From the readings, it’s clear that design is not purely for aesthetics, but it has a huge impact on your credibility and usability. But one should not underestimate looks when it comes to designs. I know a lot of people that use Mac and Apple products simply because they’re “cute”, and another that does not use a brand new laptop because it is “ugly”.
I am also glad other people didn’t like the change in the Tropicana orange juice bottles. I was so confused the first time they changed it that I bought a different brand. Personally I don’t really care what is on the box, but having such a sudden shift like that confuses people, we are creatures of habit. But, this is a perfect of example of loosing credibility; from reading the comments, many people thought that it looked like a bargain or store brand, not regular Tropicana. I am sure the people at Tropicana don’t want you to think you spending seven dollars a gallon on store brand orange juice.
I have also noticed how design is important when evaluating information, especially on the internet. With so many sites with so much information, design is an easy way to pick them apart. I would have thought the readings to have touched more on how design plays a role in targeting your audience. Rarely when looking for information do I try to find three hundred page professional dissertations; it doesn’t mean anything to me because it’s not written with me in mind. I want an overall big picture in a much shorter and friendly design, maybe from Wikipedia. I thought the instructor blog did a relatively good job of this with the bear warning sign. Warning signs are made short and sweet for a reason.
I did however think that chapter 25 in the Thompson Handbook did a good job of outlining the basic principles of graphic design. I think this will provides an especially good checklist for graphic design in that if things don’t seem to flow or look quite right, you can always check the proximity, alignment, etc. Sometimes it is easy to know something is wrong, but not necessarily know the steps to change it.
Less Summary
Make sure you expand your discussion with specifics about how the readings can help us with our current project. (This comment might be applicable here.) I like your point about humans as creatures of habit. This is a very important point both for design and for instruction sets in particular. Indeed, you might think of your instruction sets as working to create a set of habits (for successful use of a technology) in users.
Aesthetics
I agree with you that aesthetics play a large role in what people purchase, but I feel that it only works with certain things. I don’t think I would look for a new brand of juice just because the bottle appears different. I like your point about website design being very important. This is probably one area that ma change my mind about what things look like. I hate going to a website and trying to find something and it is just a cluttered mess of text and pictures aimlessly slapped on there. I found chapter 25 to be helpful as well when it talked about alignment and proximity. These two things can help clear up a document and proper use of them can give a much more professional appearance.
Looks aren't everything, but they are a lot R8
I also know a lot of people that use a certain product simply because they’re “cute.” Those people are everyone and that product is everything. Although our personal taste may be different, even opposing, I think that a better looking product, paper, food, or whatever will win over an opposing product, paper, etc. That’s why there is so much money put into advertising. If the quality of two similar things is close then I think the one with better aesthetics is going to be the better of the two in the end. Think of how many times you’ve been in a store comparing a better looking name brand food item to a basic Kroger or Wal-Mart brand item. Even if you haven’t tried either item in the past, the name brand is almost always more appealing, save the price tag.
Shane
Checklist
I also liked the checklist present in chapter 25. It is very frustrating when you step back and take a look at your writing and know something is wrong but just can't figure out what. I had this problem when I was revising my resume. I tried to make so many changes at once that when I finished, it just did not look right. But I couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong with it. My only option at that point was to try and figure it out myself or to go back read through all the book chapters and instructors blogs again. It would have been nice to have a simple checklist of things to refer to for quick troubleshooting. Hopefully if I have a problem with this project I will be able to refer to the checklist and fix the problem much faster.
Where is the importance?
I agree with your point about websites, I have a friend that is working on several sites right now and he is always asking me "does this look right". He is somewhat of a noob, so the answer is usually "no"...The comment you made about your friends and their computers is worth some discussion: this is a really good example of "what a person thinks is important". A lot of people would say, for this example, that the importance of a computer lies in its ability to process information quickly (or something to that effect), but here we have people that place the importance on looks. It may be unfathomable for one group to understand why the other group feels the way they do, but this comes down to audience analysis-the overarching theme of this course. For instructions we have to identify where the importance is, as with everything, and it will probably be something like readability and effortless acquisition of pertinent information.