Session 7: So then what is Product Design?

Session 7: So then what is product design? slides

Objective: Situate design decisions within larger issues of accessibility, ethics, and societal impact

Lecture:

• What’s the difference between UX Design and Product Design?

• Product Design = UX design and everything else you need to think about

  • Complexity and speed

  • Ecosystem

  • Effects beyond the product

• More ethical considerations

  • Dark patterns

  • Blaming algorithms

  • Accountability

In-class exercise:

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Homework:

• Do a competitive analysis of UI/UX for companies related to your product. Take and organize screenshots of all of the touchpoints you can find, then list out fonts, colors, and a critique of the design. Find at least 5 companies in the space you're in. Put them in Google Slides. If you have a teammate in our class, you can work together: just post the same link in the artifact sheet.

• Refine the prototype of a user flow that is part of your startup studio project. Following from your competitive analysis, bring it up to a higher level of resolution.

• Find an example of a dark pattern, post with a short explanation of why the company is doing it and why the effects are not good for users.

Readings/resources:

• James Bridle on YouTube Kids

• Trevor Paglen on Images and Data Collection

• Stop stalking your users

• How to design an addictive product

• Faruk Ates's A Dao of Product Design

• On Dark patterns