with end users this week. Jon Chippindal is a primary school computing teacher and computing curriculum writer. He also works with SEERIH at the University of Manchester, and was more than happy to meet with me to discuss the product.
INSIGHT
When discussing the existing implementation of data loggers, Jon claimed that data logging is not done well in a lot of schools, “it’s slow, unintuitive, and not engaging.” He went on to explain how recent changes in the curriculum are designed to train students in “thinking like a scientist,” and believed that this product would work well with this aim.
Jon was also able to provide great insight into what teachers want to see, and what students will love to use. He stressed areas of importance, and highlighted features that would work really well. One of the key concepts that came out of the discussion was understanding how Jon envisaged the product being used, which lead to a slightly reimagined key feature of the product.
Jon also expressed interest in utilising the end product in some of his own computing lesson plans which are utilised by hundreds of schools. This discussion was incredibly beneficial to the project, providing reassurance and ideas, while assisting with the requirements capture at such an early stage of the product design.
“ONE MORE THING…”
So there we go. Design has been prioritised, the customer experience kept in mind, and the product is all the better for it. Thanks, Steve.
I’ll leave you with one more quote. This one I think fits really nicely with the purpose of this product, after all the point of this device is to allow a student to be more creative in the learning process.
“Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.” Steve Jobs, 2004
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