Utility

= = toc =Introduction=

As we are designing things for people, we are always faced with numerous questions. What would be a good or bad design? Who and what is the object of the design? What should we focus on? Who can take full advantage of the design? How do we allow communication between the user and the designed product? There are just some issues on hand when we are designing things. Usability has always been a top priority among designing technology-related things, and the hardest to achieve in with a high degree of. These are the lists to watch out for with respect to usability goals in designing something:

• Effectiveness • Efficiency • Safety • Utility • Learnability • Memorability

Since all of the lists are already created and talked about except utility, I will be talking about utility in this new page here.

=Utility=

When looking at utility, we would have to determine a few things. Does the design have a right integration of functions? How can we know for sure if we are “right”? How much functions are too much? How little functions is too little? When do we know if it is over the limit? Does it do the things that people want to get done?

In order to achieve utility, there are some points that we have to realize. We must first understand as designers who the users of the technology will be. Are they Adults? Children? Teenagers? We also have to consider their educational background as well, and factor that in with their age and profession. Once we have a pretty good idea of our target users, we can put ourselves in their position, and put in the amount of appropriate functions. We have to predict in their perspective how to balance between the right amount of functions so it is not too complicated or too simple. Organizing the functions in an organized manner will help with utility, as we don’t want to be just information dumping and throwing functions all over the place. Not only that, but having an organized system that has the appropriate amount of functions will signal to the users that much thoughts and calculations were put into designing it. The users will really appreciate the effort behind the designers in trying to predict each user’s standards of appropriate functions in a system in the best possible manner. Everyone likes the idea that they are valued, and having the best utility possible will just represent that. We also want to be careful not to be too simple as well, as that can be a sign that few things were overlooked and were not properly thought of in the design process. Lastly, utility must blend in with all of the usability goals stated earlier; fully integration of these goals will ensure the best design possible, and the most satisfaction from the users.

=Works Cited=

David Benyon, P. T. (2005). //Designing Interactive Systems.// Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.